September 7, 2023 - MN Spokesman-Recorder

Stillwater prison lockdown

Inmates demand clean water, ways to stay cool in extreme heat

By H. Jiahong Pan

Contributing Writer

risoners incarcerated at Stillwater, a maximumsecurity facility, were placed on lockdown beginning on Sunday, September 3 following an action by some inmates who demanded better living conditions amid a nearrecord-breaking heatwave.

According to those close to

prisoners incarcerated at Minnesota Correctional FacilityStillwater, inmates at the BEast unit refused to return to their cells for seven hours on Sunday because of extremely hot temperatures and water that was reportedly contaminated with heavy metals.

Though the standoff was resolved, Department of Corrections officials did not say how.

Those close to inmates in the

facility say they returned to their cells and have not been heard from since. Families and advocates are demanding an investigation into the prison’s living conditions, as well as the water supply.

Advocates for the incarcerated report that prisoners had been on lockdown on and off for the past two months due to inadequate staffing and have not had access to ice, clean water or showers.

“They said, ‘We are not going to walk into our cells if we

don’t get access to basic human rights like access to water and showers,’” said Twin Cities Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee organizer David Boehnke of Sunday’s standoff. “These lockdowns are hurting everybody. They’re undermining this idea that the DOC is going to be more rehabilitative. Because you can’t be more rehabilitative if you can’t get out of your cell and you’re on lockdown all the time.”

The action came as temperatures in the Twin Cities soared to near-record highs. The air temperature at MinneapolisSt. Paul International Airport reached 98°F around 3:55 p.m. on Sunday, tying a record set in 1925, according to the National Weather Service. On Monday, temperatures in Bayport reached 90°F as the Twin Cities Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee held a press conference outside of the Stillwater prison.

Protesters at Stillwater Prison on Sept. 4

St. Paul City Council votes to put childcare funding on next year’s ballot

By Abdi Mohamed

Contributing Writer

t. Paul residents will be able to approve tax increases to fund childcare services at the ballot box in 2024, as the city council voted on Aug. 16 to override the mayor’s veto. The vote came weeks after the mayor vetoed the council’s resolution to place a proposal to pay for low-income childcare subsidies by raising property taxes on next year’s ballot.

During the vote to override the mayor’s veto, Councilmember Rebecca Noecker of Ward 2 spoke to the commitment many in the room shared to get the proposal on the ballot.

“This is a vote that honors the incredible amount of work done by so many people over so many years, many of whom are here in the room today, and most recently, our early learning legislative advisory committee,” she said. “We’ve asked and answered dozens of questions about how this program will work over the last seven years. and I look forward to answering dozens more over the next 18 months.”

The council voted 5-2 with council members Mitra Jalali of Ward 4 and Russel Balenger of Ward 1 voting no. Jalali spoke ahead of her vote about her decision not to support the resolution due to a procedural issue.

“I will be standing by my original position that what concerns me about this action is that it is

the current council ordering an election. It’s not a petition process, and it’s not actually a structured budget conversation the way other programs are pursued,” she said. “I don’t think this is the appropriate route to pursue what I see as a worthy goal. So, I’ll stand by my original vote.”

Ahead of the council’s vote, Mayor Melvin

■ See CHILDCARE on page 5

The current Stillwater prison,

which is actually located in Bayport immediately to the south of the actual city, was built in 1914 to replace what was the first prison built in Minnesota. It is the secondmost-populated prison in the Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) system after the state prison in Faribault, with just over 1,200 prisoners. Only two state prisons have air conditioning throughout, ■ See STILLWATER on page 5

Ruth Richardson’s abrupt resignation

By H. Jiahong Pan Contributing

Writer state representative instrumental in improving the quality of life of Black women in Minnesota has resigned her legislative seat.

In a thread posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Rep. Ruth Richardson (DFL-52B) announced her resignation effective September 1. In a text message to the MSR the following day, she says she decided to resign to focus her efforts in running Planned Parenthood North Central States, where she is executive director, at a time when women’s rights are under attack.

“The healthcare landscape of this post-Roe world is tumultuous and dangerous, not only as it relates to abortion, but as politicians ramp up attacks on LGBTQ+ communities, staffing shortages, [and] rising maternal mortality rates,” said Richardson. “There is incredible and important work to be

accomplished at Planned Parenthood North Central States and I will be focusing my efforts there.”

Richardson, who lives in Mendota Heights, was first elected as a state representative in 2018, ousting incum-

bent Regina Barr, a Republican from Inver Grove Heights. During her time as a state representative, she authored bills that required employers to provide paid family leave, banned warrior training for

■ See RICHARDSON on page 5

AfricanAmerican youth suffer the most from gun violence

involved in the dispute and the bullet was never intended for her. Nor was it intended for 25-year-old former high school honor student and football linebacker Devon Harris, also killed in the gunfire that night. The news devastated the community, their co-workers, family and friends.

High School 30 minutes earlier, he lay dead outside Richmond’s Altria Theatre alongside his stepfather, Renzo Smith, a U. S. Army veteran. Both were killed by bullets from a gun wielded by a 19-year-old man who targeted the two, according to police.

gun violence. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the leading cause of death among Black children and young adults ages 1-44 is homicide by firearms.

her phone rang, she lay dead outside a popular pizza restaurant, felled by a bullet shot during

She

Fifteen months later, on June 6, 2023, only about 90 miles away, 18-year-old Shawn Jackson was also a promising young African American. Having just graduated from Huguenot

Whether the shootings were unintended or criminally intended for their victims, across the nation—coast-to-coast— Black people are disproportionately dying, being wounded by or mentally suffering from

In the midst of this crisis, sociologists, Black mental health experts and medical workers say one thing is certain: The travesty has taken its toll on Black mental health—largely through fear, stress and grief— while the gun industry is reaping billions of dollars.

■ See VIOLENCE on page 5

Twin Cities Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee organizer David Boehnke speaking at Monday’s protest outside of Stillwater prison

Photos by Chris Juhn

Ward 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Noecker Photo courtesy of Facebook

Rep. Ruth Richardson Photo by H. Jiahong Pan

Route to nowhere?

Plans call for the Blue Line to end in northern Brooklyn Park, except there’s nothing there

By H. Jiahong Pan

Contributing Writer

According to today’s plans, the Blue Line extension would take riders from downtown Minneapolis to the middle of nowhere.

That’s at least what it looks like today. The Blue Line extension as currently planned would extend the Blue Line light rail from Target Field Station in downtown Minneapolis through North Minneapolis, Robbinsdale, Crystal and Brooklyn Park, primarily on West Broadway Avenue and Bottineau Boulevard. The

plans now call for the project to end at West Broadway Avenue and Oak Grove Parkway in Brooklyn Park, an intersection that has an office park at one corner and farmland everywhere else.

