Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / A Differing(?) View of What Is Happening In Minnesota

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A Differing(?) View of What Is Happening In Minnesota · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: All right, good morning, ruminators. If you're just joining us,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: thank you very much for sharing time with us. We
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  Speaker 1: appreciated Hoose's over there running the show in Studio one A.
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  Speaker 1: I am here as always the questered in Studio one
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  Speaker 1: B for the five thousand, five hundred and twenty seventh
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  Speaker 1: time The Morning Show with Preston Scott. I'm Preston and
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  Speaker 1: joining us on the program as promised Arnaldo Curiel. He
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  Speaker 1: is an inclusion and equity leader. He lives in and
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  Speaker 1: around the urbs of Minneapolis Saint Paul, a place I
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  Speaker 1: used to call home and Arnaldo, welcome to the program.
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  Speaker 2: How are you, sir, I'm good. How are you doing.
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  Speaker 1: I'm doing well. I've been setting up this discussion all
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  Speaker 1: morning talking about immigration. But as you would probably expect
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  Speaker 1: from a show like mine, we've been talking a lot
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  Speaker 1: about immigration and illegal immigration for a long time now,
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  Speaker 1: for years and decades. In fact, give everybody first a
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  Speaker 1: snapshot of your personal background so we have a better
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  Speaker 1: perspective of kind of your personal experience with what we're
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  Speaker 1: gonna we're going to hear.
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  Speaker 2: So I was actually born in Texas. I moved to
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  Speaker 2: Minnesota when I was like two years old. My parents
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  Speaker 2: were actually microant farm workers, born and raised in Texas.
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  Speaker 2: My ancestry goes through Texas. I always tell folks, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we didn't cross My family didn't cross the border, the
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  Speaker 2: border across to US. They're a part of Real Grande City.
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  Speaker 2: So when Texas seceeded from the US Mexico, that's how
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  Speaker 2: my family became American citizens. So that's kind of been
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  Speaker 2: my background as far as my family history, Mexican on
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  Speaker 2: both sides. Like I said, lived in Minnesota, Saint Paul
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  Speaker 2: actually Frogtown neighborhood, if you're familiar with the area. My
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  Speaker 2: whole life I live now out in the eastern suburb,
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  Speaker 2: probably about fifteen twenty minutes away from where my mom lives,
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  Speaker 2: in the same neighborhood where we came to in nineteen
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  Speaker 2: seventy four. Back has been kind of being community organizing.
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  Speaker 2: My whole life kind of started back in fraud Town,
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  Speaker 2: my brother's retire Saint Paul police officer. If you're familiar
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  Speaker 2: with the Shop with Cops program that the city of
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  Speaker 2: Saint Paul does, I helped start that. My work has
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  Speaker 2: always kind of been around creating ecoloble systems for everybody,
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  Speaker 2: so that's a little bit about me.
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  Speaker 1: Give me your perspective of the last few weeks and
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  Speaker 1: months in the Twin Cities as it relates to illegal immigration,
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  Speaker 1: legal immigration and kind of that nexus.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think part of the thing I've been struggling
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  Speaker 2: with over is, you know, just a businessconception that you know,
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  Speaker 2: we are promoting you know, illegal immigration, you know, rapist
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  Speaker 2: and you know, wanting them here and all that never
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  Speaker 2: been about that process. It's just about doing things by
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  Speaker 2: letter of the law. You know, we understand and that
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  Speaker 2: you know, yeah, there's people that come across, you know,
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  Speaker 2: bad people. We know that. We also know that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's an ongoing problem. And what's been for me the
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  Speaker 2: most concerning thing is is not seeing a system in
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  Speaker 2: place that is actually going after those undocumented or illegal
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  Speaker 2: immigrants in a strict, purposeful way. I mean, what we're
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  Speaker 2: what I'm seeing is my cousin, for example, picked up
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  Speaker 2: his son from school, born and raised in Saint Paul.
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  Speaker 2: They followed him, followed him home and started knocking on
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  Speaker 2: his door. And I'm just like, I'm not sure how
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  Speaker 2: that's helping, you know, get rid of the illegal immigration
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  Speaker 2: going on. I'm not sure what the purpose of all
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  Speaker 2: that was, I mean, that's what I'm we're struggling with.
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  Speaker 2: It's just kind of that, like there's no rhyme or
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  Speaker 2: reason to anything that's going on around here, plain and simple.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know any other way to put it.
