Saturdays are a cherished day. Many spend their Saturdays running errands – whether that be to get a haircut, visit a gift shop, or stop by the local hardware store. Saturdays are for stocking up on groceries at the neighborhood market, or self-care time at the yoga studio. Saturdays are making fun memories with family and friends at corner coffee shops, or a local restaurant to gather post-football game. More often than not, Saturdays are spent at small, independent retailers that provide consistent, quality goods and services for their communities.

Saturday, November 25 is an especially important day. It marks the 14^th anniversary of Small Business Saturday, where American consumers come out in droves to shop small and dine small, in-person or online, in mammoth support of small businesses nationwide. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is proud to be a co-sponsor of Small Business Saturday, founded by American Express in 2010.

Small businesses are the engines of our economy. They create two-thirds of net new jobs, and in Minnesota 525,156 small businesses employ 1.3 million people (which comprises 45.7% of Minnesota’s workforce). The day also advances equity by helping small businesses capture a larger piece of the critical holiday season consumer spending.

“With the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America economic agenda, the United States has experienced a historic small business boom being led by women and people of color at a rate 65% faster than the pre-pandemic average. By shopping small, we help create and preserve jobs which expands opportunities for inclusive prosperity and generational wealth building in communities,” says SBA Great Lakes Regional Administrator Geri Aglipay.

Shopping small online is also encouraged, as e-commerce is a priority of SBA Administrator Guzman because it helps make small businesses competitive across global markets. The SBA Great Lakes Regional Office and the SBA Minnesota District Office are thrilled to promote Small Business Saturday!

“Every independent store and dining venue are pillars in our communities. Small Business Saturday is a day to connect, appreciate, and celebrate the unique character and diversity of our local communities across the North Star state. Dining and shopping small spurs neighborhood growth and vibrancy,” according to Brian McDonald, SBA Minnesota District Director.

Make big moves!  Shop and dine small at local Minnesota small businesses for Small Business Saturday on November 25 and throughout the holiday season.

For information, visit www.sba.gov/mn and www.sba.gov/saturday.

Credit cards are an essential tool for many households and businesses in today’s economy. They provide a convenient way to make purchases without the need for cash or checks and offer benefits such as rewards programs, fraud protection, and the ability to build credit history. They can also provide a lifeline for individuals in emergencies to pay for essential expenses. They have become an integral part of our financial system, and their importance cannot be overstated.

However, bills like the Credit Card Competition Act would damage the credit system as we know it. This bill was introduced just last year with the U.S. Congress to regulate interchange fees, which are the transaction fees issued by credit card companies to merchants every time a customer uses a credit card. The bill would have also forced banks to include multiple network options for transactions, rather than utilizing their preferred network option, which would lead to less transaction security.

While the intent is to lower interchange fees and reduce costs for merchants who could pass these savings down to consumers, it could have unintended consequences that would hurt small businesses, limit access to credit, and take away credit card reward programs. This would disproportionately affect the Black community, who is more likely to rely on credit cards and rewards programs to make ends meet. Many credit card rewards programs offer cash back or other benefits that can assist lower-income individuals and families pay for essential expenses like groceries and gas. If these rewards programs are reduced or eliminated, it could make it harder for low-income families to make ends meet.

Additionally, corporate retailers would benefit greatly from these changes. As interchange fees are reduced, large corporations can improve their bottom line by pocketing the savings rather than passing them down to consumers. When similar legislation was passed in 2012 under what was known as the Durbin amendment, the same type of regulation scheme was applied to debit card transactions and corporate retailers were able to grow their profits by an extra $90 billion, while most of their prices remained the same.

Furthermore, capping interchange fees would limit access to credit for individuals with low credit scores or no credit history. A bill like this would make it more difficult for credit card companies to offer credit to high-risk individuals, such as those with low credit scores or no credit history. This could lead to fewer people being able to access credit, which would make it harder for them to make necessary purchases or even build credit.

Moreover, credit card companies generate significant revenue from interchange fees. This revenue helps offset the cost of providing credit to consumers. If these fees are lowered, then credit card companies could be forced to either raise their interest rates or reduce rewards programs to maintain their profitability and ability to provide credit. This would lead to higher costs for consumers and potentially reduce their willingness to use credit cards, which would harm the overall economy.

Instead of enacting the Credit Card Competition Act, lawmakers should consider alternative solutions that address the underlying issues. Lawmakers could work to improve financial education and access to credit for low-income individuals and families. While bills like the Credit Card Competition Act may have good intentions, they could have unintended consequences that would harm small businesses and minority communities, limit access to credit, and take away credit card reward programs.

To President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and perhaps most of the African leaders who traveled to Washington D.C. in December for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the meeting was a major success.

