August 3, 2023 - MN Spokesman-Recorder

Ellison and Martinez debate ahead of fall election

Fifth ward council race may come down to housing, jobs, and public safety

By Abdi Mohamed

Contributing Writer

esidents of North Minneapolis’s Ward 5 gathered in pews at New Salem Baptist Church last Wednesday evening, July 26, for a public safety town hall debate between City Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison and Pastor Victor Martinez. The two are set to face off once again in the fall after Ellison’s victory in 2021, in which Martinez came in third after three rounds of rankedchoice voting tabulation.

Wednesday’s town hall focused on public safety. But there were a range of topics discussed, including affordable housing, employment opportunities, and youth resources.

Both Ellison and Martinez share a focus on these issues accord-

ing to their campaign websites, though they diverge on their approach to public safety.

Ellison along with other members of the Minneapolis City Council put forth a mo-

tion to replace the police department with a department of public safety in 2022. That initiative failed with only 43 percent voter approval. Since then, the City has struggled to

maintain and retain officers, as staffing shortages continue to plague the department.

Martinez’s campaign website describes Ellison’s support for a department of public

safety as taking away resources from MPD. He further criticizes Ellison on his campaign website by claiming that his constituents find it hard to reach him, and he blames Ellison’s policies for the closure of Breaking Bread Café, which announced it will close its West Broadway location on August 25.

The town hall between the two candidates for the 5th Ward council seat was subdued and facilitated by Latonya Reeves who read questions written by attendees aloud. Each candidate was given an allotted time to answer and an opportunity to respond when necessary. As the questions were read, both candidates did their best to differentiate themselves from the other.

One of the questions that came up addressed the City’s approach to rent control. The

council has approved a charter amendment in the past that would allow them to regulate rent. They sought to draft an ordinance that would fix rental increases at three percent a year, a motion that was struck down when Ellison and two other Muslim councilmembers were out for the Eid holiday.

Ellison responded to the question regarding his approach to rent control as requiring residential input and a process to find out what would best serve Minneapolis, not a one-size-fits-all approach.

“The answer to that question will be borne out through the public hearing process, through studying policy, through staff recommendations, through council amendments. The answer to your question is borne out through the process, and

■ See DEBATE on page 5

Changing the system that deals with missing and murdered Black women

By Abdi Mohamed

Contributing Writer

very Sunday, Lakeisha Lee would get together with her younger sister Brittany

Clardy to watch their weekly marathon of “Law and Order: SVU.” They’d have their lunch and dinner planned, ready to binge their favorite show. The two of them wanted to be like Olivia Benson, one of the lead detectives and characters of the show.

Looking back on that time, Lee shared how fateful it all seemed following the murder of her sister Brittany. Lee was five years older and protective over her younger sister. They grew up in a middle-class family first residing in North Minneapolis before their move to St. Paul.

Lee had her own townhome,

when Brittany was 18, and still living with their mother. At the time problems began to arise

because of Brittany’s association with an older man.

“We were really worried about

her and watching her transition out of her job. She worked at a recreation center with kids every

day and she was such a loving and caring person for the kids there,” Lee said. “The person that

she connected with, he started to take her away from a lot of that.”

One morning, in early 2013, Brittany left home, telling her mother she was heading to the corner store. She never returned home.

Worried, Lee’s mother, Marquita Clardy, called her to tell her Brittany was missing. The two went to the police and pleaded their case about their sister. They told them that Brittany had been seeing an older man and that this wasn’t like her. The officers dismissed them, theorizing that she must have gone down to Chicago and run away with her boyfriend.

Frustrated, Lee and her mother had nowhere to turn. Days later, they received a letter from Brittany’s car company stating

■ See MISSING on page 5

I-94 freeway rebuild could affect express bus routes

By H. Jiahong Pan

Contributing Writer

ince 1974, a Metro Transit bus route has used Interstate 94 to ferry thousands of riders between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. Many use it to get to and from work. A couple of weeks ago, DeMarco Martin, a West St. Paul resident, used it to drop off baking supplies in North Minneapolis.

“It’s a quicker way to get to Minneapolis,” said Martin, indicating what he liked about Metro Transit’s Route 94. Averaging more than 700 daily boardings between mid-March and early June, it is Metro Transit’s busiest express route. However, that could all change in the next decade.

The 55-year-old freeway that Route 94 operates on, Interstate 94, is on its last legs and due for a rebuild. The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) is looking at 10 options that could keep the freeway in place, widen it by adding an extra toll or general traffic lane, narrow it, or replace it with a boulevard.

Whatever MnDOT ends up doing would affect Metro Transit’s Route 94, as well as Routes 353, 355 and 363 express routes that connect downtown Minneapolis with downtown St. Paul

and the eastern St. Paul suburbs of Woodbury and Cottage Grove.

If MnDOT chooses to keep the freeway, Metro Transit could continue operating the 94 as it does today or keep the same route but eliminate the stop on Snelling Avenue. Route 94’s stop on Snelling Avenue was restored in December 2021, as Metro Transit had to contend with a shortage of drivers to operate the Green Line, which parallels I-94 to the north.

Metro Transit could also convert Route 94 into a route like the Orange Line, which opened in December 2021, and operates on toll lanes on I-35W, making stops in stations on the middle of the freeway in Minneapolis and on the side of the freeway in Richfield, Bloomington and Burnsville. The converted Route 94, which would continue to run between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul could operate on toll lanes or highway shoulders and could stop at a station in the middle of the freeway or adjacent to an on-ramp. It could just stop at Snelling Avenue or stop somewhere near Minneapolis’ Seward neighborhood and St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood in addition to Snelling.

The idea of adding stops to Route 94 is unpopular with some current riders, who use the service to commute between

the two downtown centers quickly. “I don’t think [the bus] should have more stops. It has more than enough stops. Maybe one more? People get on the 94 trying to get from downtown Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul as quickly as possible,” said JT Concepcion as he rode the 94 one afternoon to get to a North Minneapolis brewery.

However, if MnDOT decides to remove the freeway and replace it with a boulevard, Metro Transit’s Route 94 bus would operate on dedicated lanes on that boulevard, similar to how the C and D Lines run on red transit lanes on

7th Street in downtown Minneapolis.

The bus route could also run similarly to the Gold Line, a bus line that will run on dedicated transit lanes—being built immediately north of I-94 on the east side of St. Paul that will connect downtown St. Paul with the 3M office building in Maplewood, as well as Woodbury— when it opens in 2025.

Buses running on dedicated lanes in a boulevard conversion saves commuters an average of two minutes per trip while providing the greatest increase in ridership, according to a study commissioned by MnDOT and conducted by

a Houston, Texas transportation planning company called The Goodman Corporation. In addition, the study found that a boulevard conversion could increase ridership on the Blue and Green Lines, as well as a streetcar line being proposed to operate on West 7th Street. Planners believe converting the freeway into a boulevard and providing buses running on dedicated lanes would incentivize riders to take transit as they change how they commute without a freeway.

However, the alternative that would convert the Route 94 bus to something similar to the Orange Line with stations in Seward, Rondo, and at Snelling Avenue increases access to jobs, medical facilities, groceries, educational opportunities and businesses.

The study did not consider when the buses would run, but assumed the buses would run every 10 minutes during rush hour and every 15 minutes outside of rush hour. Some riders like Concepcion wish it would run later. “There’s been a couple times when I would like it to run later.”

Even if Metro Transit retools I-94 transit service to accommodate whatever MnDOT ends up doing, some people won’t ride it for fear of their own safety.

Challenger Victor Martinez (l) debates Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison (r).

Photos by Abdi Mohamed

Lakeisha Lee, founder of Brittany’s Place, and advocate for missing and murdered Black women and girls

Dr. Brittany Lewis, CEO and founder of Research in Action

Photos by Chris Juhn

DeMarco Martin rides a Metro Transit Route 94 bus to Minneapolis.

Photos by H. Jiahong Pan

Metro Transit increasing service in August Service cuts restored to make good with drivers and riders

By H. Jiahong Pan Contributing Writer

When Metro Transit cut service in December on Route 30a route that connects north and northeast residents to the Quarry Shopping Center and the Mid-City Industrial Park in northeast Minneapolis, and the Westgate office park at the western edge of St. Paul–it upended the schedule of many Northside residents who rely on the route to get to work.

Like Mike Ondieki, who works at the Mid-City Industrial Park and lives in north Minneapolis. “I either had to leave earlier to get to work earlier, or I showed up a bit late,” said Ondieki as he rode the 30 home from work. “When they cut back the buses, I noticed they started to be late more often, too.”

Ondieki, along with fellow rider Ramon Collaso, were excited to hear that Metro Transit was restoring Route 30 service this month. “That would be a vast improvement because I got stuck a couple times. If you miss it by a minute, you gotta wait awhile, a whole ‘nother hour,” said Collaso, upon hearing that the 30 will begin running every 30 minutes all day, every day.

As Metro Transit makes headway in hiring more drivers and as more riders return to the system, the agency is looking to add back more service in the coming year. The expansion comes at a time when the agency is dealing with changes in commuting patterns, working conditions and leadership.