But the city of Brooklyn Park hopes the farmland will be partially developed by the time the light rail project is finished. At a minimum, the city, the county, and the Met Council plan to realign and build new roads to allow the light rail project to come through. The city is also hoping to work with Target to build a new, walkable, mixed-

use development with housing, retail and open space.

The 400-acre site surrounding the proposed Oak Grove Parkway station, owned mostly by Target, is mostly farmland, with about 88 acres developed into an office park. Both Target and the city want the rest of the land to be developed into housing, retail and office space. However, the city does not have specifics on how much retail and office space will be built, along with what type of housing will be built, let alone how many housing units.

The pandemic may have up-

ended any plans Target has to develop the area surrounding the future Oak Grove Station anyway. Target has reportedly converted some of their space in their Brooklyn Park campus to allow their workforce to come in and collaborate with their colleagues at will. Target did not respond to multiple requests for comment on their development plans.

The city acknowledges the pandemic has decimated demand for office space as people embrace working from home in addition to working at the office. “There’s not a lot of optimism that we’ll see

any type of office development moving forward in the next many, many years,” says Brooklyn Park Community Development Director Kimberly Berggren. “The plan is going to have to evolve based on the market.”

The city also plans to build a park on land they mostly own that serves as a front yard for a new light rail maintenance facility Metro Transit plans to build to house the vehicles needed to run on the Blue Line extension. They plan for the park to have a shallow wading pool that becomes an ice rink in the winter, as well

as an outdoor amphitheater. Berggren says getting funding to build the park “is going to be the challenge for the city.”

The proposed development is not yet a done deal, as the city and possibly Target are waiting to see if the Blue Line extension will actually be built. “You can’t really start developing it right here because the roads have to go in first,” said Berggren, adding the roads will be rebuilt when the Blue Line extension breaks ground.

H. Jiahong Pan welcomes reader comments at hpan@ spokesman-recorder.com.

Met Council says Blue Line extension on-track despite postponed vote

By H. Jiahong Pan Contributing Writer

Representatives from the Met Council say the Blue Line extension remains on-track, despite a delayed vote to accept $75 million from Hennepin County for the project and to authorize a contractor to create more detailed engineering drawings for the project.

“Work on the Metro Blue Line extension has not paused and there is no delay to the project or plans,” said John Schadl, a Met Council spokesperson, in response to the article “Blue Line extension plan delayed” published in the Aug. 31–Sept 6, 2023 edition of MSR.

On August 23, several Met Council members voted to postpone accepting Hennepin County money for the project, as well as to allow a contractor to refine design plans, citing concerns about the lack of transparency over how the agency makes decisions.

Their concerns are focused on a funding agreement reached between staff at the Met Council and Hennepin County to patch a $272 million deficit for the Southwest Light Rail project, which is being built to connect Target Field Station with the suburbs of St. Louis Park, Hopkins, Minnetonka and Eden Prairie. Met Council members, some of whom say they had no role in crafting the agreement, were frustrated about the inability to understand what they are voting on in a short amount of time.

The item they were to vote on involved bringing in funding for the Blue Line extension and did not include a provision to approve the funding agreement for the Southwest Light Rail project. Staff and some council members expressed concern at the August 23 meeting about being able to pay workers and contractors associated with the project should funding lapse. Staff at

that meeting said they can continue paying in-house staff using the agency’s operating funds.

Meanwhile, Hennepin County says they have assumed all anti-displacement work in-house for the time being. “Currently, it’s all being led by internal Hennepin County [staff] and in partnership with Met Council staff,” said Hennepin County spokesperson Kyle Mianulli.

Amid the confusion, Met Council staff plan to explain the items in detail at the Committee of the Whole meeting on September 6. Met Council members would then vote on the items at their regular meeting on September 13.

The Hennepin County Board voted unanimously on August 22 to give Metro Transit $75 million to continue planning the Blue Line extension.

H. Jiahong Pan welcomes reader comments at hpan@ spokesman-recorder.com.

(l-r) Nkongo Cigolo, Nick Landwer and Dan Soler present Metro Transit’s recommended Blue Line Extension alignment through North Minneapolis.

Photo by H. Jiahong Pan

Photo by Chris Juhn

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Black pregnancy dangers: a preventable health crisis

By Sandy West Kaiser Health News

HOUSTON—Tonjanic Hill was overjoyed in 2017 when she learneda was 14 weeks pregnant. Despite a history of uterine fibroids, she never lost faith that she would someday have a child.

But, just five weeks after confirming her pregnancy, and the day after a gender-reveal party where she announced she was having a girl, she seemed unable to stop urinating. She didn’t realize her amniotic fluid was leaking. Then came the excruciating pain.

“I ended up going to the emergency room,” said Hill, now 35. “That’s where I had the most traumatic, horrible experience ever.”

An ultrasound showed she had lost 90% of her amniotic fluid. Yet, over the angry protestations of her nurse, Hill said, the attending doctor insisted Hill be discharged and see her own OB-GYN the next day. The doctor brushed off her concerns, she said. The next morning, her OB-GYN’s office rushed her back to the hospital. But she lost her baby, Tabitha Winnie Denkins.

Black women are less likely than women from other racial groups to carry a pregnancy to term—and in Harris County, where Houston is located, when they do, their infants are about twice as likely to die before their first birthday as those from other racial groups. Black fetal and infant deaths are part of a continuum of systemic failures that contrib-

counties have the largest number of Black births but also more deaths that would not occur if Black babies had the same chance of reaching their first birthdays as White infants.

No known genetic reasons exist for Black infants to die at higher rates than White infants. Such deaths are often called “deaths of disparity” because they are likely attributable to systemic racial disparities. Regardless of economic status or educational attainment, the stress from experiencing persistent sys-

treatment.

Regardless of income or insurance status, studies show medical providers often dismiss Black women’s questions and concerns, minimize their physical complaints, and fail to offer appropriate care. By contrast, a study of 1.8 million hospital births spanning 23 years in Florida found that the gap in mortality rates between Black and White newborns were halved for Black babies when Black physicians cared for them.

In 2013, Houstonian Kay

partner couldn’t afford to pay the bill, even though she was a financially stable business owner and he had a well-paying job as a truck driver.

She said hospital staffers showed minimal compassion after she lost Troya. They seemed to dismiss her grief, she said. It was the first time she could remember feeling as if she was treated callously because she is Black.

“There was no respect at all, like zero respect or compassion,” said Matthews, who has since founded the Shades of

To help combat these high mortality rates in Harris County, Robinson created a maternal child and health office and launched a home-visit pilot program to connect prenatal and postpartum patients with resources such as housing assistance, medical care, and social services. Limited access to healthy food and recreational activities are barriers to healthy pregnancy outcomes. Studies have also shown a connection between evictions and infant mortality.

For Hill, not having insurance was also likely a factor.

