April 27, 2023 - MN Spokesman-Recorder

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City may sell Roof Depot site to activists after all

Earlier last week, the City of Minneapolis indicated it may sell land ear-

marked for a water facilities expansion in the East Phillips neighborhood to local activists who have fought for years to convert an abandoned warehouse on the site into an urban farm and community business incubator.

Last Wednesday, at a meeting held at the behest of Minneapolis state legislators between City officials and East Phillips neighbors and activists, the City announced they are willing to sell the Roof Depot site. The lot is located on E. 28th Street off of the Midtown Greenway with an

ANCHORS AWAY!

Tucker Carlson out at Fox and Don Lemon fired from CNN

Two controversial news anchors at competing cable networks are out of jobs. On Monday, April 24, Fox News announced it has severed ties with race-baiting and MAGA supporter Tucker Carlson just one week after the network settled a defamation suit for $787.5 million, in part because Carlson joined others in promoting the ‘Big Lie’ that included claims that Dominion voting machines were fraudulent.

Dominion had alleged that statements made on Carlson’s show after the 2020 election were defamatory. The company claimed that messages between Carlson and his team were proof that they knew claims were false that Dominion’s ballot-counting machines were used to manipulate the presidential election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden.

“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,”

Fox News said in the statement. The company did not offer an explanation for Carlson’s

departure. At CNN, Don Lemon announced on Twitter Mon-

day that he was absolutely “stunned” by the network’s

Transcripts of Yia Xiong deadly encounter with St. Paul police raise more questions

The Justice for Yia Xiong Coalition held a press conference on April 19, to release the transcripts of the 911 calls that led up to the killing of Hmong elder Yia Xiong by St. Paul Police Department (SPPD) officers in February.

Xiong walked to his apartment after officers arrived on the scene, and briefly entered his residence. Once inside, Officer Noushue Cha kicked open the apartment door, and when Xiong emerged holding a knife, Officer Abdirahman Dahir fired his rifle, killing Xiong.

Two calls were made from the Winslow Commons Apartments on Feb. 11 by individuals whose identities were not released. The first call, made by a person celebrating a birthday party for their daughter, said a man with a “machete” was coming

in and out of the party room, and at one point “came towards [the caller’s] husband and son,” and tried to touch the caller’s grandchild.

The second transcript says that a man came into the party room and tried to give the children at the party money. When they refused to accept the money, he left and later returned to the party room with a knife.

Snowdon Herr, chief organizer for the Justice for Yia Xiong Coalition, said the situation was “a total misinterpretation of the actions of Yia Xiong,” calling it a “culture shock.” Herr says that in Hmong culture, elders at birthday parties always touch the top of the child’s head and give them money, which is why Xiong attempted to touch the child and give children at the party money.

Herr also said the knife Xiong was carrying was a “cuaj puam,” which is a type of traditional Hmong knife that nearly every Hmong family owns.

abandoned warehouse that the City hoped to bulldoze to consolidate their water maintenance operations. Now it could be sold to the East Phillips Neighborhood Initiative (EPNI) if they are able to reimburse the City for the money it spent on developing the consolidation plans.

The East Phillips Neighborhood Initiative began developing plans for the site in 2014, which include housing and a business incubator serving the neighborhood. The organization estimates it can generate up to 570 jobs and housing for 188 people.

In 2016, the City bought the site to fulfill the ongoing demand to expand the City’s water maintenance facility immediately to the north and to consolidate its Fridley and Northeast Minneapolis

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ROOF DEPOT on page 5

Network Now online survey to capture rider feedback

By H. Jiahong Pan

Writer

M

arie Yang, a sophomore at Como Park High School, believes she may get a car next year. Taking the bus to school from home has been difficult for her, in part because the bus stops so infrequently.“If it were a choice, I would not go on a bus. It takes longer to get to my destination. Whereas if I had a car I can go straight there,” said Yang as she rode the 3A bus home from school.

For years Metro Transit has struggled to keep up with service, in part because they haven’t had enough drivers. The pandemic also upended travel patterns and ongoing quality of life concerns–particularly with riders feeling uncomfortable in public transit with someone doing drugs–which is depressing ridership. In addition, the agency faces a $260 million deficit when they run out of federal pandemic-relief funding in 2026, meaning it may have to make drastic service cuts.

Riders throughout the region agree that Metro Transit needs to provide more frequent service. The question is where. As a result, in the coming weeks, Metro Transit is asking riders to tell them what they should focus on over the next five years, in an initiative they are calling “Network Now.”

Through the “Network Now” initiative, riders can provide feedback through an online survey and a series of community meetings where participants partake in an interactive activity to cut two and add three trips from a list of 10 that serve different purposes and have different ridership levels and frequencies.

The agency then plans to take this feedback to make service changes in the coming years.

PRST STD U.S.POSTAGE PAID TWIN CITIES MN PERMIT NO. 6391 THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA SINCE 1934 April 27 - May 3, 2023 Vol. 89 No. 39 www.spokesman-recorder.com Phone: 612-827-4021 Read about ‘What I Learned in Paris’ on page 6. Inside this Edition... To Subscribe Scan Here
■ See METRO TRANSIT on page 5 ■ See YIA XIONG on page 5
■ See ANCHORS on page 5 Candlelights surrounding a tree with fliers of Yia Xiong.
Xiong
Photo courtesy of Justice for Yia
Coalition Tucker Carlson Don Lemon Photos courtesy of MGN Photo by H. Jiahong Pan Metro Transit eyes big service changes

Chisolm Legacy Project brings climate justice resources to Black communities

For Jacqui Patterson, advocacy around protecting the environment extends far beyond just Earth Day.

Patterson runs the Chisolm Legacy Project, which is a resource hub for Black frontline climate justice leadership. The project focuses on four “buckets,” as Patterson calls them— working with individual communities at a hyperlocal level; working with movements and organizations related to racial justice and climate change; bending the mainstream arc towards equity and justice by trying to get groups and individuals to integrate equity and justice into their environmentalist philosophies; and supporting the wellbeing and leadership of Black women.

Patterson says the idea for the Chisolm Legacy Project came from the high demand she observed for the services it offers while working for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She spent 11 years working on six different projects for the NAACP, one of which was an environmental justice program.

Patterson says the program “reached a point that the container of being one of six programs was too small for the demand that we were getting.

“Every day, I worked until I fell asleep on my laptop,” Patterson says.

“I would just be working with CNN in the background until I fell asleep. In the morning, I would wake up and the laptop would still be on from last night and I would just finish the sentence that I had when I fell asleep.”

Patterson says the NAACP was constantly getting requests for speakers at events or to train staff at organizations on the intersections of race and environmental activism. She started Chisolm Legacy Project to focus her work on the intersections of environmental activism, race, and gender, and today the project employs 23 people.

Patterson says she was frustrated by the lack of mainstream media coverage of the intersections of race and

premature, and that Black women have a higher maternal mortality rate.

Patterson says many of the disparities in these outcomes come from facilities that release toxins, such as coal-fired power plants, which are more often located in Black neighborhoods. “Just as sure as someone takes out a weapon and murders someone, these toxins are the weap

ons that are murdering our communi

Attorney General Ellison calls for national recall of theft-prone Hyundai/Kia vehicles

Thefts of Hyundai and Kia vehicles dramatically higher in metro area, leading to deaths and other violent crimes

Last week, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joined a coalition of 18 state attorneys general in calling for a federal recall of Hyundai and Kia vehicles, following what his office called a failure by the companies to take adequate steps to address the alarming rate of theft of their vehicles.

In a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Attorney General Ellison and the coalition requested that NHTSA institute a recall of unsafe Hyundai and Kia vehicles manufactured between 2011 and 2022. The vehicles’ ignition switches are easily bypassed and the lack of engine immobilizers makes them particularly vulnerable to theft.

cle thefts in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul metro area. Their letter highlights a drastic increase in Kia and Hyundai auto thefts over the past year, including an 893% increase in Minneapolis and a 611% increase in St. Paul. Many of these thefts have been connected to other violent crimes.

In last week’s letter, the coalition called on the federal government to step in, as the vehicles’ systems remain out of compliance with federal standards and pose an unreasonable risk to public safety, and the companies have failed to address these safety issues.

well as related concerns, like struggling to obtain insurance for the affected vehicles.

These vehicles have been stolen at high rates since approximately 2021, harming consumers and contributing to an erosion of public safety. The thefts have frequently been accompanied by reckless driving and further criminal activity, causing injuries and deaths.

The thefts have even gone viral, with videos on social media showing how to hotwire these vehicles and challenging others to steal them. Following these videos, thefts began surging across the country.

The letter by the coalition comes on the heels of his office’s ongoing civil investigation into whether Hyundai and Kia have violated Minnesota’s consumer protection and public nuisance laws in failing to equip their vehicles with industrystandard anti-theft technology.

The letter also comes after Attorney General Ellison, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter wrote directly to the North American presidents of the two car companies in March to ask them to immediately recall and outfit all Kia and Hyundai vehicles missing industry-standard anti-theft technology, in order to stem the rapidly rising tide of vehi-

“The massive increase in thefts of Hyundai and Kia vehicles have Kia and Hyundai have more than enough time to fix this problem voluntarily. It’s now time for the federal government to step in and mandate a recall of these vehicles,” Attorney General Ellison said. “In the meantime, I’m continuing my civil investigation of Kia and Hyundai and the ongoing threat to public safety they have failed to fix. I’m using the tools of civil law to help keep Minnesotans safe.”