The gathering presented Biden with an opportunity to spell out a foreign policy on Africa that’s forward-looking. It was a much-needed summit to engage Africa and begin repairing relations, which were strained by former President Donald J. Trump, who once referred to Africa as a continent of “shithole” countries.

“The United States is all in on Africa’s future,” Biden told African leaders at the summit.

What Biden did next to prove that the United States is “all in” is perhaps why the African heads of state and other leaders from the continent would think the summit was a major success. He pledged more than $55 billion to help 50 countries combat food insecurity and the climate change factors that lead to it.

“Simply put, if a parent can’t feed their child, nothing else really matters,” Biden said.

Those of who understand Africa, however, know that the money is unlikely to significantly benefit most Africans because our leaders don’t feel the same about the children. Such handouts are the reason leaders never ask why Biden – or any of his predecessors – doesn’t come to Africa to talk to them, instead of always summoning them to the United States. They drop everything and rush to Washington at the snap of an U.S. president’s fingers because they know it’s easy money that they can spend discretionary.

Of course, you wouldn’t know that by listening to African presidents at these summits give speeches about their visions for the continent’s children. When in Washington, African leaders often sound like they are pan-Africanist revolutionaries, who genuinely care about making lasting changes in the countries they rule. Take, for instance, what President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana said at the summit.

“The urgent responsibility that we face is to make our countries and our continent attractive for our peoples to see them as places of opportunities,” Akufo-Addo said. “It means that we must provide education – quality education – and skills training. It means our young people must acquire the skills that run modern economies.”

On the African continent, the response has been starkly different from the mood in Washington. Many thought it was laughable that anyone thinks $55 billion, which will be distributed over the next three years to 50 countries, is enough to prove that the United States is going all in on the future of Africa.

“$55 billion for 50 states over 3 yrs period? What a joke! …. America, other than superpower patronage, has no development agenda for Africa. It never had. It never will,” Ahmednasir Abdullahi, a prominent constitutional lawyer and publisher of the Nairobi Law Monthly, tweeted.

Dr. Willy M. Mutunga, who served as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Kenya from 2011-2016, agreed with Abdullahi.

“The US has both underdevelopment and military agendas,” he said in a tweet. “Such meetings are for giving our leaders imperial economic, social, and political orders.”

Mutunga’s and Abdullahi’s views are becoming common on the continent, thanks to the ease at which people can access information about countries like the United States, which claim to be beacons of democracy and good governance. Africans are much more informed and can see the real motives of the superpowers.

One doesn’t have to be an expert on the complicated matters of internationals politics to know that there is a battle for Africa’s rich resources, pitting the United States and western European powers on one side, and China and Russia on the other. This recent struggle by the superpowers has come to be known unofficially as the second scramble of Africa. It’s understandable that Biden wouldn’t want to admit that his administration is engaged in any kind of scramble for Africa. But saying that the United States is going “all in” is still problematic, some might say.

To understand why the phrase might be seen as condescending, let’s look at this explanation by Ian Crouch, an editor at The New Yorker, a magazine that I think best explains the mainstream culture of the United States.

“In American usage, the phrase “all in” began as a colloquial expression meaning to be in a bad spot—exhausted, worn out, and spent. In the game of poker, it refers to the moment when a player—whether out of bravado, recklessness, or desperation—bets all of his or her chips on a single hand,” Crouch wrote in a piece about the misuse of the phrase.

We know that Biden didn’t mean to imply that the United States is going into Africa “exhausted, worn out, and spent”. But by using language used in poker, Biden might have made things worse because those words imply that the United States gambling on the continent. This should worry anyone who believes that African countries need to be treated as partners, rather than as some prized possession that powerful countries must scramble for and gamble on.

Another reason the idea of the summit wasn’t convincing to many in Africa is that it took eight years for it to return. The inaugural one took place in 2014 under the administration of Barack Obama, Biden’s former boss. The fact that nearly a decade passed before another summit shows that Africa is not a priority in the foreign policy of the United States. Sure, four of those years were under Trump, who loathed Obama and spent much his term in the White House trying to undo everything his predecessor did. But the truth is that not much happened in the two years between that first summit and Jan. 20, 2017, when Obama handed over to Trump. And why did it take Biden nearly two years to revive the summit?

There is also the fact that there was no significant progress in keeping the promises made after that first summit under Obama. At a townhall meeting held before the most recent one, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, who was one the heads of state who attended the first conference during Obama’s administration, was asked if anything came out of the 2014 meeting.

“Well, we had a good meeting,” he said after a long pause, sparking laughter from the audience. “And I’m sure we are going to have another good meeting.”