While pregnant, Hill said, she had had just a single visit at a community health center before her miscarriage. She was working multiple jobs as a college student and did not have employer-provided medical coverage. She was not yet approved for Medicaid, the state-federal program for people with low incomes or disabilities.

Texas has the nation’s highest uninsured rate, with nearly five million Texans—or 20 percent of those younger than 65—lacking coverage, said Anne Dunkelberg, a senior fellow with Every Texan, a nonprofit research and advocacy institute focused on equity in public policy.

rate for non-Hispanic White Texans, according to census data. Health experts fear that many more people are losing insurance coverage as covid-19 pandemic protections end for Medicaid. Without full coverage, those who are pregnant may avoid seeking care, meaning they skip being seen in the critical first trimester, said Fatimah Lalani, medical director at Houston’s Hope Clinic.

Texas had the lowest percentage of mothers receiving early prenatal care in the nation in 2020, according to the state’s 2021 Healthy Texas Mothers and Babies Databook, and nonHispanic Black moms and babies were less likely to receive first-trimester care than other racial and ethnic groups. Babies born without prenatal care were three times as likely to have a low birth weight and five times as likely to die as those whose mothers had care.

If Hill’s miscarriage reflects how the system failed her, the birth of her twins two years later demonstrates how appropriate support has the po-

ute to disproportionately high Black maternal mortality rates.

“This is a public health crisis as it relates to Black moms and babies that is completely preventable,” said Barbie Robinson, who took over as executive director of Harris County Public Health in March 2021.

“When you look at the breakdown demographically—who’s disproportionately impacted by the lack of access—we have a situation where we can expect these horrible outcomes.”

In fact, Harris County ranks third, behind only Chicago’s Cook County and Detroit’s Wayne County, in what are known as excess Black infant deaths, according to the federal Health Resources and Services Administration. Those three counties, which also are among the nation’s most populated counties, account for seven percent of all Black births in the country and nine percent of excess Black infant deaths, said Ashley Hirai, a senior scientist at HRSA. The

temic racism leads to adverse health consequences for Black women and their babies, according to a study published in the journal Women’s Health Issues.

These miscarriages and deaths can occur even in communities that otherwise appear to have vast health resources. In Harris County, for example, home to two public hospitals and the Texas Medical Center—the largest medical complex in the world, with more than 54 medical-related institutions and 21 hospitals— mortality rates were 11.1 per 1,000 births for Black infants from 2014 through 2019, according to the March of Dimes, compared with 4.7 for White infants.

The abundance of providers in Harris County hasn’t reassured pregnant Black patients that they can find care that is timely, appropriate, or culturally competent—care that acknowledges a person’s heritage, beliefs and values during

Matthews was running a successful catering business when she lost the daughter she’d named Troya eight months and three weeks into pregnancy.

Matthews hadn’t felt well, she’d been sluggish and tired for several days, but her doctor told her not to worry. Not long afterward, she woke up realizing something was terribly wrong. She passed out after calling 911. When she woke up again she was in the emergency room.

None of the medical staffers would talk to her, she said. She had no idea what was happening, no one was answering her questions, and she started having a panic attack.

“It kind of felt like I was watching myself lose everything,” she recalled. She said the nurse seemed annoyed with her questions and demeanor and gave her a sedative. “When I woke up, I did not have a baby.”

Matthews recalled one staffer insinuating that she and her

Blue Project, a Houston nonprofit focused on improving maternal mental health, primarily for Black patients.

While non-Hispanic Black Texans have a slightly better rate—17 percent—than that overall state level, it’s still higher than the 12 percent

tential to change outcomes.

With Medicaid coverage from the beginning of her second pregnancy, Hill saw a high-risk pregnancy specialist. Diagnosed early with what’s called an incompetent cervix, Hill was consistently seen, monitored and treated. She also was put on bed rest for her entire pregnancy.

She had an emergency cesarean section at 34 weeks, and both babies spent two weeks in neonatal intensive care. Today, her premature twins are three years old.

“I believe God—and the highrisk doctor—saved my twins,” she said.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces indepth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism.

“There was no respect at all, like zero respect or compassion.”

Tonjanic Hill lost a 2017 pregnancy at 19 weeks. Two years later, she was pregnant again with twins. This time, she was on bed rest for months and had to have an emergency cesarean section at 34 weeks. The twins, though premature, are now preschoolers.

“I believe God—and the high-risk doctor—saved my twins,” says Hill.

STILLWATER

Continued from page 1

and MCF-Stillwater is not one of them.

Those who were formerly incarcerated at Stillwater say extremely hot living conditions have resulted in peeling paint and sweating walls. They also contend that drinking the dirty water has contributed to health problems for inmates.

“Some people get like rashes and s***,” said Tommy Powell of the water that comes out of the sinks. “It’s been [that way] for forever. You run the water, but now that water comes out brown.” Advocates add that

CHILDCARE

Continued from page 1

Carter held a press conference in his office to walk members of the media through why he had decided to veto the resolution in the first go-around. He stood between two whiteboards showing how much it would cost the city to fully fund childcare for some families and significantly subsidize it for others.

“I would love to have a policy conversation,” the mayor said, “but the truth is this is not a debate over policy. This is a debate over basic math. I want to show you the difference between building policy for implementation and building policy for Twitter.”

In referencing the city council’s resolution, the mayor told members of the press that child care could cost the city nearly $111 million annually at a minimum despite the proposal allowing voters to raise taxes by $20 million, leaving a $90 million gap.

Carter’s estimate came from the calculation that it would take $81 million to fully fund child care for families earning below 185 percent of the federal poverty level, $20 million to subsidize child care for families earning above that,

RICHARDSON

Continued from page 1

police officers, and declared racism a public health crisis.

She called for the creation of an office to investigate Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls, as well as a partnership to prevent infant mortality and to make Juneteenth a state holiday.

Reflecting Saturday on her tenure, Richardson said it was difficult to say which of her actions were the most consequential. “It’s difficult to narrow

VIOLENCE

Continued from page 1

“The volumes of guns are now so high that many people just use a gun to solve conflict when even that person might have tried something different in the past,” says psychiatrist Rahn Kennedy Bailey, chairman of the department of psychiatry at Louisiana State University in New Orleans.

“Our streets have been flooded with guns, a lot of guns. Where people have always had conflicts and had to resolve it in different ways, now they might grab you and shoot you… The sheer volume of guns are so high, a lot more violence happens.”

According to a report by the Center for American Progress, between 1986 and 2008 an average of 3.8 million fire-

sometimes it’s the only water inmates can drink when corrections officers decide to restrict access to the ice machine as punishment.

As a result, advocates are demanding the Minnesota Department of Human Rights launch an investigation into the living conditions of prisoners at Stillwater, as well as for an independent body to test the water. The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization that researches harmful chemicals found in everyday products like sunscreen and water, tested the water at MCF-Stillwater in early 2021 and found Radium-226 and Radium-228, both of which can cause cancer, cataracts and

and another roughly $10 million used for administrative and onboarding costs.

anemia.