Between 2011 and 2022, Hyundai and Kia chose not to include anti-theft devices that were a standard feature in almost every other new car manufactured during that time period, including the same Hyundai and Kia models sold in Canada and Europe. Hyundai and Kia owners now face the unnecessary risks of having their vehicles stolen, as

Attorney General Ellison and the coalition assert that Kia and Hyundai have not gone far enough in their attempts to remedy their vehicles’ vulnerability to theft. While the companies have offered a software upgrade, this upgrade will not be available for many affected vehicles until June and some 2011-2022 models cannot be installed at all. Vehicle owners who cannot receive the software upgrade can reportedly receive a free steering wheel lock from Kia and Hyundai, but this places additional burdens on owners and does not address the underlying ignition system flaw that makes the vehicles so vulnerable to theft. Many owners have contacted NHTSA for assistance with this theft issue.

In the letter, the states urge NHTSA to take immediate action by instituting a recall of the unsafe Hyundai and Kia vehicles because:

• The vehicles violate federal requirements that vehicles have a starting system that prevents the activation of the engine or motor and steering system when the key is removed;

• The Hyundai and Kia vehicles’ vulnerability to hotwir-

that will

15 ways that Black women are differentially impacted by climateclimate

She says the first step in achieving climate justice is to ensure

“We can’t have climate justice. We can’t have racial justice. We can’t have gender justice in the context of an extractive economy that is doing what it was designed to do, which is enclose wealth and power in the hands of a very few at the expense of everyone else, including the planet,”

“So, we have to advance policies finance reform so that we actually have a government by the people for the people. And at this

tions, for the corporations,’ and that’s literally why we are where we are.”

Patterson acknowledges that displacing corporate influence in government will be “pretty difficult,” so her other goals are based on mitigating as much harm as possible by adapting to the system as it currently is. One solution Patterson proposes is creating “cooperative solidarity economy models,” or communities

ing and theft has created an unreasonable and well-documented risk to safety on U.S. roads;

• Surging thefts of unsafe Hyundai and Kia vehicles have consumed law enforcement and emergency responder resources; and

• The companies’ response

that use collective ownership as a tool to decrease disparities.

An example of a solidarity economy is the democratization of local utility companies by converting them into publicly owned cooperatives. “The community would be doing the procurement, the community would have local labor doing the installment, the community would be operating in a way that in the solidarity economy wouldn’t be about gaining profits, it would be about making sure that the entire community has access to reliable energy and that it’s doing so without harming the environment.”

Patterson stresses that a racial and gender justice lens should be kept in mind when approaching issues of environmental justice, noting that some utility companies have never had a woman in leadership, or that some areas in Mississippi with large Black populations have never had a Black public service commissioner.

“We have to really double down on acknowledging racism, which is complicated in the extractive economy,” Patterson says. “We have to be very clear about our analysis around racial impacts and gender impacts to solve for those disproportional impacts.”

Patterson gave a keynote speech in Minneapolis at Climate Generation’s 2023 benefit event on April 26.

Cole Miska welcomes reader comments at cmiska@spokesman-recorder.com.

through a phased and voluntary service campaign is insufficient to protect drivers and the general public.

Attorney General Ellison joins a coalition led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and includes the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, the District

of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

Information provided in part by the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General.

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Jacqui Patterson Courtesy of the Chisholm Legacy Project
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“We can’t have climate justice ... in the context of an extractive economy that is doing what it was designed to do, which is enclose wealth and power in the hands of a very few at the expense of everyone else, including the planet.”

Untreated diabetes can kill you. In the Twin Cities, 90,000 adult Blacks have prediabetes and are unaware of it. There are excellent treatments and interventions for prediabetes, but you must find out if you have prediabetes before you can do anything about it.

An estimated 96 million (36.5 percent) American adults have prediabetes. An estimated 15.8 million (38.6 percent) Black, non-Hispanic American adults have prediabetes. Among those with prediabetes, 80 percent are not aware of it.

A person is prediabetic when their blood sugar is elevated. A person’s blood sugar level is higher than normal in prediabetes but not high enough to be considered diabetes. Prediabetes is often asymptomatic, so people can have it for years without knowing.

Additionally, the lack of severe symptoms makes people feel less inclined to make healthy changes to prevent the progression of prediabetes to diabetes, since they feel fine.

What is prediabetes and why should I care?

Why should I care?

Prediabetes is a crucial point in the progression of diabetes, as it is the last chance to prevent diabetes. It usually takes about five years for prediabetes to develop into diabetes. This five-year period offers an excellent opportunity to make a positive health change.

How does insulin affect diabetes?

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that controls the amount of sugar (glucose) in your bloodstream at any moment. Insulin also helps store glucose in your liver, muscles and fat. Insulin binds to the surface of cells and tells them to let sugar inside.

Diabetes occurs if your blood glucose (blood sugar) exceeds a certain level regularly. It is a chronic condition that leads to many complications and damage to many vital organs, including heart, eyes, kidneys, brain and skin.

Diabetes can produce cardiovascular problems such as strokes and heart attacks, and it can change the blood vessels in the eyes, causing blindness. Diabetes can affect the skin, causing ulcers and sores that don’t heal. Diabetes is the most common cause of kidney disease leading to rampant kidney dialysis.

These are just a few reasons why it is so important to know if you are prediabetic and at risk for developing diabetes so that you can make the ap-

propriate lifestyle changes to control your blood sugar and prevent diabetes.

What causes diabetes?

Simply put, being overweight. Diabetes results due to a combination of two factors. The first is insulin resistance, combined with a decrease in insulin secretion by the pancreas. This causes sugar to build up in your blood and results in diabetes.

Prevention

Step one in preventing prediabetes from developing into diabetes is determining if you have prediabetes. Check with your doctor to see how frequently you should have check-ups and ask your doctor when you should screen

for prediabetes. If appropriate, your doctor can do a blood test to determine if you have prediabetes.

Another test often mentioned in TV ads is Hemoglobin A1c (A1c). This test measures how high your sugar level has been over the past three months. Factors that increase the risk of prediabetes include being overweight, having a family history of diabetes, and having a personal history of high blood pressure.

The risk of developing prediabetes increases gradually as you get older starting around age 45. Once you reach age 65, the risk increases tremendously. It is estimated that over half of people over age 65 have prediabetes, while 25% over 65 have diabetes.

Different populations have an increased risk for prediabetes. African Americans, Hispanic/ Latino Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders are at a higher risk for type 2 diabetes.

Lifestyle also impacts the risk of prediabetes. Exercising three times a week can decrease your chances of developing prediabetes. Being active helps your body use insulin to lower blood sugar, and when you are not physically active, insulin cannot control blood sugar levels.

Lifestyle changes

Once you know you have prediabetes, the next step is to make lifestyle changes to prevent prediabetes from developing into diabetes. The main factors that make the most significant difference in diabetes prevention are a healthy diet, weight loss, and exercise.

To prevent diabetes, you

should follow a diet that minimizes blood sugar spikes, such as foods with a low glycemic index. These foods are digested, absorbed, and converted to sugar slowly and do not dramatically increase your circulating blood sugar.

Foods with a low glycemic index include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean protein,

eral medical exam in two years. In the meantime, select one small change you can make in your daily life, such as substituting a sugary beverage with water, taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work, or eating fruit for dessert instead of a baked good. Small changes in your everyday life can make a huge difference in preventing diabetes.

and healthy fats such as salmon and avocado. Consider a diet low in carbohydrates and high in natural foods.

Regular physical activity, at least 150 minutes a week, will help prevent diabetes. A brisk walk or bike ride five days a week for 30 minutes a day would help you meet this goal.

Losing weight is another thing you can do to prevent the progression of prediabetes to diabetes. Losing about five percent to seven percent of your body weight, which would amount to just 10 to 14 pounds for a 200-pound person, can make a big difference in preventing diabetes.

Doctors have excellent pharmacologic programs and associations with dieticians and fitness consultants to develop a plan to help you prevent diabetes and live your healthiest life. Call your doctor if you suspect you have prediabetes or have not had a gen-

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Charles E. Crutchfield III, MD, is a board-certified dermatologist and clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Minnesota Medical School and a Benedict Distinguished Visiting Professor of Biology at Carleton College. He also has a private practice, Crutchfield Dermatology, in Eagan, MN. He received his MD and master’s degree in molecular biology and genomics from the Mayo Clinic. He has been selected as one of the top 10 dermatologists in the United States by Black Enterprise magazine. In addition, Minnesota Medicine recognized Dr. Crutchfield as one of the 100 Most Influential Healthcare Leaders in Minnesota. Dr. Crutchfield specializes in skin-of-color and has been selected by physicians and nurses as one of the leading dermatologists in Minnesota for the past 20 years. Dr. Crutchfield can be reached at CrutchfieldDermatology.com or by calling 651-209-3600.

April 27 - May 3, 2023 3 spokesman-recorder.com Health
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The main factors that make the most significant difference in diabetes prevention are a healthy diet, weight loss, and exercise.

4RM+ULA

Black Business SPOTLIGHT

“Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart,” said James Garrett, Jr., a founding partner in the 12-person, St. Paulbased, Black architectural firm, 4RM+ULA. “Anyone who has the courage to step up and take it on—I have to tip my hat to them.”

Founded in 2002, Form+Urban Landscape Articulation or 4RM+ULA—pronounced ‘formula’— is involved in designing

Architectural firm designs for the community and urban landscape

to build skyscrapers and make buildings with. It was just something that I was always drawn to.

the 2800 Lake Street Project (the old U.S. Bank building), which the firm is co-developing with Seward Redesign, as well as open spaces and other community-development projects.

When asked about his favorite design, Garrett said, “In terms of projects that are in process, I would say, the George Floyd Square redesign. Just being a part of a process that looks to bridge community, public safety, public works, and basic services, and to find some kind of middle

“I got this notebook from my parents, and I started sketching and drawing. I was trying to teach myself how to draw perspective. I was drawing all the buildings in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, and adding my own futuristic buildings to the skylines.

“Later that year, my parents discovered the notebook, and they started going through it,

attended the University of California, Berkeley where he got a bachelor’s in architecture, and moved back to the Twin Cities, working for several dif-

legacy would have been because of I-94. I’m very proud of that work that we’re doing,” he added.