Whether there will be another U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in the future remains to be seen. But if history is something to go by, the United States will have other more important matters like the 2024 elections to attend to. In Africa, another human crisis will happen in a country that received a share of the $55 billion. No one in the United States will care ask what happened to the money, perhaps because most of it will be in offshore banks and some might make its way back into the U.S. economy the next time African presidents and their cronies visit the United States.

Recently, Governor Tim Walz announced that internet providers will receive nearly $100 million in funding to expand broadband coverage to more Minnesotans.  This largest-ever grant round is estimated to extend new high-speed internet connections to more than 33,000 Minnesota homes and businesses in 48 counties.

At the Department of Employment and Economic Development’s Office of Broadband Development, we’re working hard to get broadband to more Minnesotans who need it. Now, we need your help to make that a reality.

As part of the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, $65 billion in funding is available to states for broadband. We’re excited to implement the bill’s programs, but much of our funding relies on a new mapping project from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to show where broadband is and is not available.

The FCC is accepting challenges to their new map right now, and we encourage all Minnesotans to review the map to see if the broadband speeds shown to be available at their address are correct. Local review of the broadband maps is important, as residents know best if the mapping information is accurate. Minnesotans can go to broadbandmap.fcc.gov to review their map and provide feedback.

To review the map, type in your address. Your home should appear on the map along with a list of services that providers claim to have available for purchase at your location. If your location is missing or inaccurately reflected on the map, you can submit a location challenge to correct it. If the information about the service provided is incorrect, you can file an availability challenge. Detailed video instructions on how to file a challenge can be found at fcc.gov/BroadbandData/consumers.

Our goal is border-to-border broadband coverage across Minnesota. Future federal funding will be allotted based on the number of locations in Minnesota that do not have broadband services available right now. To ensure valid challenges are incorporated into the map before federal funding allocations are made, Minnesotans have until Jan. 13, 2023 to submit feedback.

This year, between 240,000 and 291,000 households in Minnesota lacked access to high-speed broadband. So much of what we do happens online, which is why we want to ensure all Minnesotans have access to high-speed internet.

All Minnesotans deserve equal access to high-speed broadband. If you have any questions, please reach out to the Office of Broadband at 651-259-7610 or deed.broadband@state.mn.us

Honorable Citizens of Nyamira County,

With due respect to you as the ultimate Sovereign in accordance to Article 1, Constitution of Kenya, 2020, we the members of Bwakire Se! Nyamira 2022 and candidates for the Governorship hereby submit as follows:

1. Introduction/Background
   

We began the improbable journey as a campaign for a better, brighter Nyamira County. We acknowledged that Nyamira faces a plethora of problems, most of which we viewed as man-made and preventable. From impassable roads and virtually no modern infrastructure, endemic public corruption, growing poverty, a collapsed healthcare system, visionless leadership to unremarkable status on the local and international stage, the list goes on. In our view, it was total darkness -literal and figurative. In December 2018, we launched Bwakire Se! (a New Dawn!) with the sole objective to bring light to Nyamira. Our gubernatorial bid was an inseparable cog in this wheel. Even back then, we considered the August, 2022 election as a binary choice: between a darkness (read the Status Quo) and light (a new dawn in fundamental ways).

Barely a week to the all-important August 9, 2022 election day, we believe that we have prosecuted a convincing case. 

2. Opening Statement

Upon launching of Bwakire Se! as a movement, we were under no illusions that change would come easily or without cost. Nonetheless, we outlined an agenda for a brighter Nyamira as having these irreducible core pillars: 

• New Ideas
• A Bold Vision
• Fresh Faces
  

Our argument then as is today, remains: we must engineer and midwife the total transformation of Nyamira County in fundamental ways. That the status quo was not only unacceptable but also that another 10 years thereof would amount to total dismantling of the County as an entity.

For nearly two years now, we have engaged the people of Nyamira in intentional and often difficult conversations around the agenda for change as captured in the above pillars. In Bwakire Se!, we believe that all the above pillars must be in place in order for the transformation of Nyamira to even begin. 

3. Case-In-Chief

Throughout the campaign, we have endeavored to offer solution-based and tested leadership with the sole objective of improving the conditions of our people. For this reason, our unique campaign style felt more like a classroom environment than the despicable circuses that our opponents often engage in. 

1. New Ideas: we cannot continue to do the same things over and over again but expect different results. In Ekegusii we say, keria giasirerie inchera rogoro kerigerie inchera maate. (If an item is lost in the north, you must try to find it in the south). Embracing new ideas would enable our County to boldly step into the 21^st Century in key areas of agriculture, internet connectivity, healthcare, education, investment, gender and youth empowerment among others. For instance, building strategic public, private partnerships gave birth to such groundbreaking ideas such as the Global Connections Center at Nyanchonori, Rigoma Ward. Upon completion in 2024, the Center will serve as the technological and industrial hub for the region with capacity for remote learning, gainful employment and center for creative arts and sports.
   

