Idil Abdull and Al Letson

and for the Somali Community in the Twin Cities where autism is so prevalent among its children.

When researching stories for SOTRU’s Twin Cities episode, there was one story that the entire team couldn’t stop thinking about after hearing it: within the large community of Somali immigrants that live in the Minneapolis area, there is an alarming trend of autism among their children.

We told the story of a mother, Idil Abdul, turned activist, and a father, Abdi Hassan, who has dedicated his life to the special needs of his child. In the spring of 2009 the Minnesota Department of Health conducted a limited study. As Al says in the segment, “In some ways, the study created more questions than it answers.” After all, the big question, the “Why of Autism” is something the world is still trying to figure out. The public health professionals conceded that even the baseline of whether someone has autism or not is hard to determine.

The segment ended with Al lamenting how there has been talk of several in-depth studies researching what might be happening with these Somali children, but, at the time, nothing concrete had evolved.

However, we were all recently elated to hear the news this month that there is now an in-depth study set to happen!

We got an excited email from Idil letting us know that on Tuesday Jan 18th, 2011, the  Center for Disease Control (CDC), National Health of Institute (NIH) and Autism Speaks announced a study of Autism and Somali children in Minnesota. As Idil wrote to us, “Any family that has a child or children in our case knows it is no day at the park and no parent should accept autism is an unsolved puzzle.  We must find cause, cure and better treatments.” With this study, there is a chance for progress on that front!

You can read more about the study in the Star Tribune or on the Autism Speaks website.

State of the Re:Union is excited to announce that our Black History Month special, “Bayard Rustin – Who Is This Man?” will be airing on public radio stations across the country during January, February and March.

August 28^th, 1963 will forever be tied to Martin Luther King Jr.’s hallowed “I Have a Dream Speech.” This historic moment would probably have never come to fruition if it weren’t for a man standing in King’s shadow, Mr. Bayard Rustin. (more…)

Some causes are worth painting oneself gold for . . .

Robert Fogarty of Evacuteer.org in his golden get-up, courtesy of themagicbucket.org

At least, that’s Robert Fogarty’s line of thinking. You might remember him from SOTRU’s NOLA episode; he’s among the bright, energetic young folks who’ve enthusiastically made New Orleans their home in the years post-Hurricane Katrina. Well, in addition to his unorthodox business Dear New Orleans, Robert is the founder of Evacuteer.org. What’s that and how does it all add up to gold body paint? That’s got a bit of a story attached. (more…)

Not long after Sharon Content opened an after-school and summer program for youths in Brooklyn, she had an interesting conversation with one of her students. “Ms. Content?” said a little boy in her program, preparing to reveal a secret. “It’s hard to love someone who everyone else says is bad.” The boy was referring to his parent, because like an estimated 800,000 children, he lost one of them to the New York state prison system at a very young age. (more…)