In June, the transit agency started restoring service that was cut over the last three years. On August 19, they will add service to some of its busiest and most vital routes, including lines that do not serve downtown Minneapolis. In the next year, the agency could begin restoring 88 percent of the bus service it provided before the pandemic began. The increase in service is the result of the state legislature having passed a 0.75 percent sales tax to fund Twin Cities transit, which

will take effect in October.

In addition to changes to Route 30, other routes that serve north Minneapolis and its northern suburbs will also see service increases. To the south, Route 9–which runs on Glenwood Avenue between Cedar Lake Road and Hopkins Crossroad in Minnetonka, St. Louis Park, and Minneapolis’ Longfellow neighborhood–will run every 30 minutes on Saturdays. To the north, Route 801, which currently runs mostly between Central and 41st Avenues in Columbia Heights and Rosedale Mall in Roseville, will include an allday stop on weekdays across the street from Brooklyn Center Transit Center, as opposed to only during rush hour.

St. Paul is also getting some modest service increases.

Routes 65 on Dale Street, Route 67 on Franklin and Min-

the two-hour commuter window in the morning and in the afternoon.

“One of the things that we’re noticing with travel is that we don’t have as much of a strong peak [transit] period anymore.

[Transit travel is] a lot more consistent throughout the day,” said Metro Transit Director of Finance Ed Petrie as he presented to the Metropolitan Council’s Transportation Committee on July 24.

The changes the agency is making also help with its ongoing efforts toward eliminating split shifts, where a worker is required to take a long, unpaid break in between the times they work. It’s something long demanded by the drivers’ union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, in its negotiations for a new contract.

“It takes up a huge chunk of your day. If you have a two- or

17 stops; in fact, in late July the agency eliminated the southbound stop at Nicollet Avenue and 15th Street. Route 17F service–which branches off of Minnetonka Boulevard at Ottawa Avenue in St. Louis Park, continuing onto Belt Line Boulevard and 36th Street to Wooddale Avenue–will be reduced to four trips per day. There will be two heading to 36th and Wooddale in the morning, and two leaving 36th and Wooddale in the afternoon.

In July, Routes 32 and 62 became fare-free until the end of December 2024, because of state law that passed this past legislative session requiring the agency to test out the fare-free idea and submit an

evaluation report on it.

The agency has no plans to restore overnight service anytime soon. They suspended all overnight service as the pandemic began, citing the disproportionate number of biohazard incidents happening on overnight trips compared to trips that occur at other times of day. And although they plan to budget for more light rail service next year, they have had trouble hiring enough drivers to meet the demand. The agency, which currently has around 85 light rail operators, needs just over 120 to restore service to 10-minute intervals.

As Metro Transit service evolves, so is its leadership. Lesley Kandaras, who served

as Interim General Manager over the past six months, became Metro Transit’s new General Manager on July 27. Previously serving as the agency’s Chief of Staff, Kandaras is the first woman to run the agency and replaces Wes Kooistra, who quietly retired in February.

The following routes will change on August 19: Orange Line, A Line, D Line, 2, 3, 5, 9, 10, 14, 17, 18, 22, 30, 32, 46, 65, 67, 83, 87, 219, 323, 540, 542, 801, 804. Visit https:// www.metrotransit.org/quarterly-service-changes-beginsaturday-aug-19 to learn more.

H. Jiahong Pan welcomes reader responses at hpan@ spokesman-recorder.com.

nehaha Avenues, Route 83 on Lexington Parkway and Route 87 on Cleveland Avenue will run every 30 minutes for most of the day, and on most days during the week.

Closer to downtown Minneapolis, four of Metro Transit’s busiest routes will see service increases. On weekdays–Route 2 on Franklin, the A Line on Snelling, as well as Route 18 on Nicollet between downtown and 66th Street in Richfield, and Route 10 on Central between downtown and 53rd Avenue in Fridley–will begin running every 10 minutes on weekday afternoons, up from the current schedule of every 15 minutes. The Orange Line express bus that runs from downtown Minneapolis on I-35W toll lanes to Richfield, Bloomington, and Burnsville will run every 15 minutes later into the evening and during the day on Saturdays.

three-hour split, [and] if it’s an eight-hour shift, that’s three extra hours on to your day. It wears on you after a while, not getting home until later on in the evening,” said ATU Local 1005 President Ryan Timlin. “We’ve been asking [for more] one-piece runs. Covid has shown that it can actually happen.”

The agency is required to schedule 55 percent of splits as straight-through work, which can range anywhere from four to 10 hours without an unpaid break in between. However, Local 1005 estimates the share of straightthrough work scheduled by Metro Transit today is closer to 82 percent.

This upcoming round of service changes won’t include increases to express bus service. Express bus ridership remains a small part of the agency’s overall ridership, at just over 260,000 riders, or 3 percent of total systemwide ridership from January to April 2023. That is only 14 percent of what express ridership was at the same time back in 2019. In emails obtained from the agency through public records requests, the agency is making the best of its chronic driver shortage by consolidating its express routes to operate from one park-and-ride facility for each major freeway.

Although ridership from January to April 2023 remains at roughly half of what ridership was during the same period in 2019, it is 15 percent higher compared to the same period last year. Since the pandemic began, agency planners noticed more people are riding later in the day, rather than

With increased service on several routes, Metro Transit plans to make very few cuts, if any. Also on August 19, the agency will realign Route 17 in northeast Minneapolis to end at Central and Lowry, about half a mile east of where it currently ends, at Washington and 27th Avenues. The agency will also eliminate some Route

“One of the things that we’re noticing with travel is that we don’t have as much of a strong peak transit period anymore. Transit travel is a lot more consistent throughout the day.”

Ramon Collaso rides Metro Transit’s Route 30 bus through North Minneapolis.

Photos by H. Jiahong Pan

Annie Richmond holds a picket sign during a protest demanding a fair contract at Metro Transit’s Heywood Garage.

Photos by H. Jiahong Pan

5 recipes that will ignite your child’s love of cooking

Parenting Today presented by

Letting kids help cook meals is sometimes difficult when they’re not proficient in basic kitchen skills, so give them plenty of opportunities to practice being the chef with recipes that are easy, tasty, and low-stakes.

Of course, you know your children best, so make sure that you’re giving them appropriate responsibilities in the kitchen—it’s about stages, not ages—so don’t compare your own child’s readiness with the neighbor’s children.

No matter your child’s experience level in the kitchen, these five recipes will provide plenty of opportunities for practicing essential skills, building confidence, and feeling proud of a delicious meal.

Peanut butter pitas

Often, kids learning to cook want to make meals that sound exciting, so a classic PB&J sandwich isn’t really on their menu. Offer this peanut butter pita recipe as an alternative – they’ll practice the same skills and end up with a healthy, filling meal that’s perfect for lunch or dinner. Buy whole-wheat pitas and have

kids practice separating them to find the pocket, then let them mix their peanut butter blend in a small bowl. Adding spices to the peanut butter can be tricky as kids often overpour, but this is a good chance for them to practice their fine motor skills and measurement accuracy. Once they’ve spread the peanut butter inside the pita, they can enjoy them with some sliced apples.

Breakfast parfaits

If your kids are ready for a breakfast recipe that’s slightly more complicated than cereal, try this berry and yogurt parfait. Kids as young as kindergarten can make this recipe independently from start to finish, so it’s a good way to build confidence in the kitchen. Kids can layer yogurt, fruit, and granola in a glass and then drizzle with honey on top for an added treat. If you have young kids, make sure the fruit is washed and sliced ahead of time for them to use, but older kids can learn these essential steps and practice independently.

Grilled cheese

There’s almost nothing more classic than grilled cheese, and kids will love the opportunity to make something that tastes this decadent. For older kids,

the chance to independently use the stovetop is an important opportunity. Because grilled cheese is cooked slowly over low heat, they’ll need to be patient and methodical, both skills that need practice. Younger kids can help spread butter on the bread and arrange the cheese, so this meal can easily be a collaborative effort among siblings!

Turkey pinwheels

Deli meat sandwiches are a quick, easy, and healthy lunch or dinner option, but kids often get tired of the same options every day. Let them practice some cooking skills while adding a little excitement to their

meal with these easy turkey pinwheels. Kids old enough to use a moderately sharp knife independently can create this whole meal on their own. Start by using tortillas or flatbreads and have kids choose their favorite condiments to spread all the way to the edges; cream cheese is a classic and easy option. Next, layer turkey over about 2/3 of the tortilla and then greens or other ingredients in the middle. When kids are in charge of making the food, they’re often more likely to incorporate vegetables, so make sure to have some available for this recipe. Finally, have your kids practice rolling the tortilla tightly then cut-

ting into pinwheel slices (you can help cut for the younger crowd).

Tortilla pizzas

Kids love pizza, so why not capitalize on their enthusiasm by teaching them how to make this easy tortilla version? Start with a bag of shredded pizza cheese and store-bought tomato sauce to make the process easy for even the youngest crowd. Let kids pour the sauce and spread it over a tortilla themselves – learning how much is too much is an important lesson in cooking. Also, give them space to sprinkle as much cheese as they’d like – they’ll learn if

it’s too much when it bubbles over the edge later! Let each child choose their own special toppings, then bake. Older kids can either cook these on the stovetop with minimal supervision or bake them in the oven for about 8 minutes, while younger kids can begin practicing how to flip tortillas in a skillet and basic oven safety.

After mastering these recipes, your children will be ready to take on even more delicious and impressive meals for the next family dinner!

