This week, Andy Aoki, department chair of political science and Sabo fellow at Augsburg College, was a featured analyst听on Political Insider, a weekly news segment broadcast on KSTP.
Aoki joined Larry Jacobs, a University of Minnesota faculty member, and provided input on a variety of local and national political stories including Minnesota’s health care affordability issue and confirmation hearings for President Elect Donald Trump’s cabinet members.
What does it mean to matter? 鈥塛hat does it look like to matter?
With the Black Lives Matter movement, questions of racial equity have ignited important鈥攁nd difficult鈥攃onversations in communities and courtrooms, on political campaign trails, and at听college campuses.
Augsburg College Professor 听studies and writes about Minnesota history and law. He teaches U.S. Civil Rights subject matter, and he recently has been called upon to share his expertise on these topics听to assist media outlets covering Black Lives Matter news in the Twin Cities.
Green听was quoted in a Minnesota Public Radio article that examined the roles non-black activists play in furthering the听Black Lives Matter movement鈥檚 agenda.
In the article, 鈥�,鈥� Green used听the history of the Civil Rights movement to analyze current demonstrations and protests. He also discussed the ways 鈥減rotest fatigue鈥� could impact the movement鈥檚 progression.
On August 5, Green also appeared on听Twin Cities Public Television’s “Almanac” program where he provided a comparison between contemporary protests or听demonstrations and听those occurring decades — perhaps听even centuries — earlier. Green explained that the tactic of making a public display can be useful when a group is seeking to meet a particular goal.
“The trick with the demonstrations, of course, is somehow helping society turn the corner so that … a community doesn’t feel the need to resort to desperate measures,” he said.
The听interview with cohosts Cathy Wurzer and Eric Eskola is available on the and begins at the 31:55 minute mark.
Green’s comprehensive knowledge of Minnesota history has been cultivated over decades, and his latest听book, 鈥淒egrees of Freedom: The Origins of Civil Rights in Minnesota, 1865-1912鈥澨齝hronicles conditions for African-Americans in Minnesota in the half-century following the Civil War. The publication picks up where his听previous book, 鈥淎 Peculiar Imbalance: The Fall and Rise of Racial Equality in Minnesota, 1837-1869,鈥澨齦eft off. Green spoke with MinnPost about the publication, describing his interest in state听history.
鈥淭he history [of Minnesota] is amazing, particularly when you look at who was here before statehood and how they interacted with each other,鈥� he听said. 鈥淚 found that we were lacking a good accounting of the black people who were part of that history. Most of them didn鈥檛 leave a written record, which looks like they had nothing to say, but of course they did. They were part of this experience.鈥�
The Minnesota Book Awards honored Green and “Degrees of Freedom” with the 2016 Hognander Minnesota History Award.
Michael Lansing, associate professor and History Department chair, recently penned an article comparing听the United States’听contemporary political landscape听with periods in the late 1960s and late 1970s.
Lansing is a historian of the modern United States, and his research focuses on political history, environmental history, and other topics. In his Community Voices commentary, Lansing argued that the state of American democracy and milestones occurring in 1979 are听similar to current events.
Read, “” on the MinnPost site.
WCCO TV recently sought counsel from Andy Aoki, professor and department chair of political science at Augsburg College, to answer a question about how much a presidential candidate’s vice president selection听influences voters.
鈥淗ow Much Does The Vice President Pick听Matter?鈥� was the focus of the听recent Good Question segment.
Aoki provided a straightforward answer.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 usually matter a lot,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he vice presidents tend to get a lot less attention, so it鈥檚 not that easy for people to make their pick based on them because you don鈥檛 know much about them.
on the听WCCO site.
Augsburg College Professor studies and writes about Minnesota history and law. He recently was quoted in a Minnesota Public Radio article that examined the roles non-black activists play in furthering the听Black Lives Matter movement’s agenda.
In the article, Green called on the history of the U.S. Civil Rights movement to analyze current demonstrations and protests. He also discussed the ways “protest fatigue” could impact the movement’s progression.
Read, “” on the MPR News site.