“Being asked by the com-

many of the projects and public spaces around the Twin Cities, including George Floyd Square,

ground where people can feel seen and heard and protected, within the context of design

ing community space,” is one of the firm’s most important projects, he said.

“In terms of projects that are buildings, I would say the Juxtaposition Art Center in North Minneapolis,” Garrett said.

“That building’s been a 15-year labor of love for me. We’re gonna have a big celebration when everything is done in July.”

Born in the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Thomas, Garrett moved to St. Paul—where his mother was from—at the age of one or two years old. He credits his parents with fostering his love of architecture.

“I wanted to be an architect probably since age five or six,” he recalled. “I started playing with Legos and Lincoln Logs, stacking anything that I could

Credit Myths: My credit isn’t good enough to get a mortgage

Sponsored Content

This week, the Minnesota Homeownership Center is covering the second of three deeplyrooted myths that can keep you from considering homeownership for yourself–the myth of bad credit.

How can you qualify for a mortgage if you have bad credit?

The short answer is you can’t. But short answers don’t always tell the whole story. The truth is credit scores are simply a snapshot in time. They go up and down regularly based on actions you take. Most importantly, they can be improved if you know what to do.

The biggest mistake people make when it comes to fixing their credit is believing they need to pay for this specialized help. You should never pay for credit repair services, as they’re available to anyone, for free, through reputable non-profit community-based agencies.

When you engage this professional help, you’ll be guided step-by-step through a process designed to permanently address what’s holding your score down. Sometimes there are inaccuracies on your record that need to be challenged and removed. More commonly, there are one or two items that can be addressed directly to affect a substantial improvement.

How to improve your credit score

Improving your credit score is not necessarily something you want to try doing on your own without specific knowledge. Because our credit system is complex and not very

transparent, what might seem like a good move can actually end up hurting you.

Let’s say, for example, you have two or three old storespecific credit cards you no longer use. Contacting the vendor and closing these accounts would actually cause your credit score to decline, because the total amount of potential credit extended to you has now been reduced.

No credit is a problem too

Another problem is having ‘no credit,’ or a ‘thin credit file.’

New arrivals to this country encounter this the most, as they have not been here long enough to establish a credit record. But it’s also another

For simplicity’s sake, let’s start with the fact that the lowest credit score generally required to qualify for a conventional mortgage is 620. (Don’t forget there are other qualifying factors as well, such as your debt-to-income ratio.) While you might qualify at this level, your interest rate is going to be higher than it would be if your score was 740 (generally the level at which you can qualify for the best interest rate). Credit improvement in this range can have a huge effect on the amount of house you can afford, since less of your monthly payment will be devoted to interest.

To illustrate, if you qualify for a mortgage with a monthly payment of $1,800, an interest rate

and they were like, ‘This summer, we’re gonna go down to Chicago,’” he continued. “We went up to the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Center observation deck. On top of the observation deck of what’s now the Willis Tower, I thought, ‘There’s nothing better than this.’”

Garrett grew up in the Twin Cities, attended Chelsea Heights Elementary, Ramsey Junior High (now Hidden River Middle School), and graduated from St. Paul Central High School. After high school, he

ferent firms around town.

Later, he went to graduate school at Parsons School of Design, in New York City, where he got a master’s degree in architecture. Ultimately, Minnesota called him back, and he left New York to start a business in St. Paul.

Since starting his architectural firm, one of Garrett’s most important projects is one that is close to home for him and his 4RM+ULA partner Nathan Johnson.

“I’d say developing the Rondo Commemorative Plaza in St. Paul has been really important and cathartic in a lot of ways,” he said. “Both of my parents, my grandparents, and Nathan’s grandparents were all displaced from Rondo,” he noted, adding that Johnson is managing the project along with Lyssa Washington, the engagement coordinator and a project manager.

“We all lost property, land, and houses to the freeway. We lost part of our birthright in terms of what our families’

munity to help them create a space that articulates that hurt and that pain, but also celebrates what has survived and what has thrived, and to create space for future generations,” Garrett said. “I think that is a really, powerful project that we’re really proud of.”

The focus on community— in particular Black and Brown communities—is what makes 4RM+ULA unique among architectural firms.

“We integrate public engagement, community engagement into all of our projects,” Garrett said. “We like to get to know not only the client, but also the community stakeholders— the community at-large. We want to create an intervention that’s going to serve everybody or be inspirational to everybody. You can’t know what people’s hopes and dreams and aspirations are unless you have those conversations, and you open up those lines of communication,” he said.

“I think I realized early on

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area where what might seem like a good thing actually ends up being a bad thing.

Let’s say you operate your personal finances on a strictly cash basis. You might not have any debt at all, since you can’t spend what you don’t have.

But when it comes to a loan, you don’t have a credit record either, and so you’re not going to qualify for a mortgage.

Credit repair professionals can guide you through establishing credit as well as repairing it.

So we know you need a good credit score in order to qualify for a mortgage and buy a home.

But how good is an important factor to understand as well.

What’s a good credit score?

improvement from 7 percent down to 6 percent will move you from being able to afford a $270,000 house to now being able to afford a $300,000 house – all for that same $1,800 monthly payment.

Buying a home is one of the biggest financial transactions you’ll ever make. But you don’t have to navigate the home buying process alone.

The Minnesota Homeownership Center and our partner advisors are here to help with homebuyer education classes and free, nonbiased, one-onone advisory services that include credit counseling and repair. These services are accessible and available to everyone, free of charge.

Homeownership is possible. We can show you how.

For more information on the Minnesota Homeownership Center and its advisor and education services, go to www.HOCMN.org.

4 April 27 - May 3, 2023 spokesman-recorder.com Business
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Green Line Light Rail Transit Station designed by 4RM+ULA. Photo courtesy of 4RM+ULA 4RM+ULA Founder and Partner James Garrett Photo by Chris Juhn
We like to get to know not only the client, but also the community stakeholders— the community at-large.
Photo by Chris Juhn
The biggest mistake people make when it comes to fixing their credit is believing they need to pay for this specialized help.

Roof Depot

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sites with the Roof Depot site. Residents and activists are worried about the increase in diesel emissions the project may generate, as well as its potential to disturb arsenic buried beneath the building.

Although it has already completed an environmental review and the project is ready to begin construction, the City cannot begin demolition until the Minnesota Court of Appeals finishes reviewing the proj-

anchoRs

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decision to fire him. Lemon’s termination comes during a year in which the longtime anchor and host had repeatedly run into controversy.

ect and issues its opinion.

A spokesperson for the City said they spent “at least $16.7 million [from a fund dedicated to building out the city’s water infrastructure] to purchase, plan, develop and prepare the site.” EPNI would have to raise that amount to purchase the building.

Rachel Thunder, an East Phillips community leader and member of the American Indian Movement, said in a statement that the opportunity to buy the building from the City is a victory for environmental justice and initiatives by government agencies to return land they took from Indigenous settlers. “This is a win for the land back movement, for our com-

In February, Lemon startled viewers and co-hosts when he implied that GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, was past her prime. Earlier, Haley made comments suggesting that political candidates over 75 should submit to mental competency tests, remarks Lemon and co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins didn’t appear to agree

MetRo tRansit

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Service changes needed

The agency says change is necessary. The agency’s average weekday boardings hovered around 125,000 in March 2023, half of February 2020 levels. Meanwhile, with the opening of the Orange and D Lines, bus rapid transit routes appeared to exceed pre-pandemic ridership at the end of 2022, while local bus retained 55 percent of its pre-pandemic ridership and commuter express route ridership retained 15 percent of its prepandemic ridership.

Metro Transit also struggles with hiring drivers as they address how to ensure that drivers are not assaulted while on the job. Even though the agency’s hiring events have been successful, as of February they remain 200 drivers short.

Hypothetical routes

To provide service where people need it the most, the agency could make the following hypothetical changes. To provide service where people need it the most, the agency could make the following hypothetical changes. They could keep service as it is now, running the 11, 17 and 18 every 15 minutes, even though the 18 carries more riders than the 11 and the 17. Or they could choose to provide as many trips as possible in transit-dependent areas and make people walk farther to a bus route by eliminating all of Route 11, as well as Route 17 service in Minneapolis, to increase Route 18 service so that it runs every five minutes, and extend it to run in northeast Minneapolis to Columbia Heights. Route 17 ser-

Yia Xiong

Continued from page 1

with.

“Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry,” Lemon said. “When a woman is considered to be in her prime—in her 20s, 30s, and maybe her 40s.”

“Prime for what?” Harlow replied. Lemon then challenged his colleagues to Google when a woman is past her prime.

Harlow provided Lemon with an out, offering that

he may have been referencing childbearing years. “Don’t shoot the messenger; I’m just saying what the facts are,” Lemon replied. “Google it.”

In March, a story published by Variety listed allegations against Lemon that he mistreated female colleagues at CNN.

“I am stunned,” Lemon tweeted: “After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought some-

munity, and sets a national precedent for community-driven initiatives in urban areas overcoming environmental racism,” said Thunder.

Rep. Hodan Hassan and Sen. Omar Fateh, both DFL-Minneapolis, have introduced bills in their respective chambers to provide $20 million for EPNI to purchase and prepare the site. Both bills have been heard in committee and can be included in a larger bill addressing capital investment, although time is of the essence with the end of the session only four weeks away.

H. Jiahong Pan welcomes reader comments at hpan@spokesmanrecorder.com.

one in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network.

“It is clear there are some larger issues at play. With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I have worked with for an incredible run.”

CNN countered Lemon’s statement, stating on Twitter, “Don Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate. He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”

Stacy M. Brown is the NNPA Newswire senior national correspondent.

