20th Century, First Nations, History, Indian, Native Americans, Uncategorized

AIM (American Indian Movement) Founded

July 28, 1968
Two prisoners, Clyde Bellecourt and Eddie Benton-Banai, met in Stillwater State Penitentiary about 1962. These new friends formed the Indian Folklore Club to improve the stay for each other and their fellow Native inmates. After meeting Dennis Banks and Russell Means six years later, the trio form the heart of the American Indian Movement. This pan-Indian, anti-imperialist, and anti-racist organization sought to improve the civil rights of Native Americans in Minneapolis, Minnesota. *

Though it may be a bit shocking to the modern liberal Minneapolitan, many young Indians were introduced to the city only as recently as fifty years ago. Two fairly obscure laws passed about a dozen years before created their incentive to come to town. Public Law 959 a.k.a. the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 was intended to encourage their young tribal members to leave the reservations and assimilate into large cities. ** Public Law 280 proposed to move entire tribes that were farther down the path of assimilation from the umbrella of Federal Law and under the jurisdiction of State law. **

Much of AIM’s leadoff efforts were to assist the new urban members of their tribal branches with their legal questions.
These folks were often thought of as “transnationals” in that they were simultaneously members of First Nations (tribes) and American citizens. Quickly they began AIM Patrol,*** a citizen watch group to challenge police brutality against Natives. Further, they played a pivotal role in the creation of the Legal Rights Center of Minneapolis, a resource that provides free legal aid to the poor. ****

Actus, in Latin, is the root word for activist meaning ‘doing’, ‘a driving force’, or ‘an impulse’. Such a broad word is apropos for AIM and the energy of its charter members.
Look at the impact on the early 1970’s in the following timeline of its’ various actions and events.

November 1969 – Occupation of Alcatraz
This point of action by AIM greatly impacted U.S. government’s decision to abandon they policy of Termination and Relocation.

October 1972 – Trail of Broken Treaties
Cross country traveling protest birthed the “Twenty Point” portion paper which defined points of treaties protestors believed the U.S. government had failed to fulfill.
(A few examples.)
“Restore terminated rights of Native Nations.
Repeal state jurisdiction on Native Nations (Public Law 280).
Provide Federal protection for offenses against Indians.
Abolish the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Create a new office of Federal Indian Relations.
Remedy breakdown in the constitutionally prescribed relationships between the United States and Native Nations.
Ensure immunity of Native Nations from state commerce regulation, taxes, and trade restrictions.
Protect Indian religious freedom and cultural integrity.Recognize the right of Indians to interpret treaties.” *

February 27, 1973 – Pine Ridge – Wounded Knee Incident
For 71 days, the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota was occupied by AIM while they battled U.S. officials.This site was chosen because it was significant to the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890. Two U.S. officials were seriously wounded, a civil rights activist disappeared, and two Native Americans died.

For most of our North Star citizens it came as a shock that things were so bad for Native Minnesotans that they would take up arms. Perhaps, no event in the 20th century did more to underscore the dysfunctional relationships and mistrust between our State and Federal governments and America’s First Nations. Further, our laws seem to not be the best vehicle to convey the complexities of the human heart and emotional intelligence. Hear, if you can, the words of one of AIM’s most potent members.
“Being is a spiritual proposition. Gaining is a material act. Traditionally, American Indians have always attempted to be the best people they could. Part of that spiritual process was and is to give away wealth, to discard wealth in order not to gain.” Russell Means

And so we turn from this moment in history to the face of the Eternal One. Dear Father, how we need You to come and stand between us; the Native American Minnesotan, and the Adopted Minnesotan. Can we sit in Your circle and wait on You together? We remember, right now, that we are all co-members of Your Creation, and that all who turn to You will be saved from our narcissism past, present, and future. Blessed are You, King of the Universe, who gives us the omnipotence and omnipresence of the Messiah!

We begin our prayer journey with gratitude for G-d ordained meetings. Only You could have known how Clyde Bellecourt and Eddie Benton – Banai would become friends and allies, (in prison no less), and cast a vision for the Indian Folklore Club. We thank You for their vision for a movement that would include all tribes protecting the future from imperialism through the present practice of human rights and civil rights. We thank You for the strong rope made when the cords of Dennis Banks and Russell Means were added to the founders. (Bind us together Lord! Colossians 3:14) Will You bless them, the land of Minnesota, and their ascendants by the authority of the Lord Jesus?

Lord, we acknowledge to You the incompleteness of our laws, and their flaccid lack of power to fulfill the aims of the law. Our laws, too often, force compliance of new outcomes rather than taking the painful, yet relationally honest path of persuasion! In this case, we remember to You Public Law 959 and Public Law 280. We see the positive outcomes that the legislators hoped for; a Native Population not isolated from the growth and opportunities of our society through remaining landlocked on their tribal grounds or reservations. Lawmakers, it appears, wanted young Indians to also see their version of the American dream; not remain shut-ins of their Res.

Lord, we need You to forgive the judgments of the proponents of Law 959 and Law 280 towards Native Minnesotans. Where they have judged our Native brothers and sisters, they have offended Your Image. Will You forgive us this sin so recognized by the American Indian Movement?

Conversely, will You forgive the judgements of those opponents of Laws 959 and 280? Where Native Minnesotans have judged our Adopted Minnesotan family, they too have offended Your Image. Will You forgive us this sin committed against detractors past and present?

We acknowledge the Spirit of Force and the Spirit of Compliance present in laws made far away from the communities they most effect. Though centuries after the fact, the force of such laws echo more of the ring of aristocracy than democracy. Could our Native neighbors felt the transference of centuries of the Canon Laws of the Vatican City, the Napoleonic Code, the Kings Bench, and Court of Chancery within our legal system? Free One, will You take this “force of law” up, out, and onto the Cross of Christ? Will You create the chesed within our legal system, both present and future, to emulate the trust and just and heartfelt compliance of Your Court in heaven? How much we need, invite, and desire the Justice of a Holy Father who is faithful and true in his judgments towards all creation! How we yearn for You to come and make us all one under Your good and right legal system!

As a finale, we consider what happens to a nation which has a worship dysfunction.
When Your Chosen Ones had seasons of disrupted worship, they split their anointed heritage into the tribes of Israel and Judah. Let’s see what Mr. Bellecourt observed as a bitter root cause necessitating AIM. “We were prohibited from practicing our spirituality. It was illegal to be in our country. The Movement changed all that.” —from Bellecourt’s 2016 memoir, “The Thunder Before the Storm”

In a similar vein, I would posit that many of the greatest failures of our Republic stem from a representative class that has morphed into a ruling class. When those making the law fail to acknowledge Adonai, they forget that they too are subjects under judgment. This lack of humility, in large part, is responsible for laws and mandates that have broken faith and relationship between government and the citizenry. Is this why Your Kingdom commands worship? Is this why the Great Ones and Elders of Heaven routinely remove their crowns and prostrate themselves in a state of total respect and awe of Your Justice?

No more “Wounded Knees” Lord unless they be in adoration! Let us be a people who bow together! Let us be a people of humility! Let us remember the cost of our tribe’s freedom today in gratitude! You took the rap for every nation so that we could reign in honesty and innocence!
“And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”” Revelation 5:9,10

P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm or https://www.mnopedia.org/group/american-indian-movement-aim
** Matthiessen, Peter (1980). In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. New York: The Viking Press. pp. 28–29.
*** Wilson, Brianna. AIM Patrol, Minneapolis. Minnesota Historical Society. December 28, 2016. Internet. https://www.mnopedia.org/group/aim-patrol-minneapolis
**** Internet. https://www.legalrightscenter.org
http://www.aimovement.org (Much of the “Twenty Points” strategy is credited to activist Hank Adams.)
* https://aimovement.weebly.com/timeline.html
* https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/russell_means_582021
** Bellecourt, Clyde and Lurie, Jon. The Thunder Before the Storm. Minnesota Historical Society Press; 1st edition (November 1, 2016)

20th Century, Canada, History, Hockey, omnipresent history, Prayer, sports

Minnesota North Stars First Game

October 11, 1967
The Minnesota North Stars debut as a National Hockey League expansion team. The home of the North Stars, Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington, was built in 12 months (October 3, 1966, groundbreaking to October 25, 1967, first home game).*

Long before the age of modern ice hockey, with its’ leagues and franchises, Europeans enjoyed similar competitive games. Even authoritative Canadian sources, like the 2019 article by author Jean-Patrice Martel on the “Origins of Ice Hockey”, tip their hat to these bridge-building ancestors.
“Hockey developed from stick-and-ball games played in the British Isles, particularly hurling (Ireland), shinty (Scotland) and bandy (England). These games shared a very similar basic structure and have been documented from the 14th century.
But what about hockey itself? Unlike bandy, hurling and shinty, the term “hockey” is relatively recent. Its oldest known use is in the 1773 book Juvenile Sports and Pastimes, written by Richard Johnson. Chapter XI of the book is titled “New Improvements on the Game of Hockey,” which suggests that the name had been in use for some years already. The chapter details the game in over 800 words, using the term “hockey” to designate not the stick, but rather the object with which it is played: a “cork-bung,” or barrel plug.” **

Moving us closer to home, what clues to find to the development of ice hockey as sport in the North Star state during the 19th and early 20th centuries? Author and expert ice hockey historian Rodger A Godin states the following synopsis as Minnesota’s deep rooted attachment to the sport in his stellar book, “Before the Stars” (Minnesota Historical Society Press).
“In the early twentieth century, before the National Hockey League had established a presence in the United States, a team from St. Paul played at the highest levels of hockey in the country. Sports historian Roger A. Godin resurrects the story of the St. Paul Athletic Club team—the AC’s—and argues they were instrumental in turning Minnesota into one of the nation’s first hockey hotbeds and gave birth to what is now known as the “State of Hockey.” ***

Let’s explore the final iterations of farm teams and the foundations of Minnesota’s first professional hockey franchise. Two pivotal local teams caught the eye of Walter Brown, owner of the Boston Bruins; first, the Minneapolis Bruins, and second, the Saint Paul Rangers. This attention, along with the friendship of Minneapolis attorney and hockey booster Walter Bush Jr, cemented the viability of the Twin Cities in the minds of those seeking to expand the NHL brand while increasing TV revenues.

