North Dakota Human Rights Coalition
Working to effect change so that all people in North Dakota enjoy full human rights
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North Dakota Human Rights Coalition Working to effect change so that all people in North Dakota enjoy full human rights |
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~North Dakota Human Rights Coaltion~ Visit our Website at www.ndhrc.org
October 14, 2003
Programs ~ Announcements ~ Updates ~ Resources
Hello members and friends of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition!
In this week’s PAUR Report:
Announcements 1) NDHRC Conference Registration Deadline Extended to October 17 2) NDHRC Board Member Selected 2003 Prairie Peacemaker 3) REMINDER…North Dakota Peace Coalition 20th Annual Peace Congress this Friday & Saturday
Newspaper Articles 4) Suit filed against Minot landlord by fair housing council and former Minot resident charging discrimination 5) The Forum (Fargo), Surveying diversity 6) The Forum (Fargo), Three Fargo families evicted 7) The Forum (Fargo), Michael Vacha letter: An absurd position about Christians 8) The Forum (Fargo), Hearing the work a new way 9) Grand Forks Herald, VIEWPOINT: Law school’s clinical program serves purpose 10) Grand Forks Herald, Turtle Mountain chairman sworn in 11) Grand Forks Herald, Associated Press, Wyoming marks anniversary of gay killing 12) Bismarck Tribune, Affront to Indians was the context 13) The Forum (Fargo), Threats tied to turmoil in Fargo neighborhood 14) Williston Daily Herald, Visioning forum set for city
Events 15) North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities (NDCPD), Statewide Disability Training/Workshops, October – November 16) “Stolen Dreams” Open House, Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center, Moorhead, MN
Reminders 17) Death with dignity discussion in Fargo 18) The Forum (Fargo) Gandhi’s birthday marked with month of events in N.D. 19) Sisters of the Presentation at Sacred Heart Convent Presents “Peace Studies” 2003 Series (Various Locations in ND and MN)
********************************************* Announcements *********************************************
1.) NDHRC Conference Registration Deadline Extended to October 17
The registration deadline
has been extended to October 17, 2003!
Please forward this information freely.
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2.) NDHRC Board Member Selected 2003 Prairie Peacemaker
The North Dakota Peace Coalition has selected Sr. Celine Foy as the Prairie Peacemaker for 2003.
Sr. Celine Foy is a member of the Sisters of the Presentation order in Fargo. She has been a member of the North Dakota Peace Coalition for over 15 years and currently serves as Vice President on their Steering Committee. She is a founding member of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition and has recently served on their board of directors.
The North Dakota Peace Coalition selected Sr. Celine for this distinguished award because of her work for peace and social justice, her work with the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition and for her advocacy for sustainable energy and environmental preservation with various environmental organizations.
The North Dakota Peace Coalition appreciates Sr. Celine's knowledge of global peace and social justice issues and their connection to the environment. Her knowledge, enthusiasm and sensitivity in her work for peace and social justice continue to inspire all who work with her. Sr. Celine Foy will be presented with the Prairie Peacemaker award at the North Dakota Peace Coalition's 20th annual Peace Congress banquet, which will be held on Saturday, October 18, 6 p.m., at The Eating In, 69 4th St. N, Fargo. Advance banquet reservations are required and the cost is $15 per person.
For more information, contact Lisa Brown, 701-232-3765, or contact the North Dakota Peace Coalition at ndpeacecoalition@yahoo.com.
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3.) REMINDER…North Dakota Peace Coalition 20th Annual Peace Congress this Friday & Saturday
The North Dakota Peace Coalition will host its 20th annual Peace Congress in Fargo on October 17th – 18th. The theme is "New Leadership for Peace and Social Justice".
Please note that advance reservations are required for the banquet.
The ND Peace Coalition is an organizational member of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition.