Park, the agency could increase service on the 721, 722, 723 and 724 and make them run later into the evening while eliminating the commuter express routes that serve it, like the 760, 761, 762, 763, 764, 766, 767 and 768.

Increasing Route 721 service and having it run later on the weekend was something many Route 721 riders desired when they spoke with the MSR on a rainy Thursday afternoon. They complained that limited service on Route 721 prevented them from being able to get to and from work and to spend time with family.

“I can’t work on the weekends, because I can’t get home [with the 721 not running]. I spent time with my kids on the weekend and I [had] to rush back to [Brooklyn Center Transit Center] to get home. It’s not fair. We can’t get out, if the bus don’t run,” said Mya Major of Crystal, adding the alternative to taking the 721 involves walking 12 blocks from the 724.

vice could then run every 15 minutes between Knollwood Mall in St. Louis Park and the Uptown Transit Station.

In St. Paul, Metro Transit could run the 63 every 10 minutes seven-days-a-week, while eliminating the once-hourly Route 70 service on Burns Avenue. Service on White Bear Avenue on Route 80 could also be eliminated, in favor of the agency’s long-planned extension of Route 3A to Sun Ray Transit Center as well as increased service on the 54M.

In another scenario, Metro Transit could let riders travel quickly and conveniently to busier destinations. They could eliminate the 22 and instead extend Route 722, to run from Brooklyn Center to downtown Minneapolis via the Shingle Creek neighborhood and Interstate 94, while at the same time having Route 14 run every 10 minutes in south Minneapolis.

In the western suburbs, Route

A cuaj puam is commonly used for cutting meat, wood, or plants while gardening. Herr believes Xiong was unable to explain his actions due to a language barrier.

“Yia Xiong actually did a good cause of diplomacy, a gesture to the child and the family,” Herr said. “But instead, the family translated to something else totally opposite of the intention of Yia Xiong, and it escalated to something else until Yia’s death.”

Toshira Garraway Allen, founder of Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence (FSFAPV) has been supporting Xiong’s family since the killing. Garraway Allen says she thinks the officers were wrong, and that she did not see “any immediate danger” to the officers’ lives.

“It’s really sad and it’s hurtful that we would be going through something like this at a time

645, a limited stop route that serves St. Louis Park, Minnetonka and Wayzata, could either be permanently

stops only at the West End shopping complex in St. Louis Park, Ridgedale and downtown Wayzata, as well as one or two additional stops along the way. Route 645 riders would then have to take a service similar to Metro Transit’s northside micro service to get to where they need to go.

Prioritize daytime service

In yet another scenario, the agency could prioritize offering transit service during the day when more people are riding. This could mean overnight service on the 5, 10, 18, 19 and the Green Line, suspended when the pandemic began because the agency found a disproportionate amount of biohazard incidents happened overnight, may never return.

Riders have until May 15 to take a survey on how Metro Transit should prioritize its service. They can also participate at two meetings the agency plans to host, one at the Brookdale Library in Brooklyn Center on Tuesday, May 2, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m., and one at the Brian Coyle Center in Minneapolis on Thursday, May 4, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. The agency also plans to host two online meetings on Wednesday, April 26, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. and Friday, April 28, from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, Metro Transit plans to restore service that was cut to operate once every two hours late last year to run once an hour in June. They plan to have details available in mid-May.

eliminated so the agency can focus on serving busier transit routes, or restructured to be an express route for the first time since 2017, making

like this, and that’s how you know the culture of policing has to change,” Garraway Allen said.

“Because even while the world is watching Minnesota, that clearly there is a major problem, things like this are still happening. I know that the family just feels so disrespected.”

A Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Appre-

Another scenario could allow the agency to serve the suburbs as much as they serve Minneapolis and St. Paul proper. In Brooklyn Center, Crystal, New Hope and Brooklyn

vices at the BCA, contacted him on Monday, April 17, to say that the investigation would conclude in about three weeks and that the results would be forwarded to Attorney General Keith Ellison.

“I pray that they prosecute the officers who were involved in the shooting. That’s what

Learn more about the Network Now initiative at www.metrotransit.org/network-now.

to make sure they do their investigation thoroughly and impartially. But you never know. It could be anyone’s guess and we hope for the best—that justice prevails in this case.”

Garraway Allen said she had “little to no trust” in the BCA and doubted that they would file charges. She also noted frustration with St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and SPPD Chief Axel Henry for not discussing the killing with Xiong’s family in detail, until after the conclusion of the BCA investigation.

“All I could do was hug his wife as she cried,” Garraway Allen said, regarding supporting the family after their meeting with city officials.

“The people in these political seats, we wonder, do they see the wrong the rest of us see,” Garraway Allen said. “Are their positions more important to them than to stand up for what they know in their hearts is right?”

Herr said he and Xiong’s family plan to meet with Mayor Carter and Chief Henry again after the BCA concludes its investigation.

superintendent of investigative ser-

everyone in the coalition for justice for Yia Xiong pray for,” Herr said. “We have been trying to pressure the police and the government

Cole Miska welcomes reader comments at cmiska@spokesman-recorder.com.

April 27 - May 3, 2023 5 spokesman-recorder.com
hension (BCA) investigation into the incident is ongoing. Herr says, Scott Mueller, the deputy
Even though the agency’s hiring events have been successful, as of February they remain 200 drivers short.
“We have been trying to pressure the police and the government to make sure they do their investigation thoroughly and impartially. But you never know. It could be anyone’s guess, and we hope for the best—that justice prevails in this case.”
Photo by H. Jiahong Pan East Phillips community leader Rachel Thunder Photo by H. Jiahong Pan

Playwright Pearl Cleage’s

“What I Learned in Paris” is set in the early 1970s amidst the excitement and jubilation of Atlanta’s election of its first Black mayor, Maynard Jackson Jr. In 1972, Maynard’s election was seen as the crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement and its leadership, who had emerged from the city’s established Black middle class anxiously anticipating the arrival of its own version of the

Arts & Culture

What I Learned in Paris misses the mark

New South.

Without that sense of time and place, “What I Learned in Paris” (directed by Lou Bellamy) seems lost in a parody about the changing roles of women in society and marriage, and less about the conflict between “the movement” and a feminist awakening. The dialogue sums up the tensions between the Civil Rights and feminist movements: “One confused Black woman is no match for the flow of history,” and “the Movement is bigger than you and me.”

The play’s protagonist, Eve

(Cyceril Ash), is the veritable pot-stirrer who returns from San Francisco to Atlanta to resume her role as social gadfly and tormentor to her ex-husband, J.P. (Lester Purry), a longtime political ally of the new mayor, who suddenly finds himself a top candidate for a prominent role in the new administration.

Unbeknownst to Eve, her ex-husband is pretending to be married to a much-younger, naïve Ann (Lauren Steele), who is secretly involved with J.P.’s lawyer and political aide, Johnny Boy (La’Tevin Alexander), while aide Lena (Vinecia Coleman), serves as the voice of reason.

Eventually, the love triangle (or quadrangle) unravels in this comedy of errors, leaving the audience wondering what, if anything, did Eve learn in Paris, when she says, “I don’t know if I would have fought so hard if I had known the revolution didn’t allow for love.”

Without the playwright’s backstory, it is difficult to unravel the meaning of “What I

Learned in Paris.” Cleage, who is a playwright in residence at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta and a prolific author, journalist, essayist and playwright, was once married to Michael Lomax, a prominent figure in Atlanta politics.

Lomax, who previously ran against Maynard when he sought a third term as mayor, dropped out of the race and now heads the United Negro College Fund. Ironically, Cleage has written about her infidelity during

House overwhelmingly passes bill to rename highway after Prince

Sometimes it snows in April. Sometimes highway signs are purple.

Legislators saw firsthand the truth of Prince’s words on a chilly, overcast Friday, April 21, before voting overwhelmingly in support of the “Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway.” Purple signs would be mandated to mark the proposed designation.

Sponsored by Rep. Lucy Rehm (DFL-Chanhassen), HF717 would name a seven-mile stretch of Highway 5 in Eden Prairie and Chanhassen after Minnesota’s musical icon.

Supported by purple-clad legislators of both parties, the bill passed the House 121-0 Friday—the seventh anniversary of Prince’s death—and next goes on to the Senate.

“Prince brought people together not only through his music, but through his advocacy of

public library access, education, civil rights, and more,” Rehm said in a statement following

the bill’s earlier approval by the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee.

“It’s a tremendous privilege to work with Minnesotans and all the advocates to recognize and honor Prince’s contributions to our state, our country, and the world.”

The “Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway” would run from west from Mitchell Road in Eden Prairie to Highway 41 in Chanhassen, past Prince’s former home and studio, Paisley Park, which is now open to the public.

The bill would also alter the Augie Mueller Memorial High-

her marriage to Lomax, which is why the production seems to miss the mark. Art imitating life is sometimes less interesting.

“What I Learned in Paris” is at the Penumbra Theatre, 270 North Kent Street, St. Paul, MN, through May 14. For tickets, contact the box office at 651-224-3180 or email info@penumbratheatre.org.

Evette Porter welcomes reader comments at eporter@spokesman-recorder.com.

way honoring the former legislator by moving its eastern border to Highway 41 rather than its current Highway 101. Conversations with Mueller’s family indicated they are amenable to the change in one section of the road.

“We want to keep that highway in his name, but we wanted to designate a section for Prince,” Rehm said.

Private parties have raised the approximately $3,000 needed to pay for the signs and have committed to help pay for maintenance. Purple signs would deviate from standard w hite on brown prescribed by the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices.

Sen. Julia Coleman (R-Waconia) said during a Senate Transportation Committee hearing in February she doesn’t believe this would set a precedent because there isn’t a precedent quite like that of Prince.

This story was republished with permission from House Sessions Daily.