To this end, Bush applied for the expansion, and sought investors that could supply the contractually-necessary 13 thousand seat arena. A St Paul team of investors nearly clinched the deal using the existing Roy Wilkins Arena, but the funds to expand the facility required a public vote which cost too much time. Shortly after this failure, the two factions of owners, (from Minneapolis and St. Paul), decided to to go in together and build a new site for hockey in Bloomington; the Metropolitan Sports Center. This groundbreaking crew October 23, 1966 comprised the new ownership: John Ordway Jr., Walter Bush Jr., Gary Mc Neely Jr., Robert Mc Nulty, John Driscoll, Gordon Ritz, Robert Ritter. These locals paid approximately $2 million to the National Hockey League to add their franchise. *

But where did the first team of North Stars hail from; where did they assemble this first team, seemingly out of thin air? The short answer? They were enlisted from existing NHL teams. See the chart below:

Player Team
Caesar Maniago New York
Dave Balon Montreal
Jean Guy Talbot Montreal
Ray Cullens Detroit
Parker Mac Donald Detroit
Bob Woytowich Boston
Wayne Connelly Boston
Bill Goldsworthy Boston
Andre Boudrias Montreal
Mike Mc Mahon Montreal
Bill Masterton Montreal
Elmer “Moose” Vasko Chicago

“The North Stars played their first game on the road against the St. Louis Blues on October 11, 1967. It ended in a tie. On October 21, the North Stars hosted their first home game against the California/Oakland Seals—which ended with the North Stars’ first win. However, tragedy soon struck the team. Bill Masterson, a center, hit his head in a legal check on January 13, 1968, at the Met Center. His injury was severe, and he died of his injuries two days later in a hospital. His death is the only direct death resulting from gameplay in the NHL. It precipitated regulations for mandatory helmets, though they weren’t required until 1979. Even with this tragedy, the North Stars ended their inaugural season with a trip to the playoffs, losing to St. Louis in the semifinals.”
Now, dear Father, we turn to You to reflect and pray on this history. What will we learn if we remain in Your Presence, and just think about the importance of hockey to Minnesota? How did this beginning of a much-loved sports team change the course of Minnesota? Before that, we remember the Master who created winter, ice, and the people groups who were designed to thrive in the cold. We remember that the Ancient of Days is the author of sport, and its underlying causes: to severely prove one’s ability, to test intensely one’s skills without risk of death, and to learn what Cain and Abel did not. For all these things, we adore You!

One thought that comes to mind is how perfectly hockey is suited to the Northern regions of North America in the last few centuries. We, at least historically, come from tribes and nations that are ready made to thrive in the snow. We remember that You conditioned the first hockey players and fans to play in the snow: Canadians, First Nations (Inuits, Nunavuts, Metis, Algonquians to name a few), and recent American immigrants from mostly Northern European origins: Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, Russians, etc.

Let’s put ourselves in their shoes as hockey leagues grew over 100 years ago, shall we? What kind of entertainment suits our very rugged ancestors who spent all day in a frozen logging camp, mining camp, railroad camp, or just homesteading a new farm in the wilderness? Would they relish tennis racquets, cricket bats, and white pants or a fast-paced, high-attention battle that could change at a moments notice, and wind up with blood on the ice? Lord, I guess I’m just pondering if our ancestors who day in and day out did high risk, cold, and dangerous work influenced them to enjoy the battle on ice which is hockey?

Under Your Authority and with agreement with the Council of Heaven, we remember all these formational years before hockey was a professional sport. We are grateful for those who built North America, in the bone-chilling winter, and did not lose their sense of play, but handed this game down to us and the world. Will You bless those of us in high risk professions to be faithful in our work, and vent our combative urges with the good sportsmanship of hockey?

Let’s add to the list of gratitude these specific things; dear Councilor of Heaven:

We remember to You the excitement created by the Saint Paul Athletic Club team of about 100 years ago!

We thank You for Walter Brown, the Boston Bruins, and the Minnesota Bruins!

We applaud the efforts and significant investment of these early hockey boosters:
John Ordway Jr., Walter Bush Jr., Gary Mc Neely Jr., Robert Mc Nulty, John Driscoll, Gordon Ritz, and Robert Ritter.

We thank You for the risk and enthusiasm of our first players:
Caesar Maniago, Dave Balon, Jean Guy Talbot, Ray Cullens, Parker Mac Donald, Bob Woytowich, Wayne Connelly, Bill Goldsworthy, Andre Boudrias, Mike Mc Mahon, Bill Masterton, and Elmer “Moose” Vasko.

We remember the contributions of the city of Bloomington, and all those who worked on the Metropolitan Sports Center.

Will You bless these names, spoken or unspoken, and their generations who contributed to Minnesota hockey? Will You forgive them their judgments of their detractors in roughly the 1920’s to the 1960’s, and those Minnesotans who judged them and failed to see the promises of professional hockey?

We thank You for at least two generations of young men and women who were inspired by the North Stars? We thank You for the impact these moments, whether playing the sport of hockey or participating as a fan, have strengthened the resolve of Minnesotans! So many of us have seen, at least in part, the lessons of an all-out battle, yet with rules!

We thank for the lessons portrayed in the game of hockey and in the North Stars franchise; it made our state better! We thank You that it taught what our ancestor Cain had not caught; we fight our life’s battle according to the rules of the game, and because our competition is made in G-d’s own image, we do not kill, but walk off the field of battle to shake hands with our brother. Is this not the heart of sportsmanship and brotherly love?

Conversely, forgive us Lord where we have prohibited our men and boys from sporting battles like hockey. How does one learn his limits as a man unless he has faced his own battles? Where will men be affirmed in their strength, valor, and leadership if they do not experience even a controlled danger?

Our current culture, dear Father, struggles to parse the meaning of masculinity. We rightly recognize that men need to temper their testosterone. There is something right when a hard as nails block layer holds his daughter’s hand like a butterfly! There’s something of Your efficiency in the moment an executive clears his schedule to give 100% attention and focussed time to his son!

Yet, we have failed to recognize that within ordinary men there is a hero because Your brave nature is in them! Who will fight those men who fight civilization? Who will oppose evil with good if men aren’t taught to sacrifice their safety for others? What is the lesson that Cain and Abel failed to teach us? Is it that the same wild and explosive masculine powers unleashed in the Creation of the Universe are the same masculine powers of self-control that sent our Messiah to the Cross?

A mature man is one who exhibits the self-control of his Eternal Father, his dad, and his coach. A fierce and effective hockey player is the man who retains both the wildest of his wild nature with discipline. What better image of power under control than a star? We thank You, the Most Dominant One of the Universe, for Your gift of the North Star, and the team that is its’ namesake! Let us deeply take in this image of exceeding power under control. Will You make us a State and people who neither fail to recognize Your Greatness in wild, masculine power, or Your Greatness to discipline that power through self-control! Amen!

“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.”

Proverbs 16:32

Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Control

P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
** Martel, Jean- Patrice. “Origins of Ice Hockey” Internet. The Canadian Encyclopedia. February 6, 2019. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/origins-of-ice-hockey
*** Godin, Roger A. “Before the Stars Early Major League Hockey and the Saint Paul Athletic Club Team”. Minnesota Historical Society Press, October 4, 2004.
Want to go way deeper? Watch this incredible video series on the formation of ice hockey as an internationally acclaimed sport.
Internet. “Hockey: A Peoples History”. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0818640/
**** https://shop.mnhs.org/products/stars?variant=31803020509280
Dan Whenesota. YouTube. “The North Star State – Part 1: A Star is Born” September 7, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mz-bB7MeUc&t=1575s
* Tieberg, Alex. “Minnesota North Stars”. January 6, 2020. https://www.mnopedia.org/group/minnesota-north-stars

20th Century, African American, church history, ekklesia, History, Minnesota, omnipresent history

Martin Luther King Jr. Speaks at U of M

MLK at University of Minnesota. April 27, 1967. mprnews.org

April 27, 1967
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks about racism, poverty, and the Vietnam War to a crowd of 4,000 students at the University of Minnesota. Civil rights legislation, King says, has “rectified some evils of the South, but did little to improve conditions for millions of Negroes in teeming ghettoes of the North.” Congress has passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but King cites continuing inequalities in northern cities, such as a high black unemployment rate, segregated schools, and the growth of ghettos surrounded by suburbs. *

One can be inspired by only reading the words of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. Yet to those who heard the timbre of his voice and saw the gravitas with which he carried himself that clear Thursday on the lawn of the Agriculture Campus of the University of Minnesota; it must have felt like a dream. Sometimes, one just knows that they are witness to greatness.

King begins his speech with an acknowledgment of the success of de-segregation and passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but goes on to state that legislative victories “did very little to penetrate the depths of Negro deprivation.” ** He wonders, aloud, if our society is more opposed to Commissioner Bull Connor and Sheriff Jim Clarke of Birmingham, Alabama than positively for equality and justice. He suggests of the civil rights movement, that the “need is for legislation strongly enforced”, and this would best occur if we were to “make civil rights crimes Federal” offenses. ** (For readers outside the U.S., Federal jurisdiction means that our national government would enforce these laws rather than the city, county, and state.)