MSR + Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) share a mission of protecting, maintaining and improving the health of ALL Minnesotans. Our shared vision for health equity in Minnesota, where ALL communities are thriving and ALL people have what they need to be healthy is the foundation of our partnership to bring readers our feature, Parenting Today. Good health starts with family! To view our weekly collection of stories, go to our website or scan the code.

Building trust in vaccines with communities of color

Sponsored Content

By Chanon Ridore, Sheyanga

and Sims Ma

Beecher,

Vaccines have the power to protect us. For decades lifesaving immunizations have eradicated smallpox and almost eliminated measles, meningitis, and polio in this country. We rarely see these diseases in our communities because generations of families have recognized the importance of vaccines and made the decision to vaccinate loved ones.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost four million deaths worldwide are prevented each year because of vaccines. In the last three years, we have taken the success of all vaccines for granted. We cannot nor should we diminish the importance of vaccines.

Confidence in vaccines, let alone healthcare in general, does not come without historical trauma and mistrust within the Black community.

When the COVID vaccine was introduced, generational pain resurfaced from memories of the Tuskegee experiment and the use of Henrietta Lack’s cell lines, without her consent. While the vaccine is highly effective in preventing complications, hospitalizations, and death from infection, historical trauma, misinformation, and inconsistent messaging contributed to the Black communities’ low COVID vaccination rates.

In Minnesota, African Americans have lagged behind their white counterparts in getting their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and completing the series, even though they are at greater risk for hospitalization and complications from the virus.

Unfortunately, racial disparities in immunizations also exist with basic, essential childhood vaccines such as measles and whooping cough.

Recently, world leaders announced the largest sustained decline in childhood vaccinations in over 30 years. Current data shows even lower rates in communities of color. With the increased threat of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and polio, we must address the community’s lack of confidence in vaccines because our kids deserve this protection!

Three years ago, Hennepin Healthcare developed the Pediatric Mobile Health (PMH) community-based outreach program to address these challenges. The program’s goal is to decrease barriers to healthcare, improve immunization rates and help restore

housing needs, transportation challenges and financial strains. The team refers families to a medical home facility, specialty care or community resources when needed. The PMH program conducts popup clinics at schools and Head

dren and our communities from diseases as best we can. Many of these diseases can be prevented with a vaccine. If communities do not trust vaccines, we have work to do. This work is ours, both as community

members and healthcare providers. The work requires building trust and partnerships so that we can provide culturally sensitive information that builds on what we’ve known for generations.

Vaccines save lives by preparing our bodies to fight disease. One life lost to vaccinepreventable disease is one life too many. The work has begun – will you please join us?

trust within the community. Lead nurse practitioner Amy Green notes, “There was a decline in the rate of childhood immunizations during the pandemic. When our patients are not protected, then our community is not protected.”

The PMH team provides care to families outside their home in a kid-friendly mobile clinic. In addition to providing checkups and immunizations, the team also screens families for food insecurity,

Start centers. In addition, the team answer questions and concerns about vaccines at community town halls. The work has been well received and the program continues to grow.

Last year, PMH interviewed community leaders representing education, human services, media, and public health. The team also surveyed patients and held focus groups in the Black community. Here are some key findings from the community assessment:

Trust is important to increase vaccine confidence, especially for Black community members residing in Minneapolis and neighboring cities.

Vaccine information must come from respected community leaders in partnership with healthcare members, who share similar experiences and speak the same language.

Health systems need to engage with community leaders and prioritize culturally appropriate outreach.

Healthcare providers must devote time to understanding their patients’ fears and concerns, even if it means sitting in a space of uncertainty. This time spent is a key factor in building trust.

While progress is being made, the challenge remains. We need to protect our chil-

Racial disparities in immunizations also exist with basic, essential childhood vaccines such as measles and whooping cough.

Hennepin Healthcare Pediatric Mobile Clinic

Photo courtesy of Alex Carroll

Mocha Momma’s Coffee Black Business SPOTLIGHT

By Chris Juhn Staff Contributor

In 1990, Melanie March Leehy, whose Christian faith has always guided her community work, was inspired to launch a nonprofit called The Dwelling. “It was a coffeehouse that mentored urban youth and gave them a place to be loved and to call home,” says Leehy, who is almost 60 now, recalling her first coffee shop.

“It was in Anoka, of all places. We averaged 150 kids every Friday and Saturday night, giving them a place to do their art, to do their music, and just be kids.”

Before opening The Dwelling, she had been doing com-

ble to buy the space and someone else did.” In the meantime, a friend of hers asked her to be the general manager of his coffee shop at Bordertown Coffee on the U of M campus, where she worked for a few years before opening Mocha Momma’s Coffee.

“Because I was there [at Bordertown], that’s how I learned about the space in the Minneapolis Central Library opening up,” she said of her current location, on the first floor of the public library building at 300 Nicollet Mall. “They only reached out to viable coffee shops. And because I was managing Bordertown, that enabled me to launch my vision of a permanent space to mentor youth.”

cation because Hennepin County reached out. I had to show that I had a history of managing a coffee shop business. I had to show what my plan was. And my plan was to be a sustainable coffee shop, and a track record of community service mentoring urban youth. They really liked that idea.

munity outreach with youth in Uptown, back in the 1980s and 90s. Even so, she said, “I still never got to realize the full-fledged vision of what I wanted to do.”

After The Dwelling, “I moved my nonprofit to North Minneapolis,” she continued. “I didn’t have the cash to put on the ta-

Besides coffee, Mocha Momma’s serves iced beverages, and made-to-order sandwiches, and on average employs five local youths.

MSR: How did this space come together?

MML: There was a bidding process for the library lo-

I was able to open on June 1, 2022. I’m still in the fundraising phase, so that the coffee shop is sustainable. But once things are running smoothly, then I will add the mentoring part of the program, and that will be primarily for African American youth.

MSR: How do you mentor youth?

MML: The mentoring program

will teach basic job skills and life skills. When they graduate from that they can apply to do more. They can then become an intern and learn the food industry. I think it’s important that when people have internships or do volunteer work that it’s a growth opportunity. I actually put together the menu so that it allows them to have things to do in the kitchen. Because there’s so much to learn in the food industry, then they can apply it to be a barista and learn coffeemaking skills. Right now, anybody that’s on my staff, they start with a blue apron, which means they’re in training, or they’re only preparing the food part or they’re a volunteer. After they go through the training process as a barista, then they can switch to a black apron. I can say, ‘Okay, you’re fully trained. You’re a barista.’ There’s so many layers and lev

els to understanding the cof

fee industry.

After the group training, they’ll stay connected with the people that are leading in the training, but they will be assigned a one-on-one mentor who will work alongside them. My goal is to not just say, ‘Okay, we’ve had this person in our program for nine months or 18 months.’ We’re going to work alongside them for those 18 months, two years, five years, 10 years. We’re going to see them come into the fullness of who they are and what their destiny is. That’s what I’m working for, is to see people fulfill their calling.

I teach our staff and those who are going through the internship, to learn professional-

ism, to learn the food industry, to learn about the hospitality industry. Hospitality skills can go a long way. If you learn customer service, learn how to greet people, give them the respect that everyone is due— no matter what their back-

that they’re welcome to bring any of their clients in here and do their one-on-ones. There are some people who come in just to meet with their navigator for housing. Some people come in in a cluster.

It’s funny, but when I had this idea back in 1990, there weren’t coffeehouses in the Twin Cities. Someone said to me, ‘Why do you want to do coffee? No one’s doing coffee. It’s not going to work.’ My response to them was, ‘If God wants a coffeehouse, God gets a coffee house,’ because it wasn’t my idea.

By 1996, when I launched The Dwelling, someone said, ‘There’s coffee shops everywhere. Why do you want to do that?’ My answer was still the same. ‘If God wants a coffeehouse, God gets a coffeehouse.” There’s always going to be the naysayers.

MSR: How does your business impact the community?

MML: Once the coffee shop has the mentoring program

ground, or what’s going on in their day—you’re gonna go a long way.

MSR: Why coffee?

MML: Coffee is a connection for millions of people. Coffee shops and coffeehouses are great for people to come together and meet. People will come in and take their time to do their personal reading, to work on their graduate program, to work on their GED.

I’ve seen people come in here and meet with their parole officer. I let them know

fully up and running, I will give people the opportunity to learn about and participate in that. It impacts communities person-to-person, home-tohome, and neighborhood-toneighborhood.

MSR: What’s your most popular item on the menu?

MML: We have a house latte called “The Momma’s Mocha.” You can have it hot or iced. It has espresso and chocolate sauce. Our chocolate sauce does not have dairy in

Sometimes you can impact a person’s life in five minutes by honoring them and providing them with a drink that they’re going to remember and enjoy. The other is a long-term commitment, seeing a person get their life on track.

Mocha Momma’s Coffee owner Melanie March Leehy

Photo by Chris Juhn

Photo courtesy of Facebook

■ See BBS on page 9

DEBATE

Continued from page 1

we have not yet gone through that process,” he added.

Martinez took issue with Ellison and his colleagues’ approach to rent control, calling it too strict and arguing it would drive out landlords, who would then displace their tenants once they sell the house.

