Vol. 90
CELEBRATE
See a calendar of MLK celebrations on page 9.
THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA SINCE 1934
January 11 - 17, 2024
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MLK’S LEGACY
Young, Gifted, Paying it Forward and Black By Abdi Mohamed Contributing Writer
An interview with MLK Breakfast featured speaker Marley Dias hen meeting Marley Dias, you might get the impression that she’s like most college teens. She studies diligently to ace her midterms and finals. She visits family and friends during the holidays. She also might give a speech at the White House alongside Michelle Obama. Outside of her work as an advocate, educator, and producer for Netflix, Dias, 19, is a sophomore at Harvard University who enjoys challenging herself and thought-provoking debate. While she made a name for herself at the age of 11 with the launch of #1000BlackGirlBooks, Dias’s journey in advocacy started long before she was born, as both her parents held strong views around activism, identity, and education. Her mother, Dr. Janice Johnson Dias, is a Jamaican immigrant and her father, Scott Dias, is a fifth-generation Cape Verdean American. The two met in Massachusetts and gave Dias
By Evette Porter Managing Editor n celebration of the Martin Luther King holiday, the MLK Breakfast has been a longstanding tradition in the Twin Cities. Once again, General Mills and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) are hosting the annual breakfast, which will be in-person this year. The theme for the breakfast is “Leading Onward – Elevating New Voices for Justice and Equality,” and will focus on King’s legacy of civil rights and its influence on today’s Black youth activists. Laverne McCartney Knighton, UNCF’s area development This year’s MLK Breakfast director Courtesy of UNCF Youth activist Marley Dias marks the 34th year the event Photo courtesy of Scott Nevers has been held, which is one of helps raise funds for under- Cities and support local stuthe middle name Emerson after Ralph Waldo Em- the nation’s largest celebrations represented students in the dents of color attending college erson, an essayist, abolitionist, and poet who was of Dr. King’s life and legacy. As Twin Cities. Proceeds from the at historically Black colleges and ■ See YGB on page 5 in previous years, the breakfast breakfast benefit UNCF Twin ■ See MLK BREAKFAST on page 5
The State of the News in 2024 A conversation with Minnesota’s local news leaders
By Abdi Mohamed Contributing Writer
subscription model as having a simienterprise for us and for most news can community a voice that was oth- fabric that ties us together,” he said. Williams-Dillard shared her goal of lar approach to the large streaming organizations,” he said. erwise silenced. The conversation pivoted to the “So, our role today hasn’t changed. reaching Black communities outside platforms. “You have all these subour of Minnesota’s leading two publications that serve Min- One of the things that I think about the metro area who are left without scriptions. We’re not just competing news publications gathered nesota’s diverse communities. Both is, the more things change, the any publication to reflect their lived against the kind of press like we want. on December 5, 2023, at the Sahan’s Ibrahim and MSR’s Williams- more they stay the same,” Williams- experiences. We’re competing against Hulu, Dis“There is a news desert amongst ney Plus, Wine of the Month, whatMinnesota Public Radio (MPR) Kling Dillard spoke to their work in captur- Dillard said. As for expanding the digital audi- a lot of my readers. We’re not in the ever other subscriptions are in your Public Media Center, to discuss their ing the authentic voices of Black and coverage of the upcoming 2024 pres- Brown Minnesotans. ence, MSR takes a slightly different places that we want to become more wallet that you may even forget you “I think we have really had a big approach. “Our approach is to offer involved in, which is Rochester and have,” he said. idential election and the challenges they face as news organizations in impact on how the local media cover a print and digital forum to engage a Mankato, where a growing number communities of color,” Ibrahim said. youthful demographic and to hope- of African Americans live. There’s Political coverage today’s digital landscape. Minnesota Public Radio’s Cathy “We have proven that we can actu- fully create an environment where no other news media there that repIn allocating resources to this Wurzer hosted the discussion and ally cover communities of color in a they truly feel heard and come to resents those communities in their year’s elections, the MSR has a difmoderated the panel of local news- very meaningful way without the