View additional conference information here
********************************************* Newspaper Articles *********************************************
"The Defendant in this lawsuit is the landlord referred to in NDHRC Fact Sheet #5 at http://www.ndhrc.org/fact_sheet5.htm. The majority party in the North Dakota legislature in 2003 decided that a Commission on Human Rights was not needed in North Dakota, despite the Division of Human Rights' decision in this complaint."
Suit Filed Against Minot Landlord by Fair Housing Council and Former Minot Resident Charging Discrimination
BISMARCK, ND, October 7, 2003 – The North Dakota Fair Housing Council (NDFHC) and a former Minot resident have filed a federal lawsuit against Earl Allen, a Minot landlord, charging discriminatory housing practices against people with disabilities and due to race, color and national origin.
In 1999, the NDFHC received a complaint of discrimination against Mr. Allen from a then Minot resident alleging discrimination based upon race and disability. On the basis of the complaint, the NDFHC conducted an investigation of Mr. Allen’s business operations. The investigation by the NDFHC confirmed the basis for the complaint. As a result, in 2000, a complaint was filed with the North Dakota Department of Labor’s Division of Human Rights and with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) alleging housing discrimination based upon disability and race. On October 28, 2002, the North Dakota Department of Labor issued a determination of no reasonable cause.
The lawsuit charges that Mr. Allen instructed agents and employees to discourage or refuse any rental application submitted by Native Americans; applied different lease requirements to rental applications submitted by African Americans; refused to rent a dwelling unit to a person because of his or her disability; failed or refused to allow reasonable accommodations based upon disability; and threatened and harassed former employees with knowledge of his discriminatory housing practices. The lawsuit also alleges that Mr. Allen made discriminatory statements about people with disabilities, Native Americans and African Americans such as referring to Blacks as “niggers” and “savages”, asking a tenant if she minded that Blacks were living downstairs and remarking that he didn’t want an African American family’s apartment “to turn into a commune like they do down south”.
<snip>
View full release here
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5.) The Forum (Fargo), Surveying diversity
Surveying diversity
Mike Nowatzki
column
Students, staff and faculty at four Fargo-Moorhead colleges can expect to receive a survey on campus diversity by the end of October.
The survey is being distributed in both paper and e-mail form by Training Our Campuses Against Racism, an initiative involving NDSU, Minnesota State University Moorhead, Concordia College and Minnesota State Community and Technical College. The F-M YMCA also joined the collaborative last fall.
Since it started two years ago, TOCAR has organized anti-racism teams on each campus, held several anti-racism training seminars and developed the upcoming survey, said Phyllis May-Machunda, who coordinates the initiative with fellow MSUM professor Amy Phillips.
TOCAR recently received a two-year, $175,000 grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation to continue its work.
This fall, the collaborative will offer team training and administer the campus-wide survey. The campus anti-racism teams will use the data to make recommendations to their administrators about long-term anti-racism plans.
<snip>
View online article here
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6.) The Forum (Fargo), Three Fargo families evicted
Three Fargo families evicted
Three families have been evicted from Fargo community housing as a direct result of a Sunday menacing incident.
At a city-organized meeting Thursday, neighborhood residents discussed the incident, which included three residents chasing an unidentified person. The three were wielding a machete, a bat and a large stick, police said.
With the three families kicked out of their homes, and many others fearing for their safety, few were happy at Thursday night’s meeting, at south Fargo’s Eagles Kindergarten Center.
“We’re trying to break down misunderstandings and get to know one another better,” said Fargo Police Chief Chris Magnus Thursday to a gym full of recent Bosnian immigrants and longtime Americans.
<snip>
View online article here
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7.) The Forum (Fargo), Michael Vacha letter: An absurd position about Christians
Michael
Vacha letter: An absurd position about Christians
Barry Barringer’s Sept. 13 letter was absurd.
He makes several statements that have no basis in reality, and then tries to expand upon them. One of his claims is that Christians are not guaranteed protection from harassment at work. This is, quite simply, one of the most ludicrous claims I have ever heard.