Moving on to the economic issues and disparities Black Americans faced in the cities, Reverend King underscores the urgency to both make and enact plans to better their lives stating “our summers of riots are caused by our winters of delay.” ** Dr. King opined that many in white society were not aware or accepting of the type of unemployment and price gouging faced by these neighbors, or that there is “literally a color tax in the ghetto.” ** His solution to this problem could be summed in his phrase “to attack poverty directly by guaranteeing an annual income for all the families of this country.” **

Addressing another political “hot potato”, Dr. King challenged the perceptions of his audience, and our nation’s worldview. Though criticized by some as being overly empathetic to socialist causes, his outlook could be construed as running parallel with the logic of libertarians; if we practice human rights at home, it is natural that we exude healthy human rights in our foreign affairs. Please, try to read and consider his quotes on Viet Nam with this in mind?

“We’re on the wrong side of a world revolution. We tend to see every revolution in the world as a communist revolution. And our tragedy is that we’ve based our total foreign policy on a huge miscalculation…” **

And

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. I’m concerned about justice for everybody the world over.” **

At the end of his speech, Martin brought things back to the folly of the human heart. Do we believe in the freedom of our rivals, of our detractors, and of those who genuinely oppose us? You make recognize pieces of his, perhaps most famous speech; “ I Have a Dream”.
“I believe we can build right here, if we will only do these things, a nation where everyman will respect the dignity and worth of human personality and this will be that glad day when all of G-d’s children: black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, protestants and Catholics, will join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual;
“Free at last! Free at last! Thank G-d Almighty we’re free at last!

University of Minnesota Professor, John Wright, an attendee of King’s speech, gives us insight into the personal and public impact of that day in 1967. Because of King’s presence, He committed himself to the civil rights of Minnesotan’s, and participated in the 1969 student protest and take-over of Morrill Hall. ***
“I think we can be proud of the staying power of several of the institutional outcomes of the whole protest and take-over process. Of course, the creation of the Martin Luther King Programs in the College of Liberal Arts, and the formation of the Department of African American and African Studies.” **

Now, Eternal Father, we make a request to sit with You in the presence of the Council of Heaven as we meditate on April 27th, 1967. Today we remember the future the Apostle John recorded and prophesied of Your peoples.
“And they sang the song of Moses the Servant of God and the song of The Lamb. They were saying: “Great and marvelous are your works, LORD JEHOVAH God Almighty. Just and true are your works, King of the universe.” “ **** Revelation 15:3 Aramaic Bible
We thank You for the reminder in this single verse of the revelation that we, humanity, have been shown through the Law (Moses), and through the unparalleled grace and forgiveness of all separation through the Cross, the Blood, and the Resurrection of our Messiah! We cannot say thanks enough for the favor shown to all peoples at all times throughout the history of the human race!

Lord of Lords, will You help us today as we revisit this speech of Reverend King some 54 years ago? What in his message brings You glory, and what in his message does not? May we have a conversational prayer with You and acknowledge to You, first, the offenses of our society past that we can be freed from their misbeliefs and unbeliefs?

We applaud the successes of King’s movement of de-segregation. The ground at the foot of the Cross is completely flat, and so should our civic laws be completely apportioned; an even application of rights and privileges for all Americans! We remember this core “heart value” within the Civil Rights movement. We invite You into the brokenness of 1967, and acknowledge the offense of our society to misuse the Law (Moses), and bitter root judgments that created a legal system that negated justice to black Americans. Will You forgive us this offense against You and Your Image within all Americans of African descent; in King’s era, the present, and until Your return?

As a second thought in this conversational prayer, we hear and ponder Dr. King’s words very carefully. As a paraphrase, we hear this message; local laws and enforcement have failed, thus King suggests making “civil rights crimes Federal offenses”. While understandable the King could arrive at this conclusion given the context of intense conflict, it is understandable while these words would also cause conflict. To Americans who connected with King’s heart, it was completely logical.

However, to those who are aware of the positive and negative limits on our Federal, State, County, and City governments, it presents a drastic change. Our Founders, for many reasons, sought to create a legal system like a family walking in the rain: father’s umbrella covers mother, mother’s umbrella covers the kids, and the kid’s umbrella covers the dog. Our system is reliant on leadership and authority to be: relational, nearby, and accountable to the governed.

Is this, perhaps, a logistical fallacy or root misbelief in Reverend King’s logic? If local government has failed it’s people, which is in a much more direct relationship to its citizens, how will moving the center of responsibility to Washington D.C. make it more accountable to locals? For example, “It’s the government that has failed African Americans of Alabama, so we will look to the government, far away and less accountable, to provide a more equitable solution?” Lord, I may be simple, but doesn’t that sound like repeating the same action and expecting a different result?

So, we come humbly to You with a broken spirit over this question; “What do we do when those closest to us deny us justice?” Will You unravel these tangled root judgments of the 1960’s and bring them up, out, and onto the Cross of Christ? Will You bring Your justice to these places, where every rung of authority from City, to County, to State, to Federal had failed our citizens? Will You forgive us where we placed more hope in the law (Song of Moses), than in Healing Presence and unmerited favor of the Redeemer (Song of the Lamb)? Come and bring Your civil rights to our civil wrongs!

For the next item of this meeting, we start with a point of order brought so eloquently by MLK; “Father, when is the right time for collective responsibility versus individual responsibility as it applies to economics?”
I refer here to the words of King’s speech, Lord:
“our summers of riots are caused by our winters of delay.”
“literally a color tax in the ghetto.”
“to attack poverty directly by guaranteeing an annual income for all the families of this country.”
Bring Your insight, Holy Spirit, let us move with You, see from Your point of view, and hear from Your Word.

In Your Eternal Word we see examples of individual responsibility towards YHWH:
“Love LORD JEHOVAH your G-d from all your heart and from all your soul and from all your possessions.” Deuteronomy 6:5 Aramaic Bible ****

“I am YHWH your Elohim, there will not be for you another god before me.
You will not make for you an idol and you will not bow down to them, for I am YHWH your Elohim.
You will not take the name of YHWH your Elohim in vain.” Exodus 20:1-4 Ancient Hebrew *****
(Lord, we notice that every pronoun is personal in these 10 Commandments.)

In Your Eternal Word, we also see examples of collective responsibility for the sin of an individual:
“But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.” Joshua 7:1 NIV ****

Or we see collective judgement for the offense of an individual ruler:
“Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock.” Exodus 12:29 BSB ****

Lord, hear our prayer! Let us first love You, with all we are including our possessions and property whether small or great! We are guilty of making our economic worth an idol, therefore, breaking the first of Your commands! We have tainted Your Name, our family name, our ethnicity’s name through our own individual actions; even in the plunder of an enemy?! Individual leaders in our history, separated from You and hard of heart, have brought suffering and death on the innocent and powerless! We acknowledge our guilt, collectively and as individuals, to You and our neighbor! Will You heal the past, free the present, and bless the future of these economic wounds: within us, in our society, and in Your Body the Ekklesia?

As a third petition and reflection, help us ponder Reverend King’s views on war, and the Viet Nam war in particular. Living Word, let’s think on King’s words given this Thursday in 1967; “We’re on the wrong side of a world revolution. We tend to see every revolution in the world as a communist revolution.” What say You, Rauch Ha’ Kodesh (Holy Spirit)?

Granted, as the political entity known as the United States, we surely had a foreign policy bent on containing Communism in Southeast Asia. Further, President Eisenhower had warned our nation of the drive to power and profit of the “military industrial complex”. Help us remember a bit more, Lord?

China, once an ardent ally of the United States with a proud heritage for millenia, had fallen to Mao in 1949. (Mao’s social justice record was stained by the blood of tens of millions of his own people at the time of this speech.)
Korea, again an ancient people, was split in two with the military support of China and Russia 27 July 1953. (Again, Russia’s record of social justice was stained with the blood of tens of millions of Stalin’s own people.)
The Second Indochina War, commenced on 1 November 1955 had already ravaged the nations of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia for 12 years at the time of Dr. King’s statement.

All this to say that the politically aware in 1967 could plausibly see the wasting of human lives in Southeast Asia as a threat to human dignity and human rights. On this issue, Lord, Dr. King’s views seem at odds with his present tense realities at the time of this speech. As a man with such empathy for the downtrodden, I suspect his heart overruled his head on this matter. Even the FBI alleges that close friendships within King’s circle like Hunter Pitts O’Dell, Abner Berry, and Miles Horton had formed in communist schools and camps in the South like the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tennessee about 1957. A counter-argument to this narrative is that it was one of the few forums in the South where black Americans were welcomed with open arms to: speak, listen, receive free education, and socialize in a multi-cultural setting. ******

This information creates tension in me. On the one hand, it appears Your Body, the Church, had failed to welcome Dr. King and African Americans in general into community. What does this say about Your Body of Believers in the Southern United States of King’s era? Had it calcified the warmth of the Gospel into a stiff, arthritic religion? Were the various denominations more subject to the beliefs, misbeliefs, and unbeliefs of their regional culture than the relational culture of Your Kingdom?

Hear our prayer; will You forgive us, the Ekklesia (those called out of the past and into Your Presence and future), of the judgments of their siblings and Your children; the black American human being? Will Your release Your Body from the “sleeper hold(s)” of the Enemy of all humanity: our religious spirit, of our embrace of cultural lies, of our collective and individual beliefs, unbeliefs, and misbeliefs that so deeply offend the Holy Spirit? Bring healing to this memory of Dr. King’s generation, and empower us to practice Your Healing Presence for ourselves and especially our neighbors of a differing race?