su- understand the true power of their neighborhoods,” she stated. ferent approach. “As a community “African Americans live throughout publication, we allocate coverage of makers. The panelists included Sahan perficial way of just drawing in when voice and the vote,” she added. Journal Publisher and CEO Mukhtar Ibrahim, Star Tribune Publisher and CEO Steve Grove, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Publisher and CEO Tracey Williams-Dillard, and President of MPR Duchesne Drew. The wide-ranging conversation covered a variety of topics including artificial intelligence (AI), how publications stay in touch with their readers, and the ways news outlets are sustaining their business in the digital age. At the onset of the conversation Wurzer’s first question was about the health of Minnesota’s news media post-pandemic. MPR’s Duchesne Drew touted the organization’s 120,000 members as a sign of its health. He also pointed to the other (l-r) MPR’s Cathy Wurzer, Sahan Journal’s Mukhtar Ibrahim, Star Tribune’s Steve Grove, Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder’s Tracey Williams-Dillard, and organizations as a sign of how the local MPR’s Duchesne Drew Photo by Chris Juhn market had an appetite for local news. “This is a really great place to be in journalism. And it’s a great place to something major happens.” Minnesota. So, what happens in, say, elections by prioritizing local angles Expanding news audiences be in a community that has access to Having launched Sahan Journal in Much of the panel agreed on the Hopkins or Minnetonka also matters, and interests,” said Williams-Dillard. not just our four organizations, but 2019, Ibrahim stated that he quickly need for more resources dedicated to especially when it pertains to African so much of the richness of thought saw the hunger for stories involving coverage of Greater Minnesota com- Americans.” “As a community and ideas,” he said. “You don’t get this Minnesota’s immigrant community, munities. Grove spoke to the dwindling publication, we allocate in most places, frankly.” which lacked coverage relevant to number of reporters in the region. Making money in media coverage of elections by their lives. “It is pretty stark when you look With a mix of nonprofit and forWilliams-Dillard pointed to the at the numbers,” he said. “There are profit models, the conversation The media landscape prioritizing local angles Wurzer referenced a Northwest- Spokesman-Recorder’s decades-long about 75 percent fewer journalists in steered toward how these news orand interests.” ern University report stating that history as a paper dedicated to ele- greater Minnesota than there were 10 ganizations sustain their work. Ibra2,500 newspapers went out of busi- vating Black voices in the community years ago. And I think about 25 per- him shared that roughly 70 percent “Coverage is often focused on how ness between 2005 and 2022, asking and remaining steadfast in that mis- cent fewer institutions themselves. So, of Sahan’s income comes from founpanelists if they believed print media sion. “The newspaper primarily cov- this is a crisis for our country.” dation support given its nonprofit national politics and policies impact was on life support. Grove observed that many indi- status. He underlined the growing our specific community, including ers the interests of the African AmeriWhile the Star Tribune’s Grove can community and will continue to viduals in rural communities cited interest that foundations were tak- local reactions to political events, laughed at the notion, he agreed do so,” she said. Facebook as their news source, a re- ing when it came to supporting local interviews with community leaders, and analysis of how national policy that the future was digital. “We’ve “It still plays the same role as it did ality that worried the former Google news outlets. seen pretty significant double-digit when my grandfather, Cecil Newman, executive. “If we can’t make local “I think foundations see journalism affects local businesses, schools and decreases in print subscriptions for started the paper in 1934, which is news work—not just in large major as an essential tool for the health of residents,” she continued. Pexels MGN “We may cover local political the last 10 years. And even this year, coming up on the 90th next year. The metros, but in local communities—it our communities, for the health of events and campaigns, providing a that’s picking up. Habits are chang- role then was to be the voice of the has a detrimental effect on not just our democracy,” he said. Grove pointed to the Star Tribune’s ■ See STATE OF THE NEWS on page 5 ing quickly. It’s still a very profitable voiceless. To give the African Ameri- quality-of-life, but really the social