Meanwhile, advocates say lockdowns at Stillwater prison have become the norm because of an ongoing shortage

strongly push back against the notion that this proposal has not been well thought through or well researched.

“As I mentioned,” she said, “we have some of the best evidence for why this is a good policy investment than we have for most of the other, any of the other public policies we enact as a city,” she said. “I think something that’s really important to note is the fact that you can’t do everything doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do something.”

of corrections officers. The union representing corrections officers, AFSCME Council 5, released a statement on Sunday claiming that the Min-

professor of applied economics. Her research focuses on child care and early education, and she has particular expertise in the areas of childcare assistance policy in Minnesota and other states.

nesota Department of Corrections has a history of understaffing its prisons, which results in reduced programming and, consequently, upset prisoners. In the same statement, the union demanded better pay for its workers to attract more people into a profession they call “honorable.”

Boehnke contends the Department of Corrections has a quicker way to resolve this issue by granting work release to those who are eligible for it. Work release allows those who are a year away from supervised release to be allowed to work outside the prison in the general public and stay at a local jail overnight.

school programs. Childcare assistance is another option that low-income families may be able to participate in.

“There are over 1,400 [inmates] who are ‘low risk’ according to the Department of Corrections, and qualify for the work release program,” said David Boehnke, organizer with the Twin Cities Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. “So if we have a staffing crisis, you can address the staffing crisis by letting people [go] home for good.” With regard to work release, the DOC previously told the MSR that state statute requires them to consider the public interest and public safety.

H. Jiahong Pan welcomes reader comments at hpan@ spokesman-recorder.com.

The mayor then pointed to his staff and stated that none of them had the opportunity to perform fiscal analysis on any of the funding and costs since he hadn’t received any information from the council.

“All of a sudden,” he said, “we found ourselves in a place where there’s a rush to put this on the ballot. For some reason, there’s a rush to pass a resolution this year to put it on the ballot next year. And someone without the participation of my office or without the participation of my administration decided that we should be responsible for the work to do it.”

In an interview with the MSR, Noecker refuted the idea that the proposal was rushed and said it had taken years to reach this stage. “I would

down to one achievement. I am incredibly proud of the work that I have led to build a stronger, more equitable and inclusive state,” said Richardson.

Noecker underlined the needs that families have for fully funded or subsidized child care options. She pointed to how Minnesota’s childcare costs are high compared to other states and rank among the most expensive nationwide. Funding child care for St. Paul families would help them achieve a better work-life balance, have children show up more prepared to kindergarten, and have positive social and health outcomes, according to Noecker.

Cities across the country such as Denver and New Orleans are looking to provide assistance to families by supporting childcare programs through similar ballot measures and tax increases.

University of Minnesota

Professor Elizabeth Davis is a

diverse initiatives and have a tremendous amount of hope for the future as my former colleagues prepare for next session.”

Davis stated that it’s been a popular notion on the ballot to see tax increases used to fund childcare programs, and the research points to long-lasting benefits. “The research is quite compelling that particularly for children from disadvantaged and low-income families, the effects of high quality, early care and education are both short and long run,” she said.

Davis also said that she sees both sides when it comes to the debate taking place in St. Paul on how to go about funding child care. “I thought it was great that the city council was getting out there on this issue and emphasizing its importance and trying to find a solution. But I also respect the mayor’s concern about getting the details right and the funding,” she said.

According to Davis, there are different childcare options parents can typically choose from, depending on their child’s age and needs. Programs such as HeadStart are federally funded. And some school districts, such as St. Paul Public Schools, have pre-

two union organizers and issued “final written warnings” to 11 others involved in organizing the union, apparently for discussing confidential information related to the firing of one of their colleagues, according to the Minnesota Reformer.

To fund these programs, Davis states that property taxes are a great option for local buyin from voters who might vote to support their neighbors and community members with care for children. However, there is the issue of some inequity in the process, since areas with higher property values will have more funding to support their childcare options.

“We want this to be a collaborative effort,” she said. “I believe policies work best when there’s full buy-in, and over the last seven years we have been in conversation with the mayor. He has been invited to the table most recently to be present or send a delegate to our early learning committee. He did not take that option.” Noecker said that she and the mayor have been in conversation following the override and have set a date to move the conversation forward.

The mayor stated in his press conference on the day of the override that he would be open to considering something brought by the council that included an implementation plan and a detailed budget with the costs and revenues that equal out.

Mayor Carter has said that the council’s proposal would task his office with overseeing the program without being able to define it. In response to this, Noecker stated that she and the other members of the council want to do this in partnership with the mayor’s office.

Councilmember Noecker clarified that the proposal would not lead to the city being responsible for covering child care fully or partially for every child in St. Paul. She stated that there would be a gradual approach to the program that would include pilot years to see what works and scale up from there.

Abdi Mohamed welcomes reader comments at amohamed@ spokesman-recorder.com.

“It takes a village to do this work, and I’m incredibly honored to have worked with the community on so many

arms were manufactured in the United States. The report, entitled “The Gun Industry in America: The Overlooked Player in a National Crisis,” illustrates the rapid growth annually of gun proliferation throughout the country. The 3.8 million guns between 1986 and 2008 “doubled to an annual average of 8.4 million firearms per year from 2009 to 2018,” the most accurate recent count by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In the year 2022 alone, 4.2 million people in America became new gun owners, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearm industry’s trade association. In a report, the NSSF estimates “in 2022 the firearm and ammunition industry was responsible for as much as $80.73 billion in total

Her resignation comes months after facing accusations of union busting in late March. Her organization fired

economic activity” in America. This does not count the thousands of so-called “ghost guns,” weapons not traceable because they are purchased secretly online or even made at home.

The St. Paul Union Advocate reported that Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, which is organizing Planned Parenthood North Central States workers, rescinded its endorsement of Richardson as a result.

from gunshots in the last 50 years” than in all of the wars in American history. “Since 1968, more than 1.5 million Americans have died in gun-related incidents. By comparison, approximately 1.2 million service

Richardson said in a text message on Saturday that her resignation had nothing to do with her organization’s ongoing unionizing activities and says she supports her organization’s workers in forming a union. “I firmly believe that the unionization of Planned Parenthood North Central States will positively impact our work climate and culture, ultimately improving the highquality care we provide to our patients and the communities we serve,” said Richardson.

Since Richardson resigned with one more session left in

tion, reports that Black people “experience 12 times the gun homicides, 18 times the gun assault injuries, and nearly 3 times the fatal shootings by police of White Americans.”

