THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA SINCE 1934
Read more about Jazz Appreciation Month on page 6.
March 31 - April 6, 2022
No. 34
Vol. 88
PRST STD U.S.POSTAGE PAID TWIN CITIES MN PERMIT NO. 6391
Inside this Edition...
www.spokesman-recorder.com
Is a Black woman Supreme Court justice more symbol than substance? Some Blacks are unenthused by illusions of racial progress
By Jon Jeter Contributing Writer
tion hearings. She caught just enough of the testimony, however, to ernellia Randall glimpse GOP senators such is herself a Black as Lindsay Graham and Ted woman attorney and Cruz preposterously quizzing she simply couldn’t Brown Jackson—the first Afribear to watch the can American woman nomiSenate Judiciary Committee nated to the highest court in grill Supreme Court nominee the land—about her lenient Ketanji Brown Jackson during sentencing in a child pornogthis week’s historic confirma- raphy case, her defense of
V
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
BOOTS ON THE GROUND
Truce Center, a safe haven for youth in St. Paul
prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and her views on Critical Race Theory. “I don’t typically watch these kinds of hearings because they don’t ask the questions I want to ask,” the retired University of Dayton law professor told the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR) in a phone interview. “Critical Race Theory has
nothing to do with the work of an associate justice of the Supreme Court. It was posturing [by the Republican lawmakers]; their questioning of her was blatantly racist. They asked her the most ridiculous questions.” And yet, Randall’s scathing reproach of the lawmakers sitting in judgment of Brown ■ See JACKSON on page 5
Pioneering engineer fights climate change through space technology
This is the first in an ongoing series featuring organizations working on the frontlines to de-escalate street violence and serve as a bridge between community members and law enforcement. By Abdi Mohamed Contributing Writer It might be hard for some to envision a community advocate, businessman, and political candidate as a past troublemaker, but St. Paul native Miki Frost will tell you himself that he didn’t always have his head on straight. “Coming up as a kid I bumped my head a few times,” he said. “I kind of got involved with the wrong crowd as a kid and did things that I wasn’t proud of.” At 25, Frost decided to turn his life around and become a positive force for change in his St. Paul community. He organized events such as back-to-school clothing drives, donated turkeys on Thanksgiving, and mentored youth for years to build on that sense of community. Now, nearly 25 years later, Frost has Miki Frost focused that momentum toward what he’s created at the Truce Center, a place where youth can learn about their culture; receive resolution skills. Roughly four years ago, Frost opened his help with homework; learn about mental health, including depression and suicide pre- first Truce Center on the corner of Lexington vention; and develop leadership and conflict ■ See TRUCE on page 5
A mural on the East Side Truce Center
Photos by Abdi Mohamed
Dr. Danielle Wood By Charles Hallman Contributing Writer Climate change is real and impacts all Americans, especially Black Americans and other communities of color. Environmental experts such as the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) note that many Black Americans are more vulnerable than others to severe weather and floods due to where they live. Climate change also makes air pollution worse, and polluted air is especially harmful for Blacks with breathing issues such as asthma. Counties with large Black populations are already exposed to extreme temperatures two to three more days per year than those counties with smaller Black populations. A 2021 Environmental Protection Agency report found that Black people were 40% more likely to live in areas that will experience the highest increases in extreme heat deaths. A team of U.S. and U.K.based researchers recently wrote in the journal Nature
Climate Change that “future predominantly Black communities will be the worst hit” as the U.S. faces a 26% increase in flood risk within the next 30 years. Dr. Danielle Wood directs M.I.T.’s Space Enabled Research Group and is the first Black woman to hold the position. Wood, who was recently in town, said that her laboratory is finding ways to use space-age technologies in combating climate change. A noted expert in her field,
Photo by Tom Northenscold countries can’t afford to have a space program. I’m here to tell you it’s not true. “These days, countries around the world have small satellite programs. I’ve been a part of teams that have learned about these programs, particularly in countries in Africa—Kenya and Ghana for example.” An assistant professor in media arts and sciences, Wood holds a joint appointment at MIT’s aeronautics and astronautics department as
“Space actually belongs to all humankind.” Wood has published extensive research on emerging space activity in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia and has advised U.S. government senior leaders on technology policy. Wood spoke at the Westminster Town Hall Forum’s Spring 2022 event on March 11. “I’ve traveled to many countries, particularly in Africa,” Wood told the audience. “There’s a myth that says some
well as being the faculty lead for Africa and African Diaspora Studies at her alma mater. She also has designed satellites and space technology applications that contribute to sustainable development. Before her talk, she told the MSR, “I have two classes that focus on the topic of how space plays a role in our society and how it can or should be used to help people around ■ See WOOD on page 5
Environmental justice a factor in choosing electric bus routes By Henry Pan Contributing Writer Transit on Penn Avenue in North Minneapolis became less polluting when Metro Transit opened the C Line one hot, sunny day in 2019. That’s because some of the buses running on the route are electric buses. Instead of being fueled by diesel, an electric bus is plugged in at their maintenance facility downtown, similar to how one might plug in one’s phone at the end of the night. Advocates and the transit agency say they release fewer harmful substances into the air, making it easier to breathe. And you might see more of them in the coming years. Metro Transit wants to buy more of them and submitted a plan to the state legislature in February.
ity communities, generally in parts of Columbia Heights, Brooklyn Center, the Phillips and Northside Minneapolis neighborhoods, and the Midway, North End, East Side, and West Side neighborhoods of St. Paul. The Minnesota chapter of 350.org, a worldwide climate advocacy organization based in Boston, believes the agency should pursue more electric buses as part of our collective effort to stave off climate change. “We’re very, very far from hitting the legally prescribed goals of emission production from the Next Generation Energy Act,” said MN350 organizer Madi Johnson. “[If] we Photo by Henry Pan want any hope of catching up at all, we need to electrify all vehicles that from South Carolina-based Pro- rates of asthma, according to the are possible to electrify, and transit buses [are a] part of that.” terra next year. They decided to buy transition plan. Indeed, transportation, from trucks When they are able to get more electric buses for the C Line in part because the corridor is historically electric buses, they hope to run to personal vehicles to buses, emit the ■ See ELECTRIC on page 5 transit-dependent and has higher them in environmental justice prior-
Metro Transit faces many obstacles to full electrification
The agency currently has eight accordion electric buses, which were built by Winnipeg-based New Flyer at their St. Cloud plant, with eight more standard-sized ones coming