On the other hand, how does a Baptist preacher, (Rev. King), align his Biblical worldview with an atheist one? How does King marry the Gospel’s view of history, one that all men can believe in Your Son and be saved, with a Marxist historiography that is often deterministic and pegs human beings into camps limited by one’s external racial markers rather than one’s internal markers? Father, it’s not my heart to judge Dr. King for having friends of various political views, but perhaps it can explain some of sympathies in the Vietnamese War.******

Billboard in the South circa 1957. appalachianhistory.net

In sum, we appeal to heaven with MLK of April 27th, 1967 that we learn and practice to be “Free at last”! We acknowledge to You that even our icons and heroes of history are human like us with motive conflicts. We so fully believe and misbelieve in You at the same time! We judge our judgers as they counter-judge us! May we radiate the justice of our Eternal King everywhere through confessing our threats and unjust hearts everywhere! May we respect the dignity and worth of Your Infinite Personality first! All our racism, human to human, is first an offense to the Author, Creator, and Lover of the human race! May we avoid the wrong side of a world revolution! May we align with the Song of Moses (Judgement and Just Law) and with the Song of the Lamb (Unending Mercy)! May we love our enemy and do good to those who oppose us until we are all children of our heavenly Father again! We love You and need You to survive! Amen.

One Nation with One King
“Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “And you, son of man, take a single stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Judah and to the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Joseph—the stick of Ephraim—and to all the house of Israel associated with him.’ Then join them together into one stick, so that they become one in your hand.” Ezekiel 37:15-17 BSB

Joseph (Yosef)- means ‘he will add”
Ephraim- means simultaneously “ashes” and “to make doubly fruitful”

Father, is this a symbol or foreshadowing of the Cross? Christ takes our ash pile, adds His life to it, and makes us doubly fruitful? You took the divided nations of Judah and Israel and made them one nation. May You join our divided nation(s) again!

P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
** Minnesota Experience. Twin Cities Public Television. PBS. “Martin Luther King in Minnesota”. Restored by Minnesota Historical Society
A discovered tape of a speech given by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., at the University of Minnesota in 1967; followed by an interview of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by host L. Howard Bennett for a discussion on ideas, methods and words of wisdom on how to achieve the goal of a free society for all.
Premiere Date: January 21st, 2019 (Cites speech of MLK April 27, 1967.) Internet. https://www.tptoriginals.org/martin-luther-king-in-minnesota-full-episode/
*** Maas, Susan. “Remembering the Morrill Hall Takeover”. University of Minnesota Alumni Association. 2019. Internet.
https://www.minnesotaalumni.org/stories/remembering-the-morrill-hall-takeover
**** Citations of Revelations 15:3, Deuteronomy 6:5, Joshua 7:1, Exodus
https://biblehub.com
***** An excellent version of the Ten Commandments both in ancient Hebrew and English. https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/biblical-history/files/bible_ten_short.png
****** https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2018/01/school-for-subversives-and-communists.html

20th Century, ekklesia, History

Minnesota Governor Harold LeVander: A Quiet Storm

The appointment of the first Met Council by Gov. Harold LeVander, seated center, in 1967. minnpost.com

January 2, 1967-January 4, 1971
About 1966, a Minnesota attorney unknown to many outside legal circles decided to throw his hat in the ring. He was, by definition, a true outsider who had no political experience other than vaguely supporting the Republican Party. Yet, Governor Le Vander arguably changed the premise of Minnesota’s politics more than his peers in a single four year term.

To backpedal, Karl Harold Phillip Le Vander was born in Swede Home, Nebraska on October 10th, 1910. His parents were Swedish immigrants, and the family followed his father’s call as a Lutheran minister to St. Paul. This calling led the family to move frequently before settling in Watertown circa 1926.

Young Harold loved high school and sports and excelled at both until his graduation in 1928. He went to Gustavus Adolphus for his undergraduate degree where he competed in the debate team, played football, but excelled in hurdles and pole vault for their track team. * Le Vander matriculated in 1932 from the famed Swedish institute, and headed for the University of Minnesota to study law receiving his LL.D. in 1935. ** Other than his brief time as Governor, he remained active as an attorney with Le Vander, Gillen & Miller through the remainder of his life.

So, what of his years as a politician as the 32nd Governor of Minnesota 1967-1971? Perhaps this moderate Republican’s term could be summed up with the phrase “clarification and consolidation”. His cornerstone accomplishments sought to clarify gray areas in law, and to consolidate the structures of leadership to operate more efficiently.

Governor Le Vander differed with many of his party, and acted to demonstrate that big government could be a force for good. Out of the gate he re-organized the structure of the Executive Branch, and dove headlong into a series of “firsts” in Minnesota politics. He greatly expanded the funding of regional governments and schools supported by the first sales tax and $1 billion budget. The term “Le Vander’s pennies” entered the local vernacular in reference to this major change. ***
Another of his famous “firsts” was that Minnesota became the first state to ratify the 26th Amendment of the U. S. Constitution. This law lowered the voting age to 18 years old, and clarified the issue and the dissonance brought by the Viet Nam War. He believed along with many of these draftees, that if they were “old enough to fight, then they were old enough to vote.” ***

Next, he sought to elucidate our legal boundaries: human to human, and human to nature. As to the former, he created the Department of Human Rights to protect our civil rights through the Minnesota Human Rights Act largely considered to one of the strongest in the nation. **** To the latter, he created the Pollution Control Agency “ensuring that every Minnesotan has healthy air, sustainable lands, clean water, and a better climate.” *****

His coup de gras, in terms of consolidating regional authority, came with the formation of the Metropolitan Council. Le Vander wanted this agency for long-range planning: of a transportation for the 21st century, and to aid in regional development. As an institution, it is an anomaly in that it is granted power to override the decisions and actions of local governments.

Despite the honor of receiving the most votes to date as a Republican, Governor Le Vander declined the opportunity before his primary. *** His decisions, and the institutions of government they initiated in his one and only term, are still with us today. No longer would Minnesota be a place without a plan, or disengaged decentralization.

We pivot to You, Father. We come to You for clarity. We get disjointed and need Your “consolidatus”; (Latin) make us solid again. Our first step towards this is remembering that You are El Roi, (the Strong One who continually sees), and reveals Himself more and more. Yet, You are King of the Universe, the True Judge, and though a never ending enigma, You reveal Your laws in ways we all can easily understand. Glad to increasingly know You, dear Father, and to be known!

Let’s start with giving You praise for the wisdom of Governor Le Vander and his heart to make clear our laws, and to facilitate consolidated efforts across the spectrum of civic leadership from the state level down to every township. It seems good and right that the weight of our legislation is much lighter when spread out, and the horses are all hitched and pulling in the same direction! Your Word bears witness to this principle in many places, but this is the specific word I hear now.
“Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NASB

Can we mull some of his noteworthy accomplishments with You now, dear Source? Will You bring discernment into these milestones of Le Sander’s administration from 1967-1971? Help us identify what is pleasing, what is honorable, and what may be an offense in these actions towards Your Kingdom.

As a first cause, we take note of the Department of Human Rights. While any sentient person could easily agree with the notion that everyone deserves equality, dignity, and freedom from discrimination based on any sort of physical markers or attributes. Do not all of G-d’s children deserve a life free from discrimination?

However, we can also attribute some inherent motive conflicts when Minnesota’s government attempted to become the authors and enforcers of virtues of the heart. Those critical of civil rights in this era, often were skeptical of such legal changes because they inserted the power of government into relationships it formerly had no authority over. It raised the question of “who” gets to differentiate wise and unwise choices in Harold Le Vander’s epoch; the government or the individual?

Further, Civil Rights were posited as a solution to the failures to treat people equally under the law. Yet, doesn’t this very notion betray that the government was also a guilty party in denying the rights of its citizens before its ratification? For example, did the neighbors living in the Rondo neighborhood create a system of “redlining” to shut out unwanted ethnicities, or was this the work of those well-familiar with the law such as: the City Council of Saint Paul, Ramsey County, and the Federal Housing Authority?

So we appeal our broken track record, as individuals and as State institutions, of our failures to acknowledge the image of G-d and the civil rights of our people. Will You forgive us as individuals when and where our discrimination denied Your Image within our neighbors? Will You similarly forgive us our misapplications of the laws and denials of justice as extensions of city, county, Minnesota, and Federal governments? Will You take this root offense up, out, and onto the Cross of Christ? Will You impart to us the gifts necessary to govern ourselves as You give the Department of Human Rights the same humility?

My next point of prayer touches Your environment in the formation of the Pollution Control Agency. Again, at first glance, who could rationally be opposed to “healthy air, sustainable lands, clean water, and a better climate”? Enforcing laws is normally a cut and dried issue when it comes to shared resources, but perhaps, the dirty little secret of compliance is that even “good” laws can become overly bureaucratic and subject to corruption.

May I offer You a brief example, Father? Allegedly, Dr. Stan Reminiski, formerly of the University of Minnesota, invented a state-of-the-art water purification system in the same timeframe that could capture heavy metals from various industries that were polluting our rivers. His system used some type of magnetism or ionic bonding to “grab” these polluting metals, and far exceeded the requirements of the technology then in use; perhaps a million times more effective. Yet, his labor of love was denied even as an experiment on the Mississippi River because environmental officials could not tick the box that it had a filter to change!?!

How many innovations and revelations, Eternal Father, have You given us through bright humans like Dr. Reminiski that have been blocked from better preserving Your lands and waters? Will You forgive us where our environmental protectors act as simpletons who only follow orders, and as the corruptible officials who are seduced by temporal power and or other types of gains? Will You build a heart and awareness of true compliance, and a humility in our expressions of environmental law such as the Pollution Control Agency? Will You forgive us where we have despoiled Your land, waters, and atmosphere for gain?

