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There are 10 posts — by 7 authors — in this topic.
Latest post made by Eric Oines at 2008 Feb 27 01:04 UTC

From: Guy Gambill Date: 2008 Feb 22 22:42 UTC

Greetings,

       In 2005 there were a few people who began to work on issues that were of
decidedly acute importance to communities of color. That largely evolved out of
personal observations during episodic homelessness, nearly 8 years of
experience working as a County Social Services worker, my service on a number
of Community boards, Commissions and Task Forces involving all aspects of the
terrible equation of mass homelessness in Minnesota and on a National scale.
Responding to all of these experiences a number of people came together, across
racial, religious and partisan lines and conceived of a series of targeted,
community-specific forums            tied to specific policy initiatives that
would help people who were not being served. The conception involved 4
community meetings or forums and began at the Resource Center of the Americas.
Rosita Balch, Silvia Ontaneda, the staff of Gente and La Prensa, the Resource
Center staff, ACORN, MHFA and others staged a community forum
 at the Center and confronted a number of items that were hurting many people
of Latino\Hispanic descent in our neighborhoods.
              These issues included; predatory lending at sub-prme rates,
community policing policies that disproportionately impacted Americans of
Mexican descent vis-a-vis the Amnesty or Separation Ordinances, the closing and
restructuring of Manufactured Home Parks such as Shady Lane in Bloomington and
the renting of apartments that were on condemned              properties at
exorbitant rates to undocumented residents. The Forum was held entirely in
Spanish and drew many local and state policy-makers, as well as, many systems
staff and advocates. It was a chance for non-English speaking community members
to tell their stories and make a difference. Beginning with this meeting, which
was antedated by an Homeless Veterans Forum I organized with many, including
Senator Dayton, three other meetings were projected; one for the
African-American Community at the Urban League. One for the Muslim and
African-Immigrant communities
  and one for Native-Americans. Farheen, Josephine Pufpaff (now of Youthlink)
and I served as central planners for the African-American event. While all of
us worked on different aspects of this event, Farheen was assigned one
important task---the production and dissemination of flyers for the event...she
dropped the ball and Josephine ended
  up having to do it for her. The next Forum was to be held for Muslims and
African Immigrants and it was to be held             at the Brian Coyle
Center...I was hired by the Council on Crime and Justice and my time
diminished. Ultimately a corollary to this event was orchestrated by a Muslim
staff member of the CCJ...Farheen never followed up, period,
  on her responsibility to hold a third community meeting, period. For Native
Communities I continued to go to MUID (Metropolitan Urban Indian Directors)
meetings to keep them abreast of developments on the Heading Home Hennepin Plan
and their exclusion from said plan.
        At a later date (6 months later) Farheen, as a Board Member of
Headwaters, attended a site review of the Barbara Schneider Foundation. During
that site review I discussed my personal work and the work of Mark Anderson to
always keep racial







  justice at the forefront of all of our work.             I listed off things
I had done in that meeting. Farheen, in a thinly veiled and vituperative attack
launched during this meeting, went after me for linking BSF's work with the
Housing and Communities of Color events implying that             she was the
driving force behind these events and that I was, somehow, exploiting that for
BSF's Board. It was a  ridiculous assertion coming from someone who didn't
protest with ACORN in Bloomington against the Shady Lane closure, who at no
time has taken any sort of an active hand in working on the predatory lending
practices against any of the responsible financial institutions, nor did she
work on the sub-prime review with CM Zerby or on such things as community
policing alternatives involving a series of City Ordinances or on political
work around revisions to the Minneapolis Zoning Codes. That she was willing to
assert that, somehow, despite my work over years---most of it
 for free while living in a fundamental state of poverty earning far less money
than she (in fact
              I was willing to lose my own employment to do the right thing for
what Farheen deems "Her Peeps", in fact losing my job to come to the defense of
a member of her own Mosque who was left out of a County-City contract while she
has yet to issue any sort of public statement regarding this event or come to
the defense, in any way, of me       who she herself states is "one of her best
friends" has shown me her true colors. Farheen talks the talk yet fails time
and again to walk the walk. While one of us takes it to the wall and can
produce scads of evidence around concrete steps at all levels of government
undertaken to make things better, Farheen would have difficulty producing
  one single paper she authored on any of these things, producing a single
event she has made happen alone or one law she has helped change. Any attempt
to discuss these matters and Farheen's lack of the commitment necessary to make
things happen is met with references to my "white guilt" or some other
claptrap. One of the   last insults was to be told that  "If I could get a job
that paid 50,000 like hers, I would." Now that, truly, is one of
the last straws Trust me, Farheen, I hold far more in the way of qualifications
than you do. You speak two languages. I speak six. You talk about changing
laws. I do it. You lecture about being busy yet often get more rest in one day
than I do in a week. One of us does the work. One does not. One is playing
racial politics to hide inaction and intellectual turpitude. One of us is not.
Farheen is ever absent from the work-table but ever present at the front of the
mob...I've seen that too many times....it is the mark of the
 quintessential politician who does little, but talks a great deal. It is the
mark of an opportunist who will screw over a friend at the drop of the hat for
the sake
  of political gain, for the sake of a few votes. It is racial politics at its
worstthis is not
  the sort of thing that will unite usit will only further divide us.
       Let me offer a prediction on how Farheen will respond to this missive,
based on
  past experience. Farheen will offer something like this, I called his a_s out
on his
  racism  Usually, that will mean that Farheen, yet again, doesnt understand a






