For reasons I have neither taken the time nor had the inclination to figure out, we date our nation’s founding not to the signing of our Constitution on September 17, 1787, but to the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, which makes this country 247 years old today, so happy birthday, United States of America. In the immortal words of the Grateful Dead, what a long strange trip it’s been.
Genuinely contemplative and as a descendant and member of those most singled out as comfortably entitled in our country, perhaps one of the more compelling arguments for the inclusion of those too long marginalized and ignored. So well said.
Your voice deserves a wider audience at this time in our history.
Yes,I agree.This piece needs to be read by every American.Those in charge instead of trying to “ disappear “ slavery need to emphasize this experience so that no one can not know who literally built this country.
God, I was in tears by the end of what you wrote! You said it so well! God, I’m glad I subscribe to your newsletter and I’m a founding supporter. I’m proud of our country no matter what turmoil goes on. We’re all in this together no matter what color, race or creed. Thank you on our country’s birthday! 🇺🇸❤️💥🙏🏻
Yes, people and historians memorialize the great men, scientists, industrialists, etc., but forget the laborers, craftsmen, farmers, cooks, mothers, etc., who did the actual hard little as w jobs
Sorry, but this stupid page won’t let me correct or delete my comments. We shouldn’t forget the “little” guys and women who did the hard and dirty jobs that made everything we have today possible. Thank you everybody!
Last week I was at my brother’s burial at Arlington National Cemetery (as always, so moving) … he was West Point ‘63.
It was my first visit back to DC in a long time, where I spent many years … possibly my last visit, as I don’t travel much now (after a lifetime of traveling) … I spent hours walking Capitol Hill and the Mall and other DC neighborhoods … these very thoughts you’ve expressed kept springing into my mind … the disparity, the privilege, the brilliance and the terrible flaws of our “founders”, our capitol and our country, much as I love it. Thanks for expressing these thoughts so eloquently.
Your wondrous piece, which should be required reading for such New Gilded Age, immutably tarnished, eminences as Elon Musk and Donald Trump, now stands next to the Fourth of July speech Frederick Douglass delivered famously in 1852, in which he reminded his listeners that African-Americans were actually building the country, listing their trades, yet while "planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!" As a country, we have mostly succumbed to the cynical line of the newspaper reporter in the movie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." You have not, and we are all in your debt.
^^^^^ [EXCERPT, THERE IS ALSO AN EMBEDDED YOU TUBE VIDEO FEATURING A READING
OF THE ENTIRE SPEECH]
"On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration and asked, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Douglass was a powerful orator, often traveling six months out of the year to give lectures on abolition. His speech, given at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was held at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York. It was a scathing speech in which Douglass stated, “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine, You may rejoice, I must mourn.”
In his speech, Douglass acknowledged the Founding Fathers of America, the architects of the Declaration of Independence, for their commitment to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness:”
“Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too, great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.”
{A black-and-white photograph of Frederick Douglass wearing a jacket, waistcoat, and bowtie. The wet plate ambrotype plates are housed in a folding leather case with tooled gilt oval mat.}
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Douglass stated that the nation's founders were great men for their ideals of freedom. But in doing so he brings awareness to the hypocrisy of their ideals by the existence of slavery on American soil. Douglass continues to interrogate the meaning of the Declaration of Independence, to enslaved African Americans experiencing grave inequality and injustice:
“Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?"
I was happy to read Mr. T.'s riff today because, for one thing, it tells us is he didn't throw out his back or break a hip mopping up the basement. I also know of no one beside LKTIV who claims Thomas Jefferson as an ancestor. As close as I come (and really, this isn't close at all) is that a former husband played Thomas Jefferson in "1776" on Broadway and in the movie ... and strangely, they looked a little alike.
The main reason July 4th has meaning for me, though, is that my late mother was born on this day in 1918. And because the dear girl had parents who'd come from Russia and took a while to become Americanized, she thought the fireworks and parades were for her! And in Chicago, a month after she died, they were! Happy birthday, honey.
Jul 5, 2023·edited Jul 5, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
Thank you, Lucian.