6 April 27 - May 3, 2023 spokesman-recorder.com
Holding up a copy of the proposed sign design, and wearing an apt color, Rep. Lucy Rehm discusses a bill to rename a segment of Highway 5 as “Prince Rogers Nelson Memorial Highway.” The bill passed 121-0 Friday, April 21. MGN/Catherine Davis
THEATER
REVIEW
(l-r) Johnny Boy (La’Tevin Alexander) and J.P. (Lester Purry) in “What I Learned in Paris.” Photos courtesy of the Penumbra Theatre
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Eve (Cyceril Ash) in “What I Learned in Paris.”

Clarence Thomas does not belong on the Supreme Court

It’s been over 30 years since Justice Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court seat once held by the great Thurgood Marshall, and it’s safe to say that his reputation for unethical behavior— which was poor to start with— has only gotten worse.

What are we supposed to think about a justice’s career that started with allegations of sexual harassment, moved on to extreme coziness with conservative political donors, then multiple instances of questionable gifts and payments to himself and his wife? Now it’s revealed that years of free trips and perks lavished on him by right-wing billionaire Harlan Crow went unreported—despite laws that clearly say they should be.

Even after the news of Crow’s largesse first broke, it got worse: Crow had also bought Thomas’s mother’s house in Savannah, a helpful real estate deal that Thomas never reported either.

We could think that Thomas either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about the ethical standards expected of a Supreme Court justice or the laws that apply to him as a public employee. But Thomas is a graduate of Yale Law School. Ignorance is not a believable defense here.

So, we have to conclude that Thomas just doesn’t care about the rules or thinks that he can ignore them.

That’s not the kind of person who belongs on the Supreme Court. If he wanted to do the decent and honorable thing, Thomas would admit his wrongdoing and resign. Calls for him to resign are coming from prodemocracy groups including the one I lead, top media outlets,

and members of Congress.

But Thomas doesn’t have a history of doing the decent and honorable thing. So that means others will have to hold him accountable. The question is how.

There are plenty of calls for impeachment, but with a Republican-controlled House the option would appear to be off the table. Meanwhile the Senate will hold hearings and may call Thomas himself to testify. That is an important step.

use of Crow’s private jet for Thomas’s personal travel and the real estate transaction in Georgia, are, according to most ethics’ experts, clearly in a different category.

The Justice Department can give a definitive answer as to whether Thomas’s actions were not only unsavory, unethical, improper and all the rest, but also absolutely illegal. And it can call for imposition of a monetary fine. Even more important than the cash fine would be the impetus a finding of guilt would give to any effort to remove Thomas.

And then, to help ensure that trust in the Court isn’t further eroded by scandal after scandal, we need to have Supreme Court reform. That means an enforceable code of ethics specifically for the Court, written to address the full range of ethical questions that could ever apply to justices’ behavior.

MAIL BAG

I would add that two other steps are absolutely essential right now: a Justice Department investigation and Supreme Court reform including an enforceable code of ethics.

The Justice Department has clear grounds to investigate Thomas under a federal disclosure law that applies to government officials including Supreme Court justices. The law authorizes DOJ to pursue both civil penalties and criminal fines from government officials who fail to report gifts as legally required.

Thomas has claimed that the generosity he received from Harlan Crow was just “personal hospitality” not subject to reporting. Even if some of that were true, some perks, like free

In the longer term we should also have Supreme Court expansion, to counteract the far-right capture of the Court that was achieved by totally unethical means. But that is a larger conversation.

It has been painful to watch Thomas’s corrupt behavior and its effect on the Supreme Court. This is especially true given the historic significance of the seat he occupies. We need judges on all our courts—not just the highest—who act with humility and who understand the impact of their decisions on everyday Americans.

Courts really do make a difference in the lives of everyday people. They should be led by trustworthy, fair-minded judges who value equality and justice, uphold the Constitution, and protect civil and human rights for all Americans.

That’s not Clarence Thomas.

Svante Myrick is president of People For the American Way.

In response to the article: “Public transit plagued with crime and drug use” by H. Jiahong Pan (March 13, 2023 edition)

As a grad student at UMNTC until 2017, I rode Southwest transit in the afternoon and evening weekly from 2009 without ever feeling unsafe or offended. The few times I rode the light rail or Metro Transit during those years, I seldom

rode when I didn’t see or experience what felt like imminent danger of some sort.

I observed people high and acting out, bloody filth on seats, no paying riders, and general disregard for smoking rules. The Metro Council is responsible for the decline of citizens’s use of public transit. I don’t use it anymore, which is a shame.

I miss Minneapolis life downtown: the restaurants, the theaters, and the shopping.

Our political system has abandoned law and order, and we are reaping their foolishness.

Make the train platform entrance more restricted so before you can have access to the train itself you have to go through a security measure. This Minnesota Nice concept was for the birds from the start.

It’s Always the Guns

Gun violence takes a relentless toll in our nation. Every day more than 300 people are killed or injured by guns in the United States, and most of their stories never make the news at all. But this was yet another week when multiple gun tragedies made national headlines.

One of those tragedies started out as a celebration: Alexis Dowdell’s sweet 16 birthday party at a dance studio in Dadeville, Alabama on April 15. She and her family had been planning the party for months, and the dance floor was filled with young people and a DJ when gunfire broke out. More than 30 people were injured and four were killed, including Alexis’s older brother, 18-yearold Philstavious “Phil” Dowdell.

Alexis remembered Phil pushing her to the ground to protect her in the chaos, but the next time she saw him he was lying in a pool of blood. She told an interviewer, “I got on my knees and he was laying face down. And that’s when I grabbed him. I turned him over, I was holding him… I was trying to be strong instead of panicking. And so I said, ‘You’re going to be alright, you’re a fighter, you’re strong.”

But Phil, a high school senior and star athlete who had a football scholarship to Jacksonville State University, was gone— along with another 17-year-old Dadeville High senior and two more young guests. Many of those injured remain hospitalized in serious condition.

The nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, which keeps track of mass shootings in the U.S. where four or more victims are killed or injured by guns, notes that there have been more than 165 mass shootings so far in 2023—more than one a day. On April 15 there were seven mass shootings, the most in a single day so far this year.

So, the devastating mass in-

juries and deaths at a birthday party that night were heartbreaking, but they were not unusual for America. But those stories about the “everyday” trauma and tragedy of mass shootings were also joined this week by the latest headlines about a series of “mistake” shootings.

On April 13 in Kansas City, Missouri, 16-year-old honors student and musician Ralph Yarl was shot in the head and arm after mistakenly ringing the wrong doorbell while trying to pick up his younger brothers from a friend’s home. The man who shot him said that when the 5’8”, 140-lb teenager came to his door, he looked out and saw a 6-foot-tall Black man and felt “scared to death.” Instead of asking any questions he immediately shot Ralph through the locked glass storm door.

to attend Baylor University in the fall on an acrobatic and tumbling scholarship and who had already overcome physical challenges after being born with only one lung, was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition with injuries to her spleen and other organs.

All of these only-in-America atrocities took place the very same week that many Republican politicians were attending the National Rifle Association’s annual convention to pledge their allegiance to the gun lobby. Reuters Pictures shared a series of photos from the convention of children as young as six and seven holding guns whose triggers barely fit their small hands as they pointed them at the camera.

Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, said afterwards in an interview, “Responsible gun owners and parents would not allow a child to put their finger on a firearm’s trigger while pointing it at other people—even if they’re props… It’s clearer than ever that the NRA’s goal was never to teach children about responsible gun handling but to market guns and gun extremism to a new generation.”

Two days later in Hebron, New York, 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis was shot and killed after she and a group of friends mistakenly drove into the wrong home’s driveway. The young people, who were in a rural area with no cell phone service, had already realized their mistake and were trying to leave when the homeowner started firing on them, hitting Kaylin inside the car where she was sitting in the passenger seat.

And on April 18 in Elgin, Texas, two elite high school cheerleaders returning from practice were shot after one of them mistakenly opened the door to the wrong car in an H-E-B grocery store parking lot. Eighteen-year-old Payton Washington, who was planning

PERSPECTIVES FROM WITHIN

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But there is a large majority of Americans who favor common sense gun safety laws, who did not vote to put the NRA in charge of our national security, who are not grooming our own children and grandchildren to become gun extremists, and who do not want our children and grandchildren to be shot or killed because they attended a birthday party, recognized the wrong car in a parking lot, or accidentally drove to the wrong address.

In our nation with more guns than people, we know we need to do something about the guns.

Marian Wright Edelman is founder and president emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund.

Support HF 93 to end the legacy of slavery

As a resident of the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” and “Minnesota nice,” it's very rewarding to know that some of my fellow Minnesotans are also tired of the outdated language in the state's Constitution.

In the first sentence of the state Constitution that ushered Minnesota into statehood in 1858, Article I, section 2: ''There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state otherwise than as punishment for a crime of which the party has been convicted.'' Minnesota wasn't a slave state. So why did the newly created territory of Minnesota decide to adopt the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution, which read: “Neither slavery nor

involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime wherefore the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

The truth is that the people who controlled this territory were very

that still applies to those who are convicted of a crime.

As an independent state with Indigenous and other people of color living here, it is past time to do what some of our sister states have done and change the Constitution. For example, states like Nebraska and Colorado have removed the reference to slavery, under any circumstances, from their constitutions. Now it's our turn.

proposed amendment introduced by Representative Dave Pinto (DFL 64B), which would prohibit slavery or involuntary servitude as criminal punishment for a crime. If passed, the amendment to the state Constitution would appear on the 2024 general election ballot.

White and very unapologetic in their divine destiny to conquer and rule people of color. It's fair to say that was then. Today, however, as Americans and Minnesotans, we live in a post-Reconstruction world, as people willing to make courageous decisions. And one of those decisions is to strike the constitutional language of enslavement

Even former St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtwell wrote, “It is beyond time to move forward together and strike out slavery from our shared constitution.”

