In response to the Saint Paul Pioneer Press article Aug. 22, 2017.
I decided to run for Minneapolis City Council Ward 6 because I feel that as an unapologetically black female that has worked very hard my entire life, turned my back on white privilege and have chosen a life that is not so accepting when you have a color hue to skin. I have three beautiful children: my son Tyler is 22 and has twins who were born on April Fool’s Day in 2016. My middle daughter Cady is 20 and is currently a junior at Winona State University and my youngest is Kelsy and will entering her first year at Augsburg College with a full four-year scholarship.
I acquired section 8 housing a few years ago and helped keep me stable through Commonbond Housing. I was teaching until shortly after the campaign started and I help families within the Family Court System because I am a qualified Rule 114 neutral and as with all the systemic racism that exists within the boundaries of our 10,000 lakes. It is very transparent how the government is utilized to create privilege for those people it serves while people of color are still being used to generate those dollars of security. Frankly I am tired of being that bottom feeder and I want to bring that radical change to City Council to generate new policy that will begin to attack all this bad policy we have in place.
Campaigning is very enjoyable to me and I love the urban planning, housing, safer streets and infrastructure. Working to create environment that isn’t directly affecting climate change, expanding employment and intersectionality are so important to me. I want to live in a society where we all build each other positively and it may sound sappy but I feel it is possible through love and humanity.
The campaign as much as I loved it I began to feel my support and resources depleting on my personal business as I feel very strategic in my campaigning for the ward because I love community so much. I did not know how to get my personal business in check and as I tried to reach out I was stuck in a rock and a hard place being on unemployment and supporting a household while never being home campaigning. In this downward spiral I lost my housing and both driving incidences have happened while being homeless. I am not a big drinker and pride myself in being healthy and physically fit.
I am now asking for help, I should have asked sooner. It was very difficult to ask for help on top of campaign fundraising. I missed the August 1-August 15 deadline to have my name on the ballot because I had a deadline to get all my families belongings out of the apartment before I was charged for it’s disposal. So in conclusion I try to live my life as a public servant and I try to help those who come to me for a wide range of assistance. I did not have the support and resources to pay for all the fines, find housing, court appearances, move belongings, et al. I am not by any means condoning the behavior or breaking the law; however, those who work with me know that as these arrests look bad my life is based on work, education and my family.
Tiffini Flynn Forslund
City Council Candidate
Minneapolis Ward 6