On the Bicentennial I was living in the Boston area, ready to start law school in September. Gerald Ford was slated to come to Concord to “the rude bridge that arched the flood” so my friends and other general polite dissenters showed up there, spent the night on the hillside and waited for the Commander in Chief. He showed up and I remember nothing of what he said, but there was a half-dressed counterculture type (non-dangerous, perhaps high, I would have said) who waded into and across the Concord River in the direction of Mr. Ford, and provided great entertainment as he was tackled by an excessive contingent of Secret Service officers.
I am not descended from any Signers. But my son represents some of the dream of America. 100% shtetl Jew on my side (2nd generation) and a descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, both passengers on the Mayflower, on his father’s side.
So he is a melting pot success. The best of everything.
Let’s save the damn republic, friends. Happy Fourth. Lucian, thank you for all your service.
(And I’ve corrected the misspellings of your name. Apologies.)
Shared. As I said in my Facebook sharing of this, as a Navy Vietnam vet I absolutely celebrate the 4th (proudly presented arms at the ball park last night). But thank you for this amazing perspective.
I had not given much thought to "why July 4 and not September 17 as the date of our founding" but I will in days to come. Apart from July 4 being TJ's birthday (at that point he didn't know it would also be his deathday), I'm thinking that the Declaration was young(ish) men's act of bravado, sticking it to the king and Parliament of England, while the making of the Constitution was bloody hard work, riddled with compromises in which no one got everything they wanted.
Earlier today I participated, for about the 10th year, in a community reading of Frederick Douglass's 1852 "What to a slave is your Fourth of July" speech. The first time I took part, the day came alive for me. No longer was it just a celebration of something that happened a long time ago. It became a commitment, a looking forward, a promise to be kept, a nation to be brought into existence. I'm not sure I've made my peace with the country I was born into, but I'm working on it.
July 4, 1976 was when my husband and I celebrated our wedding reception. We had gotten married two weeks before in Reno. Decided to have a blockbuster party in the front yard of the house we rented for $200 a month. Had food catered from a deli and we provided a keg of beer plus wine. A friend of ours arranged for a live band to play. We had approximately 100 people on this quarter acre dancing their butts off! Cops came twice to tell us we were too loud but in all honesty, they loved the music too. Twas the best party we ever had. Now, we are two old farts who really don’t enjoy the noise related with the Fourth. Hubs is a Vietnam vet who literally shivers when the “bombs” go off. Our sweet doggie gets extremely scared. Not fun.
“It sounds like a war zone out there ,” declared my husband, a Vietnam era Air Force veteran. In our neighborhood the illegal fireworks start around 7:30 pm and last until midnight. My ears hurt.
Jul 5, 2023·edited Jul 5, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
I remember once standing at my kitchen sink so unnerved I was crying, vowing never to spend another Fourth in NYC. The firecrackers were constant for days. We could send you the ex-mayor who put an end to that aural abomination, apparently forever. His name is Rudy Giuliani.
No thanks on Rudy. He’s probably hoping for a Cabinet post if Trump wins a second term (if hell freezes over). It’s now 15 minutes past midnight and the fireworks continue. Guess I’ll read a book until all’s clear.
I am sympathetic, as you can see from my comment on this thread!
Here's some follow-up, this was featured all over local media for obvious reasons, one being the undeniable imminent dangers of literally attacking people by throwing firecrackers at them, and the other being symptomatic of the perennial "How Can We Help De Yoof Avoid a Bad End?" set of concerns, so often weaponized by the right-wing here in the USA, the U.K., La Belle France with the banlieus aflame currently, etc.
But clearly violence is not the answer, even as provoked as it can be by "Da System."
Business owners in Dinkytown spoke out as rowdy crowds of teenagers continue to cause disturbances in the neighborhood.
The University of Minnesota, in response to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on Wednesday, said it will continue the ‘Dinkytown Safe Streets’ initiative in partnership with Minneapolis Police through July, including increased police presence in the area on the weekends.
Targeted efforts like the ‘Dinkytown Safe Streets’ initiative have helped to deter some of the groups, but when extra officers leave, it’s back to ‘business as usual,’ said Frank and Andrea Pizza co-owners Shaz Khan and Antonio Gambino.
Khan and Gambino went into business around eight years ago for three reasons: New York-style pizza, heaping Philly cheesesteaks and serving up both to University of Minnesota students who are concentrated in and around Dinkytown.