  particular issue and is not going to take the trouble to try. She will not
hold herself
  accountable nor will she try to present a fact based counter-argument. She
will take
  refuge in the cheapest and most debased of all arguments: She will play the
politics
  of race. It is humanity in its most ugly of formsand it is as repugnant in a
person
  whose ancestry is that of South Asia as it is in a redneck skinhead. If this
is what
  the future holds for our children lets all just get guns and shoot each other
right now.
       History is chock full of politicians, of all creeds and all colors, of
all nationalities
  at all points of time who play to the lowest set of common denominators for
the sake
  of personal powerlets not add another one to the long and sorry track record
at
  a time when we can least afford to do so.
        A political strategy should NOT be;

  1). Engage an opponent in a debate.
  2). If the opponent knows more about an issue you should
              a). If a white male, call his a_s out on his white privilege.
(works also for white
                   women, too).
              b). If a black male, call his a_s out on his male privilege.
              c). If straight and male or female, regardless of race, call that
person out on their
                  bias and straight privilege.

        What emerges is a very possible fourth tier of exchange: in all such
encounters Farheen simply hasnt bothered to do the work and is using the worst
tool in the drawer
  to fight with, ignorance.



  Guy Gambill
  Northeast




---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.

From: Eva Young Date: 2008 Feb 24 02:12 UTC

Thanks for an illuminating post, Guy.  I'd like to see Farheen Hakeem
to respond to the specifics in this post.

Eva Young
Near North
Lloydletta's Nooz
http://lloydletta.blogspot.com

From: Farheen Hakeem Date: 2008 Feb 26 04:39 UTC

Greetings to you all,

Unfortunately, I must address misleading accusations that were publicly
made on the Minneapolis Issues list by Guy Gambill, and celebrated by
Eva Young.  I can not let this go unaddressed because I do stand for
justice
and transparency.  It is very upsetting that Mr. Gambill has chosen such
immature behavior by letting personal matters become an inappropriate
public broadcast.  Mr. Gambill is reacting with an emotional out lash   as
a result of me ending our estranged friendship.  What is also a sign of
cowardice is the blog Minneapolis Upsidedown stating, "The Farheen
Hakeem he describes is all that and more--opportunistic, dishonest,
manipulative, and full of sh@#$%t."  This kind of name calling is very
elementary school age. The author of this posting is named Loosestrife,
and is a coward to hide their name to their own words.

Here is my response:

First, I was assigned to make fliers for the event in January 2006 (yes,
that was over 2 years ago).  Josephine can tell you that she went on to
make the fliers because she knew that I did not own a computer at the
time and that I was struggling to find a computer to make the fliers.  Mr.
Gambill offered to let me use his computer, but after several attempts
to use his computer, he would tell me that it was not a good time.
Josephine can verify this.

Second, I would like to explain the Housing within the African Immigrant
Community forum.  We were in the works to plan the event over 2 years
ago.  The co-worker that Mr. Gambill is referring to, Asma, did a forum
last
summer on Crime Victim Services, not housing in the African immigrant
community.  For the Crime Victim Services event, I voluntarily passed
out about 100 fliers in Somali and English (guess I do walk the walk;
and
let me tell you in Cedar Riverside Towers, there is a lot of walking.)
There was no committee or plan to do the forum because Mr. Gambill's
priority was to get out of poverty and concentrate on his new position
at CCJ, which I respected as a friend.  I was ready to contact many
members
of the Somali community, but Mr. Gambill did not give the green light,
thus the project stopped there.

Third, I will address the site visit that occurred almost 2 years ago
between Barbara Schneiders Foundation and Headwaters Foundation for
Justice. As a Headwaters Social Justice Committee Board member, I had to
ask the tough questions to all applicants, no exceptions.  Mark Anderson,
the Executive Director, can verify that I did not launch any such attack,
and that I was professional and direct.  Mr. Gambill forgot to mention
that he called me later after the site visit and said, You might as
well had taken off your pants and taken a sh@#$%t on my face!  Although
Mr.
Gambills comments were not very professional, they were very direct.
These types of disrespectful and inappropriate comments led me to end
our friendship.