During this 93rd legislative session (2023-2024), from now until May 22, we can strike slavery from the Minnesota Constitution by supporting HF 93 legislation, a

I agree with the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall that "the Constitution is a continuously changing document." As such, the people of the state of Minnesota can finally dispel the vestiges of America’s original sin.

Carlos O. Smith is at Moose Lake, a medium-security facility.

This commentary was made possible through a partnership with Twin Cities Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee.

April 27 - May 3, 2023 7 spokesman-recorder.com
Opinion
The Justice Department can give a definitive answer as to whether Thomas’s actions were not only unsavory, unethical, improper and all the rest— but also absolutely illegal.
There have been more than 165 mass shootings so far in 2023—more than one a day.
“It is beyond time to move forward together and strike out slavery from our shared constitution.”

St. Paul Audit Committee invites public input on City services

Topic suggestions for the committee’s work are also welcome

Last week, the St. Paul City Council began reaching out to residents, district councils, businesses, City employees and community partners to suggest topics to be considered by the St. Paul Audit Committee for a study.

The city council established the St. Paul City Council Audit Committee in August 2020 and released their findings from their first study on “Constituent and Customer Services” this past January.

The Audit Committee’s mission is to evaluate the financial and program performance of City departments to build public trust and ensure outstanding service delivery, transparency and accountability.

The surveys are open for public input to audit the performance of City services throughout the year. Topic suggestions collected will be used to inform the work of the Audit Committee members.

“Public input on audit topics is key to the mission of the Audit Committee,” said Councilmember Rebecca Noecker. “We want to examine topics that people feel are relevant to their lives, build trust in City government, and improve their experiences working with the City.”

WNBA

Continued from page 10

last year, making it the mostwatched raft since 2004, said ESPN officials.

The WNBA-ION deal, according to The Sporting News’ Sara Tidwell, could potentially be good for several reasons, including broader exposure and as leverage when the league renegotiates its ESPN media deal after this season. ION is the nation’s fifth largest network in over 100 million homes and 79 million paid subscribers.

ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will telecast 25 games nationally as well as playoff coverage this season. “The number one thing to capitalize on is the momentum, to continue to plan around marketing the players so they become household names, and build-

SOE

Continued from page 10

Ends featured three Black female college softball players.

Last weekend the two Black softball head coaches, Sharonda McDonald-Kelley (Michigan State) and Tyra Perry (Illinois), played a weekend series between the two squads, which is believed to be the first-ever

“The council audit committee wants to hear directly from the community about what works, and what could be working better in St. Paul,” said Councilmember Jane Prince. “Evaluating performance of City programs and processes allows us to increase their benefits and

ing rivalries,” stated Engelbert during her pre-draft remarks earlier this month.

Lynx sign 4 of 5 draft picks WNBA training camps are set to begin April 30. Two weeks ago, the Minnesota Lynx signed four of their five 2023 draft picks: Diamond Miller (No. 2 pick), Dorka Juhasz (No. 16), Brea Beal (No. 24) and Taylor Soule (No. 28).

In a virtual interview, the MSR asked both Beal and Soule how much playing for Black coaches during college helped prepare them for the next step in their careers.

Beal played for South Caro-

lina’s Dawn Staley and Soule played for Virginia Tech’s Kenny Brooks.

“Playing under [Staley] there’s been so many moments where she spoke out on things that people wouldn’t necessarily speak out on,” said

Beal. “So just to be coached by somebody like that and encourage us to speak on what we feel… It was great to be there,” she added.

“I came into college very timid, very shy,” continued the guard. “Watching this powerful Black woman…lead a team like ours [a majority Black team], that really encouraged me, molded me to be the person I am today—a little more outgoing.”

Said Soule of Virginia Tech’s Brooks, “Not only was he a Black coach, he is also a ‘girl dad.’ It was great to see how our leader encouraged us to speak up, to be strong women, to be a strong Black woman, whether that was on the basketball court, or whether it was in our community…”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments at challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.

matchup between two Black female HCs in the history of Power Five softball.

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments at challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.

make a real difference in how our city operates.”

The St. Paul Audit Committee members include Councilmembers Rebecca Noecker, Jane L. Prince and Amy Brendmoen (ex-officio); and community advisors Ellen T. Brown, Dana M. DeMaster, Stephanie D. Dilworth and James T. Farnsworth.

BBS

Continued from page 4

that in this industry, for me to be able to work on the types of projects that I was interested in, in the communities that I came from and that I was a part of [Black and Latino communities], I knew that at some point I was going to have to go my own direction because there’s nobody in the marketplace right now that was really paying any attention to those communities.

“Back then,” he recalled, “I was the one going to the community meetings. I was the one translating for people who were confused when the engineers, developers, or whoever on a big project went to the community and started to speak above people’s heads and use language that would get people confused,” he said.

“I’d have a secondary meeting after the first meeting to just explain to people, ‘Don’t worry about what he said with XYZ, what it really means is ABC,’” he added. “I started to realize that there was a niche in the marketplace that was absolutely not being served or respected. I felt like at some point I need to do something to try to fill that void. I think we’ve spent the last 20 years filling that

The online surveys for residents can be found at https://bit.ly/3GABHUG and for City employees here: www.stpaul.gov/auditcommittee.

The public may also submit ideas via email to CCAuditCommittee@ci.stpaul.mn.us or phone at 651-266-8539.

void,” he continued.

“Oftentimes, when communities are neglected and disinvested there’s a sense of hopelessness or a sense that nice things aren’t for us,” Garrett said of his experience with communities of color.

“What we’ve tried to do is to create things that were previously unimaginable.

“To make them accessible and within reach to people and organizations with fairly modest budgets, so that they can also experience world-class design and have spaces that cater to them, their children, and their families,” he continued.

“I hope that moving for-

ward, we’re able to expand and do more. I think doing more than individual buildings—for example, designing a campus, open spaces, plazas, green space, and solar are what we want to do—designs that take up whole city blocks. Now, all of a sudden, it’s not just an individual building, but it’s a group of buildings working together to create this overall environment. And those are really the building blocks of communities.”

Chris Juhn welcomes reader comments at cjuhn@spokesman-recorder.com.

8 April 27 - May 3, 2023 spokesman-recorder.com Bulletin IN PRINT & ONLINE! CALL 612-827-4021 P.O. Box 8558 • Minneapolis, MN 55408 Follow Us! @MNSpokesmanRecorder MINNESOT A SP OK ESMAN-R ECORDE R 3744 4th Ave. Sout h Minneapolis, MN 5540 9 Ph one : 612- 827- 40 21 Fax: 612- 827- 0577 TRA CE Y WIL LI AM S -D IL LARD Pu blishe r/CE O CECIL E NEWMA N Fo u nder- Pu blishe r 1934 -1976 WALLA CE (JACK) JACKM AN Co -P ublisher Emeritu s L AUNA Q NEWMA N CE O/Pu blishe r 1976 -200 0 NOR MA JEA N WIL LI AM S Vice Pr esiden t Emeritus MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS Minnesota Newspaper Association • National Newspaper Publishers Association The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Publications are published every Thursday by the Spokesman-Recorder Publishing Co., Inc. Editorial/Business o ce is at 3744 Fourth Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55409 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: In-state: 1 yr: $40, 2 yr: $70 Outside Minnesota: 1yr: $50, 2 yr: $90 All subscriptions payable in advance. INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER Managing Editor Evette Porter Senior Editor Jerry Freeman Digital Editor Paige Elliott Desktop Publishers Kobie Conrath Jim Handrigan Executive Sales Assistant Laura Poehlman Social Media Assistant Dominica Asberry-Lindquist Account Representatives Cecilia Viel Ray Seville Harold D. Morrow Event Coordinator Jennifer Jackmon Sports Writers Charles Hallman Dr. Mitchell P. McDonald Contributing Writers Al Brown Dr. Charles Crutchfield, III Charles Hallman Robin James Tiffany Johnson Tony Kiene Nikki Love Cole Miska Abdi Mohamed Henry Pan Angela Rose Myers James L. Stroud Jr. Staff Photographer Chris Juhn Contributing Photographers Steve Floyd Travis Lee James L. Stroud Jr. Bethesda Baptist Church Rev. Arthur Agnew, Pastor At the Old Landmark 1118 So. 8th Street Mpls., MN 55404 612-332-5904 www.bethesdamnonline.com email:bethesdamn@prodigy.net Service Times: Early Morning Service 9 am Sunday School 10 am Sunday Worship 11:30 am Wednesday Prayer Meeting, 6 pm Adult Bible Class 7 pm Children's Bible Class 7 pm Mount Olivet Missionary Baptist Church Rev. James C. Thomas, Pastor 451 West Central St. Paul, MN 55103 651-227-4444 Church School 9:30 am Morning Worship 8 & 10:45 am Prayer Service: Wednesday 7 pm "Welcome to Mt. Olivet Baptist Church" Greater Friendship M issionary Baptist Church Dr. B.C. Russell, Pastor 2600 E. 38th Street. Mpls., MN 55408 612-827-7928 fax: 612-827-3587 website: www.greatfriend.org email: info@greatfriend.org Sunday Church School: 8:30 am Sunday Worship: 9:30 am Winning the World with Love” Grace Temple Deliverance Center Dr. Willa Lee Grant Battle, Pastor 1908 Fourth Ave. So. Mpls., MN 24 Hour Dial-A-Prayer: 612-870-4695 www.gtdci.org Sunday School 9:30 am Sunday Worship 11:30 am Prayer Daily 7 pm Evangelistic Service: Wednesday & Friday 8 pm Pilgrim Baptist Church Rev. Doctor Charles Gill 732 W. Central Ave., St. Paul, MN 55104 Sunday Worship Service: 9:45 AM Sunday School: 8:45 AM Advertise your weekly service, directory or listing! CALL 612-827-4021 Advertise your weekly service, directory or listing! CALL 612-827-4021
Green Line Light Rail Transit Station designed by 4RM+ULA. Photo courtesy of 4RM+ULA Lindsay Whalen at the Hall of Fame Courtesy of Naismith Basketball HOF

do so, judgment by default will be taken against you in the amount demanded in the Complaint.