It is quite a stretch to say that anyone would harass a Christian in the workplace. If anyone did, the Christian would have just as much right as the Buddhist, the homosexual, the obese, the old, the female, or anyone else to report it to management and have the offender disciplined in some manner, be it suspension, termination, or another punishment. Businesses take harassment very seriously because they know what sort of legal trouble they can get into if the offended person holds the employer responsible for allowing an unfriendly environment to exist at work.
We are also asked to imagine him at work, being removed because someone assumes he is writing death threats while taking notes on the Bible. No one would ever assume this about someone taking notes on the Bible, unless the person taking the notes led others to believe he or she was the type of person to write death threats. Management would not have a person removed unless there was some sort of proof the person was writing death threats.
<snip>
View full article here
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8.) The Forum (Fargo), Hearing the work a new way
Hearing the word a new way
The Hyun family didn’t speak English and had never been to the United States when they emigrated to the Fargo-Moorhead community from South Korea.
But they came with a mission: To bring Korean culture through a Presbyterian ministry to Koreans and others in the area.
Five years later, the family of four is hoping to expand that mission with recently purchased translating devices.
On a recent Sunday afternoon, after other church services had already let out, the Rev. Young Han Hyun stood before approximately 25 people, playing guitar and singing enthusiastically in Korean and English.
Hyun heads the Korean Presbyterian Church of Fargo-Moorhead, which has a congregation of 25 to 30 members and doesn’t have its own building.
<snip>
View full article here
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9.) Grand Forks Herald, VIEWPOINT: Law school’s clinical program serves purpose
VIEWPOINT: Law school's
clinical program serves purpose
FARGO - As an attorney in North Dakota for more than 15 years and as a law student who participated in the UND School of Law clinical program, I take issue with several of Ronald Fischer's statements.
Fischer implies that the law school's legal aid program somehow should restrict itself to family law cases, as those cases are the ones that most low-income people need. Fischer apparently is unaware that since his tenure in the clinical law project, Legal Assistance of North Dakota has made the decision to serve low-income residents of Grand Forks through its office in Fargo, removing the clinical law program from that part of service to low-income clients in North Dakota.
Fischer also seems unaware that through its Civil Litigation Project, the clinical law program accepts referrals from Legal Assistance of North Dakota of clients ineligible for the legal assistance program's services because of income levels or the fact that their family law (or other) case does not fall within LAND priorities. Because of this, low-income clients in Grand Forks actually receive more legal services than do residents of the rest of the state.
<snip>
View full article here
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10.) Grand Forks Herald, Turtle Mountain chairman sworn in
Turtle Mountain chairman sworn in Grand Forks Herald – 10/6/2003
The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa has a new leader.
Leon Morin was sworn in Friday as chairman, replacing Richard Monette, who resigned.
Morin, 42, has been a tribal councilman since last year, after serving a two-year term from 1998 to 2000. He had been the tribe's vice chairman the past seven months.
Morin has served in the Army and worked in law enforcement for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 17 years. He owns a business in Belcourt.
"I will do my best and help move the tribe forward, and continue the work and projects that Monette had started," Morin said.
<snip>
View full article here
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11.) Grand Forks Herald, Associated Press, Wyoming marks anniversary of gay killing
Wyoming marks anniversary of gay
killing Grand Forks Herald – 10/7/2003
LARAMIE, Wyo. - Five years ago Tuesday, an openly gay college freshman named Matthew Shepard was tied to a fence and beaten into a coma.
His death five days later left Peter Moran shaken about the community of 27,000 where he grew up.
"It was the worst possible thing you could hear about your hometown," Moran recalled. "Laramie, Wyo., is a nicer town than this," he remembered telling his wife.
Today, Laramie seems to be more tolerant and understanding of gays. There are seminars on homosexual issues, diversity workshops and an annual walk to raise money for AIDS/HIV organizations.
<snip>
View full article here
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12.) Bismarck Tribune, Affront to Indians was the context
Affront to
Indians was the context Bismarck Tribune – 10/8/2003
In her Sept.