“It’s one thing to say that this is what you want. And it’s another thing to see the forces that are in our city that are pushing rent control. They want a strict three percent. They have a strict vision of what they want. Now if our council member has a different vision that’s more flexible, I would love to hear that in an article. I would like to see that in a tweet,” said Martinez.

Martinez went on to say that he would be in favor of some measures that would curtail the issue of corporate landlords who reside outside of the community, who increase their tenants rent by hundreds of dollars.

During the town hall, a question arose about new development projects being built and why affordable housing units did not seem to be designed to accommodate families on the North Side, since a large number of the units were studios and one-bedrooms. Ellison pushed back on this claim and stated that he has been able to secure most of the af-

MISSING

Continued from page 1

that her car was being held in an impound lot.

Soon after, Lee was shown photos by police officers of the inside of her sister’s car where her body was found.

This harrowing experience propelled Lee onto a journey where she would work to help families like hers, who have experienced similar tragedies. In the years since her sister’s death, Lee has launched Brittany’s Place, a nonprofit organization that partnered with 180 Degrees, to offer young women residential and housing services along with chemical and mental health services.

Over the past two years, Lee has taken her family’s tragic experience to help shape what has now become the first Office for Missing and Murdered African American Women (MMAAW) in the country. She testified in front of lawmakers at the state Capitol and advocated for a central resource that would address the growing number of missing and murdered Black women in Minnesota.

Rep. Ruth Richardson (DFL) sponsored a bill in the legislature for the creation of this office, which passed the Minnesota House earlier this year. It would allocate a $1.24 million annual budget to assist families with cases and award grants to com-

I-94

Continued from page 1

Carol Thomas, a downtown Minneapolis resident, finds it hard to be herself and feel safe on transit. “I’m a person [who wears] jewelry a lot. And for me jewelry is significant because of my culture,” said Thomas while sitting with a friend at the Taste of Rondo block party.

“And so now, when I have to go on the bus, I have to take [my jewelry] off because people will snatch it. They will try to rob you and do all kinds of stuff. I’ve been robbed many times.” She thinks more police or security personnel—which Metro Transit is working on and plans to deliver an update on their progress

fordable housing development funds for area residents.

“In the last two years, we’ve gotten both 80 and 70 percent of all the perpetually affordable homeownership money that the City has to offer here on the North Side,” he said. “I take a big point of pride in that.

In addition, we’re building a number of townhomes—about 17 units in Glenwood, which is quickly gentrifying—all geared towards ownership.

“I not only want people to have an affordable place to rent. I want people to have an affordable place where they can own and build wealth and pass something on.”

Both candidates addressed the recent closures of corporate businesses in North Minneapolis, including Walgreens and Aldi, and the loss of jobs following these closures. Martinez was skeptical about Ellison’s plans to

jor businesses and we’re talking about having more work. That doesn’t work,” he said. “If big corporations that had deep pockets can’t survive in North Minneapolis, what’s gonna help a mom and pop that has less capital, less influence, less ability to get big money from downtown to survive here?”

Ellison responded to Martinez’s doubts by stating that despite the exodus of these larger businesses, locally owned businesses were thriving in North Minneapolis. He pointed to Sammy’s Avenue Eatery and Renewable Energy Partners as examples of businesses continuing to operate on the North Side.

cil members, who took part in calling for the defunding of MPD, as a way to contrast his approach to public safety from the incumbent council member.

erybody,” she said. “I want to know from all the candidates in every ward, do you support one-time funding.”

Kamphoff’s main takeaway from the town hall was that Ellison had a more collaborative approach to governance based on his responses compared to Martinez, who she views as seeing himself as the solution for every issue.

secure work opportunities for North Minneapolis residents in light of these events.

“We just lost three, four ma-

munity organizations engaged in combating human trafficking.

The work leading up to the creation of the office was led by a task force that came together in November 2021, mostly made up of law enforcement officers, attorneys, and lawmakers.

Lee had applied to be a part of the task force. But despite having advocated for the cause for years, found herself feeling a bit intimidated by the process.

“At first, it was very scary to do this work,” she said. “It’s just little old me. And I’m in the room with people who make laws and people who have the power to decide how we are going to talk about this narrative.”

Dr. Brittany Lewis, CEO and founder of Research in Action and a senior research associate at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, helped the task force gather the relevant data and information to guide the creation of an Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women.

Dr. Lewis made it clear as she set out to do the necessary reporting for the task force that there was a need for Black women in this research, and that they should play an advisory role. Many of those appointed to the task force had professional experience around law enforcement and policymaking but lacked the lived experience of those who would be impacted by the office’s work.

to the Met Council on August 2 — would make her feel more comfortable.

MnDOT does not know how much each of their options will cost. They expect the boulevard conversion to be the most expensive because of how much they would have to spend to fill in the trench where I-94 runs.

A notable area of difference between both candidates has been their stance on public safety. Martinez referred to the time Ellison and other coun-

“I think half the work was both the process of what it means to center Black women and girls’ voices, beyond a very tokenized kind of traditional community engagement approach,” she said. “It also required the folks that were appointed to the task force, some of whom are state legislators from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and other spaces to understand a different way to lead a process guided by Black women.”

Once the report was greenlit, Dr. Lewis and members of the task force set out to conduct interviews across the state of Minnesota, where they met with women in domestic violence centers. They were guided by several questions surrounding the nature of support that Black women were receiving in these facilities and if there was differential treatment that would affect their outcome and safety in these mostly White female-led spaces.

“We were doing a focus group in St. Cloud and there was an elder Black woman who was in the domestic violence shelter amongst her younger peers. The younger Black female peers were coming to her for support and advice, because they couldn’t get it in the programming and the shelter,” Dr. Lewis stated.

In her reporting, Dr. Lewis discovered the debate taking place in the safe harbor community over the role that women with

“Public safety for me is an ecosystem where the different parts have their role to play. I support all the different public safety systems. But in order for the systems to work, they need to be supported. You don’t take from one part of the system to give to the other,” Martinez said. Ellison responded by stating that his office had already been working on the plans to create an integrated public safety approach well before the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent riots, one that he credits Mayor Jacob Frey for adopting.

“We had already started creating that in my first year in office in 2018. We didn’t wait for the murder of

lived experience of physical and intimate violence have in being service providers to those seeking resources and refuge.

Although some believe that there might be too much bias, Dr. Lewis relayed her findings that many of the women she interviewed said they’d liked being supported by others who can identify with their experiences.

George Floyd to make investments in trying to start a behavioral crisis response team. We didn’t wait until the murder of George Floyd to say we need an office of violence prevention. But they were small things when we first got them started. After George Floyd those programs were in demand and grew rapidly,” he stated.

Kaytie Kamphoff, an English teacher at Patrick Henry High School and a 1st Ward resident, was in attendance at the town hall and shared her interest in knowing where every candidate stands regarding one-time funds for Minneapolis Public Schools.

“I think a lot of our community members, especially when we say that our students don’t have a space to be—especially in wards four and five—that we need to be funding our public schools because they’re for ev-

late. But having those with experience can make a difference in her view.

“I would love to see victims and survivors be sought out as important in making sure that the criminal system is not punishing them for something that was done to them,” she said. “You have to be literally near death to even get somebody’s attention, or you even have to be dead to get somebody’s attention.”

Since losing her sister, Lee has been working with families who have had similar experiences to hers and wants there to be a streamlined process for them to find their loved ones.

Matha Holton Dimick, former judge and county prosecutor, believed both candidates did a great job of expressing their views and that the format of the town hall helped get their points across. She stated that she was against the call to “defund the police,” but based on the issues in MPD with the hiring and retention of officers, it seems as though that effort worked.

In light of the recent Department of Justice findings, Dimick believes that there needs to be a united approach between community members and City officials to solve the public safety issues in the city.

“We have to be able to have a cohesive group look at those recommendations and actually work together to improve police relations. It’s not all on the police. It’s not all on the community. I would like to see us work together better. I really worry about whether or not that’s gonna happen,” she said.

Abdi Mohamed welcomes reader comments at amohamed@ spokesman-recorder.com.

erson said. “The least we can do is provide a safe space for them to lay their head at night.”

Looking forward, the money set aside for the office of MMAAW has been allocated, with the Office of Justice Programs actively searching to fill the role of director according to Dr. Lewis. She hopes to see the office provide resources to Black women in this state who are already doing this work and can provide culturally affirming resources and guidance to those in need.

According to the task force’s report, Black women make up 40 percent of domestic violence victims despite being 7 percent of the state population. This disproportionality in how domestic violence impacts Black women specifically underlined the work of the task force for its members.

Tiffany Roberson, a member of the task force’s advisory committee, stated that those who have experienced the failures of the system should be placed in roles where they can make a difference. Many victims of violence or their loved ones have experienced roadblocks in their search for help, especially with law enforcement. Roberson believes that oftentimes it’s too

“I’ve talked to people that would post their missing loved ones only on Facebook,” she said. Many people have no clue where to turn when a tragedy such as this strikes according to Lee.

Her family was able to turn to the Gunderson Resource Center, where they created a flyer and got the word out about Brittany. She sees the opportunity to be on the task force as a chance to shine a light on the process victims and their families struggle through.

According to the report, unfulfilled needs such as food and shelter drive many young women into sex work, which then puts them at risk of violence.