1. A Bold Vision: we must build legacies that will outlive us: meaning, we need leaders with a plan for 10, 20, 50 or even 100 years. Under this pillar, we have pledged the long-awaited Nyamira International University and world-class healthcare system. Our deep global connections and relationships would serve our County well as we lay the foundation for a rapid jump into modern civilization, a thing that seems to elude our competitors and predecessors. As we criss-cross Nyamira in search for votes, there is unanimous agreement that the current state of the County is unacceptable and requires fundamental change. No wonder even incumbent leaders are loudly proclaiming their desire for change too!
   

1. Fresh Faces: we insist that in order for our County to change for the better, we must bring in fresh faces into the political space. Both Hon. Josephine Nyanchama Buruchara and I are undoubtedly Fresh Faces in Nyamira politics. Neither of us has sought public office in the country nor have we served in any. We are therefore, the breath of fresh air that our County is desperately gasping for. With the nomination of Hon. Buruchara as Nyamira’s sole female Deputy Governor, we join Azimio Coalition Party Leader Rt. Hon. Raila Amolo Odinga who tapped SC Martha W. Karua as the Deputy President of Kenya. It is humbling privilege to lead the people of Nyamira as we write a chapter in that history too.
   

4. Closing Argument
   

As Kenyans approach August 9, 2022, we trust that the voters of Nyamira County have heard our loud and persuasive case for change. Hopefully, we have shown the urgency of immediate action at the ballot booth to avoid any deeper regression. Our youth can ill-afford another lost decade; our people cannot bear more pangs of poverty; demoralized, underpaid but overworked public servants deserve a break; Nyamirans are entitled to live in dignity and with a modicum of decency across the County. Briefly put, it is time for Bwakire Se!, Hon. Wakili Henry Ongeri as Governor and Hon. Josephine N. Buruchara as Deputy Governor. The alternatives are unthinkable.

The authors are candidates for Governor and Deputy Governor of Nyamira County in the August 9, 2022 Kenyan general elections.

This article was originally published in the American Ambassadors Review. Mshale has republished it with their permission.

On the same day President Joseph Biden laid out his vision for global engagement at the U.S. State Department, he also extended greetings to the 34th Summit of the African Union (AU). That Africa popped up on the President’s radar screen so early in his administration is promising. In his remarks, the President sounded the right notes. He began by reinforcing the U.S. commitment to be Africa’s partner, underscoring the common fates of America and Africa and the need for Africa and America to “work together to advance a shared vision of a better future.” Among the details of that vision of a better future are “investing in democratic institutions and promoting human rights” and “ investing more in global health and defeating COVID.” It also means, he indicated, that the U.S. is standing ready to “engage in sustained diplomacy with the African Union to address conflicts across the continent.”

That’s good news for Africa. On the other side, Africa is a great place to start as the Biden Administration works to reestablish America’s leadership position in the world. That’s because Africa is where the stakes are clearest and where America has substantial economic, geopolitical and military interests, as well as substantial competitive advantages. To appreciate what I mean requires seeing Africa less as a “problem” and more as an opportunity.

The common narrative about Africa—though generally not expressed as crassly as it was by the 45th U.S. President—is substantively not much different than he characterized it. Whether it’s the evening news or policy forums, when the subject of Africa is raised, more often than not, the conversation is about disease, disaster or destruction. Does Africa have its problems? Yes, but what continent or country doesn’t.

Africa, like most places, is more than the sum of its problems. There are 16 countries in Africa, with a combined population of close to a billion people, that have free-market economies and free elections. For the record, those 16 countries are Cape Verde, Ghana, Liberia, Senegal, Mali, Nigeria, Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Benin, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Mauritius, Kenya and Tanzania. The most profound evidence that those 16 countries are on the right track is that they are home to nearly 50 democratically retired heads of state and government. For the naysayers who may harp that democracy is “on life support” in Africa, the reality is that, for the overwhelming majority of Africans, democracy is alive and well.

The same can be said for the economic front, as well. Since I served as President William Clinton’s envoy to Tanzania, the 16 countries I referenced earlier have had enviable growth rates, despite interruptions to that growth coming from events that emanated from outside the continent, viz. 9/11, the 2008 banking debacle, and COVID-19. Were it not for these catastrophic events, who knows what the growth rates of countries such as Tanzania, Ghana, South Africa or Nigeria would be.

Africa has countries that are stable, with citizens who are productive. How America engages in Africa has the potential to impact its economic interests for years to come. As Africa increasingly expands its place in the global economy, the stakes relative to U.S. geopolitical interests will only increase. The time to do a reboot of America’s Africa policy is now, while the U.S. has the political capital to make a difference for Africa and itself.