30 letter regarding the T-Shirt produced for a St. Mary's Central High School
football game, Tina Fricke said that she saw only that "the Indian represents
the Mandan Braves" and that she did not see anything offensive about that. Let's see,
now. How is looking at that T-shirt and seeing my race and culture depicted as a
trivial symbol of an unimportant football game "taking things out of context"?
<snip>
View full article here
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13.) The Forum (Fargo), Threats tied to turmoil in Fargo neighborhood
Threats tied to turmoil in Fargo neighborhood
A 36-year-old West Fargo woman faces terrorizing charges for a Friday incident police believe is connected with recent turmoil in a south Fargo neighborhood.
Police said Munevera Mustafic, 1401 12th St. E., threatened another woman Friday afternoon in the parking lot of a Fargo hotel.
The suspect said statements such as, “If you don’t quit this job, I’m going to kill you,” and, “My husband is going to catch you and your kids and we’re going to kill you all,” court records say.
Cass County attorneys charged Mustafic Monday with terrorizing, a Class C felony.
Police said the victim reported the suspect and suspect’s family had previously chased her with knives and large sticks.
<snip>
View full article here
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14.) Williston Daily Herald, Visioning forum set for city
Visioning forum set for city By LeAnn Eckroth, Staff Writer Williston Daily Herald – 10/6/2003
The Williston City Planning Office will be hosting a Community Visioning Forum, focussing on disability-related issues, from 7 to 9 p.m. Oct. 16 at the Williston Community Library.
"It will be a round-table visioning process," said Elaine Sinness, assistant city planner. "We can sit down and address different issues and receive input from those who attend."
Sinness said the city has continued its pursuit of improving accessibility since the Americans With Disabilities Act went into effect in the early 1990s, but said more should be done. Issues that need to be identified and resolved involve hearing-impairment, visual, for those in wheel-chairs, those who are mentally handicapped and others.
She said several disabled advocates have come forth in the past two years voicing their concerns.
"We call this the grassroots approach. The people with disabilities are addressing the issues themselves," said Sinness.
<snip>
View full article here
********************************************* Events *********************************************
15.) North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities (NDCPD), Statewide Disability Training/Workshops, October - November
The North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities (NDCPD) at Minot State University are sponsoring FREE of charge Disability training/workshops this month and into November. Support for the training/workshops is made possible through the North Dakota Medicaid Infrastructure Grant.
The following workshops are designed for people with disabilities, their attendants, and service providers:
All training sessions begin at 9:00 AM and end at 3:00 PM. Break refreshments will be provided; lunch is on your own.
The training sessions schedule is as follows:
October 15, 2003 Williston El Rancho Motor Hotel 1623 2nd Ave W
October 16, 2003 Minot International Inn 1505 N Broadway
October 21, 2003 Dickinson Hospitality Inn 532 15th St W
October 22, 2003 Bismarck Best Western Doublewood Inn 1400 E Interchange Ave
October 28, 2003 Jamestown Gladstone Hotel & Suites 111 2nd St SW
October 29, 2003 Devils Lake American Inn & Suites 1116 Hwy 2 E
November 4, 2003 Fargo Best Western Doublewood Inn 3333 13th Ave S
November 6, 2003 Grand Forks Best Western Town House 710 1st Ave
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16.) “Stolen Dreams” Open House, Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center, Moorhead, MN
"Stolen Dreams" (October 11, 2003? – December 22, 2003) is an exhibition of 70 contemporary photographs by occupational health physician Dr. David L. Parker. Dr. Parkers shows in very real, moving photographs that the issues of child labor is not one of the past, but one that is affecting the entire world community - including the United States.
"My project can never be completed" says Parker, "what exists is too vast to be seen or documented fully, but it is too important to ignore."
For more information about Stolen Dreams visit http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/gallery/intro.html.