“The one thing that stands out to me is the number of young people that are displaced,” Rob-

“That’s one recommendation that we made, that this office has resources that they can give directly to folks and community leading the work, because they have little resources,” she said.

“We talk a great deal about creating the new training and tracking system for health agencies, law enforcement agencies, and the courts because there’s a clear lack of cultural understanding and awareness. A lot of victimblaming with Black women and girls and a lot of like ‘adultification’ of Black girls.”

With Minnesota leading the change, Dr. Lewis and Lakeisha Lee are preparing to take their report findings to Congress in September and continue to push for national change given their findings in Minnesota.

Abdi Mohamed welcomes reader comments at amohamed@ spokesman-recorder.com.

form

the potential to draw riders and to lower the costs of building such a route. Although a light rail line would double potential ridership compared to the dedicated bus lane that would operate on a converted boulevard, planners from The Goodman Corporation say those projects would be overkill for what the corridor is trying to serve. However, supporters point out that the study did not consider the rail

of space. [Building a rail line on 94] wouldn’t be in the way of businesses. Look at University—they hurt a lot of businesses because they didn’t wanna be copycats. Metro Transit [doesn’t] want to be like cities

corridor,

with the L train in the middle of a highway,” said Warr on his way home from work.

MnDOT will discuss these options in more detail with Reconnect Rondo, as they also present updates on their land bridge project, on August 17, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Wilder Foundation’s headquarters, 451 N. Lexington Pkwy. at University in St. Paul. They hope to select several options to evaluate sometime next year as part of federally required environmental studies.

Visit bit.ly/rethinkI94survey to take MnDOT’s survey on the choices they could choose to rebuild I-94.

H. Jiahong Pan welcomes reader comments at hpan@spokesmanrecorder.com.

think

“Public safety for me is an ecosystem where the different parts have their role to play.”

“People get on the 94 trying to get from downtown Minneapolis to downtown St. Paul as quickly as possible.”

5th Ward town hall meeting included incumbent’s father, AG Keith Ellison (front pew, center).

Black women make up 40 percent of domestic violence victims despite being 7 percent of the state population.

Metro Transit bus waits in traffic entering I-94 at Snelling Ave.

Arts & Culture

FILM REVIEW

By Dwight Brown NNPA News Wire

In “Talk to Me,” something terrifying always happens when one of the teens in this group of friends grasps a papier mache-looking hand that’s attached to a severed forearm sitting on a table. Word is, if you grab the hand and utter the words, ‘Talk to me,’ the spirit of the dead will possess you and transport you to another realm.

So, you’d think they’d stop, right? Apparently not, since that’s the patented formula for every teen-horror movie.

the supernatural realm.

In one of the scenes, Mia (Sophie Wilde) tries the “talk to me” hand, after being egged on by her teenage friends. “Do it! Do it! Do it!” the circle of friends chants, some of whom have already tried it and bragged about the experience.

Mia seeks answers from the great beyond, trying to understand why her mother committed suicide. In the aftermath of her mother’s death, she’s become a surrogate sister to her best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen) and Jade’s younger brother Riley (Joe Bird), and a second daughter to Jade’s mom (Miranda Otto).

Weird things happen after Mia

‘Talk to Me’ offers just enough thrills and chills to satisfy

Set in suburban Adelaide, Australia, the first-time directors—twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou—guide a cast of multicultural young actors, who have a natural and prescient sense of timing, as they encounter some supernatural evil. And so, it’s game on! Predictably, the teenagers who are left alone in a room with time on their hands will undoubtedly find trouble where there is none, which is the premise of this mostly engrossing horror film.

Writers Danny Philippou and Bill Hinzman know how to create compelling characters, seed the characters with interesting backstories, develop surprising subplots, and propel the storyline with plot twists and situations that delve into

clutches the hand. She experiences terrifying hallucinations while in a trance.

One by one other kids try it.

They’re egged on by two older

the door. Blow it out to close it.” The deeper and more frequently that Mia and the others touch the hand, the crazier the real world gets. Things go awry when little Riley experiments and the power of the hand is unleashed.

Haunted by her mother’s death, Mia looks for answers, which is her reason for experimenting with the five-finger demon. That yearning explains her torment and bad decisions. Her best friend is also dating her ex (Otis Dhanji), which only adds to the drama.

The protagonist Mia and curious plotline are just enough to pull audiences through to the end. Scare tactics and macabre images will keep viewers on edge. Mia’s crossed signals with her adopted family only add to the sorrow and mixed emotions of the plot.

The movie starts with a bang, and teen-horror fans looking for a terrorizing thriller will get just enough of what they want. What’s on view is never plausible, but engaging for the most part. Sometimes scary. Sometimes weird. But mostly creepy.

standouts, the best supporting actor is the disembodied hand that is the focus of the film. This budget-challenged thriller is surprisingly good. So, kudos to its casting directors (Nikki Barrett and Kelly Graham), production designer (Bethany Ryan), costume designer (Anna Cahill), composer (Cornel Wilczek), and cinematographer (Aaron McLisky) for giving the film a feel that seems true to the genre where it isn’t a requirement.

“Talk to Me,” which pre -

miered at Sundance last year, joins a legion of other popular horror films and TV series— Swarm, Stranger Things, and Jordan Peele’s movies come to mind—trying to become the next breakout, blockbuster hit. The tiny indie

“The Blair Witch Project” did this years ago—to the tune of $248 million worldwide. That kind of success may or may not be in the cards. But a smart American producer would buy the rights to this project, cast up-and-coming

young actors, and start a franchise that could become another “Scream” franchise. Teens will relate to these kids. Horror-film fans might like to see a cursed hand drive Australians crazy. Stranger things have happened.

“Talk to Me” is in theaters now. Check local listing for show times.

Dwight Brown is the film critic for NNPA Newswire and DwightBrownInk.com.

teens, Joss (Chris Alosio) and Hayley (Zoe Terakes), who act more like immature jerks buying beers for underage kids just to watch them throw up.

The proceedings start with a chant: “Light a candle to open

Learn more: walkerart.org

Visit us: 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis

That’s because the Philippou brothers have a good sense of when to end a scene, when to frighten, and how to create emotionally peaked performances from their very young cast.

The ensemble never steps out of character, no matter how improbable the situation. While Wilde and Otto are the

The protagonist Mia and curious plotline are just enough to pull audiences through to the end.

Sophie Wilde stars in the thriller ‘Talk to Me’.

Images courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment

A win for the ‘Desert Ghost’ benefits us all

By Ben Jealous

The odds are high that you will never see a Sonoran Pronghorn. About the size of a goat, the pronghorns are so elusive that their nickname is “the desert ghost.”

Book bans are here. We must be ready to fight them.

By Nekima Levy Armstrong

In a recent study from PEN America, researchers shed important light on a disturbing trend in public education: a massive increase in efforts to ban books. During the 20212022 school year alone, more than 1,600 different books were banned in American schools, affecting a huge range of titles and authors.

And while a wide variety of books have been affected by these bans, PEN’s analysis reveals that certain authors and stories have been disproportionately targeted by vigilante censorship: A full 40 percent of the books banned contain a prominent character of color.

Writing in the NAACP’s “The Crisis,” Dr. Phelton Moss describes this disproportionality as being rooted in “an unyielding legacy of racism, prejudice, oppression, and anti-blackness.”

Two different books by Toni Morrison are on the list of the most frequently banned books in the country, while Angie Thomas’s “The Hate U Give” has been in the crosshairs in more than a dozen communities.

The problem only seems to be getting worse, as 32 different states, including Minnesota, are home to districts where organized groups have successfully executed bans. Of the nearly 300 local groups that have been involved in these censorship efforts since 2021, almost 75 percent have been started within the last two years and are affiliated with a national network of political operatives.

With over 200 local chapters, Moms for Liberty—an extremist group that maintains a running list of books they want to expunge—is the largest of these

entities. Other national groups like MassResistance, which the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a “hate group,” also are getting in on the action. These groups all have roots in rightwing political movements, take their marching orders from operatives at conservative think tanks, and share their talking points with GOP presidential candidates.

In other words, book-banning crusades are not an organic uprising of grassroots concerns, but rather a coordinated political effort designed to beat back efforts at racial progress. The White, conservative architects of book banning campaigns have been strikingly transparent about these goals and motivations.

for the whitewashing, and ultimate repetition, of our history’s most horrific moments.

We don’t have to travel too far into that past, though, to figure out why these groups are so concerned with obfuscating the public narrative. On January 6, 2021, just two years ago, many of the same radical right-wing organizations that now aim to ban books orchestrated a failed, violent coup on the federal government.

This upsurge in White supremacist violence, organizing, and political power is a direct response to the increase in public awareness of racial justice issues, emanating from the protests following the Minneapolis police the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The maintenance of White supremacy requires not just a tight grip on political power, but also an iron grip on the control of information.

It is our duty not just to see through these naked attempts at rolling back social progress, but also to fight back. New groups like Moms for Liberation, which I founded, are joining established organizations like the NAACP and SPLC to defend our freedom.

Adding to the challenge, they’re only found in the United States in a small part of the Southwest. They’ve been endangered since before we had an Endangered Species Act, and they’re the fastest land animal in North America, clocking speeds up to 60 miles per hour.