U.S. Economic Interests and Africa

Africa’s “sweet 16” democracies, with close to a billion people, represent an impressive market worth tapping in a variety of ways. Despite the market disruptions over the past two decades, African cities such as Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg and Dakar are growing at a phenomenal rate. More growth requires more capital. There is certainly room for America to find a place in this space. The new U.S. International Development Finance Corporation is a good start, with a budget of $58.5 billion per year. Africa needs to invest somewhere in the neighborhood of $80 billion a year on infrastructure for the foreseeable future. The Biden Administration and Congress would do well to raise the ante. Other nations—including China, Japan, Germany, South Korea and Australia—are stepping up to fill the demand.

As Africa’s economies and middle class continue to grow, there is a tremendous market for American consumer goods. Consumer and business spending in Africa is expected to top $6.6 trillion by 2030, up from $4 trillion in 2015. Again, not only China, but also nations in every other region of the world, are looking to fill the continent’s need for consumer goods.

Africa is more than a potential American consumer market; it has the potential to be a manufacturing center to meet American consumer needs, as well. The issue of supply chains has been featured prominently in the news, particularly as tensions between the U.S. and China have escalated. Those tensions aside, now that the Chinese manufacturing sector has matured and costs are rising, Africa is the next best place to satisfy the supply-chain needs of the manufacturing sector. It has a wealth of young people and poverty, which translates into an available and willing workforce. Africa has demonstrated that it has the potential to become the world’s next factory. Mauritius, one of the early entrants in this space, created a manufacturing zone that has supplied products for the fashion industry in Europe and America. Tanzania is a recent entrant into this space. There’s a new manufacturing concern in Tanzania that’s producing 5,000 units per day. (That’s just one factory.) South Africa is the manufacturing venue of choice for Mercedes’ righthand-drive vehicles.

So the potential is there. But U.S. companies have not come close to scratching the surface in terms of the opportunities. During the Clinton Administration, the U.S. passed the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which provided trade preference for commodities and goods from Africa. While every U.S. Presidential Administration since then has extended the AGOA, not much has happened to provide other incentives (or push) for U.S. companies to leverage this advantage. As a result, China has displaced the U.S. as Africa’s number-one trading partner.

There is too much money on the table for America not to become more competitive in Africa. Maybe better results can be realized by tweaking AGOA. Groups like the Corporate Council on Africa could provide valuable insights as to how to do this. Perhaps nothing more is required than for President Biden to provide the necessary leadership with a few strategically scheduled trade missions, along with prodding the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative to make Africa a higher priority. Whatever it takes for America to get competitive in the African marketplace, now is the time to get busy.

Beyond the consumer market and manufacturing, there are also opportunities in the energy and mining sectors. Here again, the Chinese are ahead of others in the game. Whether it’s selling solar as an energy solution or closing commodity deals, the Chinese are way ahead of the U.S. Even in mining exploration, which I know something about, the U.S. is being outflanked by the Australians and Canadians. The U.S. needs to come up with strategies to incentivize U.S. capital markets to play in this space; this could start with funding and/or partnering with U.S. companies that want and should be a presence on the continent. The U.S. has declared minerals such as graphite to be strategic assets, as these are essential to the greening of the global energy supply, whether for battery technology or solar technology. Today the largest exporter of graphite is China. The world’s largest high-quality reserves are in African countries, particularly Tanzania.

U.S.-Africa Geopolitical Interests

In the aftermath of 9/11, the George W. Bush Administration established two entities that enabled America to up its game on the African continent: the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and AFRICOM. MCC was established to advance development in democracies around the world. The point was to help young democracies deliver a development dividend that would contribute to stability and progress and mitigate against the possibility of such places becoming breeding grounds for terrorists. At MCC’s inception, African countries dominated the list of initial recipients of MCC grants. The establishment of AFRICOM was a further acknowledgment that America and Africa have mutual geopolitical and military interests that required greater cooperation. There has been some mission creep relative to both initiatives. America needs to be proactive in providing the economic assistance and military assistance to preclude Africa from becoming a haven or incubator for the next generation of terrorism. With America’s pull-out from Afghanistan, we need to be on heighted alert for foreign terrorists.

There is no greater test of our appetite and ability to compete with China than in development and defense. More than that, if our nation wants to be proactive and, thereby, reassert our leadership position in the world, Africa is where we want to be.

U.S. Strategic and Competitive Advantages in Africa

When I went to Tanzania in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Embassy bombing by al Qaeda, I was struck by the extent of cooperation and support we received at every level. It not only reflected a sense of sympathy for the losses we suffered, but it also reflected a sense of the respect with which the U.S. was held. From the U.S. Civil Rights Movement to the appointment of Andrew Young as United Nations Ambassador and, most recently, with the election of Barack Obama as U.S. President, America’s image as a beacon of democracy and justice is its hallmark. In a nutshell, being the world’s most enduring and diverse democracy is a huge advantage. Obviously, President Donald Trump’s characterization of Africa as “a continent full of sh*thole countries” was not the best strategy to win friends and influence people; but as I move around the continent, I find that America’s reputation is still fundamentally intact.