Dated: February 27, 2023 Aaron Olson, Plaintiff in Propria Persona General Delivery, Post Office Minneapolis, MN 55401 Email: olsonvkappasigma@gmail.com

*Electronic Service Requested Pursuant to the MHRA & ADA Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder April 20, 27, May 4, 2023

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PERSONAL INJURY

STATE OF MINNESOTA DISTRICT COURT COUNTY OF HENNEPIN FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT FILE NUMBER: 27-CV-23-2608

From Classified Department/MN Spokesman-Recorder

From Classified Department/MN Spokesman-Recorder

Dipendra Mahaseth SUMMONS Plaintiff, vs. Kenneth Scott, Benjamin Edwards, and Zobeida Bonilla Vega, Defendants.

PHONE: 612-827-4021

FOR BILLING INQUIRIES & TEARSHEETS

THIS SUMMONS IS DIRECTED TO the above-named Defendants:

PLEASE CONTACT ACCOUNTING DEPT @ BILLING@SPOKESMAN-RECORDER.COM

1. YOU ARE BEING SUED. The Plaintiff has started a lawsuit against you. The Plaintiff’s Complaint against you is attached to this summons. Do not throw these papers away. They are official papers that affect your rights. You must respond to this lawsuit even though it may not yet be filed with the Court and there may be no court file number on this summons.

PHONE: 612-827-4021 FOR BILLING INQUIRIES & TEARSHEETS

PLEASE CONTACT ACCOUNTING DEPT @ BILLING@SPOKESMAN-RECORDER.COM

Protection should not be granted.

SUMMONS FLAT RATE: $230

2. YOU MUST REPLY WITHIN 20 DAYS TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. You must give or mail to the person who signed this summons a written response called an Answer within 20 days of the date on which you received this Summons. You must send a copy of your Answer to the person who signed this summons located at: Megan Curtis Law, PLLC 332 Minnesota Street, Suite W1610 Saint Paul, MN 55101

Please proof, respond with email confirmation to ads@spokesman-recorder.com

3. YOU MUST RESPOND TO EACH CLAIM. The Answer is your written response to the Plaintiff’s Complaint. In your Answer you must state whether you agree or disagree with each paragraph of the Complaint. If you believe the Plaintiff should not be given everything asked for in the Complaint, you must say so in your Answer.

The MSR handles billing digitally. This means you will get e-tears and e-mailed invoices unless you specifically request a hard copy.

4. YOU WILL LOSE YOUR CASE IF YOU DO NOT SEND A WRITTEN RESPONSE TO THE COMPLAINT TO THE PERSON WHO SIGNED THIS SUMMONS. If you do not Answer within 20 days, you will lose this case. You will not get to tell your side of the story, and the Court may decide against you and award the Plaintiff everything asked for in the complaint. If you do not want to contest the claims stated in the complaint, you do not need to respond. A default judgment can then be entered against you for the relief requested in the complaint.

From Classified Department/MN Spokesman-Recorder

PHONE: 612-827-4021

5. LEGAL ASSISTANCE. You may wish to get legal help from a lawyer. If you do not have a lawyer, the Court Administrator may have information about places where you can get legal assistance. Even if you cannot get legal help, you must still provide a written Answer to protect your rights or you may lose the case.

FOR BILLING

INQUIRIES & TEARSHEETS

6. ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION. The parties may agree to or be ordered to participate in an alternative dispute resolution process under Rule 114 of the Minnesota General Rules of Practice. You must still send your written response to the Complaint even if you expect to use alternative means of resolving this dispute.

Dated:

PLEASE CONTACT ACCOUNTING DEPT BILLING@SPOKESMAN-RECORDER. COM

EMPLOYMENT DISPLAY

SIZE: 2 COL X 2 INCH

RATE $44.60 PER COL. INCH

SUB TOTAL: $178.40 + 2 WEEKS ONLINE: $150

SUMMONS FLAT RATE: $100 X 3 WEEK RUN TOTAL: $300 PRE-PAID

You must contact the Hennepin County Court Administrator’s Office at 612-3488756 for hearing location details.

You may obtain a copy of the Petition and any order issued from the court from the Hennepin County Family Court at 110 South Fourth Street, Mpls., MN 55401.

If you do not appear at the scheduled hearing, the Petitioner’s request may be granted as a default matter. Failure to appear will not be a defense to prosecution for violation of the Court’s Order.

Please proof, respond with email confirmation to ads@spokesman-recorder.com

The MSR handles billing digitally. This means you will get e-tears and e-mailed invoices unless you specifically request a hard copy.

April 19, 2023 /S/ Jessica Rahier

Date Court Administrator / Deputy Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder April 27, 2023

Filed in District Court State of Minnesota 4/20/2023 11:53 AM

State of Minnesota District Court Ramsey County Second Judicial District Court File Number: 62‐HR‐CV‐23‐356 Case Type: Harassment

XONG MOUA vs JOE VANG Notice of Issuance of Harassment Restraining Order by Publication

To Respondent: YOU ARE NOTIFIED that a Harassment Restraining Order has been filed on April 4, 2023.

A hearing is scheduled for the following date, time, and location:

Date: May 18, 2023

Time: 10:15 AM

Location: Ramsey County Juvenile and Family Justice Center 25 W. 7th Street Room B122 Saint Paul, MN 55102

Failure to appear at a scheduled hearing or to get a copy of the Harassment Restraining Order will not be a defense to prosecution for violation of the Court’s order.

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Run Date: 5/12/22

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Continued from page 10

Hawkins and Oscar Robertson, who was the NBA players union president, are among those Runstedtler talks about in “Black Ball.” She also talks about how some NBA teams such as Detroit followed the White flight from urban areas to the suburbs.

Spencer Haywood, Connie

“Black Ball” is more than a nostalgic look back at the NBA bygone days. It also reaffirms the notion that as some things change, some things remain the same.

“I think one of the things that happened with [the late commissioner David Stern] and others is to come to terms with the fact that the NBA was going to be essentially a Black game…and they can no longer dictate to the player like they used to,” said Runstedtler.

“But of course it’s always an ongoing tension about who gets to define Black-

Julius Erving

PrEP

Continued from page 10

Please proof, respond with email confirmation to dis play@spokesman-recorder.com. For more exposure: We are also inviting our clients to advertise on our web site for 2 weeks for a flat net fee of $150 per position with purchase of print ad.

The MSR handles billing digitally. This means you will get e-tears and e-mailed invoices unless you specifically request a hard copy.

ness. Is it the players? Is it the team owners, league officials? But certainly the players have much more power than they did back in the 1970s.”

Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments at challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.

The elder Hughes starred in boys basketball at St. Paul Central from 1987-89, leading the Minutemen to a fourth place Class AA state tournament finish. He capped off his career with the 1989 Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year honors, in the process.

The younger Hughes was also a starting wide receiver for a Knights football team that finished with a 6-4 record, with a team-leading 429 yards, while averaging 17.2 yards per reception, and scoring four touchdowns during the regular season.

For now, Hughes Jr. is focused on the current track and field season, which he has dominated thus far in the 100-meter, 200-meter, and long jump.

Football and track and field were not the only sports in which Hughes Jr. participated. Up until his sophomore year, he played basketball before choosing not to follow in his father’s footsteps and develop his own athletic legacy.

Hughes Sr. was surprisingly agreeable with his son’s decision. “I’m glad that he finally realized that basketball wasn’t one of his main sports,” Hughes Sr. said.

One thing is certain: Juriad Hughes Jr. has the potential to become one of Minnesota’s top high school track and field performers of all time. Based on what has transpired to this point, the sky’s the limit.

Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader comments at mcdeezy05@ gmail.com.

be granted.

You may obtain a copy of the Petition and any order issued from the court from the Ramsey County Court Administrator’s Office.

If you do not appear at the scheduled hearing, the Petitioner’s request may be granted as a default matter. Failure to appear will not be a defense to prosecution for violation of the Court’s Order.

Court Administrator Ramsey County District Court Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder April 27, 2023

Filed in District Court State of Minnesota 4/21/2023 4:17 PM

Donald W. Harper Juvenile and Family Court Administrator Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder April 27, 2023 really try and marry this story in a way that paid homage to the guys who really reshaped the relationship between the players and the owners, and fought back against the racial status quo in professional sports, and made the NBA into the kind of league that it is today.”

State of Minnesota District Court Ramsey County Second Judicial District Court File Number:62-DA-FA-23-372

Case Type: Domestic Abuse In The Matter Of Russell Pov Hom Lee Vs Kong Meng Lee Notice of Hearing by Publication (Minn. Stat. § 518B.01, subd. 8)

To Respondent named above:

An order has been issued directing you to appear at the Ramsey County Juvenile and Family Justice Center, 25 W 7th St, St. Paul MN 55102 on May 19, 2023 at 8:15am and explain why the relief sought in the Petition for the Order for Protection should not be granted.

You may obtain a copy of the Petition and any order issued from the court from the Ramsey County Court Administrator’s Office.

If you do not appear at the scheduled hearing, the Petitioner’s request may be granted as a default matter. Failure to appear will not be a defense to prosecution for violation of the Court’s Order.

