New state laws establish Juneteenth holiday, ban hair discrimination

By Charles Hallman Contributing Writer

On Feb. 2, the Minnesota House passed the Juneteenth holiday bill with a bipartisan vote of 126-1, following the Senate’s 57-8 vote the week before.

“It’s taken a long time to get to this point,” said Rep. Ruth Richardson (DFL-District 52B), a second-term legislator from the Twin Cities. “I just want to reflect on the fact that I’m standing on the shoulders of a lot of people right now,” she said, acknowledging the long history of the legislation.

The Juneteenth bill was first introduced in 1996 by the late Minnesota state representative Richard Jefferson.

Richardson was among several scheduled speakers at the Feb. 3 bill signing at the state capitol. A large group of legislators, other elected officials, and longtime supporters stood behind Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as he signed the Juneteenth bill into law.

“I hope it doesn’t get lost in

By H. Jiahong Pan

this bipartisan legislature to have advocates on both sides,” said Walz. “Juneteenth is a powerful celebration that was overdue to become an official holiday.”

Juneteenth, which became a federal holiday in 2021, recognizes the announcement to Blacks in Texas on June 19, 1865 of the abolition of slavery. This was more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation and two months after Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox in April 1865.

With the passage of the bill, June 19 becomes an official state holiday in Minnesota.

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, in briefly dismissing those critics of teaching Black history, including Juneteenth, added, “Our young people can handle the truth. And in fact, we deserve to know the truth.

“As we’re talking about telling the truth and acknowledging our history…we acknowledge history and what has happened.

[By telling] the truth, we can reflect on how far we’ve come. We can reflect on how far we have to go, and what our individual responsibility is to make this country and make this state better,” said Flanagan.

“Juneteenth is not just a look back, but [we are] also blessed to reconnect ourselves to that,” said Sen. Bobby Joe Champion (DFL-Minneapolis), the most senior state lawmaker of color who became the first Black person to serve as senate president when the state legislative session began last month.

A FIRST Two Black quarterbacks in the Super Bowl

Before the Juneteenth bill signing, Walz also signed into law the CROWN Act, which prohibits discrimination based on race and cultural hair styles. Under the state’s Human Rights Act, race and culturally based discrimination is outlawed, but legislators and proponents wanted more explicit language put into law with the CROWN Act. The bill passed 111-19 in the House on Jan. 11 and 45-19 in the Senate on Jan. 26. “Discrimination has no place in Minnesota,” stressed Walz.

“This wasn’t done just by

■ See CROWN on page 5

Contributing Writer

The family of Amir Locke, who was killed last February by Minneapolis police in a downtown Minneapolis apartment, is suing the City of Minneapolis and the officer involved in federal court. The Locke family’s legal team unveiled details of their lawsuit in a press conference on Friday, Feb. 3. They argue that the officer who killed Amir and Minneapolis police engaged in racist policing practices that violated Locke’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights and resulted in his wrongful death.

Locke was shot and killed by Minneapolis Police Officer Mark

Hanneman shortly after he was startled awake in a downtown Minneapolis apartment rented by a relative. Hanneman’s team was executing a no-knock search warrant for materials related to a killing in St. Paul. No names, including Locke’s, were listed on the warrant.

Hanneman opened fire on Locke, later telling investigators he feared for his life because the victim possessed a gun. Body camera footage, however, showed that Locke aimed his gun towards the floor and did not have his finger on the trigger.

Hanneman was not charged in Locke’s killing, since state law allows for circumstances in which an officer observes a gun, even though Locke had a con-

Historic matchup highlights issues of coaching and ownership

By Charles Hallman

Contributing Writer

This Sunday’s Super Bowl features a historic first—two Black quarterbacks will be starting in the NFL season finale, Patrick Mahomes for the Kansas City Chiefs and Jalen Hurts for the Philadelphia Eagles. But this first-time feat doesn’t erase the fact that the NFL has a longstanding history of racism when it comes to Black quarterbacks.

That history of racism dates back to Fritz Pollard, the league’s first Black quarterback, who led the Akron Pros to the first NFL championship in 1920. Years later