My point is that as the Biden Administration works to reassert America’s standing in the world, he starts with some goodwill in the bank on the African continent. The dynamism of American democracy and its diversity are two of its greatest assets. The U.S. needs to use both of these assets more effectively. If it does, it will have a tremendous advantage, but this notwithstanding, time marches on. Africa has development needs and needs trading and investment partners. If the U.S. isn’t to relinquish more ground to China, it has got to get in the game to win the game. President Biden’s pledge to provide more COVID-19 vaccines than the rest of the world to countries such as those in Africa is a good beginning. Nonetheless, the U.S. needs to up its game all around. Under the Clinton and Bush Administrations, America set new benchmarks for engagement in Africa. Those new benchmarks were achieved because Africa was a priority for both of those Administrations.

Biden’s welcoming remarks at the opening of the 34th session of the AU put forth a broad framework for engaging Africa. It was a good start. But if the U.S. is going to successfully protect its interests and exert the sort of leadership the world so desperately needs, the Biden Administration’s overtures to Africa can’t stop with those remarks. The U.S. has significant interests and a tremendous advantage in advancing Africa’s interests and its own. As with most opportunities, the U.S. must use it or lose it.

I spoke with one woman who spent the night in her bathtub due to constant gunshots in her neighborhood, and another constituent sends me daily updates of the violence occurring in our city. It is evident that the status quo of governance in Brooklyn Park is not working.

In addition to the rise in violent crime in our city, we also are experiencing a disconcerting breakdown in trust between our police department and community members. I spoke with Brooklyn Park Police Chief Enevoldsen who shared concerns about officers’ ability to do their jobs properly given the tense environment in our city. Concerned citizens are overstepping the yellow tape to ensure that the police are not abusing their power. This distrust is a source of major concern – to create a more cohesive community and to allow our police officers to operate safely and effectively we must build trust between law enforcement and the community.

In order to build this trust, we must work toward community policing initiatives and invest more in community resources (e.g. mental health and drug addiction services for residents in need). Officers who walk the beat should know the constituents whom they have been entrusted to keep safe, and vice versa. Additionally, there must be continued dialogue between community members and law enforcement. Building relationships is the cornerstone to building trust.

Lastly, investing in youth programming that works in tandem with the police department is paramount. This investment creates relationships and trust between our youth and those sworn to protect them, and provides an opportunity for youth to learn vital life skills while limiting their free time to capitalize on teenage impulses (I am not so old, that I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a teen).

Should I be fortunate enough to be elected Mayor of Brooklyn Park, I look forward to working in tandem with our community members and the BPPD. I will also look to Sheriff Hutchinson, who has endorsed our campaign, for insights as we navigate the months and years ahead. The status quo isn’t working right now – it’s time for a fresh voice dedicated to implementing evidence-based initiatives that will effectively reduce violent crime in our community and lead to a safer Brooklyn Park.

Americans elected Mr. Joseph Biden as the next president of the United States.  This is a remarkable feat, only the tenth time in U.S. history a sitting president has contested and failed to secure a second term. Underneath this result, however, is a disquieting epiphany: that more than 70 million Americans, for whatever reason, voted for a second installment of the Trump administration.

As an immigrant, the election results provide insight into the soul of my adopted country.  It reveals how complex the country is, and how far we are from realizing the dreams of a more perfect union and equality.  That Trump received more than 70 million votes is stunning; that the election was even close is unbelievable.

It was a surprise that Mr. Trump was elected president in 2016. It stunned most people in my familial, professional and community circles.  Politicians and pundits offered various explanations for the results.  Most of the explanations came down to a common denominator: Trump was different from other politicians.  In the immigrant communities, Trump had his supporters, some because of promises of fiscal discipline; but a huge number voted for him because they believed he was a Christian and that his faith would guide his administration.  But not even these voters expected the wrecking ball he took to immigration.