But the disparate impact on the Black community is not new. Experts have long known that African Americans—just as in the cases of most other tragic social statistics—bear the brunt of the pain of gun violence physically, mentally and emotionally. There is even evidence indicating that gun violence dramatically affects educational outcomes such as test scores.

her term, Gov. Tim Walz must now declare a vacancy for her seat and call for a special election so someone can be elected to her seat before the 2024 legislative session begins on February 12. Walz has not done so at press time.

Richardson may have been the first woman of color and the first Black woman to be elected to her seat, which has historically been a swing seat occupied by White politicians.

H. Jiahong Pan welcomes reader comments at hpan@ spokesman-recorder.com.

a victim or witness) increase the likelihood of experiencing anxieties, depression, social withdrawal, and difficulties in concentrating.”

Based on information collected from African American youth “residing in areas plagued with violence and crime,” Mcgee’s 2003 study states, “socioeconomic status serves as one of the many environmental factors that can contribute to the use of violence to resolve conflicts.”

The compilations of resulting deaths have come from multiple directions. An NBC News analysis of data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, “More Americans have died

members have been killed in every war in U.S. history, according to estimates from the Department of Veterans Affairs and iCasualties.org.”

Everytown.org, a gun violence prevention organiza-

A study led 20 years ago by Hampton University Professor Zina T. Mcgee concluded that “Studies based on children raised in communities in which violence occurs have shown that direct encounters with violence (either as

Despite credible conclusions that most gun-related homicides occur in low-income Black communities, it is clear that without the proliferation of guns the shootings would not be possible.

Hazel Trice Edney, president and CEO of Trice Edney Communications, and former editor-inchief of the NNPA News Service.

“I want to show you the difference between building policy for implementation and building policy for Twitter.”

“The volumes of guns are now so high that many people just use a gun to solve conflict when even that person might have tried something different in the past.”

“We are not going to walk into our cells if we don’t get access to basic human rights like access to water and showers.”

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter

Photo by Abdi Mohamed

“I am incredibly proud of the work that I have led to build a stronger, more equitable and inclusive state.”

Sean Garrison Art Black Business SPOTLIGHT

By Chris Juhn Staff Contributor

“It took me three years to call myself an artist,” said Sean Phillips, who began painting in 2011 and opened his studio, Sean Garrison Art, that same year. “In 2014 is when I decided I was an artist.” Although Phillips had been doing a lot of commissioned artwork for years, it wasn’t until he began painting “Walking on Air” in 2020, outside the Government Center in Minneapolis, where the Derek Chauvin trial for the murder of George Floyd was taking place, that he achieved national recognition.

In addition to painting, he writes poetry and screenplays, and has a motivational book that he’s been tinkering with for a while. He adds, “I got a novel sitting around that I want to write.”

MSR: What inspired you to start creating art?

Sean: In 2010, I was with this organization called the Council on Crime and Justice. They did an art fundraiser called “Art Injustice.” A woman who was in development asked me to do this painting so they could put it up for auction.

The night of the auction, you know, my little itty-bitty artist ego is on my shoulder, I go in and I was looking at my art since it was a silent auction.

The fine art of business

the end of September.

MSR: What has been your biggest challenge running this business?

WHY

There’s this white guy standing there, unassuming, with a bomber jacket and jeans. Really unassuming cat and he was looking at my piece. So, I introduce myself and asked if he liked this piece. He said, ‘Yeah I like this piece.’ And I said, ‘I’m Shawn Phillips.’ He goes, ‘Phillips, we could be brothers. I’m Eddie Phillips.’ And we laughed for a minute. He looks at it and said, ‘You did this?’ Then he said, ‘You’re in the wrong business.’ No one had ever given me that high a compliment other than my mother.

So we’re talking at length for 45 minutes and the cat goes, ‘You make sure I get this painting.’ I said, ‘Well make sure you bid on it.’

painting. Eddie Phillips got my painting.’ She froze. I’m looking at her and she’s looking at me and I’m like, what’s up? She said, ‘You know who that is right?’ I said, ‘No I don’t know.’ She goes, ‘Remember that grant review two weeks ago to the Phillips foundation? You know, Phillips vodka?’ Oh, he’s that guy.

So this guy was the unassuming billionaire cat that owned Phillips Vodka and Belvedere and all these other things.

away. So now the goal is to do this painting and give it to his son. But his son is Dean Phillips, the congressman. Whenever I can make it full circle, I’m gonna give him that painting.

MSR: What kind of art do you do?

Sean: I do abstract work and large-scale performative and interpretive theater.

MSR: When did you start to see success as an artist?

Sean: The lack of sharing of information between artists that have info with those who don’t.

MSR: What did you do before art?

Sean: I worked with a nonprofit called Hired. I did development for guys that were coming off the streets trying to get them work ready.

MSR: What’s your vision for your business? What does success look like for you?

The next morning, I go into the office and people were panicking. They had all the bid tickets laid out. They forgot to connect the bid numbers with the people who won the bids. So they didn’t know who bought what.

I said, ‘I know who got my

I mentioned that because when he told me I was in the wrong business, it struck me. And I’ve never forgotten that. I can remember as plain as day the look on his face when he said it. It stuck with me.

I was gonna do this painting for the guy for this show I was gonna do. And then he passes

Sean: Brother George Floyd got murdered. I have a daughter in Delaware. And she saw what was going on in the news. When she didn’t see any captions she asked her mother, “Is that my dad?”

It struck me. I said, going forward I’m gonna use my talent to speak to something that edifies humanity and talks to things that we need to be talking about, that people don’t want to talk about.

To do stuff that looks great on the wall and in clinics, that’s great. Because I have that. But does that move the masses? Or does that say something that we need to talk about? And quite often it doesn’t.

The Chauvin trial was announced, and I told myself, when this dude’s verdict comes in, I’m gonna be out here on the streets. I’m gonna paint what I feel.

With the live shows when I did the “Heaven or Hell” piece, it kind of revolved around George Floyd and what I witnessed. Those emotions range from confusion and anger to hope and peace at the end.

Another one I did that recently is called “The darkness in my skin.” I painted a mass lynching. The bodies were hanging. That was to get people in a really messed up emotional space. And then, from that space come up with new solutions and new ways of talking about how we address the biggest elephant in the room of America—and that’s America’s relation with those of African descent and race. We still haven’t truly addressed that because we’re still having these conversations, and we’ll see manifestations of these hanging bodies years later.

By all intent and purpose, I

Sean: To me success is when I can generate enough revenue from my art to start programs and help people. That’s it. When I did this painting called “Walking on Air” during the Chauvin trial, I got offered $100,000 for that painting and I declined it. Because the goal was to auction it off. I can maximize this moment and get enough coin off of that to go to north Minneapolis and start a program.

MSR: What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur?

Sean: Be freaking brave! There is no valor in cowardice. There’s no valor in not having any courage. No success in that. Safe and comfortable, that’s dangerous if you want to be an entrepreneur. You got to blow up that box and stand outside all of it.

