by Scott Schneider
As much as Barb Davis White has been around the world making life better for the many underprivilaged and downtrodden she has given assistance to, she finds her heart drawn to the true calling of conservative activism.
“I am a TEA Party Activist and very proud of it. That is
who invites me on many occasions to stand up for Liberty. That cannot be left out as I do not believe we would have the
steam to attack these Socialists without the Tea Party Movement,” she says enthusiastically.
That is quite a thing to say coming from a 50-years-young lady who as a theologian, conservative civil rights activist, and pastor of Light Foundational Ministries of South Minneapolis, has traveled to the Congo to minister to rape victims, founded a ministry in Loring Park in the Twin Cities offering free meals to homeless individuals effected by HIV; and to Rae Town, Jamaica recently help minister in the storm of gang violence associated wth the Jamaican Posse. The list stretches on to Rwanda, the Philipines, Chili, and Amsterdam.
But lately Barb has turned her from her penchant for preaching activism to setting her sites on political activism. She has and continues to actively campaign to unseat Keith Ellison in Minnesota’s 5th district. Barb lives in the Minnesota congressional 3rd district and had orginally considered running for an open seat in that district before the 2008 election but the struggles in the neighborhood in which she originally grew up drew her to running against Ellison in the 5th.
“Barb considered a run for the open seat in the 3rd. We met with 3rd CD executives and the state party chair, so this idea was considered seriously,” said her 2008 political campaign director Daniel Riojas.
“The issue which really tipped the balance toward running in the 5th was crime,” explained Riojas. “Barb, as a former funeral director who had presided over many funerals, counseled the families and grieved with the relatives.”
“Barb simply felt that she could not continue her life as usual when the matter of living safely is itself in question for too many innocent people in this district,” he said.
Riojas further said the motivation for Barb to actually begin her campaign against Ellison in the 5th District came from, “Watching the cost in lives and opportunity which have resulted from many years of dangerous policy wrapped in inclusive language and the apparent inability of DFL leadership to discipline themselves to acknowledge failure of “progressive” policies and their terrible cost, which always affect the poor disproportionately.”1
“I visited the 3rd but they were looking for someone to run in the 5th,” Barb described it. “Someone said to me, ‘You should run.’ I said, ‘Don’t mind if I do.’ ‘With my background there’s nowhere in Minneapolis I can’t go and be comfortable.”2
“I tell people what we did at Light is work with broken people who walked out of there on their own two feet. We made it possible for fathers to go and get jobs so they could take care of their families.”2
And according to Barb this is similar to what she would be striving to accomplish in Congress. She would free businesses from burdensome taxes and regulations and those freed businesses would then employ people and the economy would cycle upward. 2
Barb and friend Alveda
Born in North Minneapolis in 1959, the daughter of a Jewish mom and a Catholic father, Barb grew up in Minneapolis, graduating from North High in 1972. 2 She attended the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Campus, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree and Bethel Seminary where she received a Masters in Theological Studies University of St. Thomas. In addition to being a pastor she has been a correctional chaplain, a mortician and has owned her own businesses, including a restaurant, a clothing store, and her own cleaning company.
The notion of fiscal responsibility and restraint by the government and enacting sound free market, pro-growth policies isn’t the only thing on Barb’s conservative palate. A Bible-believing pastor, she is truly prolife and pro-family through and through.
“The killing of thousands of innocent babies everyday must stop! As a Patriot I believe that the first right according to the Constitution of the United States is that of LIFE. My opponent Keith Ellison does not and votes for the notion that the killing of babies should not be discussed by script from a physician to a mother as to what was going to happen to her and her baby.”3
Her traditional pro-family beliefs were affirmed when she was asked by a major Minnesota newspaper about her participation in a pastor’s summit put on by the Minnesota Family Council:
“I’m angrily trying to adjust to the whole idea of the homosexual community trying to ride on the back of the civil rights movement,” she told the Pioneer Press in November 2005. “I’m a Bible-preaching pastor, and homosexuality is still listed as a sin in the Bible. It’s not a matter of my just having an intolerance, but my whole premise for participating (in the summit) is because the African-American family is already dying with two women — usually mothers and grandmothers — leading families because their fathers are gone. And the family is disintegrating.”2
Barb has also said she aims to tackle crime issues, take on minority vote dilution, and look into violations of the Voting Rights Act. She would also like to continue her efforts in battling the scourge of gang-related drug use and violent crime.2
In addition to setting her sights on ousting Keith Ellison and tackling major world problems, Barb also continues to be active here state-side. She volunteered to help out the Saxby Chambliss successful recount election campaign in Georgia. She speaks professionally as Barb White, 5th Congressional District candidate, and currently is establishing 2 PACs to put together support for another run at Congressman Ellison, and of course attends TEA party party rallies whenever she can. She had been a co-host on Blog Talk Radio on the Grizzly Groundswell show and still is an occasional guest.
Barb on the radio
“I speak about Conservative issues, conservative values and try to educate and motivate those who grew up with these values but are voting for the Socialists out of blindness. The response has been overwhelming. Over 2,400 friends on Facebook as of this
morning from all over the Country. Many are new converts to Conservatism. Especially on the abortion issue which I address from a Christian perspective. This humbles me deeply.”
Barb, who lists her favorite presidents as Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln, is a fan of Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Bachmann, and Dr Marion Thorpe (A Republican from Florida who has recently become the first African American member of the the GOP to run for the Senate). She is widowed, (deceased husband Kenneth White); has one son, Tony, and frequently blogs with her bulldog Akeva, Re: a Conservative American Bull Dog. She makes her home in Greenfield, Minnesota.
“Kudos to the community organizers who made this event possible and thanks to Barack Hussein Obama, without him we may not have come together,” Barb said at the tax day TEA party at the Minnesota Capitol steps on April 15. 4
With that attitude and the tide turning in the country, Barb should have no problem rallying the support to unseat Keith Ellison in 2010. Here’s hoping the 5th District gets behind her!
1. http://www.eleventh-avenue-south.com/archives/2007/11/barb.html
2. http://www.minnpost.com/douggrow/2008/05/13/1820/barb_davis_whites_underground_campaign
3. http://www.prlog.org/10119813-barb-davis-white-for-congress-pro-life-pro-jobs-pro-minnesota.html
4. http://www.tpt.org/aatc/person/barb_davis_white