As an African American, immigrant and immigration attorney, the result of the 2020 elections left me wondering if Trump voters live in the same America that I live in.  Having lived through the traumatic events of 2020, I thought there was no way Mr. Trump stood a chance of winning.  We witnessed a country throw aside its immigration ideals; we watched a president promote racism and stoke the embers of hatred for four years; we watched an administration (supported by white evangelical Christians) cast away biblical injunctions of Exodus 22: 21 about how to treat foreigners-not to wrong, mistreat or oppress them,- and replace it with draconian measures, including official policies of separating children from their parents; we watched our government ban people from entering the United States solely because of their faith; we watched our government refuse to welcome the “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”; we watched our government repeatedly attack legal immigration.  The list goes on and on.  Consistent with its professed collective ideals, I expected this country to resoundingly repudiate Trump and his enablers.  Though he lost, the margin wasn’t what I thought it would be.  Many of his enablers in government won and continue to stay in power.  This was no repudiation; it feels like far too weak a protestation in the face of utter depravity.

All the pro-immigration forces have a lot of work ahead.  We have to reach out to our fellow Americans, especially those outside our pro-immigrant circles, to educate them on the value of immigration.  According to an August 2020 Report by Pew Research Center, “a majority of Americans have positive views about immigrants.  About two-thirds of Americans (66%) say “immigrants strengthen the country because of their ‘hard work and talents,’ while about a quarter (24%) say immigrants burden the country by taking jobs, housing and health care.”  Broken down by party affiliation, for Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 88% think immigrants strengthen the country with their hard work and talents, and just 8% say they are a burden.  Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 41% say immigrants strengthen the country, while 44% say they burden it.  Clearly there is a large portion open to persuasion.

We have to create avenues where the immigration-hostile American has the opportunity to meet immigrants.  A 2019 American Immigration Council Report found that native-born Americans hold more positive views about unauthorized immigrants or “pro-immigrant sentiments” if they have friendly interactions with immigrants.  Those of us who still believe in the immigration ideals of this country should use every opportunity to increase these contacts, and also to promote positive experiences.  Our task is to break down the barriers.

This will require the conscientious efforts of everyone.  We all must accept our common humanity; this is a non-negotiable factor that must prevail in any discussion of “how we got here.”  People of faith have an opportunity to lead in this endeavor.

The task for the incoming administration is daunting.  Having seen the type of damage the Trump presidency inflicted on immigrant communities; the Biden-Harris administration must act with all deliberate speed.  The life and future of immigrants depend on it.  Trump demonstrated that the presidency could do a lot of damage through its executive power.  Thankfully, some of this harm can be immediately addressed by the new administration.  Biden-Harris must use executive power for good.  Ideally, the president-elect would work with Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.  However, based on experience, and the projected partisan divide in Congress, the incoming administration must be realistic in its expectations and act accordingly.   For instance, the Biden-Harris administration should consider the set of proposals from AILA that seek not only to ameliorate the damage done by the Trump administration, but to improve our immigration system generally.  All regressive executive actions must be rescinded, and the welcoming lamp of America must be re-lit.

The message must be clear: America is once more open to the world, and it will return to being the beacon of hope and example to the rest of the world.  No more will our nation vilify immigrants.

There is injustice in America. There is discrimination. There is a legacy of racism and inequality that lives still in our institutions, our laws, and in too many people’s hearts that makes it harder for Black people to succeed. These are facts in the United States of America in 2020, and we must all do more to move our nation closer to the ideals inlaid at our founding—that all women and men are created equal.

Today, there are Americans all across this country, especially Black Americans, who are exhausted and hurting. Who are disappointed by a system that never seems to deliver for your communities. Who are sick and tired of a cycle where, in good times, Black communities lag behind, in bad times they get hit first and hardest, and in recovery, they take the longest to bounce back.

We’re in the midst of four simultaneous crises—a pandemic that has claimed more than 200,000 lives, a disproportionate number of whom were Black; an economic crash that has hit Black workers and Black business owners especially hard; a long overdue reckoning on racial justice; and a climate crisis that is already hurting Black and Brown communities the most.

President Trump wants to paper over the living wound of racism. He’s issued Executive Orders and established a new national commission designed to whitewash our history—and deny the daily reality of being Black in America. He actively appeals to white supremacists and fans the flames of hatred and division in our country, because he thinks it benefits him politically. He ignores the most basic job of every president: the duty to care for all of us, not just those who voted for him.

It’s the polar opposite of what I will do as president. I was proud to serve for eight years alongside President Obama. I watched up close how he filled the Oval Office with dignity and compassion for others. And, together with Senator Kamala Harris as my vice president, we will restore honor, integrity, and competence to the White House.

We will build an administration that looks like America, including nominating the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

That’s how we will work together to deliver real, lasting change. Criminal justice and policing reforms, but also economic opportunity and financial stability. Building wealth for families of color and passing it down. Closing the racial wealth gap is one of the most powerful ways we can build real equity in our society, and it’s going to require a full-court press. That’s what my Lift Every Voice plan is—a comprehensive agenda to take on the range of issues that drive inequality in Black America.

We’ll tackle student debt and invest more in our HBCUs, so higher education is a pathway to wealth and opportunity instead of to debt that prevents you from owning a home or starting a small business.