Fourth, Guy Gambill can not blame me for his loss of job.  He is upset
that he was standing up for another Muslim brother in my Mosque, which
may have indirectly lead to him losing his job.  Neither I nor this
brother
asked him to put his job on the line to do this.  I was ready to make a
public statement via e-mail, but Mr. Gambill told me to hold off.  I
did make a statement on the MTN show Politically Speaking, which aired
2/18/08.

As for Mr. Gambill's statement of "Farheen would have difficulty
producing one single paper she authored on any of these things, producing
a single event she has made happen alone or one law she has helped change,
" I
will address accordingly:

Papers: please refer to my website, where all of my issue papers I
produced myself with the exception of Ending Homelessness which I did
get assistance from Guy Gambill.  I also have written various articles for

the Pulse, and many Op Ed pieces that have been printed in the Star Tribune,
Minneapolis Observer, and Southwest Journal. I have created numerous
campaign fliers and organized their distribution as well, alongside
countless hours of grassroots doorknocking wearing my own shoe soles
down to the ground. I also organized the passing out of 20,000 of
literature
for the Minneapolis IRV campaign during 2006.

Events: I have done so many events; it would take forever for me to list
them.  The more recent ones were training youth that are in the foster
care system about the legislature.  Commissioner Mark Stenglein can
verify this because he did see me at the Capitol one day as he was taking
a
tour with his Boy Scout troop.  And yes, I do them alone (although I prefer
to work in collaboration and cooperation with others to get a more holistic
vision).

Laws: Gaining support for Child Welfare Reform from youth in the foster
care system is my job.  Youth are supporting laws that range from better
training of foster care parents to raise youth with FASD to sibling
group placements be a first priority.  It is me that does the research for
the youth, train them to talk to public officials, and follow up with them

to see how we can improve our techniques.

What Mr. Gambills main beef is that he insisted that I attend the
Homeless Initiative event at Temple Israel last Thursday evening,   2/21.
I had been personally invited to attend the Communities of Color
Leadership Council (CCLC) by Clyde Bellecourt, one of the founding members
of the American Indian Movement at the same time.  Thus I told Mr. Gambill
of this invite to the CCLC meeting, and he, to put it mildly, lost his
cool.  After a harsh upbraid, I went to Temple Israel at 6PM anyway just
to
make peace, and decided that I would go to the CCLC meeting later.  Cathy
ten Brooke can verify this because she was there with her partner and her

new born.  When I received the copy of the program, I realized that Mr.
Gambill had given me the wrong time and the event started at 7PM.  So I
went to the CCLC meeting.  It ran late and then I had to leave to pick
up my foster child, so I did not make it to the Temple Israel meeting
afterwards.

It was a great honor to be invited to the CCLC event, and people there
can verify that I do walk the walk, not only for being there but for
getting the work done.  As a foster parent to a teenage girl, working two
jobs, and running for office, I am going to make mistakes like everyone (I
am still human, I may not get enough sleep and get exhausted too).
However, I dont make mistakes that interfere with my integrity and my
beliefs.  Nevertheless, I am all about moving forward and  not holding
trifle grudges from 2-3 years ago that are simply irrelevant to the bigger
picture of this, and that are unfortunately an immature, emotional out
lash on behalf of this person. I can only say I am very disappointed and
that it further reinforces why I needed to end what I thought was a
friendship. I dont believe friendship issues should be splattered   over
a blog in some sort of immature revenge scheme.

In these past 3 years for running for office, while keeping my regular
jobs, I have organized and run 3 grassroots campaigns with dedicated
people choosing to support me because of their belief in me and what I
represent. I am continually thankful for their support and those who
believe in me at the polls when voting. I am who I am, with nothing to
hide. I have no ill intentions. My mission here is purely to continuing
aiding in bringing about positive change beginning here in our local
community.  I do walk my talk in all aspects to my life (own a hybrid,
am a foster parent, boycott coca-cola, etc).

If you have questions or comments, please directly talk to me! I am very
approachable and would be more than willing to answer any questions or
concerns you may have.  I have an easy to use contact page on my website
(www.farheenhakeem.org) and phone number 612-395-5559.  Again, I am open
to answering any of your questions.  Let's bring positive change to this
very exciting and history making election year! I am here in truth,
representing the community I live in with honor and integrity.

