Category "You should know..."
June 09, 2005
Cedar-Riverside
Last day of my history class today! If it is offered again (and mostly likely will be) I highly, highly recommend this class and this professor: Topics in U.S. History: Exploring the Twin Cities Past taught by Professor David Chang.
For our last site visit, we walked around the whole entire Cedar-Riverside neighborhood this morning. You know that Riverside Plaza building with the funky not-so-bright-anymore colors on the sides on the west bank? Pretty much that whole neighborhood, its shops and community centers. My professor talked about the predominant Somali population in this area. I think many people noticed the influx of the Somalian population, but I don't believe that people have ever stopped to really learn the roots of why or how they got here. I would have taken notes and I would be sharing that with you but it was the last day, would you? For the tour, we even had 2 tour guides, 1 of which was involved in Americorps. The other girl has grown up around in Minneapolis her whole life and has dedicated the past 5 years to research the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood and help with other community center services. The passion that these girls share for this community is amazing! And they filled me up with more information than I could handle. Some things that stuck out: Many of these refugees are unable to learn because of Post Traumatic Stress due to malnutrition or having witness the murder of their own family back in their country. Also, did you know that alcohol is against Muslim religion? Somalia does not have an official government so it's difficult to prove marriage, birth or seek asylum.
The same neighborhood and buildings that these refugees and immigrants reside in used to house the first wave of Vietnamese refugees, many Korean immigrants and especially Danes, Fins, Nordics, Germans, Russians, etc. As the second generation of those immigrants became more succesful they moved out and away from the city and a new wave a immigrants moved in. This is what we have today. It's more in depth than that, but it's very interesting.
Posted by thao0226 at 01:56 PM | Comments (2) | You should know...
Category "You should know..."
May 31, 2005
History
Topics in US History: Exploring The Twin Cities' Past is the name of a history class that I am taking in addition to Topics in Composition: Wikis and Blogs. From the readings and lectures of that class, I have conjured up some more major themes in world issues. First, let me tell you why I'm taking this history class: I'm minoring in history. Well allow me to explain why I'm minoring in history. History is important for everybody! History is a way of connecting yourself to the world around you and the issues and problems we have today. You understand why things are happening, the root of certain issues, you might even understand the importance of the people named after streets and schools. In my freshmen year of college, I learned the difference between Iraq and Iran! So what does this have to do with supposedly "saving the world" or whatever my focus is? Educate yourselves in a little history, you will learn a lot of valuable things. History connects everything to everything. The Twin Cities, for example, hold an imense amount of history in our neighborhoods, rivers, buildings, and freeways. Does it make you curious as to why people started to immigrate to the Twin Cities? Why the predominate ethnic group in the Twin Cities in the late 1800's/early 1900's were Nordics? What purpose Fort Snelling held and what it stood for? What bands of Native American Indians resided on these banks before white settlers eventually drove them off with broken treaties? Or something interesting indeed--- the racism and discrimination against Jewish people in the Twin Cities? How the majority of the black community shifted from St. Paul to Minneapolis? These are all questions that I don't particularly have answers to yet. But they definitely pique my brains. Don't they pique yours? I'm afraid I'm being too vague about the importance of history.... or straying off. There is a familiar saying that history repeats itself. This is the point: conflicts, racism, broken promises, genocide, etc--- they are all a part of world history. When we recognize it, perhaps this time we would better address it!
Posted by thao0226 at 02:42 PM | Comments (3) | You should know...