My plan will empower Black-owned small businesses, with short-term relief to get you through this tough time and long-term investments to help you build back better—with access to new capital and financing and government contracts.

We’ll fix our upside-down tax system to finally reward work, not wealth. Trump thinks billionaires deserve more tax cuts. But under my plan, I’ll make sure the super wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share, while ensuring that no one making less than $400,000 a year sees their taxes go up.

And I’m going to fight like hell to defend your family’s health care, just like I would my own. Right now, in the midst of a pandemic, Donald Trump is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Obamacare—all of it. He wants to overturn the very law that expanded coverage to an additional 3 million Black Americans.

If he succeeds, more than 20 million Americans will lose their coverage, and more than 100 million people with preexisting conditions will no longer be protected against their insurance companies charging them more, or denying them coverage all together.

I’ll defend Obamacare and build on it—adding a public option that will automatically enroll 4 million more people that Republicans shut out by refusing to expand Medicaid in their states. We’re going to get to universal coverage and lower health care costs. We’re going to give working families a bigger subsidy to lower their premiums. And we’re going to take on pharmaceutical companies, bringing down the cost of your prescription drugs by 60 percent.

As my friend John Lewis used his final words to remind us: “Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America.” We cannot be tired. We cannot be hopeless. The choice in this election couldn’t be more stark, and we must vote for the future we want for every single one of our children. I’m ready to fight for you and your families, and I hope to earn your vote.

In my first three months of work as the Assistant Commissioner for Immigrant and Refugee Affairs, I have been fortunate to meet with so many business owners and entrepreneurs who are shaping Minnesota’s economy. My work is about better understanding the current conditions, especially the barriers to starting and growing a business in our state.

Last week, I visited with two business owners, and I am so impressed with their success, even through hardships. Mirian owns El Callejon, a store at Mercado Central in Minneapolis, where she sells T-shirts and men’s clothing. But owning a business in Minnesota isn’t where she started. Mirian fled El Salvador’s civil war in the early 1980s, arriving in California. After losing a job, and with young kids at home, she borrowed a sewing machine and began making aprons and scrubs. She grew her sewing business, then opened a clothing store in California, and eventually moved to Minnesota and opened a new store here.

Proceeds from her business allowed Mirian to put four kids through college, and she is getting ready to send her youngest one to college. Sales have dropped considerably due to COVID-19 and other adverse conditions along Lake Street, but she carries on with resilience. She takes deep pride in her children’s successes as a chef, a nurse, an architect and an IT wiz. She also adopted and supports two daughters in El Salvador. One of them recently started her own small restaurant in that Central American country. Entrepreneurship runs deep in the family, wherever they live.

In Richfield, the owners of Las Twins Fashion Western Wear, Yolanda and Rodrigo, recently expanded their store, where many customers come to find quinceañera dresses, plus baptism, first communion and special occasion clothing.

Their store was previously located on Lake Street, and Yolanda put in countless hours as an organizer and coordinator for cleanup and repair in the neighborhood after civil unrest there earlier this year. She distributed information about how to connect with resources such as housing and food assistance and with donations that were made. Even when the situation was tough for her own business, Yolanda went to work helping others. That’s really the spirit and dedication to community we need in our state.

Being in service to others is a value that Yolanda and Rodrigo’s children have learned from them. Their children have participated in the Raíces program at Centro Tyrone Guzman. It’s a youth social entrepreneurship program that lets teens explore business ventures. It was designed by teens for teens.

Youth participants piloted a salsa-making business. Through the operation of this small business, Raíces youth are learning technical skills related to financial management, budgeting, research, marketing and communications. They are also learning and practicing work-readiness skills – such as leadership, problem solving and a strong work ethic – as they build professional networks.

Although production was interrupted by COVID-19 restrictions, all of the salsas that were initially made to sell at the farmers’ market during the summer of 2020 were donated by participants to Centro Tyrone Guzman families as an addition to the food packets Centro was providing to those most affected by COVID-19. Participants and customers look forward to cooking and enjoying more batches of salsa soon.

Visiting with Mirian and meeting Yolanda, I am reminded of why I accepted this job. It’s really a continuation and combination of my previous work as a consultant for immigrant business owners and a cabinet minister in Somalia. I see the importance of working together so that our entrepreneurs can create the businesses that drive our economy, enliven our neighborhoods and build our community.

We know that immigrant business owners are more likely to hire immigrant workers. They are job creators. We can find ways to support them, whether they choose to locate in the Twin Cities, the suburbs or small towns in Minnesota. Every Main Street and every community benefits when immigrant and refugee business owners find success. Especially now, their creativity and commitment to our state deserve our recognition, and immigrant and refugee entrepreneurs deserve our thanks.