Meet Natalie Johnson Lee

by Dwight Hobbes
Now that the local elections are over, who won and lost is old news. Except for Minneapolis’ 5th Ward where the echo of controversy over the new city council representative has yet to die out.
Black Natalie Johnson Lee surprisingly ousted white Jackie Cherryhomes despite being cold-shouldered by the Coalition of Black Churches (CBC) and the African American Leadership Summit (AALS). Lee’s most visible support came from her Green Party endorsement. This ironic turn of events prompted a degree of fallout in predominantly black North Minneapolis where the over-riding sentiment was that Cherryhomes had ignored the public good for the sake of elitist, very white, downtown corporate interests, and the perception is that Rev. Randolph Staten and Bill English, lead figures respectively at CBC and AALS, had ties to Cherryhomes’ political fate. Before you could say “Animal Farm,” the fur was flying. As quoted in the Star Tribune, English threatened to “bring legal action” if Lee continued to claim his organization endorsed Cherryhomes in violation on its nonprofit status. At the Nov. 13 Insight News/KMOJ Public Policy Forum, there was an accusation from the audience that English and Staten were “snakes” who should’ve supported Lee whereupon a hollering ruckus ensued.
To be sure, little love is lost in the matter of Lee versus Staten and English. She feels they should have had her back or, at the very least, seriously considered her viability as a candidate. “Not once,” says Lee, “did they sit down and talk to me about my platform.” Staten was not available for comment. Calls to English were not returned.
There are opinions from informed quarters weighing on each side. Activist Ron Edwards, long respected as a community watchdog, states, “[Natalie Johnson Lee] is a new voice in City Hall and it's a very positive voice for the African American community, other communities of color and those who care about humanity. In the past there’s been greed, no concern for humanity. The affordable housing issue was the clear indication of what was on the voters’ minds. It had to do with knowledge and understanding of the suffering that has taken place in this city around the issue of housing, homeless people and the sweetheart arrangements [for] the corporate community [at the expense of] those communities that are not considered to be important. Communities considered to be unimportant were not the recipients of any of the benefits. In essence, the voters clearly made that a mandated issue.” Renowned elder of Twin Cities black communities Mahmoud El-Kati observes, “Bill English and Randy Staten have made enormous contributions to the community. Randy Staten is responsible for the state level. As a state legislator Randy Staten was at the forefront of the divestment movement and saw it through way ahead, about the third or fourth, of other states. Bill English has been real important and, for years, has shown a true investment in youth. The multi-faceted Sabathani Community Center grew out of a small [building] where he was the first director.”
Hardly much ado about nothing, this nonetheless is not proven to be cataclysmic circumstance. Based on available information, the worst that can be said is that these public figures are not on the same page. Northside resident Anthony Porter comments, “It’s news just because corporate media view black people as monolithic. It’s really a racist notion that we’re all the same. That’s why when black people disagree it gets in the paper. They expect all of us to think alike.”
El-Kati adds, “I think the polarization is exaggerated. I don’t buy this old guard-new guard stuff. “First and foremost [Lee is] a decent human being, a breath of fresh air because she’s not a politician though she’s in politics. There’s a difference. Instead of being someone with a political career, she’s driven by the kind of values many people wish for and hope for. She represents one of the voices that joins that chorus which came out of the sixties. It’s about human progress. That’s why we need people who stand for values that are clear.”
Black voters of North Minneapolis inarguably turned the tide for Natalie Johnson Lee. “We got out and mobilized them,” Lee says, “through hard work. Through canvassing, door-knocking, getting on cable access and buying commercial time on places like BET. We targeted all the channels that people of color watch. We engaged people who traditionally are left out of the process. Young people, poor people, black folks, Asian folks, Chicano-Latino folks, those who are considered non-voters—as well as white voters in the warehouse district, Laurel Village, Nicollet Island, every precinct concerned. People were tired of the way things were being done. A lot of people were excited to have a choice between the status quo and something new and different. For instance, access to information about what’s happening at the city level, how tax dollars are being spent, how decisions are made, including how even white citizens with good jobs still can’t afford to buy a house in these communities that are being developed.”
She reached communities at large and the general black community in particular, addressing among other paramount concerns, the incidence of racial profiling by police. Not having been identifiably in step with that community puts a certain amount of egg on the faces of Staten and English: both have vehemently spoken out on behalf of affordable housing and against racial profiling, but neither, apparently, felt Lee was the one to get the job done. They didn’t, as it were, back the right horse. It happens.