Q&A with Retired Justice Alan Page at Nicollet Square
According to the 2023 Wilder Research Homelessness Report, of the 10,522 people who experience homelessness on any given night in Minnesota, 1,315 of them are unaccompanied youth under the age of 24. Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative has focused on creating safe, quality, supportive housing for unaccompanied youth for years. In fact, this year Nicollet Square is 15 years old and is a powerful example of our community coming together. Thanks to a strong partnership with YouthLink, the youth services provider at Nicollet Square, and the continued donations and support from the community, young people find stability here as they gain skills and are introduced to people and opportunities that might otherwise not have been available to them on their journeys forward.
One of those opportunities is the Leadership Speaker Series powered by YouthLink. This special series unites community leaders with the young residents. Recently, Retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page was invited to a dialogue with Nicollet Square residents. Here is a brief summary of the Q and A session.
In previous interviews you talked about being the best you can be. Can you tell us about that lesson?
My parents knew and understood the value and importance of getting an education and they spent a lot of time reinforcing that notion to me and my siblings. They understood that in the 1950s when much of this country was subject to state sponsored segregation, education was a tool that could help you overcome some of the disadvantages that come with those who would essentially segregate you and treat you as the other. They also understood the importance of seeking excellence. They would constantly remind all of us kids to be the best we could be at what we were doing and by the best, they meant the best that we could be, not the best compared to somebody else. They would say, if you’re going to be a doctor, be the best doctor you can be. If you’re going to be a garbage collector, be the best garbage collector you can be. Whatever it is, seek to be your highest self. That over time sank in and stuck with me.
How did you stay on track with your goals as a lawyer and a football player despite the everyday distractions and responsibilities as a young adult?
I’ve been really fortunate in that one of the strengths that I’ve had is the ability to focus on the task at hand. I think if there is a reason why I had so much success on the athletic field it is because I understood what the task was on any given day and understood that to be the best that I could be, I can’t be involved in what’s going on over there when I should be focusing over here. There’s a lot of trash talk on the athletic field, not as much back when I played as there is today, but there was enough. Once you start focusing on the trash talk, you’re not focusing on the task anymore. I could tune it out. There were days when it was 10 below. You could either focus on the 10 below or you could focus on playing football. I had the good fortune to be able to tune all the extraneous stuff out. Why? How? I don’t know. But I had that ability and part of it was understanding that if you’re doing something that doesn’t help you achieve your goal, you’re hurting yourself.
How did you manage the pressure of being a black man at a pivotal time in America?
I learned a long time ago that I couldn’t let other people’s expectations become my limitations. I think that’s a mistake that all of us have a tendency to make. We let other people’s expectations limit us. I understood that there were people who looked down on me simply because of the color of my skin; who would discriminate against me simply because of the color of my skin. That’s their problem, not my problem. And so you can do what you want, you can think what you want, but I don’t have to take on your burden. That’s your problem. I don’t have time for it. That is not to suggest that when you are confronted with discrimination that you don’t deal with it, address it, take it on, but take it on in a way that they don’t transfer themselves into you. Because once they do that, they win.
What’s your message to future generations looking in any field?
My message is seek excellence, work to achieve your highest self. Don’t be distracted by those who would hold you down because once you become distracted, they win. The most important thing I’ve learned is to be kind, treat people the way you want to be treated. If we did that, think about all the problems that would just disappear if we treated each other the way we wanted to be treated. We’re all individuals and we have our likes and our dislikes. We, like them, all have our biases. When it comes to ice cream, I like any flavor you’ve got as long as it’s vanilla. Beyond vanilla, I’m not interested. But I understand that other people may like raspberry or chocolate or whatever it may be and that’s fine because the fact is that you are different. For me, that’s the other thing that I’ve learned that our differences are just that, differences. It doesn’t make us better or worse than, it just makes us different.
At the Supreme Court you interpreted laws that shaped lives, but as an author you shaped narratives that touched hearts. How do you see the relationship between justice and storytelling and changing minds and systems?
I don’t know that there’s any difference between one or the other. That I’ve had the good fortune to be in the position to use the person I am to try to bring about justice, and whether that’s writing an opinion or a children’s book, the same thought, the same process takes place. The same feeling takes place. Just an example, when writing children’s books, my daughter and I try to do two things. We want the book to put a smile on your face and tug at your heart. When writing an opinion as I sit here and think about it today, the goal was to create understanding about what I was trying to communicate, and a little bit of the tug at your heart and also a little bit of put a smile on your face or at least an understanding to reach you beyond simply the words on the page. One last thought, one of the other things that I’ve learned, and I actually learned this fairly early on, it’s important to do the things that you do as well as you can. It’s important to be serious about the things that you do and to take the things that you do seriously, but it is equally important not to take yourself too seriously.
A NICOLLET SQUARE HIGHLIGHT:
Since 2012, Nicollet Square’s employment-focused activities, in partnership with service partner, YouthLink and adjacent Butter Bakery Cafe, has provided a 3-month training experience for 64 interns of which 19 interns were hired as staff. The program model at Nicollet Square also provides the following services to facilitate the successful transition of residents from homelessness to stability: case management, individualized goal planning, budgeting, legal services, food support, life skills training, connections to mental, physical, and chemical health resources, and transition/exit planning and aftercare.