As a final point, we ponder the achievement of streamlining regional development through the creation of the Metropolitan Council. We see the same undercurrent of thought in Governor Harold’s push for this over-arching planning body; how can we better harness the energy of various counties to achieve a common goal such as public transit? Or to use his words more exactly, then-Governor LeVander said the Council “was conceived with the idea that we will be faced with more and more problems that will pay no heed to the boundary lines which mark the end of one community in this metropolitan area and the beginning of another.” ******

Eternal One, my point here is not to belittle the accomplishments of this organization, but to wrestle with some of the limitations of its organizational theory. For the sake of my argument, this body’s authority encompasses 188 communities, 22 special purpose districts, and 7 counties with a current 2021 budget of $1.164 billion. ***** If this cost were evenly spread across these cities and townships, it would be a price tag of $6,191,489.36 each. This appear to be a significant price tag for planning, not executing, the various developmental projects. To compound this cost, this body is able to override the will of local governments. Lord, I am probably making this too simplistic, but isn’t that a big ask?

In simple terms, if I asked my kids to pay me a fee to plan their future, and then also told them that I could override their dissent; would they see me as an “aid” to their growth? How can the member-communities maintain motivation to participate with this body, when there is an atmosphere of “voluntary compliance”? Does not this mandate created in 1967, supersede the roles defined by our State Constitution? Where is the accountability in this authority? What are the checks and balances that govern the Metropolitan Council?

Granted, I am only scratching the surface in this plea, and my knowledge is very limited. I simply wish to acknowledge to You this conundrum of compliance. In Ephesians 5:21, you ask us to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Yet how does one submit to a friend that won’t? Doesn’t this set us up for a co-dependent and unhealthy relationship? Dear G-d, how was this basic aspect overlooked by such brilliant minds 53 years ago? Will You remove this bitter root sown in 1967? Will You create a new way of planning that does not negate the will of the beneficiaries in the 7 county metro area? Will You take this weight; up, out, and onto the Cross of Christ?

In sum, Governor Le Vander brought marked changes that are still with us in Minnesota. No one, however brilliant and wise, can forsee all the potential strengths and weaknesses of their actions. To his credit, he surely did make the levers of government work more efficiently. Yet, one is left with a new awareness of why righteousness and humility are virtues so reinforced in Your kingdom; even a good system is as good as the hearts and wisdom of those who operate it. May we forever plan, build, move, create, honor the lowly, respect Your nature under Your authority. May we walk out our new laws and new paths with grace and truth. May we forever love the law like governor Le Vander, but remain cognizant that we are all lawbreakers in need the mercy of Our Father and our neighbor! Amen!

LeVander, Harold. “What I Remember Most.” Minneapolis Tribune Picture Magazine. January 1, 1967. Print.
** Roberts, Chad. Internet. July 29, 2011. https://patch.com/minnesota/mendotaheights/dakota-county-history-101-harold-levander-1910-1992-g99bcd2ad36
*** Minnesota Historical Society. Internet. “Harold P. LeVander Biography” https://mnhs.gitlab.io/archive/governors-of-minnesota-collections/collections.mnhs.org/governors/index.php/10004227.html
**** https://mn.gov/mdhr/
https://www.pca.state.mn.us/about
***** https://metrocouncil.org/About-Us/Who-We-Are.aspx
****** https://metrocouncil.org/About-Us/Publications-And-Resources/History-of-the-Council.aspx

20th Century, Environment, History

Wilderness Act of 1964 establishes the Boundary Waters Canoe Area

Looking back at what led to the 1978 BWCA Wilderness Act. virginiamn.com

1964
The Boundary Waters Canoe Area, named in 1958, gains new protections in the federal Wilderness Act. Amid conflict between recreationists and conservationists, more than one million acres of forests, lakes, and rivers are set aside as a federally managed wilderness. *

In 1909, a vast wilderness some 150 miles long and 1.2 million deep of forest
straddled the border of Minnesota and Ontario. President Theodore Roosevelt had just claimed it as the Superior National Forest and Superior Game Refuge which removed it from grasp of developers; usually logging or mining interests. By 1938, this area’s moniker became the Superior Roadless and Primitive Area which mostly meant that boats, trucks, snowmobiles, planes and permanent roads were curtailed. Within twenty more years in 1958, the United States Forest Service officially renamed and repurposed the Superior Roadless Area to the even more pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area. It would take another 6 years for this new area to be codified and defined by Federal law was wilderness.

Over half a century ago, our Federal government saw the pressure placed on public lands through economic development and population growth and sounded the alarm. What shall we do to protect areas from commoditization, and foster nature to remain wild? According to the United States Department of Justice:

“Congress passed the 1964 Wilderness Act in order to preserve and protect certain lands “in their natural condition” and thus “secure for present and future generations the benefits of wilderness.” 11 U.S.C. § 1131(a).” **

So, what are the tangible ramifications of these two generations of preservation?
For starters, it contains “the largest contiguous areas of uncut forest remaining in the eastern United States.” **** Additionally, the area boasts 1170 lakes, about 1200 miles of canoe routes, and approximately 2000 specified campsites. About 160,000 visitors interact with this wilderness each year. *****

Now we turn to You, Lord of the Lakes, and meditate with You. What do You wish to underscore about the Wilderness Act and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area? Can we watch this era in history with You?

As a first reflection, we establish this baseline truth from King David; “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.” Psalm 24:1 This establishes You as the Sovereign of this planet, and all living things within it including humankind. What does that mean in this context, Sovereign One?

Though some of our peoples may have acknowledged You as the first holder of the deed, our state already had established laws surrounding property rights and obligations. We see the Superior National Forest, motivated at the Federal rather than the local level, removed from Minnesota and Minnesotans their rights to development and the use of its primary commodities: mining, timber, and water. The next circle drawn around this property established it as a Primitive Area; but granted that its neighbors and inhabitants could use basic machinery and vehicles for transportation and safety.
We see the BWCA/Wilderness Act as a third redefinition of this property which disallows even humble outboard motors and snowmobiles.

So we see this source of agreement and conflict in 1964; users agreed that setting aside this land is wisdom, but disagreed strongly on what wilderness looked like. To illustrate, imagine that your family lived remotely on one of these lakes. It is likely, almost a given, that your family loves solitude and nature because that is where you have chosen to live. How is your safety affected, should an injury occur, if one cannot use an outboard motor? Should your child bleed out from an axe wound because canoeists are irritated by waves and even the noise of a motor? Shall original homesteaders be refused the use of a snowmobile and cargo sled to bring staples from town because it breaks the silence of the forest?

We confess these three rungs of conflict and judgment to You today in the finalization of the Wilderness Act of 1964 and the establishment of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, dear Father.
We have judged each others ability to utilize the land You have stewarded to this generation. In doing so, have we dismissed and judged Your intentions for this land?
We have judged each others heart in the second rung of preservation, though agreed in intent, and greatly curtailed the access to these lands by roads. In doing so, did we judge Your Children whose physical limitations do not allow them to hike or canoe from enjoying this property?
We have disagreed strongly over the limited use of an outboard motor or snowmobile in winter on this specific geography. In so doing, did we offend You? Did we deny our brothers and sisters a modicum of connectivity and safety for the sake of pristine silence for hikers and canoeists?

We are ashamed of the irony before You; we created a primitive area, but deny those most reliant on this land for survival their primal rights. Surely, these accrued offenses were not what Howard Zahniser had in mind when he wrote the Wilderness Act of 1964! We agreed to set aside this land, but have so little empathy set aside for those who oppose us internally. Will You heal these bitter roots that have and still embroil us in conflict over our National and State Parks? Will You lift these judgments up, out, and onto the Cross of Christ? Come and heal our past, free our present, and bless our futures to align with the land use intended in Your Economy and Dominion. Amen.

P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
** Internet. “the Wilderness Act of 1964”. https://www.justice.gov/enrd/wilderness-act-1964
*** Read more here; a “Chronology of Historical Actions for Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness within Minnesota’s Superior National Forest”. Helland, John. “Information Brief Minnesota House of Representatives Research Department”. October 2004. Internet. https://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/bwcawild.pdf
**** https://www.ely.org/boundary-waters/
https://bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=forum.thread&threadId=974544&forumID=12&confID=1
***** Learn about the visionary and author of the Wilderness Act of 1964.
Zahniser, Ed. “Howard Zahniser’s Vision of Wilderness”. Internet.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/aps-v13-i1-zahniser.htm

20th Century, History, Theatre, Uncategorized

Guthrie Theater

May 8, 1963
The Guthrie Theater, named for its founder and first artistic directory, Sir Tyrone Guthrie, opens in Minneapolis with a performance of Hamlet. Known as an innovator “interested in places that aren’t central marketplaces of theater,” Guthrie assembles a distinguished repertory company that includes George Grizzard, Hume Cronyn, and Jessica Tandy. *

In a private conversation over breakfast, three friends despaired the commercialization of Broadway. This triumvirate, composed of uber director Sir Tyrone Guthrie, stage manager Peter Zeisler, and producer Oliver Rea, committed to move elsewhere and build a theatrical community of their own design. ** They were determined to bring gravitas, excellence, and elevation to audiences not exposed to classical theatre.

To be more precise, Mr. Guthrie gave the following quote as to why he saw a promising future of theatre in the Twin Cities.
“We believe that something here (Minneapolis-St. Paul) had a chance growing into an institution where we did not believe that such a growth was absolutely possible on Broadway. The over competitive, over stimulated, over crowded nature of the Broadway theatre makes it impossible to take a longer view than Thursday next.” **
In Minnesota, these men found a fertile soil to plant their theatre. Local businesses and foundations donated exploratory money and land. Renowned local architect Ralph Rapson was tapped to provide his forward-thinking concepts to the building, and Tanya Moiseiwitsch designed the thrust stage.,* Public support was profound, and Minnesotans volunteered to boost ticket sales, and raised $2.2 million to establish the project.****

To embellish this point further, Dr. Guthrie gave the following answer to local Minnesota students when asked about the importance of “this kind” of theatre. His reply reveals his heart to inspire.
“Plays are meant to be acted, not dissected in a classroom…Just as a community needs a public library where great books are available, or an art museum where you can see great pictures, or a symphony orchestra where you can hear great music, so you need a theatre where great plays can be brought to life.” *

So we turn to You, Host of History, to remember this moment when a theatre is born. No one but You can write a script eons long, heighten the drama of the human experience, or provide the unexpected denouement of our Christ! Today, we remember You, first, as the Supreme Author and Director of the drama of life. Be forever praised!