Thank you for understanding,

From: Guy Gambill Date: 2008 Feb 26 13:14 UTC

Greetings in return,

     This, frankly, is an even greater mis-representation than that of which I
am being
  "counter"-accused. Ms. Hakeem portrays the unfolding scenario as if she has
been
  the victim of some concerted campaign and entirley innocent. First of all,
the attendance
  at the Heading Home Hennepin Outreach meeting at Temple Israel was something
Farheen
  had agreed to participate in nearly 5 weeks before (and I will post my
initial request and
  her agreement-via e-mail--to do so in a follow-up). I phoned her the day of
the event and
  she informed me that she had been invited by Clyde Bellecourt to address a
Native
  Group. I became upset due to the fact, however Farheen cares to spin it is
entirely
  up to her. I viewed it as opportunistic. Ms. Hakeem regularly engages is a
rank
  variety of opportunism and this was no exception. She arrived at Temple
Israel on
  time, but I was late due to calls I had to make on a veteran (and she can
look at
  the phone bill or I can post it here). Despite the many, many occasions when
Ms.
  Hakeem has arrived late offering the excuse "I am on BP time (Brown People
Time)
  she would not extend the same patience. She left.
       Now, as for the issue with Al-Furqan and my loss of job at the CCJ, I
will also post
  some of Ms. Hakeem's e-mails on the issue here and folks can decide for
themselves.
  As for long participation in Housing and Homeless Access I can ensure you
that
  Ms. Hakeem's role, at best, has been secondary and feeble. That she would
assert
  she asked to use my computer...yes, she did...but she fell asleep at the desk
and
  never finished. Yes, the Forum done by Asma related to Crime Victim
Services...I
  viewed as part and parcel of the same set of issues on which I have worked
for years--
  especially with regard to police interaction around housing and homeless
issues.
  Asma and the MPD would corroborate the role that I played in this Forum.
      I first served on a continuum of care in 1989 in Stearns County. Worked
for
  years for Social Services. Have served 3 years on the Continuum of Care here.
Have
  done multiple articles on every aspect of these problems...I never heard of
Farheen
  until the Mayoral elections. At that point I watched her speak and thought
she merited
  help. Amongst things I tried to help her with was giving her information she
did not
  have on a multitude of issues--her campaign web-site on homelessness is a
direct
  reflection...the material there is lifted bodily from things I have worked
on...to decide
  that one need merely google my name and Farheen's look at the work done and
  decide who copied who.
      Ms. Hakeem asserting that my initial post was for "ending our friendship"
is, frankly,
  a lie. It was over the fight on Heading Home Hennepin and an earlier
disagreement
  regarding foster care placements of Native children. My experience with her
is that
  she spends very little time on an issue and when someone calls her on her
lack of
  depth she forever responds with some feeble comment regarding "white
privilege"
  or "male bias". I watched her engage in this sort of character assassination
with
  everyone from Peter Mclaughlin to Cam Gordon to other political figures,
including
  Mike Hatch.
      She forgets the many, many favors I have done for her while forever
pointing out
  those done in turn. This is typical.
      Ms. Hakeem is perenially portraying herself as a member of some oppressed
  class...nothing could be further from the truth. She is one of the most
opportunistic,
  self-centered of politicians...it is always about her, no matter the issue.
Over the
  next few days I will be happy to post some of Farheen's comments on the
issues
  she lists and you can decide for yourselves.
       Ms. Hakeem, if she would like to publicly demonstrate her expertise on
housing,
  predatory lending, homelessness, veterans services, community policing,
justice
  reform, urban planning, any of these and more...I would be happy to stand toe
to toe
  and let her take a shot...she would most definitely lose and she knows it.
Her knowledge
  of most of these things, at best, is slim.
      Hard-working? Yeah, I guess. I think Ms. Hakeem just returned from her
6th
  trip out of the State recently--this time to Colorado. She tries to portray
herself as
  working-class. Hardly. Farheen wouldn't know poverty if it jumped up and bit
her in
  the butt. Fine, as for her heavy participation on the issues as she
portrays...well,
  we shall see.
       Farheen's ostensible concern for her "peeps" is not well thought out and
this,
  more than anything, will be reflected if she is elected to the legislature.
She, as a
  Green, will be without a caucus, without a senior legislator. She will have a
hard
  time accomplishing much of anything at all and, when the next Green or Muslim
  runs for office they will remember that the last one didn't accomplish
anything...Farheen
  never stops to consider that at all...though many of us discussed this with
her.
       I still challenge her to produce one City Ordinance, One Law, one
specific
  change she began, carried and finished. She can't. The Housing and
Communities
  of Color thing is a fine example. What she fails to address is why the series
stopped
  when I went to the CCJ...if she were capable of doing it herself, why didn't
she?
  Farheen is a basically a wealthy, spoiled brat who regularly engages in
bashing
  a) White men (when she doesn''t get her way) b). men period. The latest
example
  of this would be her ranting in my apartment about Keith Ellison, who she met
with
  two weeks ago.
      Transparency and Justice? Yeah, right. Hardly. Farheen cashed me out when
  I argued with her about the Native Meeting (for her a shiny new constituency
to
  take advantage of). She, of course, knows so much more about the community
  than I after all of 3 week's worth of heavy research. I have worked with the
Cheyenne,
  Abenaki and Ojibwe peoples for over 10 years on Native Language
preservation...
  never, unlike Farheen, "cashing" in on the contribution. But she now knows
more
  about even that realm of endeavor.
      If you want to vote for an opportunist who has bashed every male ally she
has
  ever had (talk to Jay Pond, ask him his opinion). Vote for Hakeem. If you
want to
  support a parvenu to Minnesota politics who sows discord and deception in her
  wake, no matter the issue, vote Hakeem! If you wish to see communities
further
  divided. Vote Hakeem! If you like candidates who talk a lot but won't do
anything.
  Vote Hakeem! In fifteen minutes she can gain expertise in any issue that will
  exceed that of any man...but when asked to prove it you will be called a
sexist,
  a racist, a misogynist. Whatever.
     One of us has worked and hasn't asked for anything for nearly 3 decades.
The
  other has spent brief periods and is forever asking for her due (witness the
latest
  deep endeavor: 6 months "lobbying" for Grasstops...now she is the expert).
     Ms. Hakeem has bashed nearly every local politician. From Keith Ellison,
to
  Phyllis Khan and on and on....and she has done so publicly. How does it feel,
  Farheen? You go right ahead and take your best shot....step up any time you
  think you can handle the exchange on any of these issues...I will be all too
happy
  to publicly demonstrate how thin your knowledge really is...the people of
this
  City deserve more than another hack, whether the hack wears an hijab or a
  business suit. You ain't, in your words, "all that".