The reason why I do abstract work is because my brain doesn’t stay in a box. And the analogy I use is to imagine a stable of horses. They got in

It is unacceptable that Black Women across our community have a 41% higher mortality rate from breast cancer than White Women is a spring board for Black Women to change this reality.

I remember seeing those tanks downtown Minneapolis lined up. I told myself, you know, I’m gonna go paint that energy, even if I’m between pepper spray, tear gas, and rubber bullets. I was planning to create every day until it was over with, and then donate the money to those doing the fighting.

WHAT

A fun-filled get together for Black Women featuring local musicians, mammography signups, and inspirational speakers on breast health. The community gathering is cosponsored by Sister Spokesman and the MN Cancer GAPS Project.

So fast forward. The day the verdict comes in. Two weeks prior to that I ran into a reporter at some event. I hand him my card. This is what I’m gonna do, if you think it’s newsworthy to cover some crazy dude downtown painting in an area which is like a war zone, that’s where I’m gonna be.

Day of the verdict, he calls me up. The verdict is gonna be handed down in a couple hours. Can you meet us at the government center? So I met him downtown. I started to paint and start off real dark. And then when verdict came in the whole area just exploded like the Vikings won the Super Bowl. That’s how I felt. It was the most incredible feeling.

I thought we were all getting spoofed. I’m like, okay, somebody’s lying to me. I did not just hear what I just heard? I started painting this piece and got all this attention. I was on MSNBC for a hot second.

MSR: Is there a message you want to get across with your art?

Sean: Depends on the intent.

think the shows the success was based on all the tears we had after the show and all the conversation we had with intent. With that show the intent was to evoke this pain, which I think is the most honest emotion that we got as humans.

MSR: How does your business impact the community?

Sean: My hope is that it makes people want to do something and it motivates people to speak up. Or at least breathe on a subject and not be so apathetic. I want people to think. We don’t think enough. You know, and if we do speak, we don’t speak about what we think because people are so comfortable. I don’t want people to be comfortable. There’s a lot going on in the community we need to be activated about. A lot of people are walking and jogging, and we need to be sprinting. Because all these issues that we deal with aren’t new issues.

MSR: What would you consider your most important product or service?

Sean: Art

MSR: What’s the book you’re working on called?

Sean: Love Lotus. It’s a poetry book and it should be out by

a space, they run around, but they’re limited as to where they can go. And there’s that one horse that got out, way out in the distance and they can’t catch it. They’re just going to let him do what he do. That’s me. You have to be brave enough to want to go that route. Because you know, there’s no one else out there. To be an entrepreneur, quite often it’s a lot of lonely nights and lonely days and plotting and planning on your own. It’s knowing that I’m either gonna sink or swim by myself. And then once I’m swimming, then I can bring other people along. But it’s a lonely endeavor.

MSR: Would you like to add that has not been covered?

Sean: Love every day as if it’s your last. Allow no one to steal your joy, because there are those out there who are trying to siphon every bit of happiness

You can find and purchase Sean Phillip’s artwork online at www. seangarrisonartist.com, or for commission work, call 612-7038739. You can also find his work on Instagram and Facebook.

Sean Garrison Photos by Chris Juhn

& Culture

Minneapolis Interview Project spotlights city’s social justice plight

Capri Theater event on Sept. 14 will showcase narratives

By Tony Kiene Contributing Writer

“When I was young, I wanted to be a dancer,” remembers Anne Winkler-Morey, who by the time she’d turned 12 had lived in at least as many cities. Her family eventually settled in Minneapolis, which she’s called home ever since.

Winkley-Morey’s interests began to stretch beyond ballet when she discovered the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Studs Terkel among many others.

“I was really fascinated by biographies, autobiographies,” she explains, “along with history, politics, basically anything that was non-fiction.”

Just last year, Winkler-Morey became an award-winning

author in her own right. Now, one of her most recent undertakings will receive a permanent space in the Hennepin History Museum.

The Minneapolis Interview Project, which Winkler-Morey began in 2016, was designed to collect and curate the stories and experiences of 100 people who have lived in, worked in, and/or otherwise been shaped by the City of Lakes.

On Thursday, September 14, the historic Capri Theater will host “An Evening of Real-Life Stories About Social Justice in Minneapolis. This special event will feature Winkler-Morey and several people she’s spoken with over the past several years, reading from their actual interview transcripts.

Likewise, the evening will

showcase photographs by local artist and educator Eric Mueller, who volunteered his time to spotlight interviewees in locations around the city that carry special meaning to them.

The path to the project

As Winkler-Morey continued to immerse herself in non-fiction and oral historians such as Terkel, she also took an interest in activism, becoming involved in the local chapter of the Central America movement.

This occupied so much of her time that she dropped out of college, before ultimately returning to the University of Minnesota where she earned a Ph.D. with an emphasis on social movements, and in particular U.S. policy towards nations such as Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

Eventually, Winkler-Morey turned her sights inward and during a 14-month bicycle trip across America happened upon a multitude of communities “unique in beauty and culture, but similar in the things that ail them: historical trauma, unsustainable local economies, gross inequities, and crippling fears of people outside their borders.”

The result – her critically acclaimed debut memoir, “Allegiance to the Winds and Waters: Bicycling the Political Divides of the United States.”

Both Winkler-Morey’s time on the bicycle and writing the book helped her to recall the stories she heard as a child of her father’s escape from Nazi

Germany. The lesson she took from that was always to “love humanity and principles, not places.”

University of Kansas Professor David Roediger, who notes in his review of Winkler-Morey’s memoir, “This moving and intelligent book succeeds as odyssey, as a showcase for its author’s skills as a historian, and as a loving appreciation of a land, if not a nation.”

“What do I really know about Minneapolis?”

However, following her trek around the U.S. she began to consider that human attachment to a local place doesn’t necessarily equate to nationalism, and “need not be provincialism” either. A similar sentiment is also captured by

After witnessing everything that she had on this journey, Winkler-Morey asked herself, what, if anything, did she even know about her own city and its inhabitants, writing that “sometimes I will claim it as my homeland. Other times I feel I am still an outsider.”

So, she set forth to find

■ See ARTS on page 9

“Each person was so different, so distinctive. And yet as they were compiled so many of these stories began to echo one another.”

Interviewee Valerie Deus, a Haitian American poet

Photos by Eric Mueller

Eductor Kenneth Holt, one of many interviewees

Prayers for our Children

By Marian Wright Edelman

This Labor Day weekend we honored the workers who have made America all that it is—especially all those who work with and for children. The teachers and school administrators who are beginning a new school year right now are always on the front lines advocating for and alongside our children, sometimes under very difficult circumstances.

As they return to their classrooms they are not alone. Parents and grandparents and all those who care for children and strive to be good role models for them are child advocates. Doctors, social workers, and others who work with and serve children are child advocates. Librarians and coaches are child advocates.