We applaud Sir Guthrie’s efforts to establish a beachhead of this art form within the seas of entertainment of the 1960’s. Bravissimo! Has he captured Your heart when he stated, “Plays are meant to be acted not dissected in a classroom…”? We see something very sacred here; when one acts, they are placing their whole being in participation of a storyline while potentially engaging both themselves and their audience very deeply with the virtues of a great script. Engagement through action involves risk. Yet, the potential for learning at a much deeper level, and the rewards of making a brave journey are only known by those who partake. So, we thank You for this moment that sparked this vision in the Guthrie Theatre Company, its patrons and volunteers, and its impact on Minnesota of 1963!

It is apparent that this venture, which has captured the hearts of at least two generations of Minnesotans, had to battle through the seas of modernity. Since the era of movies and television, theatre has been largely monetized. Where can we find a place where “stories for the sake of stories” exist?

Although they can and do exist in live venues, we still and feel the encroaching arms of influencers. Playwrights become famous, often, when they sell their rights to make a movie of their scripts. All kinds of foundations seek writers, directors, dancers, and theatre companies who will bend a story to their liking. Even political and spiritual groups are in on the game; i.e. “we will fund you if you heighten this issue, let’s call it “Issue X”, in the public’s mind through your artistry.” Good G-d, have we moved an inch as artists from being the court jesters, poet laureates, or entertainers of the aristocracy?

But You, our Prophet of Parables, taught us in a similar way except You forsook our purse strings for our heart strings! Help me remember a few, Lord?
The Lamp-Matthew 5:14-16
The Mustard Seed-Mark 4:30-34
The Good Samaritan-Luke10:29-37
The Prodigal Son-Luke 15:11-32
The Sheep, Shepherd, and Gate-John 10:1-18
Though these fables and apologues were given to mostly agricultural Semetic people groups over fifty generations ago; they retain Your genius today for those not familiar with those sub-cultures! Conversely, the Messiah also intersected in parable with the educated and worldly within Israel, and freely spoke with relevance to Arabian, Persian, Greeks, and Romans. You spoke in parables to portray the unspeakable words of our hearts to us. Those not ready to engage with You heard a good story, while those who were found themselves exposed before Wisdom Eternal.

Will You forgive us our judgments past of a man who desired cultural engagement in greatness through the means of the Guthrie Theatre? Will You forgive us our misapplications of artistry, through all aspects of theatre, towards the highest bidder? Will You guide us as playwrights, actors, directors, crew members, costumers to “allow” our audiences to feel rather than emotionally manipulating what they “should” feel? Will You bless Minnesota theatre to go beyond Guthrie’s vision of greatness and into the Messiah’s chesed of heart?

Lord, I leave You with a story, (I’m sure You know it), and a prayer. About a century ago, three children climbed a hill outside Fatima, Portugal; Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta. There, they encountered an angel who taught them this prayer. I wonder if it was to buffer the suffering of the Great War? Today I echo this prayer which I amend only slightly.

“My G-d, I believe (in theatre and story), I adore, I hope, and I love Thee. I ask for pardon for those who do not believe (in theatre and story), do not adore, do not hope, and do not love Thee.”

P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
** O’Neill, Hannah. “An Englishman in Minneapolis: Sir Tyrone Guthrie”. May 12, 2017. Internet. https://www.continuum.umn.edu/2017/05/englishman-minneapolis-sir-tyrone-guthrie/
*** Combs, Marianne. “Architect Ralph Rapson at 91”. September 13, 2005. Minnesota Public Radio. Internet. http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/09/13_combsm_rapson/
**** A brief history of the Guthrie.https://www.guthrietheater.org/globalassets/pdf/guthrie_history.pdf
* “Guthrie Theater: Miracle in Minnesota”. (The Minnesota Theatre Company)1963. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkIXv_L3QHQ&t=456s

20th Century, Architecture, History, Uncategorized

Skyway System Begins

Construction of the Skyway in Minneapolis, Minnesota – 1962. u/mrhistoricalmaniac. https://www.reddit.com/r/minnesota/comments/ihsla5/construction_of_the_skyway_in_minneapolis/

1962
The first Minneapolis skyway is built, linking the Cargill and Roanoke buildings across 7th Street. Eventually, a system of 50 skyways turns much of the downtown area into an enclosed city within a city.*

When futuristic, climate-controlled Southdale Mall opened in 1956, the downtown real estate developers saw “the writing on the wall”, or rather the writing in the sky. Single connections between buildings above ground already had the example of the 17th floor connection between the Merchants Bank and the First National Bank circa 1931 in Saint Paul, MN. ** Architect David Griswold brought that idea down to the 2nd floor, bringing the idea of an interconnected city to a more repeatable and feasible level.

The following synopsis of Griswold’s achievement has recorded by mid-century real estate experts at TCModern.
“It was a simply designed, convenient way to get to the Golden Rule shopping store on (then) Eighth Street (now Seventh Place) and Minnesota street from their parking lot across the street. It was a very basic, crude structure, measuring roughly 8 feet wide with a concrete floor over a metal deck. It also didn’t have heating or air conditioning. It was however a very convenient way to get to and from the store without having to navigate through (at the time) one of the busiest intersections of both trolley lines and pedestrians in the city.” * Following suite to modernize downtown Minneapolis, real estate heavyweight Leslie Parker tapped Minnesota architect Ed Baker to design the first branch of its soon-to-be skyway system ca. 1959. This branch opened in 1962 connecting the Cargill and Roanoke buildings.** (Northstar Center and Northwestern National Bank) Mr. Baker’s design improved upon Griswold’s in its aesthetics and climate-controlled environment. *
Fueled by this success, Parker championed adding more branches in downtown Minneapolis. Within it’s first decade, Parker had built a bridge between Ed Baker and Phillip Glass in the design of the show stopping IDS Center. Moreover, it’s new Crystal Court become the hub connecting beaches of the skyway on all four sides in a dazzling, all-season semi-public space. ****

Though critics have decried the development as the demise of street life, time has shown that this may be a partial truth. Granted, the skyway system grew to encompass 80 city blocks and about 8 miles of connections. Acknowledged, this second-story system competes with street level development, making an indoor or outdoor walk a choice. As early as 1972, city officials and developers noted that this choice also doubled the options for walk-up traffic to small businesses, and raised the price of second floor rents. In the bi-polar environment of the Twin Cities, perhaps, two stories are better than one? *****

Developer of the Cosmos, let me come and join You in Your eternal “right now”. Can I sit by Your fire, and take a load off? Can we chat about this creative moment in the life of Minneapolis? On second thought, I will remain quiet and hear Your thoughts as You are the only Architect and Builder of life in this universe.

The foundation of this time is remembrance, so I remember these specific names to You. Thank You for the imagination of developer Leslie Parker. I won’t judge the motives of his heart, that’s Your job, but I am grateful for a human being that wanted downtown to remain relevant.

By the same token, let’s remember the names of Ed Baker and David Griswold. There is so much about architecture that is an Imitation of Our Father! One must be aware of history, art, aesthetics, engineering, mathematics, and materials to create relevant structures. We thank You for the insights, discipline, and positioning of these men to create these skyways at just the right time.

Additionally, we thank You for the jobs created in all the trades necessary to actualize these visions: steelworkers, riggers, crane operators, to name but a few. We are grateful for the nearly doubling of walkable areas downtown, and the small businesses supported by this foot traffic. It’s a good thing to add the notion of “third spaces” to a growing city. Thank you for these insights!

We have judged the skyways and their creators: in their beauty or lack of it, in utility for downtown renters, as advantageous to major and minor downtown businesses, and in a means of isolating the business class from the urban street level. Will You forgive us in our criticisms in this era of 1962 and through to the present?

Will You forgive our judgment of another’s sense of aesthetics? Will You forgive our judgments of the skyways in relation to downtown residences? Why is it our business if someone else wants to have their home interconnected with and 80 block grid? We have exuded envy that our major or minor workplaces have too little or too much access due to the skyway system, and broken Your command not to covet. Will You forgive us?

Lastly, some of us have judged that this system is inherently classist because it is not entirely public. Conversely, protagonists of the Skyway believe their rights allow them to choose between maintaining privacy, semi-public, or completely public access to the property they own. Will You stand between these parties and help them understand each other, even if they never agree?

In the present, our significant forces in urban planning and city government have suggested removing the skyway system because it only functions for those with access to the system, dear One. This notion makes us think about the wisdom of Solomon in solving his contemporary urban issues in 970-931BCE.

“At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house. On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, with no one in the house but the two of us. During the night this woman’s son died because she rolled over on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom. The next morning, when I got up to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. But when I examined him, I realized that he was not the son I had borne.”
“No,” said the other woman, “the living one is my son and the dead one is your son.”
But the first woman insisted, “No, the dead one is yours and the living one is mine.” So they argued before the king.
Then the king replied, “This woman says, ‘My son is alive and yours is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead and mine is alive.’ ”
The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought him a sword, 25and the king declared, “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!”
But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”
Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. By no means should you kill him; she is his mother.”
When all Israel heard of the judgment the king had given, they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.”