  Guy Gambill
  Northeast


  Greetings to you all,

Unfortunately, I must address misleading accusations that were publicly
made on the Minneapolis Issues list by Guy Gambill, and celebrated by
Eva Young. I can not let this go unaddressed because I do stand for
justice
and transparency. It is very upsetting that Mr. Gambill has chosen such
immature behavior by letting personal matters become an inappropriate
public broadcast. Mr. Gambill is reacting with an emotional out lash as
a result of me ending our estranged friendship. What is also a sign of
cowardice is the blog Minneapolis Upsidedown stating, "The Farheen
Hakeem he describes is all that and more--opportunistic, dishonest,
manipulative, and full of sh@#$%t." This kind of name calling is very
elementary school age. The author of this posting is named Loosestrife,
and is a coward to hide their name to their own words.

Here is my response:

First, I was assigned to make fliers for the event in January 2006 (yes,
that was over 2 years ago). Josephine can tell you that she went on to
make the fliers because she knew that I did not own a computer at the
time and that I was struggling to find a computer to make the fliers. Mr.
Gambill offered to let me use his computer, but after several attempts
to use his computer, he would tell me that it was not a good time.
Josephine can verify this.

Second, I would like to explain the Housing within the African Immigrant
Community forum. We were in the works to plan the event over 2 years
ago. The co-worker that Mr. Gambill is referring to, Asma, did a forum
last
summer on Crime Victim Services, not housing in the African immigrant
community. For the Crime Victim Services event, I voluntarily passed
out about 100 fliers in Somali and English (guess I do walk the walk;
and
let me tell you in Cedar Riverside Towers, there is a lot of walking.)
There was no committee or plan to do the forum because Mr. Gambill's
priority was to get out of poverty and concentrate on his new position
at CCJ, which I respected as a friend. I was ready to contact many
members
of the Somali community, but Mr. Gambill did not give the green light,
thus the project stopped there.

Third, I will address the site visit that occurred almost 2 years ago
between Barbara Schneiders Foundation and Headwaters Foundation for
Justice. As a Headwaters Social Justice Committee Board member, I had to
ask the tough questions to all applicants, no exceptions. Mark Anderson,
the Executive Director, can verify that I did not launch any such attack,
and that I was professional and direct. Mr. Gambill forgot to mention
that he called me later after the site visit and said, You might as
well had taken off your pants and taken a sh@#$%t on my face! Although
Mr.
Gambills comments were not very professional, they were very direct.
These types of disrespectful and inappropriate comments led me to end
our friendship.

Fourth, Guy Gambill can not blame me for his loss of job. He is upset
that he was standing up for another Muslim brother in my Mosque, which
may have indirectly lead to him losing his job. Neither I nor this
brother
asked him to put his job on the line to do this. I was ready to make a
public statement via e-mail, but Mr. Gambill told me to hold off. I
did make a statement on the MTN show Politically Speaking, which aired
2/18/08.

