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State Representative Joe Mullery
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4262
For more information contact: Tim O'Brien 651-296-8877
E-Update
AMBASSADOR ANDREW YOUNG CITES DISPARITY OF VALUES
Last night I was fortunate to hear former Ambassador, Congressman, Mayor of Atlanta and close friend of Martin Luther King, who was in Minnesota.
He quoted from the last words in the first line of what is often called the Black National Anthem, namely "Lift Up Your Voice and Sing". His words were "harmonies of liberty". He's eighty years old and indicated that all through his life politicians argued over little nuances of the same structure of values. But, now, the new right wing has basically abandoned the same value structures we've worked with. It's hard to compromise when people can't agree on the structural values they're trying to get to.
He also pointed out some ways that Atlanta developed its economy. We need to consider adopting variations here. As he said, jobs and profits go hand in hand---you don't get one without the other on a long term basis. Actually a couple of the ideas I've been promoting here but there's incredible inertia to overcome.
As Mayor, he awarded construction contracts to contractors who would not only agree to hire minorities for that project, but to keep them employed in the future on non-government projects. He then helped set up companies that had money from Atlanta businesses to get them started but were majority-owned by poor minorities. Those companies provided security around government and other projects (suddenly the theft and destruction at such projects ended); others took welfare mothers and had them cook and sell food to the construction workers at the projects and then to the patrons of the completed projects; and others took youth (including gang members) and helped them print and sell T-shirts at events at the projects.
He said the key idea is: MAKE EVERYBODY A STAKEHOLDER.
He also explained how they used Atlanta's diversity to make it probably the fastest growing economy over the last twenty years. They recruited their successful residents from various countries around the world and made them ambassadors for Atlanta to those other countries and built connections for trade.
We need to learn from their success.
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