Will You impart mercy, clarity of understanding, and wisdom of the proponents and opponents of the Skyways? Will You take these bitter roots: up, out, and onto the Cross of Christ? May our love for our city cause us to yield to each other rather than extinguish the life that remains! Amen.

P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
** https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/first-national-bank-building-skyway
*** http://tcmodern.com/who-was-first-minneapolis-v-s-st-paul-skyway-system/
**** https://frankedgertonmartin.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/the-great-skyway-indoors-in-minneapolis/
***** Nathanson, Iric. Internet. “Minneapolis Skyways”. MNopedia. December 31,2013. https://www.mnopedia.org/structure/minneapolis-skyways
****** Read this wonderful story in full. Kaufman, Sam H . The Skyway Cities. Minneapolis: CSPI, 1985.

20th Century, Americana, Folk, History, music, Uncategorized

Bob Dylan before his First Album

Bob Dylan Music as a Child. ca. 1953-57. Fizz.net

1961
Hibbing’s Bob Dylan, once a play-for-free minstrel at bars around the University of Minnesota, releases his first album. He takes folk into rock and rock into politics, and becomes a legend of American music. Born Robert Zimmerman, he assumes a new name that pays homage to Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. *

So many words have been spilt attempting to uncover the mystery of Bob Dylan. As an historian of Minnesota, I don’t want to play musicologist, but rather focus on a few early relational aspects of his youth that may have contributed to his character which may have contributed to his epic impact on the 20th century.

Louie Kemp began his friendship with Bob at Herzl Camp near Webster, Wisconsin during their preteen years. To his recollection, he witnessed Zimmerman’s first concert at camp in 1954 as an 11year old. The boys hung out in their teen years around Duluth, Minnesota where Kemp grew up. Dylan played around the U of M when Kemp when in attendance there. He likened their adventures to “a modern-day Jewish version of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.” **

Out of respect, let us allow Mr. Dylan to tell his own story of his Minnesota roots.

“My brains and feelings have come from there… The earth there is unusual, filled with ore,” Dylan said in a 1978 Playboy interview. “There’s a magnetic attraction there: maybe thousands of years ago some planet bumped into the land there. There is a great spiritual quality throughout the Midwest. Very subtle, very strong, and that is where I grew up.” ***

Now we turn to You, Adonai, and listen to Your music. You spoke and created. Did the music of Your voice assemble the matter of this universe? Only You know. Yet we remember, today, the place that writing and music has in Your heart! May we sit with You and watch this moment, Eternal Father? May we listen with You to this exciting beginning when You laid the foundation for Bob Dylan’s artistic release?

We remember first the importance of Herzl Camp. A place with the stated goal of the formation of lifelong Jewish friendships. We remember another after Your heart, David, who bound himself to Jonathan “in close friendship”. (I Samuel 18:1-5) We remember this place and thank You for its contribution in bringing root friendships into the lives of many. Will You bless and keep it in perpetuity?

Next, we thank You that friends give us the place to become. When we are safe, when we are accepted, we begin to believe that we have a self worth knowing. What a treasure You put into us; the longing to know and be known! We praise You that these boys, Louie and Bob, could experience this kind of brotherhood.

Additionally, we thank You for the importance of place and context to Your people and Your Kingdom. You made the tabernacle a place to intersect with Your Presence. You rescued Israel from the famine and placed them under Joseph in Goshen. You gave Your nation Canaan and established Jerusalem. And You gave Bob Dylan the context of Hibbing?!

Yet, in Your economy of purpose, it all makes sense; Hibbing is a place of great contrasts. It’s surrounded by silence and the noise of the largest iron mine on earth. It’s both “Anysmalltown, USA” and significant to the world. Maybe it’s like the writing of Dylan: compact, expansive, verbose, but not over-baked in its turns of phrase? Perhaps it’s like Your storytelling: only honesty, robust, mysterious, prophetic, and believable?

In any case, we remember and applaud this memory of Mr Dylan’s first record to You. We thank You of the inheritance and richness brought to Northern Minnesota through the Jews of Lithuania and all Eastern Europe. We commend You for seeing the talent of an 11 year old, in the middle of the woods, next to the largest open pit mine, in the center of a continent.

We thank You that this young poet participated in many of the most significant events of the next decade, but did not lose his identity. For some reason, Dylan could explore subjects that were misconstrued as political, but not yield to the generational political pressures of the Greenwich folk movement or the hippies. Similarly, though critics tried to place him in a religious box, he always seemed to know the secret of the Messiah; faith is an internal freedom and a permanent hat tip to the Eternal One.

Will You forgive the misbeliefs, unbeliefs, and offenses against You through the folk movement of this era? Will You commend the honest questions of this generation, and bring the inward as well as external peace they sought? Only the Messiah can radiate and impart such healing to our stumbling and prideful race because You know our brokenness, yet still CHOOSE to love us.

Will You speak words of life to this generation and the next and the next as You did through Bob? Will You bring chesed through the music of Minnesota?

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.” ****

P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
** Read more about the young life of Mr. Dylan as told through his childhood friend Louie Kemp. Silver, Steven. Internet. Jewish Telegraphic Agency. https://thejewishnews.com/2019/10/18/louie-kemp-explores-his-friendship-with-bob-dylan/
*** Moran, Lydia. Internet. June 5, 2019. “60 years ago today, Bob Dylan graduated from Hibbing High School” https://blog.thecurrent.org/2019/06/60-years-ago-today-bob-dylan-graduated-from-hibbing-high-school/
****https://biblehub.com/galatians/3-28.htm
***** Read all of Louie Kemp’s stories and memoirs of Mr. Dylan in his book; “Dylan & Me 50 Years of Adventures”. https://www.dylanandme.com

20th Century, Americana, baseball, History, Minnesota, omnipresent history

Minnesota Twins First Game

1961 Press Photo Calvin Griffith, Cookie Lavagetto. origins unknown.

1961
Calvin Griffith’s Washington Senators are reborn as the Minnesota Twins. They lose ninety games in 1961, but Killebrew, Battey, and Kaat lead them to an American League pennant four years later.*

The history of the Twins is like an old baseball, two pieces of horsehide** somehow stitched together around a lot of yarns! In this case, the Saint Paul Saints and the Minneapolis Millers fans yielded a potent and sometimes violent 59 year rivalry (1902-1960) to back the new team in town. Gone were the days of streetcar double headers where fans and players alike could wind up bloodied by spikes and baseball bats in grudge matches both on and off the field for supporting their team. Baseball was about to become a bona fide professional sport when Calvin Griffith brought the Washington (DC) Nationals/Senators to town and renamed them the “Minnesota Twins”! ***

To backtrack a bit, Calvin Robertson may never had pursued a lifetime of baseball were it not for the tragedy of losing his father James at a young age. At age 11, the boy was taken in by his aunt Addie, whose husband Clark Griffith owned the Washington Senators, and the couple raised him as a Griffith. This meant his participation in baseball: he immediately worked as a batboy for the Senators through his childhood, and went on to both pitch and catch for at George Washington University.***

After university, he entered headlong into the business of baseball. He worked various office positions for farm clubs for the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Charlotte Hornets. **** Returning to DC, Calvin filled a variety of roles in the front office, and gained the trust and business acumen to assume more and more leadership roles. When his uncle passed in 1955, he was elected the President of the team that Clark had built.

Always a close-knit crew, Mr. Griffith and his sister Thelma inherited 52% of the franchise, and they populated its leadership with kin. Take for example that the positions of pitching instructor, farm director, stadium supervisor, and concessions were filled by their brothers and in-laws. In spite of the solid economic footing provided by their adoptive father, the club strained to fill the seats, and Calvin sought a way out of the doldrums in DC. ***

At a serendipitous moment, investors from Minnesota guaranteed $430,000 a year and attendance of 750,000 just as many in the American League were in a mood to expand. On October 26, 1960, it voted to expand to 10 teams and allow the move that Griffith longed to make.**** In their first season in 1961, attendance went from 743,404 to 1,256,743 fans, and the team placed 7th in the league.***** Within five years, they would arrive at the World Series led by superstar hitter Harmon Killebrew, and thereafter be taken as a team to contend with.

So now we come to the All; the Champion of the Universe! We remember today that You chose to include us in the business of Your family, and even to intimately know Your thoughts. You have searched for us when we weren’t even looking for You; You have adopted so many into Your family. All-Knowing One, can we sit with You and remember this time in history, and the lessons from the life of Mr. Calvin Robertson Griffith?

We initiate our prayer with remembering the power of Our Heavenly Father who chooses us. We commend to You Clark Griffith and whatever method You worked in his heart to want little Calvin. We applaud a man who took in a son just because that boy needed him, and then built him up the rest of his life. We are happy to learn the good story of Clark and Calvin Griffith.

We thank You that, perhaps, precisely because he was fathered into the family business, he could also be the conduit of blessing for so many in his immediate family. We thank You that a man who was mentored through every step of the ladder of success by his dad also had the ability to bring that out in his staff and players. We thank You for all the lessons learned between 1922 and 1961 on his slow path to ownership and success. Will You give us the diligence to pursue our goals, even if it takes forty years?

Again and again, we thank You that his determined persistence turned out to be the antidote for the schisms of our twin rivalry between Minneapolis and St. Paul. We had 60 years of experience in baseball before Calvin Griffith, yet we failed as fans and farm teams because our overidentification with our teams and the honor of our cities. How did this outsider teach us to just “play ball”? How did he ease us past some of our pettiness that couldn’t abide the letter ‘M’ on our ball caps because it might just mean ‘Minneapolis’ instead of ‘Minnesota’? Even the “TC” logo is a testament of binding the “Twin Cities” together under one roof to become one team.