As for Mr. Gambill's statement of "Farheen would have difficulty
producing one single paper she authored on any of these things, producing
a single event she has made happen alone or one law she has helped change,
" I
will address accordingly:

Papers: please refer to my website, where all of my issue papers I
produced myself with the exception of Ending Homelessness which I did
get assistance from Guy Gambill. I also have written various articles for

the Pulse, and many Op Ed pieces that have been printed in the Star Tribune,
Minneapolis Observer, and Southwest Journal. I have created numerous
campaign fliers and organized their distribution as well, alongside
countless hours of grassroots doorknocking wearing my own shoe soles
down to the ground. I also organized the passing out of 20,000 of
literature
for the Minneapolis IRV campaign during 2006.

Events: I have done so many events; it would take forever for me to list
them. The more recent ones were training youth that are in the foster
care system about the legislature. Commissioner Mark Stenglein can
verify this because he did see me at the Capitol one day as he was taking
a
tour with his Boy Scout troop. And yes, I do them alone (although I prefer
to work in collaboration and cooperation with others to get a more holistic
vision).

Laws: Gaining support for Child Welfare Reform from youth in the foster
care system is my job. Youth are supporting laws that range from better
training of foster care parents to raise youth with FASD to sibling
group placements be a first priority. It is me that does the research for
the youth, train them to talk to public officials, and follow up with them

to see how we can improve our techniques.

What Mr. Gambills main beef is that he insisted that I attend the
Homeless Initiative event at Temple Israel last Thursday evening, 2/21.
I had been personally invited to attend the Communities of Color
Leadership Council (CCLC) by Clyde Bellecourt, one of the founding members
of the American Indian Movement at the same time. Thus I told Mr. Gambill
of this invite to the CCLC meeting, and he, to put it mildly, lost his
cool. After a harsh upbraid, I went to Temple Israel at 6PM anyway just
to
make peace, and decided that I would go to the CCLC meeting later. Cathy
ten Brooke can verify this because she was there with her partner and her

new born. When I received the copy of the program, I realized that Mr.
Gambill had given me the wrong time and the event started at 7PM. So I
went to the CCLC meeting. It ran late and then I had to leave to pick
up my foster child, so I did not make it to the Temple Israel meeting
afterwards.

It was a great honor to be invited to the CCLC event, and people there
can verify that I do walk the walk, not only for being there but for
getting the work done. As a foster parent to a teenage girl, working two
jobs, and running for office, I am going to make mistakes like everyone (I
am still human, I may not get enough sleep and get exhausted too).
However, I dont make mistakes that interfere with my integrity and my
beliefs. Nevertheless, I am all about moving forward and not holding
trifle grudges from 2-3 years ago that are simply irrelevant to the bigger
picture of this, and that are unfortunately an immature, emotional out
lash on behalf of this person. I can only say I am very disappointed and
that it further reinforces why I needed to end what I thought was a
friendship. I dont believe friendship issues should be splattered over
a blog in some sort of immature revenge scheme.

In these past 3 years for running for office, while keeping my regular
jobs, I have organized and run 3 grassroots campaigns with dedicated
people choosing to support me because of their belief in me and what I
represent. I am continually thankful for their support and those who
believe in me at the polls when voting. I am who I am, with nothing to
hide. I have no ill intentions. My mission here is purely to continuing
aiding in bringing about positive change beginning here in our local
community. I do walk my talk in all aspects to my life (own a hybrid,
am a foster parent, boycott coca-cola, etc).

If you have questions or comments, please directly talk to me! I am very
approachable and would be more than willing to answer any questions or
concerns you may have. I have an easy to use contact page on my website
(www.farheenhakeem.org) and phone number 612-395-5559. Again, I am open
to answering any of your questions. Let's bring positive change to this
very exciting and history making election year! I am here in truth,
representing the community I live in with honor and integrity.

Thank you for understanding,

Farheen

From: Guy Gambill Date: 2008 Feb 26 13:31 UTC

Greetings,

     Here is a post from Farheen 5 weeks ago about planning for the HHH
thing...At that
  point, I was one of the people she thought others could use as an example of
a white
  male who knew how to listen...now I am persona non grata...what happened? I
dared
  to challenge Queen Mab. That is how quickly the worm can turn when you
disagree.
  "Transparency and Justice"...yeah, right,

  Guy Gambill
  Northeast
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YAHOO.Shortcuts.hostSpaceId = "97546168";     Yes, I agree.

This is why I wanted to start a blog so that only we would be able to read and
communicate on it.

There were some here that asked to learn about blogging.  I am willing to have
a mini-class if needed (could be at a coffee shop that has internet, or can do
it at my home.)

I really do not trust Richard Amos being there.  I also believe that Matt Ayers
and Madeline K need some training on how to shut up.  I was wondering if Mark,
Sue, Mike, Guy, Margaret, and Sandy could sit down with them and talk to them
on how to be good listeners and allies to people of color.  I could do it as
well, but they might get a little too emotional and start saying that I am
attacking them.