They are all joined by the thousands of people, with or without children of their own, who spend their time and talent fighting for just policies for children and families and those who are vulnerable. “A Child Advocate’s Beatitudes,” inspired by Clarence Jordan’s Sermon on the Mount, is a prayer for all.

Blessed are the poor in spirit— who do not measure themselves by money or worldly power but who ask God for what they need and are not mired in pride—for theirs is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are those who mourn— who are concerned about the needs of children and the poor and those in need—for they will be comforted. Blessed are the

meek—who do not seek only their own good but their neighbors’ too—for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness— who do not work for the praise of others or earthly gain or fame and share gladly their talents, energy and money—for they will be filled.

Blessed are the peacemakers— who do not prepare for war while talking about peace, who do not kill others in order to stop killing, who do not love just those who love them but reach out to make their enemies friends—for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake—who do not run or waver in the face of criticism, threats, or death—for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who speak kindly and not meanly of others –who do not tear down others but build them up for the kingdom’s work and children’s well-being— for they shall receive their reward.

Blessed are the just—who do not adhere to the letter of the law and regulations for some but ignore them for others—for they will hear God’s well done.

Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, the great president of Morehouse College who shaped so many of my generation, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said:

In response to the article: “Met Council recommends Blue Line route through North Minneapolis,” by H. Jiahong Pan (August 17-23, 2023, edition)

My family has lived in North Minneapolis since the 1930s and not once have any of us have ever said, “We sure could use some light rail around here.” The buses work just fine and given that the MTC is transitioning buses to all-electric, what is the real purpose for pushing light rail on us?

—Mark Allen

In response to the article:

“Acclaimed doctor Charles Crutchfield III passes,” (June 22-28, 2023, edition), there was a tremendous outpouring of sympathy and support. Here are some of the letters.

Dr. Crutchfield or as I called him, “Dr. C,” was a pioneer in the medical field. We were going to revisit a project I was working on that he supported. He was excited for me as I was to finally add support for Black doctors and his foundation. Then COVID came and I was optimistic to revisit the project.

I knew we would connect again. He possessed wisdom beyond his years and was a stellar human being. From his father to his children, to his wife, the most gracious, intelligent and benevolent family you could ever meet. It was heartbreaking to hear of his passing. His light shined bright for the world to see. Now it will be a guiding star from above. Our condolences to the Crutchfield family and all who were privileged to have known him. R.I.P.

—Danae Marchase

R.I.P good doctor, your legacy continues. Peace and Blessings to the family and friends

—Andrea Jenkins

Dr. Charles Crutchfield III was an amazing dermatologist who exemplified outstanding patient care and who modernized dermatology to its highest levels. I first met Dr. Charles Crutchfield III in my early 20s, to help correct keloids from reconstructive surgeries on my face. He revolutionized laser surgeries to help improve and get rid of keloids. He will be greatly missed by all. My condolences to his family and close friends he is forever changed my life and made me feel proud

of the scars I wear only to make me feel more beautiful inside and out.

—Pedrina Faber

Dang, this is crazy Dr. C was a dermatologist legend. I knew him outside the office and met his son. Good man!!

—Melissa Storbakken

My deepest sympathy for Dr. Crutchfield’s family. He was a special doctor and person. He treated me and my mother with professionalism and kindness.

—Patricia Fillipi

Our condolences to the family, friends , coworkers, and staff, especially Linda Abbott, who adored this professional icon. God Bless us all.

—Paulette Lewis and the

Robby Cashman family

I am so, so sorry to hear this news. I was a patient of Dr. Crutchfield. He diagnosed a rather rare pre-cancerous condition that I had. And thanks to him, it was resolved. He was always very kind and greeted you with the biggest smile. My prayers are with his family now.

—Kimberly DeBerge

Blessed are the merciful—who know they are sinners and are dependent on God’s and others’ forgiveness every minute of every day—for they will receive mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart— who are not hypocrites but who struggle to live what they preach—for they will see God.

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“I am disturbed, I am uneasy about men because we have no guarantee that when we train a man’s mind, we will train his heart; no guarantee that when we increase a man’s knowledge, we will increase his goodness. There is no necessary correlation between knowledge and goodness.”

I share one more prayer for all those who will work with and for children this year that all children will be taught what really matters.

“God, help us not to raise a new generation of children with high intellectual quotients and low caring and compassion quotients;

with sharp competitive edges but dull cooperative instincts;

with highly developed computer skills but poorly developed consciences;

with a gigantic commitment to the big I but little sense of responsibility to the bigger we; with mounds of disconnected information without a moral context to determine its worth;

with more and more knowledge and less and less imagination and appreciation for the magic of life that cannot be quantified or computerized;

and with more and more worldliness and less and less wonder and awe for the sacred and everyday miracles of life.

God, help us to raise children who care.”

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

By Ben Jealous

Nicknames like the Motor City and Motown make clear that the auto industry built Detroit. Cars did a lot to give the neighborhoods in and around the 48217 zip code on the city’s southwest side their nickname too — Michigan’s most polluted zip code.

A Ford plant, a U.S. Steel mill and, most prominently, a Marathon Oil refinery that’s the only one in the state and one of the nation’s largest have fouled the air for decades in what locals call the Tri-Cities.

In all, the Environmental Protection Agency monitors more than four dozen polluters in the area that’s home to poor Blacks and Hispanics.

In the mid-1960s, Interstate 75 dissected what was a vibrant neighborhood and added the fumes of 100,000 cars and trucks a day. Many trace their roots to the 13 original families that settled there in the Great Migration, and houses are a big part of neighborhood families’ wealth.

Residents of 48217 have fought for years to slow the pollution, protesting and appearing at public hearings for decades. The corporate interests have won more often than not.

The city historically traded the promise of jobs for residents’ interests. Marathon promised 51 percent of jobs at the refinery would go to city residents when it won a $175 million tax abatement for an

expansion in 2007; a decade later, six percent of the workforce was from Detroit.

We’re at a moment when we can change these patterns, when places across the country like the Tri-Cities can get relief and we can stop creating them in the first place. The hundreds of billions that the federal government has committed to infrastructure and

demand for EVs that we are building for automakers at the same time.

It begs the question why

Ford, General Motors and Stellantis are trying to make the work to build EVs less desirable for their 150,000 employees represented by the United Auto Workers. Their contract expires in less than two weeks.

A critical part of the negotiations underway is the question of how workers in plants making EVs will be treated. It’s a question not just for this contract, but for years to come as EVs become the standard for U.S. car buyers.

clean energy—more money than we spent sending astronauts to the moon—can do that.

For example, there’s $3 billion alone set aside for communities like 48217 that have felt the most environmental and climate harm. It’s not enough, but it’s a significant start.