Court Administrator Ramsey County District Court Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder April 27, 2023

April 27 - May 3, 2023 9
01/24/2023 MEGAN CURTIS LAW, PLLC By: /s/Megan M. Curtis Megan M. Curtis, MN #0393601 First National Bank Building 332 Minnesota Street, Suite W1610 Saint Paul, MN 55101 P: 612-750-4688 F: 651-412-5070 E: mc@megancurtislaw.com Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder April 13, 20, 27, 2023
STATE OF MINNESOTA DISTRICT COURT COUNTY OF HENNEPIN FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT FILE NUMBER: 27-CV-23-2429 Aaron Olson, SUMMONS Plaintiff, vs. Matthew Joseph Freeman; Kappa Sigma 5th Street Brothers, LLC; Kappa Sigma Fraternity; Gerald Feeman; Regents of the University of Minnesota, Defendants. You are hereby summoned and required to serve upon the undersigned an Answer to the Complaint, which is herein served upon you within twenty (20) days of service of said Complaint, exclusive of the date of service. If you fail to
TOTAL: 328.40
STATE OF MINNESOTA DISTRICT COURT COUNTY OF HENNEPIN FOURTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT FILE NUMBER: 27-DA-FA-23-1979 CASE TYPE:DOMESTIC ABUSE In the Matter of: Laquandra Green and on behalf of minor children Petitioner Notice of Hearing by Publication VS. (Minn. Stat. § 518B.01, subd. 8) James Thomas Ferriss Jr. Respondent To Respondent named above: An order has been issued directing you to appear at a hearing on May 8, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. for an Order for Protection Hearing and explain why the relief sought in the Petition for the Order for
Filed in District Court State of Minnesota 4/21/2023 4:03 PM State of Minnesota District Court Ramsey County Second Judicial District Court File Number:62-DA-FA-21-304 Case Type: Domestic Abuse In The Matter Of Mai Va Lor Lee And Obo Minor Children Vs Kong Meng Lee Notice of Hearing by Publication (Minn. Stat. § 518B.01, subd. 8) To Respondent named above: An order has been issued directing you to appear at the Ramsey County Juvenile and Family Justice Center, 25 W 7th St, St. Paul MN 55102 on May 19, 2023 at 8:15am and explain why the relief sought in the Petition for the Order for Protection should not
Spencer Haywood

When Blacks transformed basketball

New book shows how 1970s players reshaped relationships with team owners

sportswriter once wrote that the NBA was out of control and no longer what James Naismith envisioned the sport of basketball to be when he invented it. This treatise came during the 1970s, when two leagues were battling for players— the older more established NBA, and the younger, hipper upstart league, the ABA (American Basketball Association).

But in starker terms, the White writer was speaking for White fans. The NBA had gotten too Black. A similar sentiment was

suspected to be among the reasons why the then-owner of the Detroit Pistons moved the team 60 miles away from downtown Detroit. We Black fans who largely supported the then-hapless NBA club were too many, and White fans coming to games were too few and supposedly too scared to come into Motown. Now, decades later, NBA arenas are packed with Whites of all ages. LeBron James and other Black players are hugely

popular, a far cry from those days when Black players were mostly seen as thugs, drug addicts and worse.

Theresa Runstedtler’s new book “Black Ball” is a must read for today’s NBA fans. It is “a vital narrative history of 1970s pro basketball and the Black players who shaped the NBA,” according to the book’s press release.

The 350-plus-page book released last month by Bold Type Books is full of archival photos from the period covered by Runstedtler, a professor at American University

who teaches Black history and whose research examines Black popular culture, focusing on the intersection of race, masculinity, labor and sport. Her previous book was “Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner” on the first Black world heavyweight champion. It won the 2013 Phillis Wheatley Book Prize. The professor recently talked to the MSR about her latest effort.

“I know that basketball in the ’70s was an important moment,” explained the professor. “When I started looking at the history, there’s always reference to Kermit Washington’s punch in 1977 and the cocaine, quoteunquote, epidemic in the late ’70s and early ’80s in the NBA. Is that really all in the ’70s?

“I knew that Julius Erving coming out of the ABA and going into the NBA, and Earl “The Pearl” Monroe had just transformed the game in ways that White fans were not accustomed to, so I knew it was this moment of transformation.

“So, I wanted to go back and

■ See View on page 9

WNBA TV exposure gains momentum

eginning in May, the WNBA will be a Friday night television destination. Last week the league and the E.W. Scripps Co., owners of ION Television jointly announced a multiyear agreement to televise regular season games on Friday nights, over 15 weeks, from May 26 to Sept. 8.

Lynx signs four new players

statement.

The media company launched Scripps Sports last December, and the WNBA is their first sports property. ION is available over-the-air, on cable and streaming.

WNBA games have been on several networks in the league’s 27-year existence.

First on NBC (1997), then Lifetime (1997-2000), and on Oxygen (2002-04), before it finally landed on ESPN in 2007, mainly because it was piggybacked on the network’s huge television deal with the NBA. CBS Sports Network and Twitter also have done games in recent years.

rivalries.”

“Access to watching WNBA games is in high demand, and Scripps’ dedicated Friday night lineup of WNBA games on ION will become muchdesired appointment viewing for WNBA fans,” said Commissioner Cathy Engelbert in a

Locally, finding Minnesota Lynx games on television and radio over the years was like “Where’s Waldo.” Bally Sports North (formerly Midwest Sports Channel, then FSN) has been telecasting Lynx games since 1999. The first season the channel did a double-digit number of games (16) was 2017, and last season 32 games were shown. Three radio stations have broadcast Lynx games—KFAN from 1999-2003, KLBB from 2004-

05, from KLCI, 2006-2019— but they haven’t been on radio since 2019.

ESPN said that WNBA telecasts last season were the most-watched since 2006.

The regular season was up 20 percent; the full season was up 22 percent; and the postseason was up 22 percent. The semifinals were up 45 percent, and the opening round of the playoffs was up 50 percent.

Engelbert and other league officials are hoping that the W, which starts its first-ever, 40-game schedule in late May, can capitalize on the growing interest in women’s sports, especially women’s basketball.

Last month’s NCAA women’s tournament, including the Final Four, drew record ratings.

The April 10 annual draft viewership was up 42 percent from ■ See WNBA on page 8

Hughes Jr. making a name for himself

best as well. The Irondale High School athlete turned heads this past January when he broke a 41-year-old long jump record set by St. Paul Central track and field legend Von Sheppard. Hughes set a new Minnesota boys indoor and outdoor long jump mark with a leap of 24’ 11”, topping Sheppard’s mark of 24’ 9.25” set at the Minnesota State High School League meet in 1982. Hughes’ accomplishments are adding to the legacy set in motion by his father, Juriad Hughes Sr.

All photos and artwork courtesy of Bold Type Books uriad Hughes Jr. is not only becoming one of the state’s top track and field athletes, but one of the nation’s

■ See Prep on page 9

Knoxville hosts Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2023

he Women’s Basketball

Hall of Fame opened in Knoxville, Tenn. in 1999.

Since its founding, 44 Black individuals have been inducted into the Hall, a 35,000-square-foot building that also houses the world’s largest basketball that weighs 10 tons and is 30 feet tall. Carolyn Peck and Lindsay Whalen are part of the Class of 2023, which will be inducted April 29. Peck will be the 45th Black person to join the WBHOF.

Now a veteran broadcaster and basketball analyst, Peck was the first Black woman to win a Division I basketball title when she coached Purdue in 1999, and also the first Black woman head coach to lead a Big Ten school to a national championship. A four-time coach of the year winner, she also coached at Florida (2002-07) and was the second Black head coach-general manager (Orlando, 1999-

2001) in the WNBA. Whalen goes into her second Hall of Fame (Naismith, 2021) as one of only three sophomores in conference history to win the Big Ten Player of the Year award. The Hutchinson, MN native posted

a .650 winning percentage and a 80-43 record during her fouryear Minnesota playing career. She also won four WNBA

championships, was a five-time WNBA All-Star, a three-time first-team All-WNBA, two-time USA gold medalist and threetime FIBA world champion.

Peck (coach) and Whalen (player) are joined this weekend by Donna Lopiano (contributor), a former Texas AD and Women’s Sports Foundation CEO; Cathy Boswell (veteran player), a two-

time All American and Wade Trophy finalist and member of the 1984 gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic team; and Lisa Mattingly (official), who was an official for nearly 40 years and officiated 10 Women’s Final Fours and several WNBA championship series.

Retired Minneapolis teacher and coach Tonyus Chavers will be there welcoming the Class of 2023. She and her fellow Women’s Pro Basketball League (1978-81) members were inducted in 2018 as ‘Trailbrazer of the Game’ honorees.

Carolyn Peck surrounded by members of the 1999 Purdue NCAA championship team Courtesy of Twitter

“I watched this game really grow from the roots to the WNBA and now college players owning their images.”

“That was the last event my mother attended because she

wasn’t able to travel any more,” recalled Chavers of her late mother. “It was my mom, two of her sisters, my brother, my sister-inlaw, my nephew. It was a weekend I’ll never forget. That time will always be special,” she said.

Chavers, who now lives in Tennessee and has followed the careers of Whalen and Peck over the years, predicts that this weekend will be unforgettable for both women as well.

“I just want to hear what they have to say,” in their Hall of Fame induction speeches, said Chavers.

“I’m glad that I am at a point that I can look at it and say, ‘I watched this game really grow from the roots…to the WNBA and now college players owning their images.’ Oh, my goodness.”

10 April 27 - May 3, 2023 spokesman-recorder.com Sports
Brea Beal with Commissioner Cathy Engelbert Courtesy of YouTube
“The number-one thing to capitalize on the momentum is to continue the plan around marketing the players into household names and building
“I knew that Julius Erving and Earl “The Pearl” Monroe
transformed the
White
Author Theresa Runstedtler
had just
game in ways that
fans were not accustomed to.”
Oscar Robertson Earl “The Pearl” Monroe Juriad Hughes Sr. (l) and Juriad Hughes Jr. Courtesy Juriad Hughes Sr.
Historical milestone Last week’s Sports Odds and
■ See SOE on page 8
World’s largest basketball at Women’s Basketball HOF in Knoxville, TN Submitted by Tonyus Chavers

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