EDITORIAL: Tribute to Rosa Parks will educate

Dec. 4—Thumbs up to the city of Mankato and its partners for putting a spotlight on civil rights by setting aside a bus seat for Rosa Parks.

From Dec. 1-8, one seat on every Mankato transit bus is reserved in honor of the Black woman whose refusal on Dec. 1, 1955, to give up her seat to a white passenger and move to the back of a Montgomery, Alabama, bus marked the beginning of a movement.

A sign on each reserved seat states: "This seat is saved in honor of Rosa Parks, whose quiet strength made a seat available to everyone."

Parks' refusal prompted her arrest. A 381-day boycott of the municipal bus service in Montgomery followed, ending only after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Parks' action is an important part of our country's history that is worth remembering and sharing with local citizens both young and old. On the poster near the reserved seats is also a QR code linking to books about Parks for all ages of readers available through the Blue Earth County Library.

Partnering with the city of Mankato on the reserved seat campaign are Blue Earth County, the Greater Mankato Diversity Council and Mankato YWCA. It's a worthwhile collaborative effort that educates the community about an important part of our country's history and might also prompt some thinking about where we want to go.

Worthy pilot project

Thumbs up to a pilot project that will better connect community health workers with clinic patients.

Mankato Clinic, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota and WellShare International announced the local pilot project, which they hope to take statewide.

The aim is to find out what issues clinic patients are dealing with and then assign them to a community health worker that can help them find local resources.

Patients who are struggling with food insecurity, language barriers or other social issues in their lives aren't as likely to focus on their own health issues.

Helping them find the community resources they need to improve those social conditions make it more likely they can give more priority to their own health needs.

It's a promising concept that could eventually bring benefits across the state.

The proper serve

Thumbs up to the Women's Tennis Association for taking a principled, if expensive, stance against China's oppression.

The WTA this week suspended its lucrative events in China over the mystery of tennis pro Peng Shuai, who had accused a top government official of sexually assaulting her and then vanished from sight for weeks, with her social media feeds scrubbed.

The International Olympic Committee claims to have had two video conversations with Peng, but the IOC — which desperately wants the upcoming Winter Games in China to go smoothly — has kept the contents and circumstances of those talks under wraps.

There is little reason, given China's sorry record on human rights and rule of law, to believe that Peng is free and safe. The WTA's defense of Peng has jeopardized an estimated $100 million in revenue to the tour, but for sound reason. Would that the IOC had the WTA's conscience.

Partnership boosts training

Thumbs up to the partnership between area colleges and businesses aimed at helping businesses upgrade skills of their employees and prepare them for leadership rolls.

This program, funded by the state's Minnesota Jobs Skills Partnership, is aimed at training workers for high skilled jobs and keeping and growing those jobs in the state.

Minnesota State University got a $300,000 grant to work with Sleepy Eye-based Christensen Farms, a major pork producer, to help improve communication and leadership among the company's 850 employees.

South Central College got a $50,000 grant to help Precision Press, a Taylor Corp. company, foster mentorship and improve employee job satisfaction.

The Mankato region's five higher-ed institutions are a major economic asset. It's good to see it being leveraged for local area employment growth and prosperity.