Brenda Natala

Exec Director of Special Education @SPPS. Tweets are my own.

[Brenda Natala @BrendaNatala]

Well said

[Michael Harriot @michaelharriot]

Before you begin your thinkpiece, the Supreme Court DID NOT strike down Affirmative Action

Admission preferences for legacies, donors, employee families and special recommendations are still allowed

The Court struck down Affirmative Action For everyone except WHITE PEOPLE

[AskAubry 🦋 🐆🦝 @ask_aubry]

Amelia Earhart's letter to George Putnam, clearly setting boundaries for their marriage.

[Gary Hornseth @GaryHornseth]

On this date: An anthropomorphic telephone book touts the arrival of the July 1935 edition of the twice-yearly Minneapolis directory. (Star, 6-27-1935)

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

Thomas Sankara was a revolutionary African leader.

He drove out French imperialism from Burkina Faso and withdrew from IMF and made the country non-reliant on foreign aid.

He was assassinated in a coup led by his close ally, Blaise Compaoré supported by French imperialists

As far as African leadership goes, Thomas Sankara was cut from a different piece of cloth.

Here are some of his accomplishments, ONLY 4 YEARS in power (1983-87):

– He vaccinated 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever and measles in a matter of weeks.
– He initiated a nation-wide literacy campaign, increasing the literacy rate from 13% in 1983 to 73% in 1987.
– He planted over 10 million trees to prevent desertification
– He built roads and a railway to tie the nation together, without foreign aid
– He appointed females to high governmental positions, encouraged them to work, recruited them into the military, and granted pregnancy leave during education.
– He outlawed female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy in support of Women’s rights
– He sold off the government fleet of Mercedes cars and made the Renault 5 (the cheapest car sold in Burkina Faso at that time) the official service car of the ministers.
– He reduced the salaries of all public servants, including his own, and forbade the use of government chauffeurs and 1st class airline tickets.
– He redistributed land from the feudal landlords and gave it directly to the peasants. Wheat production rose in three years from 1700 kg per hectare to 3800 kg per hectare, making the country food self-sufficient.
– He opposed foreign aid, saying that “he who feeds you, controls you.”
– He spoke in forums like the Organization of African Unity against continued neo-colonialist penetration of Africa through Western trade and finance. • He called for a united front of African nations to repudiate their foreign debt. He argued that the poor and exploited did not have an obligation to repay money to the rich and exploiting
– In Ouagadougou, Sankara converted the army’s provisioning store into a state-owned supermarket open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country).
– He forced civil servants to pay one month’s salary to public projects.
– He refused to use the air conditioning in his office on the grounds that such luxury was not available to anyone but a handful of Burkinabes.
– As President, he lowered his salary to $450 a month and limited his possessions to a car, four bikes, three guitars, a fridge and a broken freezer.
– A motorcyclist himself, he formed an all-women motorcycle personal guard.
– He required public servants to wear a traditional tunic, woven from Burkinabe cotton and sewn by Burkinabe craftsmen. (The reason being to rely upon local industry and identity rather than foreign industry and identity)
– When asked why he didn’t want his portrait hung in public places, as was the norm for other African leaders, Sankara replied “There are seven million Thomas Sankaras.”
– An accomplished guitarist, he wrote the new national anthem himself

[AFRICAN & BLACK HISTORY @AfricanArchives]

‘Potato King of The World’, Farmer, landowner and businessman, Junius G. Groves (1859-1925), was one of the wealthiest African Americans of the early 20th century.

Born enslaved in Green County, Kentucky, Groves was later liberated and joined other freedmen in the “Great Exodus” to Kansas in 1879, eventually finding work as a farmhand.
Impressed with his strong work ethic and production, Groves’ employer offered him nine acres of land to farm on shares. By 1884, he and his wife Matilda had saved enough to purchase 80 acres of land near Edwardsville, Kansas. So successful was their venture that, just four years later, they had acquired a total of 2,000 acres and replaced their one-room shanty with a 22-room mansion. Groves made a name for himself as a potato grower, producing as many as 721,500 bushels in one year – far and away more than any other farmer – and earning the title of “Potato King of the World.” He also operated a general store, maintained several orchards, and had investments in various mining and banking interests. Groves worked the farm until his death in 1925. He attributed his success to the endless hard work and devotion of his wife and 12 children.

[Brenda Natala @BrendaNatala]

Z

[my book is better than my tweets @MichellCClark]

The versions of yourself that fall short are just as deserving of love as any other version of you that has ever existed.

[B&S @_B___S]

Cheetah and Labrador Retriever 

While this relationship may look abnormal and potentially dangerous, the Columbus Zoo introduced a puppy in an effort to calm down one of their rescued cheetahs. The cheetah naturally experienced high stress, and it has found that the companionship with this Lab has not only helped it calm down, but thrive
📷 Grahm Jones

[Brenda Natala @BrendaNatala]

@Little_Lair If in St Paul, Neighborhood Cafe on Selby near Snelling. Not far from MPLS.

[Minnesota United FC @MNUFC]

Tonight's game ball was delivered by a very special @GilletteChildrn patient: Peter Adkins. Peter loves soccer, baseball, football, and basketball. When he grows up, Peter would like to be a musician. Thanks, Peter!

#MINvRSL | #MNUFC

[Minnesota United FC @MNUFC]

𝗟𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀, 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱

1. Lake Superior
2. Lake of the Woods
3. Lake Minnetonka
4. Bde Maka Ska
5. Mille Lacs Lake
6. Lake Vermilion
7. Lake Chipotle (rip)
8. Lake Harriet
9. Lake of the Isles
...
10,001. Great Salt Lake

#MINvRSL | #MNUFC

[Nyaboth Paska @NyabothAkwoch]

Here is a summary🧵 of my experience in Khartoum #Sudan and beyond when the conflict erupted on 15 April!

- I Arrived Khartoum on 10th April, to take up a new role. I went to office on Tues, Wed and Thurs. Fri & Sat is weekend. Sunday is first day of the week and work.

[✭ 🅑🅤🅑🅑🅐 ✭ @BubbatheOG]

Stop what you're doing, especially if you're Caucasian and female, and pay attention to this. Do or die moment.

[Ms. Andry Noir, PhD @keatingssixth]

All this arguing about “who don’t eat rice” is ridiculous considering A LOT of our food in the African diaspora is either the same or similar.

So here’s some examples of diasporic foods that are the same, similar, or have the same roots:

[Minnesota United FC @MNUFC]

Tonight's tifo is designed by Anishinaabe artist Sarah Agaton Howes of Heart Berry, in honor of Native American Heritage Night.

#MNUFC | #MINvORL

[Brenda Natala @BrendaNatala]

Yes yes and yes. Please listen to special ed administrators. The special education workforce shortage is dire.

[The 74 @The74]

A 5-year-old credentialing law has diversified Minnesota’s teacher workforce and whittled down shortages — including 2,000 special education positions. Now, state officials want to roll it back https://t.co/SwwwN1IW8g

[English Radical History @EnglishRadical]

“I founded the association [to prove] that women are not the ‘ornamental and useless’ creatures men have pictured.”

The British Ladies’ Football Club, founded by Nettie Honeyball, played its first public match #OnThisDay 1895 in front of 11,000 spectators at Crouch End, London.

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

Adventists are some of the healthiest people in America, with low rates of cancer and a long life expectancy. This has sparked interest among researchers https://t.co/AIB2VSDhrx

[Gary Hornseth @GaryHornseth]

Four ads, Minneapolis Tribune
March 22, 1936