Int’l Human Rights Day is Wednesday, Dec. 10

By Scott Yeazle

It is the holiday season once again; I hope everyone had a good turkey day. Holiday activities along with work for social justice continue in December. While we look forward to celebrations with friends and family, we also are reminded of the phrase, “Peace and goodwill to all.” In that vein we should remember International Human Rights Day on Wednesday, Dec. 10, which is the anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed in 1948.
In Duluth we will observe the day with a noon rally at City Hall to talk about the past year and what we can do in 2011.

A lot of good things have happened, including the hard work done for the Duluth Independent School District 709 by closing the achievement gap by hiring 12 integration specialists to work with students and their families so that their schooling will be successful.

We also had negatives including the Facebook racism incident, and the terrible GAMC debacle in which many low-income people lost health insurance and will go without. Our hospitals that do treat these people in the emergency room will carry the brunt of the expense.

In November, I had the pleasure of traveling to St. Cloud to attend the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless conference. For me the highlight of the event was the pleasure of introducing Gary Cunningham of the Northwest Area Foundation. This foundation supports the work of others to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable prosperity.

Gary was an awesome speaker. You will have a chance to hear him speak and enjoy a potluck dinner at Peace Church on Tuesday, Dec. 9 for the statewide event, “A Minnesota Without Poverty.”

It is time to start making resolutions for New Year. Mine are to complete more projects. What are yours?