Thanks,

Farheen

<email obscured> wrote:

  Greetings to you all,

Unfortunately, I must address misleading accusations that were publicly
made on the Minneapolis Issues list by Guy Gambill, and celebrated by
Eva Young. I can not let this go unaddressed because I do stand for
justice
and transparency. It is very upsetting that Mr. Gambill has chosen such
immature behavior by letting personal matters become an inappropriate
public broadcast. Mr. Gambill is reacting with an emotional out lash as
a result of me ending our estranged friendship. What is also a sign of
cowardice is the blog Minneapolis Upsidedown stating, "The Farheen
Hakeem he describes is all that and more--opportunistic, dishonest,
manipulative, and full of sh@#$%t." This kind of name calling is very
elementary school age. The author of this posting is named Loosestrife,
and is a coward to hide their name to their own words.

Here is my response:

First, I was assigned to make fliers for the event in January 2006 (yes,
that was over 2 years ago). Josephine can tell you that she went on to
make the fliers because she knew that I did not own a computer at the
time and that I was struggling to find a computer to make the fliers. Mr.
Gambill offered to let me use his computer, but after several attempts
to use his computer, he would tell me that it was not a good time.
Josephine can verify this.

Second, I would like to explain the Housing within the African Immigrant
Community forum. We were in the works to plan the event over 2 years
ago. The co-worker that Mr. Gambill is referring to, Asma, did a forum
last
summer on Crime Victim Services, not housing in the African immigrant
community. For the Crime Victim Services event, I voluntarily passed
out about 100 fliers in Somali and English (guess I do walk the walk;
and
let me tell you in Cedar Riverside Towers, there is a lot of walking.)
There was no committee or plan to do the forum because Mr. Gambill's
priority was to get out of poverty and concentrate on his new position
at CCJ, which I respected as a friend. I was ready to contact many
members
of the Somali community, but Mr. Gambill did not give the green light,
thus the project stopped there.

Third, I will address the site visit that occurred almost 2 years ago
between Barbara Schneiders Foundation and Headwaters Foundation for
Justice. As a Headwaters Social Justice Committee Board member, I had to
ask the tough questions to all applicants, no exceptions. Mark Anderson,
the Executive Director, can verify that I did not launch any such attack,
and that I was professional and direct. Mr. Gambill forgot to mention
that he called me later after the site visit and said, You might as
well had taken off your pants and taken a sh@#$%t on my face! Although
Mr.
Gambills comments were not very professional, they were very direct.
These types of disrespectful and inappropriate comments led me to end
our friendship.

Fourth, Guy Gambill can not blame me for his loss of job. He is upset
that he was standing up for another Muslim brother in my Mosque, which
may have indirectly lead to him losing his job. Neither I nor this
brother
asked him to put his job on the line to do this. I was ready to make a
public statement via e-mail, but Mr. Gambill told me to hold off. I
did make a statement on the MTN show Politically Speaking, which aired
2/18/08.

As for Mr. Gambill's statement of "Farheen would have difficulty
producing one single paper she authored on any of these things, producing
a single event she has made happen alone or one law she has helped change,
" I
will address accordingly:

Papers: please refer to my website, where all of my issue papers I
produced myself with the exception of Ending Homelessness which I did
get assistance from Guy Gambill. I also have written various articles for

the Pulse, and many Op Ed pieces that have been printed in the Star Tribune,
Minneapolis Observer, and Southwest Journal. I have created numerous
campaign fliers and organized their distribution as well, alongside
countless hours of grassroots doorknocking wearing my own shoe soles
down to the ground. I also organized the passing out of 20,000 of
literature
for the Minneapolis IRV campaign during 2006.

Events: I have done so many events; it would take forever for me to list
them. The more recent ones were training youth that are in the foster
care system about the legislature. Commissioner Mark Stenglein can
verify this because he did see me at the Capitol one day as he was taking
a
tour with his Boy Scout troop. And yes, I do them alone (although I prefer
to work in collaboration and cooperation with others to get a more holistic
vision).

Laws: Gaining support for Child Welfare Reform from youth in the foster
care system is my job. Youth are supporting laws that range from better
training of foster care parents to raise youth with FASD to sibling
group placements be a first priority. It is me that does the research for
the youth, train them to talk to public officials, and follow up with them

to see how we can improve our techniques.

What Mr. Gambills main beef is that he insisted that I attend the
Homeless Initiative event at Temple Israel last Thursday evening, 2/21.
I had been personally invited to attend the Communities of Color
Leadership Council (CCLC) by Clyde Bellecourt, one of the founding members
of the American Indian Movement at the same time. Thus I told Mr. Gambill
of this invite to the CCLC meeting, and he, to put it mildly, lost his
cool. After a harsh upbraid, I went to Temple Israel at 6PM anyway just
to
make peace, and decided that I would go to the CCLC meeting later. Cathy
ten Brooke can verify this because she was there with her partner and her

new born. When I received the copy of the program, I realized that Mr.
Gambill had given me the wrong time and the event started at 7PM. So I
went to the CCLC meeting. It ran late and then I had to leave to pick
up my foster child, so I did not make it to the Temple Israel meeting
afterwards.