So it would be easy for the short-sighted to overlook the pronghorns—out of sight, out of mind after all. That’s exactly what the Trump administration did when it illegally transferred federal funds and rushed to erect a border wall that threatened many already fragile species, disturbed culturally significant sites, and ruined lands designated as national refuges and monuments.

The Southern Border Communities Coalition, an umbrella organization for more than 60 groups from San Diego to Brownsville, TX; the ACLU; and the Sierra Club have been fighting to stop the destruction since 2019.

Last week they won. It’s an example of people closest to the harm battling and succeeding in a way that has benefit that stretches well beyond their communities.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agreed to stop any further construction on parts of the wall built with Defense Department funds. They will

spend more than $1 billion mitigating damage done to wildlife including jaguars who have only returned to the region in the last decade and more than 400 bird species, sacred lands of the Tohono O’odham Nation, and irreplaceable wild places like Quitobaquito Springs in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

For the pronghorns, it means they will get an opening in the wall at least 18 feet wide in the Cabeza Priete National Wildlife

back to Pre-Colombian times cannot be recovered completely. The settlement calls for roads and wells created to facilitate construction to be erased as a start.

Earlier this year, I went to Arizona to learn more about the fight to stop this environmental and archeological nightmare from frontline organizers like Eric Meza. “From damage to Tribal lands to degraded habitats for wildlife, borderlands communities will be dealing with the consequences of this boondoggle for years to come,” Meza observes.

Perhaps most importantly, the federal government agreed to be bound by the same laws protecting the environment, which demand consultation with communities before major projects begin. While the settlement doesn’t rule out building a wall, it ensures that Americans on the border will have a greater say than they did four years ago.

Refuge to be able to cross into Mexico as they historically have.

There will be smaller openings for jaguars, black bears, and even smaller wildlife at other places.

Our ecosystem is a web spun with biodiversity that ensures a planet that’s livable and sustainable. By protecting species of animals and plants we inevitably protect ourselves. We can’t anticipate fully the effects that losing species will have.

Cabeza Priete itself is one of the largest wilderness areas outside Alaska. Once destroyed, land that supports so many unique species and houses more than 600 cultural sites dating

So many of the troubling parts of our history have come because someone powerful decided people and places are disposable in the way that the pronghorns and Cabeza Priete were treated by the Trump administration. It’s a lesson for us not to avoid tough questions about who is bearing the real costs of our decisions. Even if we shouldn’t have to fight to ensure no one, no species and no place is disposable, we must.

Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club, the nation’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization.

Bringing Truth to Light

By Marian Wright Edelman

Christopher Rufo, a top advisor to Florida governor Ron DeSantis, has been clear that his goal is “marshaling White backlash” in order to undermine public institutions, particularly schools that serve Black children. They don’t plan to stop at destabilizing our communities, though; they also aim to “deny young people access to knowledge of the past,” according to Marilisa Jiménez Garcia writing in “The Atlantic,” paving the way

In early October we’ll celebrate banned books week, during which advocacy organizations and free speech advocates alike will ask concerned parents and citizens to buy banned books for school libraries around the country.

We need to go further, though.

In the coming months we plan to hold rallies in state capitals where book bans are most flagrant, like Florida, Texas and Tennessee, taking the fight to the belly of the beast. Because while Minnesota itself is not yet a hotbed for school and library censorship, our complacency only fuels reactionary efforts.

On July 25, the day that would have been Emmett Till’s 82nd birthday, President Joe Biden hosted a White House signing ceremony for a proclamation establishing the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Mississippi and Illinois. Three sites are now part of this monument honoring Emmett Till, who had just turned 14 when he was abducted, tortured, and lynched in Mississippi in August 1955, and his devoted mother Mamie.

honoring his cousin, Rev. Wheeler Parker, Jr. said, “When I sat with my family on the night of terror, when Emmett Till, our beloved ‘Bobo,’ was taken from us, taken to be tortured and brutally murdered—back then, when I was overwhelmed with terror and fear of certain death in the darkness of a thousand midnights, in a pitch-black house on what some have called Dark Fear Road, back then in the darkness, I could never imagine a moment like this: standing in the light of wisdom, grace and deliverance.”

During a week when the Florida State Board of Education approved new public school curriculum standards to teach children that enslaved people received a “personal benefit” from slavery, this message about the truth was not lost on anyone at the ceremony. President Biden said, “At a time when there are those who seek to ban books, bury history, we’re making it clear—crystal, crystal clear—while darkness and denialism can hide much, they erase nothing. They can hide, but they erase nothing.

submissions@spokesman-recorder.com

submissions@spokesman-recorder.com

submissions@spokesman-recorder.com.

We need to be organized in our support for diversity and representation in literature, while acting in solidarity with our LGBTQ+ allies who also are disproportionately harmed by these right-wing political operations. We must be confident, forceful and unyielding in our defense of books and libraries, as the enemies of progress will be just as—if not more—relentless in their efforts at cultural destruction.

Because that’s what this really is, after all. When the European colonizers kidnapped and enslaved our ancestors, they began a four-century campaign of oppression, enabled by the weaponization of knowledge and the written word. Groups like Moms for Liberty, MassResistance, and others are just the newest characters in an old, racist story.

Every one of us can see through that artifice if we just read past the headlines.

Nekima Levy Armstrong is a lawyer, founder of Moms for Liberation, and executive director of the Wayfinder Foundation.

Her decision to defy authorities who wanted Emmett’s body buried quickly in Mississippi, and instead to hold his funeral in Chicago with an open casket to let the world see what his hateful racist murderers had done to her child, became an inflection point in the Civil Rights Movement. This new monument underscores our nation’s need to keep exposing and acknowledging the truth today.

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were joined at the ceremony by members of Emmett Till’s family, including his cousin, Reverend Wheeler Parker, Jr. The cousins lived next door to each other in Chicago and were best friends, and during that summer break Wheeler and Emmett traveled together to spend a two-week visit with relatives near Money, Mississippi.

Wheeler was with Emmett at Bryant’s Grocery and Meat Market the day Carolyn Bryant falsely said Emmett grabbed and propositioned her after buying two cents’ worth of bubble gum, and he was in the room four nights later when Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam came to their family’s house, dragged Emmett out of bed at gunpoint, and drove off with him.

As he spoke at the ceremony

Rev. Parker is imagining a powerful moment for all of us. The first site in the National Monument, the Graball Landing River site, is in the area along the Tallahatchie River near Glendora, Mississippi where Emmett’s mutilated body was recovered. A memorial sign installed nearby in 2008 was destroyed, and two replacements were repeatedly riddled with bullets and vandalized over the next decade. These contemporary acts of White supremacy and hatred are also exposed here.

The second site is the Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ in Chicago, where as many as 125,000 people attended Emmett Till’s visitation and funeral services, documented in the searing photographs and news coverage.

The third is the Tallahatchie County Second District Courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi, where Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam were tried in a segregated courtroom and acquitted by an all-White jury after just over an hour of deliberation. Months later they both admitted their guilt in a paid magazine interview.

No one was held accountable for Emmett Till’s murder. But together these three sites are a public, permanent reminder that the truth could not be buried.

“We can’t just choose to learn what we want to know. We have to learn what we should know. We should know about our country. We should know everything: the good, the bad, the truth of who we are as a nation. That’s what great nations do… Only with truth comes healing, justice, repair, and another step forward toward forming a more perfect union.”

And as Vice President Harris put it, “Today, there are those in our nation who would prefer to erase or even rewrite the ugly parts of our past; those who attempt to teach that enslaved people benefited from slavery; those who insult us, in an attempt to gaslight us, who try to divide our nation with unnecessary debates.

“Let us not be seduced into believing that somehow, we will be better if we forget. We will be better if we remember. We will be stronger if we remember. Because we all here know it is only by understanding and learning from our past that we can continue to work together to build a better future.”

The truth must be brought to light.

Marian Wright Edelman

We must be confident, forceful and unyielding in our defense of books and libraries, as the enemies of progress will be just as—if not more—relentless in their efforts at cultural destruction.

is founder and president emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund.

Our ecosystem is a web spun with biodiversity that ensures a planet that’s livable and sustainable. By protecting species of animals and plants we inevitably protect ourselves.

Summer Guide

The MSR’s guide to summer festivals, concerts, and activities for foodies, stargazers, art and music lovers, and outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy for the next two weeks from August 3 - 9.

Minnesota Fringe Festival

August 3 – 13

Grain Belt Bottling House – 79 13th Avenue NE, Minneapolis

Minnesota Fringe connects adventurous artists with adventurous audiences by creating open, supportive forums for free and diverse artistic expression. The 30th annual festival, the 2023 edition of the Minnesota Fringe Festival will fill tens-of-thousands of seats with audiences viewing dozens of works at hundreds of performances by more than 1,000 artists on a variety of stages. For more info, visit minnesotafringe.org.

Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind and Fire

August 4 – 7:30 pm

Xcel Energy Center – 199 West Kellogg Boulevard, St. Paul

Legendary singer, songwriter and producer Lionel Richie has announced his 2023 Sing A Song All Night Long tour with very special guests and one of the best-selling bands of all time, Earth, Wind and Fire. The 20-city arena tour kicks off Friday, August 4 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. For more info, visit bit.ly/LionelRichieEWF.