********************************************* Reminders *********************************************
17.) Death with dignity discussion in Fargo
Faye Girsh, EED, Denver, CO,
Senior Vice-President of End-of-Life Choices (formerly The Hemlock
Society USA) speaks in Fargo on Friday, October 17, 2003,
7-9:00 PM, Cedar Room, Doublewood Inn, 3333 13th Ave. South, Fargo. The
topic is Death with Dignity: The Ultimate Civil Liberty. She addresses
steps that people can take to ensure a dignified death. The presentation
includes: · Demographics of aging and decision making at the end of life. · Changing standards of geriatric care and pain care. · Public insistence on dignity in decision making at the end of life. · Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Oregon Death-with-Dignity law.
The event is FREE and open to the public and refreshments will be served.
For more information contact Alice M. Hauan at (701) 293-7590, (701) 799-8303 cell phone, or alicehauan@aol.com.
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18.) The Forum (Fargo) Gandhi’s birthday marked with month of events in N.D.
Gandhi’s birthday marked with month of events in N.D.
BISMARCK -- Statewide events during October will mark the 134th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, leader of India’s nonviolent push for independence.
The third annual Gandhi Peace Month observances are coordinated by the Gandhi Peace Network of North Dakota. It stem from Vinod and Arena Seths’ annual Gandhi Peace Dinner fund-raising event that began 10 years ago.
A peace pole rededication is set for 7 p.m. Oct. 14 at Fargo’s Nativity Catholic Church, 1825 11th St. S. The ceremony is in the chapel.
Other events around the state include:
E Dickinson: Debate on peace and nonviolence and a human rights film and discussion. For more information, call Leila Mangru, (701) 483-2322.
E Jamestown: Gandhi peace vigil, 5 p.m. Oct. 4. For information contact George Barnes, (701) 252-8366
E Bismarck: Among the events are food drives for the Bismarck food pantries and homeless shelters, collected at Econofoods and the Grand Theatre through the end of October. Minnesota musical duo the Granary Girls holds performances and serves as artist in residence at local schools. The annual Gandhi Peace Dinner, a six-course sit-down dinner, is Oct. 4. For reservations and more information, call the Seths at (701) 223-4234 or e-mail jjart@btinet.net. Funds raised benefit people in both India and North Dakota.
E Grand Forks: Peace pole rededication at University of North Dakota Conflict Resolution Center. For date and time, contact Janice Moen, (701) 777-4414. Weekly movies and discussion sponsored by Physicians for Human Rights will be held on UND campus. For more information, see http://phrusa.org/students/hhrfilms.html.
<snip>
View online article here
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19.) Sisters of the Presentation at Sacred Heart Convent Presents “Peace Studies” 2003 Series (Various Locations in ND and MN)
Presentation Peace Studies has an excellent series of forum speakers for the coming year. Please mark your calendars and more information will be forthcoming this fall!
Nov. 14, 2003 - "Security: An Affair of the Heart" Fr. Johns Sandell, Fargo Jan. 23, 2004 - "What Is a Peace Church?" Dr. Gerald Schlabach, St. Thomas U., St. Paul Feb. 27, 2004 - "What Does My Faith Call Me to in Violent Times?" Panel of three: B'hai, Quaker, Muslim Mar. 26, 2004 - "Jesus against Christianity" Dr. Jack Nelsonp-:Pallmeyer, St. Thomas U., St. Paul April 30 & May 1, 2003 - "Receding Violence, Reseeding the Earth - Harmony in the Web of Life" Helen Prejean and Marya Grathwohl
View additional information here
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***Member Reminder*** Please keep us in mind for your group or church social action/social justice meetings! We’d be happy to provide a presentation at a meeting or provide newsletter articles for your organizations.
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Do you have a Program, Announcement, Update or Resource that you would like shared on our weekly PAUR report? If so, please send an email to AndreaDeegan@NDHRC.org and we will do our best to accommodate you.
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North Dakota Human Rights Coalition P.O. Box 1961 Fargo, North Dakota 58107-1961 Phone: (701) 239-9323 Fax: (701) 478-4452 Email: humanrights@ndhrc.org
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