It was a great honor to be invited to the CCLC event, and people there
can verify that I do walk the walk, not only for being there but for
getting the work done. As a foster parent to a teenage girl, working two
jobs, and running for office, I am going to make mistakes like everyone (I
am still human, I may not get enough sleep and get exhausted too).
However, I dont make mistakes that interfere with my integrity and my
beliefs. Nevertheless, I am all about moving forward and not holding
trifle grudges from 2-3 years ago that are simply irrelevant to the bigger
picture of this, and that are unfortunately an immature, emotional out
lash on behalf of this person. I can only say I am very disappointed and
that it further reinforces why I needed to end what I thought was a
friendship. I dont believe friendship issues should be splattered over
a blog in some sort of immature revenge scheme.

In these past 3 years for running for office, while keeping my regular
jobs, I have organized and run 3 grassroots campaigns with dedicated
people choosing to support me because of their belief in me and what I
represent. I am continually thankful for their support and those who
believe in me at the polls when voting. I am who I am, with nothing to
hide. I have no ill intentions. My mission here is purely to continuing
aiding in bringing about positive change beginning here in our local
community. I do walk my talk in all aspects to my life (own a hybrid,
am a foster parent, boycott coca-cola, etc).

If you have questions or comments, please directly talk to me! I am very
approachable and would be more than willing to answer any questions or
concerns you may have. I have an easy to use contact page on my website
(www.farheenhakeem.org) and phone number 612-395-5559. Again, I am open
to answering any of your questions. Let's bring positive change to this
very exciting and history making election year! I am here in truth,
representing the community I live in with honor and integrity.

Thank you for understanding,

From: leigh combs Date: 2008 Feb 26 14:27 UTC

this disagreement does not belong on the issues list...
peace
leigh combs
pwderhorn
plant trees not statues and stadiums

From: David Brauer Date: 2008 Feb 26 14:29 UTC

Folks, I understand this thread has gotten personal, and I'll review it when
real life allows me to.

But a quick reminder, both for the thread participants and the rest of us:

List rules FORBID forwarding off-list emails without the SENDER'S permission.
(In other words, you can't do it on your own - you have to get the other
person's permission.)

So please, everyone, respect that rule. In this case, it's truly nothing
personal.

From: Jim Graham Date: 2008 Feb 26 17:38 UTC

Does this disagreement belong on the List?  I believe it does in this case.
(Though I am not sure the examples of some language used was really that
necessary.)

  Farheen is a candidate for a public office that is totally contained within
Minneapolis. What she says and does is a MPLS specific issue, especially in
regards to support or NOT support of her candidacy.

  If it is appropriate to say why there is support, then it is certainly
appropriate to say why support is withdrawn.  In fact fact it may well be more
informative to those who may vote in that district of Minneapolis. How a
candidate handles such conflict is also very informative and I believe that is
especially true of this situation.

   The purpose of the MPLS Issues Forum is hopefully more than just as an
entertainment piece where we make announcements about what is a good restaurant
in the Twin Cities. (Though I believe the Bon Xai on University is the the best
new restaurant, with unbelievably fine cuisine, to open here in years!!!!) The
purpose is also to discuss actual issues.  I believe Guy Gambil has raised
legitimate "issues" and Farheen has attempted to answer them in her own way. I
believe both posts give insight on a candidate worthiness to hold public
office.

  Thank you Guy Gambil for raising the "issue" and honestly bringing your issue
to us. After all her candidacy began with a post from you.  I think it only
fair for you to inform us when you have alternative information and
perspective.  Thank you also Mpls Issues for allowing us this deeper insight
into both information on a political race and on the particular style of one of
the candidates.

  Jim Graham,
  Ventura Village

From: leigh combs Date: 2008 Feb 26 18:24 UTC

for one thing the posts are way too long
and the other candidate or not
this feels as though it is about two people that are
having a falling out with their friendship...
and are processing it here.
peace
leigh combs
powderhorn
plant trees not statues or stadiums

From: Eric Oines Date: 2008 Feb 27 01:04 UTC

I agree with Leigh Combs.  This is better handled off list, especially after
private e-mails get involved.

I don't know Mr. Gambill, but I have agreed with most things he has written
over the years.  I do know Ms. Hakeem, and I agree with her just as often.
This looks very much like a personal matter.

Eric Oines
Lind-Bohanon

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