Uptown Art Fair

August 4 – 6

Intersection of West Lake Street and Hennepin Avenue area, Minneapolis

The Uptown Art Fair, produced by the Uptown Association, is a juried fine arts festival with a reputation as one of the most exceptional art fairs in the United States. Through a rich history and constant innovation, the Uptown Art Fair showcases a variety of quality art for everyone’s budget. For more info, visit www.uptownminneapolis.com/uptownart-fair.

AGENTS

Continued from page 10

first and have broken a lot of records this year. So, I thought this year, in particular, would be a great year to get this off the ground.”

Next week, August 7-11, is Diverse Representation

Week in Los Angeles, sponsored by Thomas’ Diverse Representation group. It will feature events, programs and networking opportunities for Black creatives and professionals in the sports and entertainment industries.

Then on September 8, the

first-ever Black Ownership in Sports Symposium will also be held in Los Angeles, aimed at educating Black students and professionals about the inner workings of owning pro sports teams. Back in March, Diverse Representation held a Sports Agents Boot Camp at Southern University in New Orleans.

“I would like to make Diverse Representation a household name,” said Thomas. “My goal is to equip as many Black folks in sports and entertainment to be successful in these spaces as possible. And to also make sure that we’re doing a much better job of circulating the

MSR Legacy Yacht Cruise

money in our own communities in these industries.”

There are Black agents like Nicole Lynn who are showing the world that Blacks can get athletes big-money contracts just as well as White agents can. Hopefully Black athletes can see this as well.

“The tide is definitely shifting,” said Thomas. “I do think it’s becoming easier for Black agents to get Black clients. We’re still not where we need to be, but we definitely have made a lot of headway.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments at challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.

August 5 – 5:00 to 9:30 pm

525 Main St. South, Stillwater, MN

The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder celebrates 89 years of continuous publication by sailing down the St. Croix. The four-deck sailing experience includes an all-you-can-eat buffet, a vendor marketplace, games, prizes and more. The cruise features live entertainment from Wenso Ashby Jazz & Beyond, DJ Ray Seville and Phyllis “Showtime” Braxton. Boarding begins at 4:30 pm. For more information and tickets, visit bit.ly/MSRLegacyCruise2023.

Powderhorn Art Fair

August 5 – 6

Powderhorn Park – 3400 15th Avenue South, Minneapolis

Over 200 artists from 26 states and 216 cities, more than 20 food vendors, and nearly 20,000 attendees: Welcome to the Powderhorn Art Fair! Shop the works of hundreds of local and regional artists while filling up on the finest food truck-vendors have to offer. New and returning art demos, both a community and youth showcase, and activities for all ages round out this summer experience. For more info, visit www.powderhornartfair.com.

Little Africa Fest 2023

August 6 – 12:00 to 9:00 pm

Hamline Park – 1564 Lafond Avenue, St. Paul African Economic Development Solutions (AEDS) strives to connect and build vibrant communities with creativity and social connection. The Little Africa Festival and Parade features food, live performances, art shows, and an African fashion show. For more info, visit bit.ly/ LittleAfricaFest2023.

Employment & Legals

From Classified Department/MN Spokesman-Recorder PHONE: 612-827-4021

FOR BILLING INQUIRIES & TEARSHEETS

VIEW

Continued from page 10

“I didn’t foresee myself becoming a coach [when she was playing]. I thought that I would play forever,” recalled Blue after a Mercury shootaround shortly after her promotion. “During my second year in the WNBA I was given the opportunity to begin coaching at the collegiate level at UNLV. I just fell in love with it… It was more the camaraderie, and the development of young ladies—helping young ladies become women.”

Blue was being groomed to be Arizona State head coach by then-coach Charli Turner Thorne to take over upon her retirement in March 2022, but the school bypassed the Black assistant coach and hired someone else.

“I was obviously devastated because of that,” admitted Blue. After becoming Phoenix HC, she asked her former mentor to join her with the Mercury as an assistant.

Said Quinn, a close friend of Blue, “This isn’t the way she probably wanted it to happen, but at the end of the day she’s in this situation, and she has an opportunity to show who she is and what she can do for that organization.”

Despite garnering high marks for its diversity in many areas, the WNBA nevertheless has had few Black HCs in a majority-Black league, a fact that this re-

of Marriage

3. This proceeding does not involve real property.

NOTICE OF TEMPORARY RESTRAINING PROVISIONS

Under Minnesota law, service of this summons makes the following requirements ap-ply to both parties to the action, unless they are modified by the court or the proceeding is dismissed:

(l) Neither party may dispose of any assets except (a) for the necessities of life or for the necessary generation of income or preservation of assets, (b) by an agreement of the parties in writing, or (c) for retaining counsel to carry on or to contest this proceeding.

(2) Neither party may harass the other party.

(3) All currently available insurance coverage must be maintained and continue without change in coverage or beneficiary designation.

From Classified Department/MN Spokesman-Recorder PHONE: 612-827-4021

FOR BILLING INQUIRIES & TEARSHEETS

PLEASE CONTACT ACCOUNTING DEPT @ BILLING@SPOKESMAN-RECORDER.COM

(4) Parties to a marriage dissolution proceeding are encouraged to attempt alternative dispute resolution pursuant to Minnesota law. Alternative dispute resolution includes mediation, arbitration and other processes as set forth in the district court rules. You may contact the court administrator about resources in your area. If you cannot pay for mediation or alternative dispute resolution, in some counties, assistance may be available to you through a nonprofit provider or a court program. If you are a victim of domestic abuse or threats as defined in Minnesota Statutes, Chapter518B, you are not required to try mediation and you will not be penalized by the court in later proceedings.

proof, respond with email confirmation to ads@spokesman-recorder.com

Note: New email address for all future ads is ads@spokesman-recorder.com

SUMMONS PREPAID FLAT RATE: $110 X 3 WEEK RUN TOTAL: $320

Please proof, respond with email confirmation to ads@spokesman-recorder.com

The MSR handles billing digitally. This means you will get e-tears and e-mailed invoices unless you specifically request a hard copy.

You

porter consistently points out whenever I can.

“We’re proud to have our A and A-plus in certain categories and will continue to work on that with our team ownership groups as we look to further diversity,”

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in response to our question on diversity prior to last month’s All-Star game in Las Vegas. “I think having former WNBA players coaching and in the front office as GMs, as team presidents, is certainly a goal of mine,” added Engelbert.

“I think especially for the younger generation that’s coming into the league to see Black coaches at the helm, one who can be relatable. I’m not saying others cannot, but there’s something to say about having leaders and leadership look like the people who they’re leading,” said Quinn.

“As an African American woman being qualified for [coaching] positions,” said Blue, “I think first and foremost we have to go and try to get these jobs. I think it’s good for representation and for our players to see us as former players. This can be their future if they want it.”

Next: A former coaching lifer makes an unexpected career change.

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments at challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.

BBS

Continued from page 4

it. So, people who are vegan have the option to enjoy it, as well as their choice of milk—whether it’s cow’s milk or an alternative. It also has caramel sauce and toffee nut syrup.

MSR: What other items do you sell?

MML: We have matcha. Our matcha is ceremonial grade which is richer. For people who aren’t familiar with matcha, it’s a green tea that is in powder form. You mix it with either hot water or with milk.

We have an island hibiscus iced tea that has ginger beer mixed in with it. And we’re launching our lavender-matcha lemonade, either this week or next week.

As far as our food goes, people love our biscuits. We have a breakfast biscuit that comes with egg and cheese. For an upcharge, we can put it on a croissant, add bacon or turkey sausage. I love having an option that does not include pork because not everybody’s into pork whether for health or religious reasons. We have Nordic waffles. It’s a round skinny waffle that you fold in half, and it has a fried egg and cheese, and it’s going to have either bacon

or sausage on it. So, and you can have it with syrup or and or hot sauce.

MSR: What has been your biggest challenge in owning a business?

MML: There’s a couple things. One is consistency of employment. I’ve spent more money just training and retraining people rather than having a steady flow. Young people right now, they’ll do something and then they’ll change up and do something else.

And the next challenge, I would say, is the transient community. They’re not in here all the time. But enough where it can make it challenging for my staff. I can’t be here all the time to navigate those conversations. And thus, I built the auxiliary team to handle those interactions.

MSR: What has been the most rewarding part of owning your business?

MML: Seeing lives impacted. Sometimes you can impact a person’s life in five minutes by honoring them and providing them with a drink that they’re going to remember and enjoy. The other is a long-term commitment, seeing a person get their life on track.

MSR: What are your goals for your business? What does success look like for

IF YOU VIOLATE ANY OF THESE PROVISIONS, YOU WILL BE SUBJECT TO SANCTIONS BY THE COURT.

PLEASE CONTACT ACCOUNTING DEPT @ BILLING@SPOKESMAN-RECORDER.COM

NOTICE OF PARENT EDUCATION PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS

SUMMONS FLAT RATE: $110 X 3 WEEK RUN

TOTAL: $320 PREPAID

Under Minnesota Statutes, Section 518.157, in a contested proceeding involving custody or parenting time of a minor child, the pa1iies must begin paiiicipation in a parent education program that meets minimum standards promulgated by the Minnesota Supreme Court within 30 days after the first filing with the court. 1n some Districts, parenting education may be required in all custody or parenting proceedings. You may contact the District Court Administrator for additional infom1ation regarding this requirement and the availability of parent education programs.