“I’ll be honest, like, if I saw this now and this space became available, I probably wouldn’t take that risk,” Gambino said while sitting on the restaurant’s patio on Wednesday.
The shift in mindset can be attributed to consistent large crowds of kids and teenagers wreaking havoc on businesses and the students who live, work and dine out on the block in the last three years, the co-owners said.
“We have to worry about the whole block, the whole street, like, who’s coming in? Who’s outside? Who’s driving by? Who’s shooting off fireworks? Who’s jumping, you know, our customers, our students?” Gambino added. “It just, it doesn’t make it fun anymore, you know?”
“We pay for private security to patrol the area,” Khan said, adding it was an investment they made about three years ago.
Directly across the street from Frank and Andrea, the Kollege Klub bar also has its own security, according to general manager Regan Haffele.
“These are all juveniles from around the metro area, just down here to cause trouble,” Haffele said.
A video Khan shared from outside Frank and Andrea on Wednesday night showed dozens lingering on the block as horns and sirens blare, seemingly attempting to break up the gathering.
Both businesses shut their doors early that night.
“There are 100 people, kind of congregating, shooting fireworks off, and let’s say those people decided they want to come to our establishment. We just didn’t have the staffing that could stop them from coming in,” Haffele said.
The holiday weekend consisted of more of the same, Khan added.
“People were still having fireworks shot at them, you know, more altercations, fights in the street,” he continued, saying it forced the second closure in a week on Monday.
“Generally, I can spot the same people from the night before out here again,” Haffele added.
Management for both businesses expressed they don’t have the answer but are hoping city and state leaders will try to find one.
“I’m gonna double down,” Khan said at the conclusion of the interview. “I’m gonna say, you know, to the governor’s office, to the mayor’s office, please reach out to us directly. We want to have a conversation directly.”
Customers and staff have not been hurt at either establishment, they said.
“We’re just hoping that this area becomes safe again for the students, our staff, our patrons,” Haffele concluded. “And I believe it’s a problem that can be solved.”
***** Lived nearby as undergrad and grad student on and off and then continuously for twenty-four years, I "know the neighborhood well," this video is shot
across the street from SE Library named in honor of this women's rights stalwart:
"Arvonne Skelton Fraser (September 1, 1925 – August 7, 2018) was an American women's rights advocate and political campaigner.[1][2] She held the position of Senior Fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, and from 1993–1994 was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.[1][2] She also managed the political campaigns of her husband Donald M. Fraser during his career, from 1954 to 1979.[1]"
Jul 5, 2023·edited Jul 5, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
Right now, 9:38 PM in Minneapolis, on the sixth of seven floor apt. bldg., outside, AS USUAL EVERY 4TH OF JULY for maybe 40-50-60 minutes on and off in the next block, the pointless fireworks, NOT the City's "official show" that is sponsored, glowing over the Mississippi River and staged by professionals, nope, these are explosives most likely purchased legally in Wisconsin, just across the St. Croix from Stillwater -
But I have my own musical ammunition* deployed, works wonders, along with floor fan helping to muffle the sound - in fact, it's the young children (rare around here but even so) and of course, dogs and cats, working folks of all stripes needing some damn sleep for tomorrow morning's work day, etc. who are my real concern...
*Also definitely connects with the broader Fourth of July celebratory theme of American patriotic service in its more positive senses, and very soothing it is, too, even for an old rock n'roll bar band boogie aficionado like me:
Alton Glenn Miller was an American big-band trombonist, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best-known big bands. Miller's recordings include "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade", "Pennsylvania 6-5000", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "A String of Pearls", "At Last", "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo", "American Patrol", "Tuxedo Junction", "Elmer's Tune", and "Little Brown Jug". In just four years Glenn Miller scored 16 number-one records and 69 top ten hits—more than Elvis Presley (38 top 10s) and the Beatles (33 top 10s) did in their careers. While he was traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France during World War II, Miller's aircraft disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel.
Bravo again, kind sir...I doubt finer words have ever been strung together to describe the uniqueness that is these sometimes-United, other times not so much, States of America on our birthday. Thank you, Lucian, for your striking point of view...