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  Speaker 1: Arnaudo stand by. We got to take a quick break.
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  Speaker 1: One of the challenges of my radio format is I
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: got to take a break from time to time. This
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  Speaker 1: is a check of weather and traffic. Arni Curio is
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  Speaker 1: an inclusion and equity leader. He lives in the burbs
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  Speaker 1: around the Twin Cities. And he shared something, posted something,
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  Speaker 1: and he and I share a mutual friend and what
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  Speaker 1: he posted was I thought very thoughtful, and I want
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  Speaker 1: to get into that post a little bit because it
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  Speaker 1: speaks to I think it fleshes out a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more of what he was just sharing about the challenges
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  Speaker 1: of being a legal citizen in and around the Twin
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  Speaker 1: Cities right now. I want to get to that next
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  Speaker 1: Back with my discussion, Arnado shared just a little bit
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  Speaker 1: of what you had posted online that I personally found
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  Speaker 1: though you and I might not agree on a lot
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  Speaker 1: of nuances and some various aspects of the issue here,
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  Speaker 1: but I thought what you had to say was very
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  Speaker 1: very well done, well stated, and I think it shared
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  Speaker 1: a little bit of what someone who is legally in
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  Speaker 1: this country is going through right now in and around
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  Speaker 1: the Twin Cities.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. So the other night I was getting ready, I
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  Speaker 2: was getting ready, laid down, and I realized I'm going
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  Speaker 2: to the wild Game in downtown Saint Paul, and I
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  Speaker 2: was nervous, and I got up and I posted a
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  Speaker 2: post about the fact that here I am getting ready
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  Speaker 2: to go to the wild Game the next day and
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if I'm going to be detained with
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  Speaker 2: the increased ice activity. So I made a post just
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  Speaker 2: about that feeling, and like, Okay, I'm walking out the door.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to grab my keys, my wall, at my phone,
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  Speaker 2: and I'm now carrying my passport card and hoping that's
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  Speaker 2: enough that if I get stopped and I get detained,
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  Speaker 2: that I can present that and show that like, hey,
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  Speaker 2: I'm a US citizen, I was born here, I was
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  Speaker 2: raised in Minnesota. And it just really made me think
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  Speaker 2: about the fact that should I have to do that,
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  Speaker 2: and should I be nervous about that. I mean, that's
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  Speaker 2: what I guess. The uneasiness has been with a lot
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  Speaker 2: of folks. And I'm not sure if you saw the
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  Speaker 2: news conference yesterday with the Saint Paul Police chief, Brooklyn
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  Speaker 2: Park Police Chief, and Huntington County Sheriff, but they talked
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  Speaker 2: about three of their officers were stopped off duty and
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  Speaker 2: detained by ice until they could prove that they were citizens.
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  Speaker 2: And that's just kind of the uneasiness. Like I understand,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the removing of like I mentioned, a legal
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  Speaker 2: immigrant and you know, you know, kind of fixing that
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  Speaker 2: broken policy, but when US citizens are now having to
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  Speaker 2: carry their passport and prove that they belong here, and
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  Speaker 2: especially citizens of color, becomes troublesome for me. That's the
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  Speaker 2: part I struggled with. It's like, you know, thankfully I
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  Speaker 2: worked from home, so I'm not really going out it's done,
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  Speaker 2: but like I have season tickets to the basketball team, Timberwolves,
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  Speaker 2: you know, so I go to Minneapolis, I'm like, all right,
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  Speaker 2: I got to make sure I have my passport card
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  Speaker 2: just in case it's increased patrol. I mean, they were
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  Speaker 2: just a mile away from the house at the high
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  Speaker 2: school by me, and so it's just you know, unsettling,
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  Speaker 2: and there seemed to be no end in sight, and
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  Speaker 2: there's seemed to be no, like I said, system in
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  Speaker 2: place that Like, you know, if we're targeting the bad
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  Speaker 2: or the bad, great, but why are random people just
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  Speaker 2: being stopped and asked for their papers? And that's the
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  Speaker 2: part I struggle with, you know, outside of whatever you
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  Speaker 2: want to talk about, the protests and all the other
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  Speaker 2: stuff that's neither here or there. If I'm driving down
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  Speaker 2: the street, I understand, if I make a traffic violation,
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  Speaker 2: a cop with me over, ask me for my license
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  Speaker 2: and everything else. But if I'm just driving and all
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  Speaker 2: of a sudden, I get boxed in by ice agents
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  Speaker 2: and that's what's happening, and they're asking me for my
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  Speaker 2: paper work to prove that I'm a legal citizen. Where
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  Speaker 2: are my rights in that?
