Read about Diana Ross at the State Fair on pg. 6.
THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA SINCE 1934
March 17-23, 2022
Vol. 88
PRST STD U.S.POSTAGE PAID TWIN CITIES MN PERMIT NO. 6391
Inside this Edition...
www.spokesman-recorder.com
No. 33
MPS teachers’ strike stretches into a second week
Picket lines converged on Broadway Avenue in North Minneapolis at the start of the MPS teachers’ strike on March 8. As of press time, educators and the district continue to negotiate increased teacher pay, smaller class sizes, better mental health support for students, and more. Find the latest developments on spokesman-recorder.com. Photo by Travis Lee
Blackface, ‘excited delirium’ revelations test WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH SALUTE Hennepin Healthcare’s anti-racism commitments Harriet Tubman’s legacy inspires local advocates
By Feven Gerezgiher Contributing Writer Last week, Governor Tim Walz signed a proclamation declaring Thursday, March 10, 2022 as Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Day in observance of the 200th anniversary of her birth this month. In a tweet Thursday, Walz wrote the declaration is “to honor her legacy and commitment to freedom and rededicate ourselves to the By Charles Hallman Contributing Writer
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fter racist photos of Hennepin Healthcare White employees in blackface recently surfaced and became public, officials at the Twin Cities’ largest safety-net hospital system say they have completed their investigation and taken corrective action. Two photos showing three White women in blackface makeup dressed as singers and a second photo showing two people in dreadlock-style wigs and dark makeup—both taken at a Hennepin EMS event—were sent via email to
Hennepin Health leadership in February. After the photos were made public, hospital management was questioned about its commitment to changing the culture of the hospital system. The union that represents Hennepin Healthcare EMS also called the hospital to take action, and a group of doctors issued a letter asking leadership to make good on its anti-racist commitments. Chief Executive Officer Jennifer DeCubellis last week told the MSR that due to privacy laws, she cannot publicly disclose their identities, but at least three individuals have been disciplined. “We have
Per reports, this photo shows Hennepin Healthcare EMS Deputy Chief Amber Brown, left, wearing blackface makeup along with a current and former paramedic. taken action related to the blackface photos, in particular,” she announced. “We’ve taken personnel action up to and including termination.” “There’s been a lot of pushback of ‘Did we move fast enough’…,” continued DeCubellis. “We followed our policies and practices, our state laws, and our union contracts.” Asked if the email was sent by a current Hennepin employee or a disgruntled ex, the CEO replied, “It doesn’t matter how it comes in. We
Biden’s speech gave lip service to environmental justice, but will it deliver for MN?
Photo by Nicole Geri via Unsplash By Benjamin Velani Contributing Writer “We’ll create good jobs for millions of Americans, modernizing roads, airports, ports and waterways all across America,” President Biden said during his first State of the Union address on March 1. “And we’ll do it all to withstand the devastating effects of the climate crisis and promote environmental justice.” It was the first time a U.S. president has spoken explicitly of using environmental justice as a guiding ideology for their policy goals.
The new infrastructure improvements will be funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which claims to address the large-scale degradation our natural world is seeing because of human consumption of throw-away plastics and fossil fuels, while also advancing environmental justice. But what does it mean to be advancing environmental justice, and why is it significant that the president is talking about it in the State of the Union? Recognizing the harm Advocates of environmental
timeless principles she upheld.” “After escaping from slavery herself in 1849, Harriet Tubman led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad. She became known as the “Moses of her People” through her social and political activism to help ensure that our nation always honored its promise of liberty and opportunity for all,” reads the proclamation. ■ See TUBMAN on page 5
justice have roots going back to Cesar Chavez in the 1960s, who sought better working conditions for Latino farmhands by limiting their exposure to harmful pesticides, and other civil rights-era protests against the historically disproportionate amount of pollution poisoning low-income communities of color. These actions represent BIPOC communities putting their foot down and refusing to continue to be used as national dumping sites. ■ See BIDEN on page 5
take that very seriously.” The ‘excited delirium’ flap The photos came on the heels of a published report in February that a Hennepin Healthcare doctor was still training Minneapolis police on “excited delirium,” a controversial diagnosis of a severe form of agitation that a national physicians’ association has condemned as racist. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said he told his staff to cease such training in 2021 ■ See BLACKFACE on page 5
Toshira Garraway speaking at the Capitol on March 10 Photo by Feven Gerezgiher
Pandemic, Trump meddling caused ‘troubling’ 2020 Census undercount
By Stacy M. Brown
for Civil Rights Under Law. “In addition, the undercount exacerbates underfunding of The COVID-19 pandemic our communities because Cenand an administration that appeared to sabotage accuracy sus data is used as the basis for led to a consequential under- hundreds of billions of dollars of count in the number of Black, federal, state and local approHispanic and Native American priations each year,” Hewitt said. U.S. residents during the 2020 Census. Further, Census officials have admitted that they overcounted White and Asian residents. The bureau reported the overall population as 323.2 million. “The undercounting of Black, Latino, Indigenous and other Communities of Color rob us of the opportunity to be the directors of our fate, reducing our representation and limiting our power while depriving policymakers of the information they need to make informed The Census population decisions about where the next hospital will be built or where count determines how many the next school should be locat- representatives each state has ed,” said Damon Hewitt, the in Congress for the next decade. president and executive direc- It also decides how much federtor of the Lawyer’s Committee al funding communities receive
for roads, schools, housing and social programs. Hundreds of billions of dollars are at stake each time the Census occurs. Robert L. Santos, the bureau’s director, displayed little regard for the undercount of minorities. He said the 2020
results were consistent with recent Censuses. “This is notable, given the unprecedented challenges of 2020,” Santos said in a statement. “But the results ■ See CENSUS on page 5