Give DeSantis and his crew a couple decades and all that history will be replaced in the history books and classrooms by a much different version. One more attuned to white supremacy and a brand new take on the Judeo Christian ethos. And in twenty years a whole new generation will have been schooled in myth not truth.
Jul 5, 2023·edited Jul 5, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
"We have Founding Fathers, all right, but we have Founding Mothers and Founding Educators and Founding Workers, and God help us, Founding Slaves, and all of them deserve celebrating and our thanks on this and every July Fourth. We would not be here to argue amongst ourselves and to vote and to struggle to preserve our Democracy without them."
The dead are beyond our gratitude. We can never repay those who bequeathed us our legacy. We can only play it forward.
It is so refreshing to read this. It’s about damned time someone says this with such clarity! Thank you.
Genuinely contemplative and as a descendant and member of those most singled out as comfortably entitled in our country, perhaps one of the more compelling arguments for the inclusion of those too long marginalized and ignored. So well said.
Your voice deserves a wider audience at this time in our history.
Yes it does!
Yes,I agree.This piece needs to be read by every American.Those in charge instead of trying to “ disappear “ slavery need to emphasize this experience so that no one can not know who literally built this country.
Amen
God, I was in tears by the end of what you wrote! You said it so well! God, I’m glad I subscribe to your newsletter and I’m a founding supporter. I’m proud of our country no matter what turmoil goes on. We’re all in this together no matter what color, race or creed. Thank you on our country’s birthday! 🇺🇸❤️💥🙏🏻
Yes, people and historians memorialize the great men, scientists, industrialists, etc., but forget the laborers, craftsmen, farmers, cooks, mothers, etc., who did the actual hard little as w jobs
Sorry, but this stupid page won’t let me correct or delete my comments. We shouldn’t forget the “little” guys and women who did the hard and dirty jobs that made everything we have today possible. Thank you everybody!
Yes it will. Click the three little dots next to "reply" takes you to the edit function.
On certain forms edit is not one of the choices when I tap on the 3 dots! I know exactly what Dennis means.
I hear ya!
Thank you, Lucian, once again, so prescient …
Last week I was at my brother’s burial at Arlington National Cemetery (as always, so moving) … he was West Point ‘63.
It was my first visit back to DC in a long time, where I spent many years … possibly my last visit, as I don’t travel much now (after a lifetime of traveling) … I spent hours walking Capitol Hill and the Mall and other DC neighborhoods … these very thoughts you’ve expressed kept springing into my mind … the disparity, the privilege, the brilliance and the terrible flaws of our “founders”, our capitol and our country, much as I love it. Thanks for expressing these thoughts so eloquently.
Please accept my condolences, Elaine.
Beautiful testimony to your brother and his contemporaries, our contemporaries !
Your wondrous piece, which should be required reading for such New Gilded Age, immutably tarnished, eminences as Elon Musk and Donald Trump, now stands next to the Fourth of July speech Frederick Douglass delivered famously in 1852, in which he reminded his listeners that African-Americans were actually building the country, listing their trades, yet while "planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!" As a country, we have mostly succumbed to the cynical line of the newspaper reporter in the movie, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence: "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." You have not, and we are all in your debt.
nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/nations-story-what-slave-fourth-july
^^^^^ [EXCERPT, THERE IS ALSO AN EMBEDDED YOU TUBE VIDEO FEATURING A READING
OF THE ENTIRE SPEECH]
"On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass gave a keynote address at an Independence Day celebration and asked, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Douglass was a powerful orator, often traveling six months out of the year to give lectures on abolition. His speech, given at an event commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was held at Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York. It was a scathing speech in which Douglass stated, “This Fourth of July is yours, not mine, You may rejoice, I must mourn.”
In his speech, Douglass acknowledged the Founding Fathers of America, the architects of the Declaration of Independence, for their commitment to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness:”
“Fellow Citizens, I am not wanting in respect for the fathers of this republic. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were brave men. They were great men, too, great enough to give frame to a great age. It does not often happen to a nation to raise, at one time, such a number of truly great men. The point from which I am compelled to view them is not, certainly, the most favorable; and yet I cannot contemplate their great deeds with less than admiration. They were statesmen, patriots and heroes, and for the good they did, and the principles they contended for, I will unite with you to honor their memory.”
