PRST STD U.S.POSTAGE PAID TWIN CITIES MN PERMIT NO. 6391
Inside this Edition...
THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA SINCE 1934
Read more about the Sounds of Blackness on page 11.
February 24 - March 2, 2022
No. 30
Vol. 88
www.spokesman-recorder.com
Amir Locke laid to rest CALLS FOR POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY CONTINUE
Amir Locke’s parents Karen Wells (l) and Andre Locke (center) at the funeral with Rev. Al Sharpton Photos by Chris Juhn The casket carrying Amir Locke outside of the church at Shiloh Temple International MinisBy Henry Pan tries on Thursday, Dec. 17. Contributing Writer Karen Wells, Locke’s mother, mir Locke, an aspiring singer and entrepreneur who was remembered him during a speech killed by a Minneapolis to mourners. “My son called me ‘big police officer on Feb. 2 dur- dawg’, that was his nickname for me. ing a no-knock raid, was remembered But you know what the dawg repreas sharp and charismatic at his funeral sents—loyalty, trustworthy and pro-
A
tection. That’s why he called his mama ‘big dawg’,” said Wells. “It took me 10 hours of labor to push him into this world,” continued Wells. “And on 2/2/22 those thugs that represent the Minneapolis Police Department executed my baby boy, a beautiful baby boy, in less than nine
seconds. How dare you.” Locke planned a couple of weeks ago to relocate to Dallas where he could be closer to his mother. He had no criminal record, no outstanding warrants in the seven counties that make up the Twin Cities, and a permit to carry. The funeral, which started close to
noon, was attended by close to 1,000 people, many of them family, and accompanied by scripture readings, songs, lamenting anti-Black racism and police brutality, and calls to pass a noknock law at the Minnesota legislature. Gov. Tim Walz was in attendance, as well as relatives of George ■ See LOCKE on page 5
BLACK HISTORY MAKERS OF TOMORROW The MSR is closing out Black History Month by showcasing two of the University of Minnesota’s brightest who are advancing the needs of their communities through their respective areas of study.
Cultivating Black swimmers
Black birthing in a racialized society By Cole Miska Contributing Writer
By Cole Miska Contributing Writer “Why are Black children less likely to know how to swim?” This is one of the core questions University of Minnesota doctoral candidate Ayanna Rakhu dives into through her UROC-supported thesis, “Mother May I Swim?” Water and swimming have always been a large part of Rakhu’s life, having grown up between Minneapolis and St. Louis. She swam competitively as a child and was a lifeguard as her first job. “Not only do I love [swimming], but it’s also made me
U of M UROC researcher Ayanna Rakhu works to give African American parents and children the confidence to swim safely through her study titled “Mother May I Swim?” Photo courtesy of the University of Minnesota money and given me opportunity to travel and to see things through lifeguarding,” Rakhu told the MSR. “I’ve been an aquatic professional for over 20 years now.” In addition to being a kinesiology graduate student at the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development, Rakhu is also a certified USA Swimming Coach at Lifetime Athletic. Rakhu says her relationship
with water changed the most when she became pregnant. This change inspired the subject of her studies. “It just gave me a new view on what water is to us as humans and how it’s important to our feelings,” Rakhu said. “I had already experienced it as important to our occupation, and then as recreation. So with these three things swirling around in my mind, I’m thinking, ‘Are we, ■ See SWIM on page 5
tional services and the culturally informed services offered at Roots Birth Center. “We know from other data that oftentimes when seeking prenatal services, Black birthing people encounter discrimination and often feel less autonomous and less respected within their care encounters, especially in traditional hospital settings,” Karbeah said. “But what we see at Roots Birth Center…is that they overwhelmingly report feeling not only connected with their provid-
er but also feeling respected and feeling really welcomed within the space,” Karbeah continued. “We believe that that’s a core aspect for ensuring better outcomes for Black birthing people.” Karbeah’s current doctoral research is focused on looking at the impact of police contact on adolescent health outcomes. The research included a series of focus groups and individual interviews in the Twin Cities area looking at how Black ■ See BIRTHING on page 5
As a daughter of parents who both worked in health care, University of Minnesota doctoral candidate J’Mag Karbeah, a Liberian immigrant, originally believed she was going to be a physician. “As I began my coursework, I became more interested in public health as a way to enact profound community-level change rather than medical practice exclusively,” Karbeah said. “I thought I’d be in global health, but I think living in the U.S. as an immigrant and realizing the realities of living in such a racialized society really shaped the turn in my research to focus more on racism within the U.S. context,” Karbeah added. Karbeah’s earlier work focused on racial disparities in prenatal health. She worked with Rebecca Polston, owner and director of Roots Community Birth Center, for a study “I think parents do their best to make their kids feel safe in as many on differences in models of ways as possible,” said U of M doctoral candidate J’Mag Karbeah. prenatal care between tradiPhoto courtesy of the University of Minnesota
Paul Robeson championed the world’s oppressed—including the Chinese How the American athlete, entertainer and civil rights activist became a hero in China
By Gao Yunxiang
of an album of Chinese fighting and folk songs with Liu Liangmo (ca. 1909-88), a Chinese broadcasters have aired prolific journalist, musician and Christian shows featuring Paul Robeson (1898- activist. In November 1940, in New York City, 1976), one of the most popular African American singers and actors of his era Robeson received a phone call asking and a well-known civil rights activist, several times in recent years. China National Radio and various channels of the widely influential China Central TV showcased Robeson on programs in 2021, 2012 and 2009 narrating China’s resistance to foreign military aggressions. This could seem like unusually frequent coverage related to an American who passed away decades ago.
him to meet Liu, recently arrived from China. Liu’s accounts of his acquaintance with Robeson would later be published in various Chinese-language periodicals. Robeson met Liu within half an hour. When Robeson inquired about the mass
singing movement that Liu had initiated in China, Liu related the backstory behind the new genre of Chinese fighting and folk songs he helped invent for war mobilization, singing some examples. Liu noted Robeson’s favorite was the signature piece, “Chee Lai!” or “March of the Volunteers.” As Robeson explained, its lyric “arise, ye who refuse to be bond slaves!” expressed the determination of the world’s oppressed, including Chinese and Black people, to struggle for liberation. In November 1941, Robeson, Liu and the Chinese People’s Chorus—which Liu had organized among members of the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in New York City’s Chinatown—recorded Chee Lai! Songs of New China for Keynote Records.
that he saw the collaboration as “a strong token of solidarity between the Chinese and the Negro People.” Robeson’s notes said: “Chee Lai! (Arise!) is on the lips of millions of Chinese today, a sort of unofficial anthem, I am told, typifying the unconquerable spirit of this people. It is a pleasure and a privilege to sing both this song of modern composition and the old folk songs to which a nation in struggle has put new words.”
‘March of the Volunteers’ Robeson’s long-term alliances with sojourning leftist Chinese artists such as Liu, writer and philosopher Lin Yutang, and “The King of Beijing Opera” Mei New York City meeting Lanfang — along with American supRobeson is long remembered in Chiporters like Agnes Smedley, the Amerina partly due to his contribution to pop- In 1941, Robeson recorded an album of Chinese fighting and folk songs with can journalist based in Shanghai in the Solidarity album ularizing the country’s future national activist Liu Liangmo and the Chinese People’s Chorus. Liu’s liner notes for the album relay anthem after the singer’s 1941 recording Gordon Parks/Office of War Information/Wikimedia/Keynote records ■ See ROBESON on page 5