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  Speaker 1: And that's why I wanted you to come on the show, Arnie,
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  Speaker 1: because I think that's a fair point. I one hundred
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  Speaker 1: percent believe that that is an earnest, honest, heartfelt what's
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  Speaker 1: going on here. And I agree with you one hundred percent.
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  Speaker 1: My problem is coming in. You know, I used to
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  Speaker 1: call Minnesota home. I now call Florida home. The difference
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  Speaker 1: in the governance between the two states as it relates
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  Speaker 1: to this issue because Florida has plenty of immigration and
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  Speaker 1: illegal immigration as well. And what's interesting is we see
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  Speaker 1: none of what you're experiencing in the Twin Cities. And
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  Speaker 1: I point to the governor and the mayor of Minneapolis
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  Speaker 1: and their unwillingness to help be part of the solution,
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  Speaker 1: and what they've created is an excuse to make things work.
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  Speaker 2: And you know what, as far as when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to that, I can't understand some of the decisions that
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  Speaker 2: are coming. I don't understand what's happened, what would happen
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  Speaker 2: in the background. I can tell you that I know
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  Speaker 2: personally that you know Mayor Frey is a very plarizing
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  Speaker 2: political person. He was on the opposite side of all
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  Speaker 2: this during George Floyd, where the whole community wanted him
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  Speaker 2: gaunt after George Floyd, and now all of a sudden
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  Speaker 2: with this, you have the people who are massively supporting him.
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  Speaker 2: And as far as what's going on with the the governor,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not sure what's happened in the process where like
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  Speaker 2: was their communication. That's that's the part that I'm struggling
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  Speaker 2: with because I would want to believe our our elected
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  Speaker 2: officials would do that, but I'd also, quite honestly want
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  Speaker 2: to believe that our government would do a fair and
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  Speaker 2: equitable job. And you know, not to touch back, and
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  Speaker 2: I don't want to get into the logistics of right
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  Speaker 2: or wrong on what happened with Renee Good, but I
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  Speaker 2: have a hard time trusting our federal government when I
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  Speaker 2: see basic protocol not being followed after an officer involved shooting.
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  Speaker 2: And I speak about this from experience because my brother
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  Speaker 2: unfortunately had to take the life of a person as
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  Speaker 2: the same pol police officer, and he was detained, his
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  Speaker 2: weapon was taken, he was not able to talk to
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  Speaker 2: family for three or four days until everything played out right.
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  Speaker 2: And I saw this person after he whether you want
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  Speaker 2: to say he defended himself or whether it was murder,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not getting into that. You know, that's about perspective.
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  Speaker 2: But I saw that person get into the car and
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  Speaker 2: leave with their service weapon, and my first reaction was,
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  Speaker 2: that's not what happened. As a scene like that. I'm
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  Speaker 2: looking at this from my brother's perspective. He was detained,
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  Speaker 2: and so I struggled because there's not open dialogue and
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  Speaker 2: there's not communication, and that's what happened. You see people
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  Speaker 2: immediately jump to one side or the other. And I
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: often tell folks, you know, I can support you know,
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  Speaker 2: equal rights, I can support black lives matters. I can
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  Speaker 2: support people's freedom of speech, but it doesn't mean I
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  Speaker 2: support the methodology in which they do it. My brother's
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  Speaker 2: the saying propablys up. Like I've mentioned several times, and
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  Speaker 2: I used to have to watch on the news when
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  Speaker 2: they're black in the freeways, him standing on the front line.
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  Speaker 2: So you can talk about like, yes, I can agree
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  Speaker 2: with this, but I don't like the way you're doing this.
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  Speaker 2: And that's kind of actually what I'm seeing happen with
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  Speaker 2: our governor. I can understand that you're trying to protect
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  Speaker 2: our citizens and saying, hey, you know they're stopping and
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  Speaker 2: detaining and racial profiling, but how are we going about
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  Speaker 2: doing that? How are you actually working with one another?
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  Speaker 2: It just seemed like, hey, we're going to throw folks
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  Speaker 2: in here, and we're not going to give them training.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, they're coming out in forty forty five days
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  Speaker 2: after training. That's absurd to me. It's just there seemed
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  Speaker 2: to be no system in place from either side. They
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  Speaker 2: just the governor said hey, nope, we don't want you
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  Speaker 2: here stop and the sederal government say nope, We're sending
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  Speaker 2: everybody in. And what happens is those folks that are
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  Speaker 2: innocent bystanders are stuck in the middle.