{A black-and-white photograph of Frederick Douglass wearing a jacket, waistcoat, and bowtie. The wet plate ambrotype plates are housed in a folding leather case with tooled gilt oval mat.}
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Douglass stated that the nation's founders were great men for their ideals of freedom. But in doing so he brings awareness to the hypocrisy of their ideals by the existence of slavery on American soil. Douglass continues to interrogate the meaning of the Declaration of Independence, to enslaved African Americans experiencing grave inequality and injustice:
“Fellow-citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here to-day? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?"
Checkout the James Earl Jones reading on hosted by Amy Goodman!
I was happy to read Mr. T.'s riff today because, for one thing, it tells us is he didn't throw out his back or break a hip mopping up the basement. I also know of no one beside LKTIV who claims Thomas Jefferson as an ancestor. As close as I come (and really, this isn't close at all) is that a former husband played Thomas Jefferson in "1776" on Broadway and in the movie ... and strangely, they looked a little alike.
The main reason July 4th has meaning for me, though, is that my late mother was born on this day in 1918. And because the dear girl had parents who'd come from Russia and took a while to become Americanized, she thought the fireworks and parades were for her! And in Chicago, a month after she died, they were! Happy birthday, honey.
Happy Birthday to your fabulous mom!!
Thank you, m'dear. And a fabulous mom she was.
Let’s celebrate ALL the country’s Founders without whom the last 247 years would not be possible. Thank you Lucien!
Thank you, Lucian.
On the Bicentennial I was living in the Boston area, ready to start law school in September. Gerald Ford was slated to come to Concord to “the rude bridge that arched the flood” so my friends and other general polite dissenters showed up there, spent the night on the hillside and waited for the Commander in Chief. He showed up and I remember nothing of what he said, but there was a half-dressed counterculture type (non-dangerous, perhaps high, I would have said) who waded into and across the Concord River in the direction of Mr. Ford, and provided great entertainment as he was tackled by an excessive contingent of Secret Service officers.
I am not descended from any Signers. But my son represents some of the dream of America. 100% shtetl Jew on my side (2nd generation) and a descendant of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins, both passengers on the Mayflower, on his father’s side.
So he is a melting pot success. The best of everything.
Let’s save the damn republic, friends. Happy Fourth. Lucian, thank you for all your service.
(And I’ve corrected the misspellings of your name. Apologies.)
"By the rude bridge that arched the flood
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard 'round the world."
Shared. As I said in my Facebook sharing of this, as a Navy Vietnam vet I absolutely celebrate the 4th (proudly presented arms at the ball park last night). But thank you for this amazing perspective.
Thank you Lucian...I can't imagine a better piece being written today, truly.
And thank you to the true founders!
I had not given much thought to "why July 4 and not September 17 as the date of our founding" but I will in days to come. Apart from July 4 being TJ's birthday (at that point he didn't know it would also be his deathday), I'm thinking that the Declaration was young(ish) men's act of bravado, sticking it to the king and Parliament of England, while the making of the Constitution was bloody hard work, riddled with compromises in which no one got everything they wanted.
Earlier today I participated, for about the 10th year, in a community reading of Frederick Douglass's 1852 "What to a slave is your Fourth of July" speech. The first time I took part, the day came alive for me. No longer was it just a celebration of something that happened a long time ago. It became a commitment, a looking forward, a promise to be kept, a nation to be brought into existence. I'm not sure I've made my peace with the country I was born into, but I'm working on it.
July 4, 1976 was when my husband and I celebrated our wedding reception. We had gotten married two weeks before in Reno. Decided to have a blockbuster party in the front yard of the house we rented for $200 a month. Had food catered from a deli and we provided a keg of beer plus wine. A friend of ours arranged for a live band to play. We had approximately 100 people on this quarter acre dancing their butts off! Cops came twice to tell us we were too loud but in all honesty, they loved the music too. Twas the best party we ever had. Now, we are two old farts who really don’t enjoy the noise related with the Fourth. Hubs is a Vietnam vet who literally shivers when the “bombs” go off. Our sweet doggie gets extremely scared. Not fun.
“It sounds like a war zone out there ,” declared my husband, a Vietnam era Air Force veteran. In our neighborhood the illegal fireworks start around 7:30 pm and last until midnight. My ears hurt.