Please proof, respond with email confirmation to ads@spokesman-recorder.com

Dated: 7/14/2023

The MSR handles billing digitally. This means you will get e-tears and e-mailed invoices unless you specifically request a hard copy.

Continued from page 10

this industry,” said Lovelace.

“I think that unlocked a lot of doors for me to think about how people of color—Black and White, Asian, Hispanic—are perceived in these

you?

MML: I’m not sure if I can answer that question more than I already have. Being a sustainable coffee shop and then adding in the mentoring part for our African American youth.

MSR: What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur?

MML: Do your homework on whatever venture you want to pursue. Ask questions. Staying ‘teachable’ is really important. You need to have your finances together and have a good team around you.

Put yourself in a place to learn. The minute I knew I wanted to do this; I switched my career. I was in banking for a decade. I resigned from that job, and I got a job working in a restaurant just so I could learn first-hand about the food industry. There’s other classes and stuff you can take, but I wanted to see it from that side of the business.

Once you set your mind to it, just be sure of your goals and go for it. Even if it’s one step at a time, never give up.

Mocha Momma’s Coffee is located at 300 Nicollet Mall, on the first floor next to the entrance to the public library. For more information, go to their Facebook page, or call (612) 474-5400.

spaces. How are LGBTQ individuals being perceived? And what are the steps that we need to be taking to just have the conversation, not just from how people show up in the workplace, but how we’re recruiting people to come work in these workplaces?”

Asked how it is now with transgender individuals, Lovelace responded, “I don’t know that anybody has the right answer. We do need to recognize that transgender athletes exist… Our political system is having this freakout moment.

“I’ve had conversations with some of my colleagues about banning transgender athletes. Who’s next? Because there’s always a next group,” stated Lovelace.

“ At the end of the day, I want people to recognize that people just want to live their best life,” she said.

“I think that when we can appreciate the individual, the human for who they are, and also see them for all they are and all that they bring to the table, that can allow us to put away some of our biases. I just feel like we don’t operate in a common sense world anymore.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments at challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.

Black women make slow progress in non-player roles

Few Black women coaching at the helm

Black women sports agents see gains

By Charles Hallman Sports Columnist

First of two parts

lack women make up over 70 percent of the WNBA players but only three Black female head coaches: Seattle’s Noelle Quinn, Tanisha Wright of Atlanta, and Phoenix Interim Head Coach Nikki Blue.

Historically only about 21 percent of WNBA HCs have been Black women, including two at Minnesota (Carolyn Jenkins, 2006, and Jennifer Gillom, 2009). Both Jenkins and Gillom were previously Lynx assistant coaches before their promotions.

Quinn, by virtue of years of service, is currently the dean of Black W coaches. She was named Storm head coach in 2021 after being an assistant for two seasons, including a short stint as associate HC.

Quinn played 12 W seasons, including two with Minnesota and two separate stints with Seattle. She also holds the

historic distinction of being the only person ever to win a WNBA championship both as a player (Seattle, 2018) and a coach (Seattle assistant, 2020).

former players get into coaching, which I think is awesome as well.”

Wright, a former W player (2005-19), was hired as Dream HC in 2022. She too is a WNBA champion (Seattle, 2019).

Blue joined the Phoenix coaching staff as an assistant in 2022, and was lead assistant at the start of this season before being named interim coach in late June. She has a combined 15 years of pro and college coaching experience.

celebration day this summer of Black women in the sports industry unfortunately came and went without much fanfare. National Black Women in Sports Day was July 7, created by Jaia Thomas, a Los Angeles-based attorney and agent and founder-CEO of Diverse Representation since 2018. Her group maintains a database of Black agents, attorneys, managers and publicists in sports and entertainment, among other services.

Speaking to the MSR, Thomas pointed out, “I think we’ve seen a slight increase in terms of the recognition of Black women agents. But still there’s a long way to go because there’s a lot of Black women agents that nobody or most people have never heard of.” According to Zippia, only 7.5 percent of sports agents are Black.

tors, “I think most people couldn’t name two or three Black women in any of those roles,” continued Thomas, citing key positions in pro and college athletics.

Her reason for simply promoting a national day to spotlight Black women in sports: “I think, across the board, there’s not enough coverage of Black women in all of these roles, to be honest.”

“I think there’s something to say about someone who has been in this league and played in this league, because of their vantage point from being in a locker room,” Quinn told the MSR earlier this season before her team’s game against Minnesota. “We’re seeing more

“Unforeseen circumstances that led to our head coach being fired got [me] this opportunity to step in as an interim head coach,” noted Blue, a college teammate of Quinn at UCLA, who played five WNBA seasons.

■ See VIEW on page 9

Thomas was herself an agent for several years before she started her own agency. In 2019, Nicole Lynn became the first Black woman to represent a top-three NFL draft pick, and she was the second woman in history to solely represent an NFL first-rounder. She has been an agent since 2015.

Of the Black women C-suite execs, Black women attorneys, Black women athletic direc-

Also on July 7, Thomas launched BlackWomenInSports.com that serves as a resource hub, featuring podcasts, books, organizations, and apparel firms run by Black women in the sports industry.

“I decided to start it this year, in particular, because I feel like this year has just been a pivotal year for Black women in sports,” explained Thomas, who is also an adjunct professor of copyright and entertainment law at UCLA. “I feel like a lot of Black women have been the

■ See AGENTS on page 8

Getting beyond implicit bias in sports coverage

tudies over the years have shown that female athletes are much less frequently represented in sports media than are men, and if they are non-White they are portrayed in ways mainly based on misconceptions by those who are reporting on them.

Resa Lovelace, assistant athletic director for studentathlete development at the University of Maryland, has been on the front line fighting these misconceptions for years. She first joined the school in 2018, and recently was given a new title—associate AD for student-athlete development and inclusive excellence.

Before coming to Maryland, Lovelace also worked at Oregon and at George Mason in similar student-athlete affairs development roles.

Black female athletes’ authenticity is a challenge for sports media, stated Lovelace. “I’ll use the WNBA for an ex-

ample. When you look at the women that they promote, it is typically the White female athletes… [Yet] a good majority of the great basketball players in the league right now are Black.”

For example, New York guard Sabrina Ionescu, who seemingly gets more media play than Las Vegas’ A’Ja Wilson, even though the latter has experienced more success as a

pro than the former (see chart).

“I worked at Oregon when Sabrina was there. And yes, she is a phenomenal athlete,” continued Lovelace. “I recognize that we are in a very politicized world right now as it comes to LGBTQ. They [the WNBA] have some of our most overtly LGBTQ Black athletes.”

“We all show up with implicit bias, and I recognize that,”

noted the Maryland athletic administrator. “I do think that there is this natural inclination in our media to only discuss and talk about female athletes if they are presenting in a feminine way. I would say a lot of our female athletes are trying to present [themselves] as feminine.”

Lovelace, a College Park, Maryland native, earned her B.A. in sports management from Hampton University, where she also competed in college bowling. She also has a master’s in education and

“I do think that there is this natural inclination in our media to only discuss and talk about female athletes if they are presenting in a feminine way.”

sports management from Old Dominion.

“I remember what it was like being a student-athlete just trying to balance athletics and academics,” recalled Lovelace.

“Now I’m being asked as an administrator to help these students also think about career

Courtesy of Twitter

and leadership, and the holistic well-being of who they are.

I really appreciate taking that role, because that’s where I found my passion of intersecting the career, the academic and athletic pieces.

“I am an openly gay person in

■ See SOE on page 9

Pro-Am League full of local talent

out some good basketball. I ended up getting a little more than what I bargained for.

While watching Team Tyus go up against EC Playaz, a host of former metro area high school basketball standouts became recognizable.

ast week MSR columnist Charles Hallman and I went to the Twin Cities Pro-Am at Minnehaha Academy to see some of the metro area’s finest in collegiate and professional basketball. We just wanted to check

These former players included, from Team Tyus, Tyus Jones (Apple Valley), Tre Jones (Apple Valley), Jadee Jones (DeLaSalle, Minnetonka), Daniel Oturu (Cretin-Derham Hall), Marvin Singleton (Hopkins), Anthony Tucker (Minnetonka); and from EC Playaz, Raijon Kelly (CretinDerham Hall), David Stanley (Roseville), and Quinton Hooker (Park Center).

Tyus Jones, a point guard for the Washington Wizards, led Apple Valley to the Class 4A state title in 2013—where brother Tre Jones helped him as an eighth grader—and went on to lead Duke University to the 2015 NCAA Division I championship while being named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player (MOP).

Tre Jones led Apple Valley to two more state championships in 2015 and 2017, went on to earn All-American honors at Duke University, and is currently a point guard for the San Antonio Spurs.

Team Tyus overcame a 20-point deficit to defeat Team EC Playaz in overtime.

“We’re seeing more former players get into coaching, which I think is awesome.”

Noelle Quinn Photos by Charles Hallman Nikki Blue

“The tide is definitely shifting. I do think it’s becoming easier for Black agents to get Black clients.”

Jaia Thomas Submitted photo

Resa Lovelace Courtesy of Twitter

Tyus Jones Courtesy chatsports.com Tre Jones Photo courtesy proballers.com

Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader comments at mcdeezy05@gmail.com.