Andy Aoki, professor and department chair of political science at Augsburg College, recently spoke with WCCO-TV about the implications of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, a move now referred to as “Brexit.”
Aoki noted that visitors to the United Kingdom may benefit from the devaluation of the pound, but Britain’s unexpected听political move also had far-reaching negative effects on financial markets around the globe.
“If you’re going this summer, you’ve kind of hit the lottery because the pound doesn’t look to recover much in the near future,” Aoki told reporter Rachel Slavik.
Economic and immigration issues were in the spotlight as the British debated whether or not to pull out of the European Union, and Aoki also provided Slavik with background on how these issues are influencing the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States.
Watch, “” on the WCCO website.
Scott Washburn, assistant director of Augsburg College鈥檚 StepUP庐 program, was one the experts interviewed by MinnPost for an article examining public figures’ right to privacy as well as the rights of the public figures’ significant others. The article examined an听overarching theme that probed, “How much of a candidate鈥檚 own personal life should be made available for public debate?”
In responding to a question on whether it is appropriate for the mental health or addiction history of a political spouse or other family member to be made public, Washburn argued听that sort of political playmaking听goes over the line.
“I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 appropriate at all,” Washburn said. “The candidate is running, not the family member. The electorate is voting for the candidate, not the family member. The family of a presidential candidate is going to be dragged into the public eye, but I think it鈥檚 important to respect some boundaries here. It鈥檚 an issue of respect and privacy. The candidate would be fair game from my perspective, but I don鈥檛 think family members should be. It just reflects how low things have gone in this political race.
All that being said, if the family member chooses to publically disclose his or her personal history, then that is a different conversation.”
Read additional responses from Washburn in “” on the MinnPost site.
Michael Lansing, associate professor of history at Augsburg College, was interviewed by Minnesota听Public Radio for a segment that compared听political movements from听the early 1900s with the contemporary political landscape. Lansing is the author of 鈥淚nsurgent Democracy: The Nonpartisan League in North American Politics,鈥� which presents the history of The Nonpartisan League听and describes its continued听influence in the upper Midwest.
Lansing describes the League as a grassroots organization started by farmers who were discontent with听large grain milling and transportation corporations in the region. He听told MPR News host Tom Weber that The Nonpartisan League is the reason for the large number of co-operatives in North Dakota today, and the party was comprised听of farmers who sought candidates that supported their platforms, regardless of party.
Listen to:听听(14 minutes) on the MPR听site.
Pioneer Public Television (PPT) recently included an interview with Michael Lansing, associate professor of history at Augsburg College and author of Insurgent Democracy: The Nonpartisan League in North American Politics, in an episode of Compass, a program that focuses on public policy and other issue of importance to PPT’s community.
Lansing’s book details the history of the Nonpartisan League, a political movement active in North Dakota, neighboring states, and some Canadian provinces in the early 1900s. The interview is on the PPT website.
Additionally, 
Lansing wrote an article for MinnPost that examines the trend of comparing the current sociopolitical climate with the “Gilded Age” of the late 19th century. He argues that the results of recent presidential primaries in New Hampshire, which overwhelmingly rejected candidates viewed as having ties to the political establishment, reflect an important change in voter attitudes.
“American voters now believe they are living in a second Gilded Age,” he writes. “This shift has the potential to transform our nation鈥檚 politics.” He adds that regardless of the final outcomes of the nomination processes, this change is a noteworthy signifier of Americans’ rejection of the status quo.
Watch on the Pioneer Public Television site.
Read on the MinnPost site.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently published an article covering the life of Koryne Horbal, political activist and former United Nations ambassador for women. Horbal co-founded the Minnesota DFL’s feminist caucus and was an early champion of still-debated issues such as the Equal Rights Amendment, sexual slavery, reproductive choice, and workplace equity.
The article notes Augsburg’s Koryne Horbal Lecture Series in which the College welcomes prominent feminist speakers including Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, Winona LaDuke, and The Guerilla Girls. Horbal has been a consultant for the Women’s Resource Center at Augsburg and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the College in 2008.
This year, the lecture will take place on March 9 and feature Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP. More information on the event is available on the Convocation Series听website.
Read “” on the Star Tribune site.