I remember once standing at my kitchen sink so unnerved I was crying, vowing never to spend another Fourth in NYC. The firecrackers were constant for days. We could send you the ex-mayor who put an end to that aural abomination, apparently forever. His name is Rudy Giuliani.
No thanks on Rudy. He’s probably hoping for a Cabinet post if Trump wins a second term (if hell freezes over). It’s now 15 minutes past midnight and the fireworks continue. Guess I’ll read a book until all’s clear.
I am sympathetic, as you can see from my comment on this thread!
Here's some follow-up, this was featured all over local media for obvious reasons, one being the undeniable imminent dangers of literally attacking people by throwing firecrackers at them, and the other being symptomatic of the perennial "How Can We Help De Yoof Avoid a Bad End?" set of concerns, so often weaponized by the right-wing here in the USA, the U.K., La Belle France with the banlieus aflame currently, etc.
But clearly violence is not the answer, even as provoked as it can be by "Da System."
kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/dinkytown-businesses-consistent-rowdy-teenage-crowds-force-early-closures-hiring-private-security/
Security concerns from Dinkytown businesses
Business owners in Dinkytown spoke out as rowdy crowds of teenagers continue to cause disturbances in the neighborhood.
The University of Minnesota, in response to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on Wednesday, said it will continue the ‘Dinkytown Safe Streets’ initiative in partnership with Minneapolis Police through July, including increased police presence in the area on the weekends.
Targeted efforts like the ‘Dinkytown Safe Streets’ initiative have helped to deter some of the groups, but when extra officers leave, it’s back to ‘business as usual,’ said Frank and Andrea Pizza co-owners Shaz Khan and Antonio Gambino.
Khan and Gambino went into business around eight years ago for three reasons: New York-style pizza, heaping Philly cheesesteaks and serving up both to University of Minnesota students who are concentrated in and around Dinkytown.
“I’ll be honest, like, if I saw this now and this space became available, I probably wouldn’t take that risk,” Gambino said while sitting on the restaurant’s patio on Wednesday.
The shift in mindset can be attributed to consistent large crowds of kids and teenagers wreaking havoc on businesses and the students who live, work and dine out on the block in the last three years, the co-owners said.
“We have to worry about the whole block, the whole street, like, who’s coming in? Who’s outside? Who’s driving by? Who’s shooting off fireworks? Who’s jumping, you know, our customers, our students?” Gambino added. “It just, it doesn’t make it fun anymore, you know?”
“We pay for private security to patrol the area,” Khan said, adding it was an investment they made about three years ago.
Directly across the street from Frank and Andrea, the Kollege Klub bar also has its own security, according to general manager Regan Haffele.
“These are all juveniles from around the metro area, just down here to cause trouble,” Haffele said.
A video Khan shared from outside Frank and Andrea on Wednesday night showed dozens lingering on the block as horns and sirens blare, seemingly attempting to break up the gathering.
Both businesses shut their doors early that night.
“There are 100 people, kind of congregating, shooting fireworks off, and let’s say those people decided they want to come to our establishment. We just didn’t have the staffing that could stop them from coming in,” Haffele said.
The holiday weekend consisted of more of the same, Khan added.
“People were still having fireworks shot at them, you know, more altercations, fights in the street,” he continued, saying it forced the second closure in a week on Monday.
“Generally, I can spot the same people from the night before out here again,” Haffele added.
Management for both businesses expressed they don’t have the answer but are hoping city and state leaders will try to find one.
“I’m gonna double down,” Khan said at the conclusion of the interview. “I’m gonna say, you know, to the governor’s office, to the mayor’s office, please reach out to us directly. We want to have a conversation directly.”
Customers and staff have not been hurt at either establishment, they said.
“We’re just hoping that this area becomes safe again for the students, our staff, our patrons,” Haffele concluded. “And I believe it’s a problem that can be solved.”
***** Lived nearby as undergrad and grad student on and off and then continuously for twenty-four years, I "know the neighborhood well," this video is shot
across the street from SE Library named in honor of this women's rights stalwart:
"Arvonne Skelton Fraser (September 1, 1925 – August 7, 2018) was an American women's rights advocate and political campaigner.[1][2] She held the position of Senior Fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, and from 1993–1994 was the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.[1][2] She also managed the political campaigns of her husband Donald M. Fraser during his career, from 1954 to 1979.[1]"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvonne_Fraser
I have the advantage of being able to take out my hearing aids!