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  Speaker 1: Arnaldo. I mentioned last hour that you know, as part
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  Speaker 1: of this solution to the overarching issue with illegal immigration
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  Speaker 1: in our country is addressing legal immigration and the responsibilities
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  Speaker 1: of immigrants. And I think you are a really good example.
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  Speaker 1: You were born in this country, but I would guess that,
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  Speaker 1: and you tell me if I'm wrong. Did your mom
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  Speaker 1: and dad speak English?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, they were They speak English. Spanish was their first language,
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  Speaker 2: and they chose not to teach us English. So I'm
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  Speaker 2: growing up when we removed to Saint Paul. But yes,
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  Speaker 2: they speak English, but their first language is Spanish.
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  Speaker 1: But the recognition that to assimilate into the nation and
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  Speaker 1: to be successful and to have the best and most
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  Speaker 1: opportunities at success I just mentioned last hour. I believe
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  Speaker 1: it should be mandated that anyone who immigrates into this country,
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  Speaker 1: before they're naturalized taking the oath, they've got to learn
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  Speaker 1: the English language, because study after study shows that's what
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  Speaker 1: leads to prosperity, or the opportunity to prosperity. To better wages,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: better job opportunities, entrepreneurial opportunities, and so forth. If I
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  Speaker 1: were to ask you, what do you think is a
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  Speaker 1: starting point to start to fix some of the systemic problems?
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  Speaker 1: Where would you begin?
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  Speaker 2: Well, that's funny because what I always tell folks is,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we're operating under a system that was designed
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  Speaker 2: over four hundred years ago and we haven't fundamentally changed it.
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  Speaker 2: What we're doing is trying to have everybody. But you know,
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: what's the analogy of circle a square into a circle.
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  Speaker 2: I think what we really need to look at is
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  Speaker 2: what is the process? What is requirements to come into
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  Speaker 2: the country. You know, what are we asking to do
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  Speaker 2: and what are the key skills that they need? And obviously,
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  Speaker 2: as you mentioned, the English language is one of them,
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  Speaker 2: but we don't have as a country, we don't have
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  Speaker 2: an officially recognized language. I know, the default people think
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  Speaker 2: it's English, but we don't. We don't have a default
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  Speaker 2: default language, so there's nothing there. Everything which is done
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  Speaker 2: in English, and even our way things were written was
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: you know, taking the British language and cutting out letters
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  Speaker 2: and words so we could save money when we were
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  Speaker 2: printing the precess years ago, So we just have to
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  Speaker 2: get one system that works, and we're operating under multiple systems,
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  Speaker 2: and instead of taking a part of system and starting
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  Speaker 2: all over, we just add a quick fix to it.
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  Speaker 2: And we're not actually fixing a broken system. If that
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  Speaker 2: makes sense.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, it makes perfect sense. We're not really solving a problem,
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  Speaker 1: we're addressing symptoms.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, the best way I look at it is,
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  Speaker 2: you know, imagine you're, you know, you're constructing your house.
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  Speaker 2: Your house is built, and then you see a crack
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  Speaker 2: in the foundation or some bricks crumbling away. You're you're
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: not going to go and take concrete and just put
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: it over the brick. You're going to kind of remove
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: those bricks that are crumbling away and replace it with
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  Speaker 2: a new one. We're not doing that. We're just patchworking everything,
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  Speaker 2: and we keep doing that, whether it's you know, this
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  Speaker 2: current administration, the previous administration. We're not actually taking a
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: park system. We're just doing temporary fixes, and eventually that
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  Speaker 2: whole system is going to collapse.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Sadly, I think I think you're right, probably more
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  Speaker 1: than either of us realize. Arnaldo, thank you for the
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  Speaker 1: time this morning. I appreciate it. Be well, thank you.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: Arnaldo Curry, el Inclusion Equity leader. As we talked in
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: the break, we're not going to agree on things certain things,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: but you know what he said there. Learning English is
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  Speaker 1: part of developing a system of skills that you need
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: to have. Guess what, we just found some agreement right there.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's a requirement myself. I think you have
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: to go there. And if you miss last hour, check
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: the last hour of the podcast when it drops a
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: little bit later, twenty eight past the hour