Lord, we also remember to You the shortcomings of Griffith as father of the Twins. Though made in private, he allegedly made statements about choosing this city for expansion instead of New Orleans as follows,
“I’ll tell you why we came to Minnesota,” he said. “It was when I found out you only had 15,000 blacks here. Black people don’t go to ball games, but they’ll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant it’ll scare you to death. It’s unbelievable. We came here because you’ve got good, hardworking, white people here.” *******
This statement deeply wounded his star player Rod Carew. Carew left the team shortly thereafter for the Los Angeles Angels. And to the Hall of Fame.

Years later, Rod Carew gave this assessment of Mr. Griffith:
“When he traded me prior to the 1979 season, Calvin told me he wanted me to be paid what I was worth. Later that year the Angels made me the highest paid player in baseball. A racist wouldn’t have done that.”********

Lord, will You forgive Calvin Griffith his bitter root judgments of African Americans, New Orleans, and the Twin Cities? Will You forgive any counter-judgments made towards him by the fans and players of this state? Will You help us forgive our biological fathers, figurative fathers, mentors, and coaches when they have betrayed us? Will You heal the pain of these our Twins? Take these sins and separations up, out, and onto the Cross of Christ. Help us reach out; across the Mississippi or any other barrier, until we are on the same team again!

“The Law came, so that the full power of sin could be seen. Yet where sin was powerful, God’s gift of undeserved grace was even more powerful.” Romans 5:20 CEV******

P.T.H. cites timeline formerly at this URL: mnhs.org/about/dipity_timeline.htm
** https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1676509-the-evolution-of-the-baseball-from-the-dead-ball-era-through-today
*** Hennessey, Keith. “Calvin Griffith” Society for American Baseball Research. Internet. https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/calvin-griffith/
**** Internet. “Calvin Griffith” Baseball Reference. https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Calvin_Griffith
*****Ison, Jordan. “Minnesota Twins: On This Day in 1961, the Twins made their Minnesota Debut”. Puckett’s Pond. Internet. https://puckettspond.com/2021/04/19/willians-astudillo-pitched-breakingt-made-awesome-shirt/
****** https://biblehub.com/parallel/romans/5-20.htm
******* Calcaterra, Craig. “Twins have removed the Calvin Griffith statue”. Internet. NBC Sports. June 19, 2020. https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/06/19/twins-have-removed-the-calvin-griffith-statue/
******** Carew, Rod. “STATEMENT FROM ROD CAREW ON CALVIN GRIFFITH” (PDF). KSTP. Retrieved June 19, 2020.

20th Century, Governors, History, Minnesota, omnipresent history, Republican

Governor Elmer L. Anderson: A Progressive of Head and Heart

January 2, 1961- March 25, 1963
Elmer Lee Anderson, the thirtieth governor of Minnesota, was born in Chicago, Illinois on June 17, 1909. His education was attained at Muskegon Junior College and at the University of Minnesota, where he earned a business degree in 1931. He established a successful career with the H.B. Fuller Company, first working in the marketing department and eventually becoming the owner and president of the company. Andersen entered politics in 1949, serving as a member of the Minnesota State Senate, a position he held ten years. He next secured the Republican gubernatorial nomination and was elected governor by a popular vote on November 8, 1960. During his tenure, a fair housing bill was sanctioned; a statewide sanitary law was authorized; highway safety measures were initiated; and a governmental ethics act was instituted.*

“I remind people I want to be known as a liberal Republican. If that’s a dirty word, so be it.” Elmer Lee Anderson **

Governor E.L. Andersen led a life of enthusiasms, that led into ventures, that usually led into success. Though his parents split at a young age, he discovered that he had capabilities to provide for himself and his family selling: soft drinks, candy, and newspapers. He loved birds, and wrote articles as a young teen that made it into the local newspaper.***

Already a natural salesman, he sold for Sheldon, a specialty school furniture company, and this is when he moved to Minnesota. After graduating from the U of M in 1934, he entered H.B. Fuller as a sales manager, and eventually went on to become its president. His formula of good sales seemed firmly based in his solid ethics. The following quote shows his heart-felt business acumen.

“Anything the customer wanted should be seen as an opportunity for us to provide it. Number two was that the company should exist deliberately for the benefit of the people associated in it. I never liked the word employee. It intimated a difference in class within a plant. We always used the word associate. Fuller’s third priority was to make money. To survive, you have to make money. To grow, you need money. To conduct research and develop new products, you must have money. The need for money can be desperate at times. But corporations must put the quest for money in its proper place. Our philosophy did not leave out service to the larger community. We put it in fourth place, behind service to customers, our associates, and the bottom line. Community service cannot be paramount to a business, but it ought not to be omitted, as it too often is. Business must concern itself with the larger society—for reasons of self-interest if nothing else.” ****

Maybe this heart and philosophy underscores some of Andersen’s key achievements during his governorship, and the scope of human interests they spanned? We see his love of nature and ornithology as the loon was named our state bird during his tenure. What ne plus ultra! What more fitting symbol of this place and people; our idiosyncrasies and achievements? This bird is capable aloft or underwater, but walks poorly on land and must run on the surface of the water to take off!?! Its beak is a spear for fishing, and its sharp eyes a vibrant red. Don’t be taken aback by the loon’s haunting lonely cry; it just wants to live in solitude. In this, Andersen is our Adam!

His administration officially recognized alcoholism as a health problem. Maybe the most impactful change for posterity of his term is in his sanctioning of a fair housing act. (Though the Fair Housing Act 42 U.S.C. did not see fulfillment until 1968, his was a quick response to just the problems that were brought to light in the public domain issues of the Rondo neighborhood.) *

Though succeeded by Karl Rolvaag after his one term in office, Elmer remained committed to the Republican Party, and his many pet causes and interests. Governor Andersen became a publisher, writer, and archivist while owning interests in ECM Publishing. He clearly was a bibliophile, and amassed a collection of over 12,000 rare books that went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Library. He was known as the father of Voyageurs Nation Park, working ceaselessly with other famous Minnesotans like aviator Charles Lindbergh, to preserve this beautiful land and interconnected waterways for generations.***

We now bow to You: Governor of Governors, Sovereign of Sovereigns, Crown of all Crowns! As Isaiah rightly prophesied, “On that day, Adonai-Tzva’ot will be a glorious crown, a brilliant diadem for the remnant of his people.” Isaiah 28:5 CJB * We owe this land grant and political state of Minnesota to You alone Lord. What wisdom do You wish to convey through the life and events of Governor Elmer Lee Andersen?

We thank You that Andersen relished the pathway of sales from childhood throughout his life. What a blessing to realize one is talented in an area, and to remain in such a strength for life! We thank You that this particular salesman clearly articulated his raison d’être in writing for posterity, and approached his business with a sense of balance between profits and people. May You be praised in this, and give our salespersons your heart of community service within provision!

As a second proviso of well-being, we acknowledge Elmer’s willingness to name the elephant in the room; “Alcoholism”! Though he aptly called it a disease of the body, we remember to You that is also a disease of the spirit. A satisfied mind doesn’t need alcohol to amplify Your wonders; but a needy heart craves the next drink. We praise You that he chose to name this issue, and create pathways of help for generations of Minnesotans!

Prolonging his memory to You, we see his desire to end discriminatory practices in housing. He began the end of discriminatory lending practices; a practice of unnecessarily stratifying of a generation of Minnesotans. Surely there is a way to honor liberties of private property without racializing Your land! May we keep asking for wisdom in this! Willing You forgive us: in our business and finance industries, as communities, and as individuals made in Your image of this offense towards You and Your land which we temporarily occupy?

In sum, there is much praise worthy in Governor Anderson’s life. His love of books became a fruitful business, which circled back to bless the branches of the University of Minnesota. A passion for the Creation led him to advocate to preserve Voyageurs. In this, he is just like You!

Precisely because of Governor Andersen’s good character and habit of fulfilling good desires, I am reticent to criticize, yet I must add these words and questions to You, Lord. We, who love progress, must define what progress looks like to move society towards it. Often, progressive movements work through the machinery of the State to fulfill their purposes. Does not this oblige others to both sanction and fund a definition of progress that they do not hold in their heart?

Forgive my weak wordplay, Messiah, but who protects our figurative loons from progress? Who stands for those who are undefiant, yet choose to fly alone? Maybe I have an inordinate fear of progressivism because of it’s inherent humanistic roots; “the progress of man”. Where is Your place in this worldview? Does it make allowances for Your Kingdom of forgiveness, humility, and innocence? What place do virtues such as patience and persuasion hold in a climate that waves a banner stating “Advancement Now!”?

Yet this is where I arrive in watching this era of Elmer’s leadership; we need You to stand between us. We ask forgiveness where our version of progress diminishes another; in this age of the early 1960’s, in the present, and into eternity. We invite Your wisdom into the ways we must yield to each other. Keep us from conceit as we make concessions to the greater good. And may our self-defined greater good be submitted to our Greatest G-d.

“It is good to grasp the one
and not let go of the other.
Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.” Ecclesiastes 7:18 NIV **

*https://www.nga.org/governor/elmer-lee-anderson/
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_L._Andersen cited in Saint Paul Pioneer Press. 2004 article
*** Andersen, Elmer L. (2000). A Man’s Reach. Edited by Lori Sturdevant. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
**** “1941: Harvey Fuller Sells Company to Elmer Andersen”. H.B. Fuller. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
https://www.justice.gov/crt/fair-housing-act-1
***** “Publications: Princeton Union-Eagle”. ECM Publishers. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
****** Smetanka, Mary Jane. (1999). “Former Governor’s Gift Is Voluminous”. Minneapolis Star Tribune. Metro ed. April 1. p. 1A.
******* https://www.nps.gov/voya/learn/historyculture/index.htm
********https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Isaiah%2028:5
*********https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes+7%3A18&version=NIV

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