Right now, 9:38 PM in Minneapolis, on the sixth of seven floor apt. bldg., outside, AS USUAL EVERY 4TH OF JULY for maybe 40-50-60 minutes on and off in the next block, the pointless fireworks, NOT the City's "official show" that is sponsored, glowing over the Mississippi River and staged by professionals, nope, these are explosives most likely purchased legally in Wisconsin, just across the St. Croix from Stillwater -
But I have my own musical ammunition* deployed, works wonders, along with floor fan helping to muffle the sound - in fact, it's the young children (rare around here but even so) and of course, dogs and cats, working folks of all stripes needing some damn sleep for tomorrow morning's work day, etc. who are my real concern...
*Also definitely connects with the broader Fourth of July celebratory theme of American patriotic service in its more positive senses, and very soothing it is, too, even for an old rock n'roll bar band boogie aficionado like me:
youtube.com/watch?v=MUKHd2OlFVI
14:06 / 1:43:23 •
Pennsylvania 65 000
The Best Of Glenn Miller & His Orchestra | Moonlight Serenade
2,969,916 views Sep 10, 2020 #moonlightserenade #bigband #glennmiller
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00:00:00 - Chatanooga Choo Choo
00:03:22 - In the Mood
00:06:55 - Stardust
00:10:15 - Tuxedo Junction
00:13:41 - Pennsylvania 65 000
00:16:55 - Bugle Call Rag
00:19:49 - American Patrol
00:23:07 - I'Ve Got a Gal In Kalamazoo
00:26:21 - At Last
00:29:26 - Rhapsody In Blue
00:32:27 - Little Brown Jug
00:35:15 - Moonlight Serenade
00:38:36 - Indian Summer
00:41:52 - On a Little Street In Singapore
00:44:34 - Elmer's Tune
00:47:39 - A String of Pearls
00:50:52 - Everybody Loves My Baby
00:53:43 - Perfidia
00:57:01 - Sun Valley Jump
00:59:20 - To You
01:02:05 - King Porter Stomp
01:05:34 - Holiday for Strings
01:11:08 - Ring Telephone Ring !
01:14:31 - Seven O Five
01:16:55 - Anvil Chorus
01:21:51 - Pagan Love Song
01:25:04 - Rug Cutter Swing
01:28:02 - Song Of The Volga Boatmen
01:31:28 - Serenade In Blue
01:33:30 - Sunrise Serenade
01:36:57 - Take The A Train
01:40:21 - Johnson Rag
Alton Glenn Miller was an American big-band trombonist, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best-known big bands. Miller's recordings include "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade", "Pennsylvania 6-5000", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "A String of Pearls", "At Last", "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo", "American Patrol", "Tuxedo Junction", "Elmer's Tune", and "Little Brown Jug". In just four years Glenn Miller scored 16 number-one records and 69 top ten hits—more than Elvis Presley (38 top 10s) and the Beatles (33 top 10s) did in their careers. While he was traveling to entertain U.S. troops in France during World War II, Miller's aircraft disappeared in bad weather over the English Channel.
Bravo again, kind sir...I doubt finer words have ever been strung together to describe the uniqueness that is these sometimes-United, other times not so much, States of America on our birthday. Thank you, Lucian, for your striking point of view...
Give DeSantis and his crew a couple decades and all that history will be replaced in the history books and classrooms by a much different version. One more attuned to white supremacy and a brand new take on the Judeo Christian ethos. And in twenty years a whole new generation will have been schooled in myth not truth.
I hope you are wrong. We can save our country for all people. We must do this. We cannot fail. The mission is too important.
"We have Founding Fathers, all right, but we have Founding Mothers and Founding Educators and Founding Workers, and God help us, Founding Slaves, and all of them deserve celebrating and our thanks on this and every July Fourth. We would not be here to argue amongst ourselves and to vote and to struggle to preserve our Democracy without them."
The dead are beyond our gratitude. We can never repay those who bequeathed us our legacy. We can only play it forward.