When it comes to the auto industry, our country is spending heavily to speed the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), from a $9.2 billion loan the Energy Department gave Ford and its South Korean partner this summer to build battery plants to $7,500 tax credits for car buyers who choose new EVs. We’re lowering the cost of supplying the bigger

The automakers are forming joint ventures to open battery plants where they don’t have to pay the wages that they do at vehicle assembly plants. The union points to the starting pay at an Ohio battery plant that’s half the top pay at gaspowered car plants. The companies also are placing new plants in Southern states with right-to-work laws to avoid unions.

The people who make cars shouldn’t have to choose between a green, sustainable job and one that pays good wages they’ve negotiated. That’s not what American taxpayers expect in return for the incentives flowing to the auto industry.

Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club, the nation’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization.

“We have no guarantee that when we train a man’s mind, we will train his heart; no guarantee that when we increase a man’s knowledge, we will increase his goodness.”

Fewer disposable neighborhoods, more good Green jobs

The people who make cars shouldn’t have to choose between a green, sustainable job and one that pays good wages they’ve negotiated.

Continued from page 7

out what it was she knew, but more importantly, to learn more by launching the Minneapolis Interview Project. She was especially interested in casting the experience of Min-

view was to take place on April 5, 2016, with poet, artist, and Northside legend Kirk Washington, Jr. But Washington was tragically killed the day before in an automobile accident along Interstate 94. Heartbroken, WinkleyMorey marshaled the strength to continue and started by in-

autobiography. As she worked toward her goal of 100 interview subjects in the ensuing years, Winkler-Morey was amazed by some of the things she discovered.

“Each person was so different, so distinctive,” she reveals.

“And yet as they were compiled, so many of these stories began to coalesce, started to echo one another.”

The roster that Winkler-Morey has assembled since 2016 consists of interviewees who range in age from 17 to 90. These subjects cross any number of social categories including race, class, gender, sexual orientation, health and disability status, migration experience, the part of Minneapolis they come from, and so on.

One anticipated revelation from the project is just how many of those participating had either moved here from or had some kind of connection to Chicago. “It’s really something to consider how much the city of Chicago has given to Minneapolis.”

home at the museum.”

struggle for racial, social and economic justice in this city. It shines a light on many of those who have been at the forefront of these struggles, which continue today.

neapolitans through the lens of social justice.

Winkler-Morey’s first inter-

terviewing some of her former students, including those who already shared her interest in

But again, more than anything, what the Minneapolis Interview Project has set out to do is bring attention to the

“Too often, those of us in this business take the long view of history,” says John Crippen, executive director at the Hennepin History Museum. “But capturing these stories as they happen is so important to our future generations. And that’s why we are giving this project a permanent

For info about how to access all the entries in the Minneapolis Interview Project, visit the Hennepin History Museum at hennepinhistory.org or call 612-870-1329.

To witness some of these very stories told live and firsthand, come to the Capri Theater, located at 2027 West Broadway Ave. N., Mpls., on Thursday, September 14.

“An Evening of Real-Life Stories About Social Justice in Min-

neapolis” will also honor those interview participants who have since passed away, including the Minnesota-Spokesman Recorder’s very own Mel Reeves. The event is free, but advanced registration is required. To learn more and to RSVP, go to bit.ly/RealLifeStoriesMpls. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the program begins at 6 p.m.

Tony Kiene welcomes reader responses to tkiene@spokesmanrecorder.com.

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The event will honor interview participants who have since passed away, including the MSR’s very own Mel Reeves.

Anne Winkler-Morey

Photo by Eric Mueller

“Shades of Black” Business Celebration

By MSR News Service

U.S. Bank celebrated the culmination of Black Business Month and the first full year of Access Commitment LIVE!—the bank’s small business program for entrepreneurs of color—by recognizing local Black business owners with an event called “Shades of Black.”

The celebration, which took place August 30 at the Capri Theater, included food, entertainment, and a small-business panel discussion led by U.S. Bank’s Vice President and Business Access Advisor Tim Farrow.

Among the small business owners who talked about how they got their start, their motivation for launching their business, and their

struggles were Marlee James of Reviving Roots in Minneapolis; Dolly Agnew of Papa Legba’s Lounge in St. Paul; and Anthony Dean of TNT Academy, an athletic development program in Maple Grove.

MDAN ads to run ONE TIME, the week beginning

Calling all nonprofits, tribal nations and local governments!

• Over $16 million in funding from Minnesota Legislature.

• Funding

Launched last year, Access Commitment LIVE! is part of U.S. Bank’s initiatives to support Black communities and ensure access to resources and connections to help sustain and grow Black-owned businesses and build generational wealth through homeownership. Through the bank’s Business Access Advisors, the series is designed to provide Twin Cities-metro-area Black business owners with information about accessing capital, financial and marketing tools, as well as learning opportunities.

“I know firsthand what it can

mean to a small business when it lands a corporate contract. This is why I jumped at the opportunity to produce these events,” said Sharon Smith-Akinsanya, CEO of Rae Mackenzie Group, which hosted the “Shades of Black” event.

Looking back at the Spokesman-Recorder

s part of our celebration leading up to the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder’s 90 years of continuous publication, over the next several months the MSR will be republishing notable stories from our extensive archives of weekly issues, chronicling the history of African Americans in Minnesota. That history began when the founder, Cecil E. Newman, published two weekly newspapers—the Minneapolis Spokesman and the St. Paul Recorder—on August 10, 1934. Although the separate weeklies had similar content, it wasn’t until 2000 that the two papers merged, becoming the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

Many of our readers will recognize friends, family and neighbors from the distant and not-so-distant past. In the year leading up to the anniversary in 2024, we invite readers to share their memories of the Spokesman-Recorder as we mark milestones in the newspaper and Minnesota’s Black history.

The legendary actor and political activist Paul Robeson

was interviewed by a Minneapolis Spokesman staff writer for the December 15, 1944 issue. At an appearance at the Lyceum Theater in Minneapolis, Robeson was asked about the impact of World War II on the Black community and soldiers returning from the war.

According to Mr. Robeson, “America’s continued mistreatment of minorities in our country makes a lie of our whole position in the world.

“If this war means anything, it is a war for the freedom of all minorities,” Mr. Robeson declared. “This war that we are now engaged in means,” Mr. Robeson said, “that we can and ought to reach a level of comparative equality for all citizens in this country. This means the extension of equal privileges to all peoples—the Negro and other minorities in this country and to China, In dia and Africa,” he emphasized.

In speaking of the return ing servicemen, Mr. Robeson said that he will not be seeking trouble, but that he will want to feel that he is a full citizen, and he will resent any curtailment of his “inalienable rights.”

“While many may close the door and tell us we’re not contract-ready, U.S. Bank embraces the importance of sharing access,” she added, “access to the people and resources that can help move us to that level no matter where we’re at with our business.”

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Paul Robeson taking time out between his performance of “Othello” at the Orpheum Theater to autograph copies of his own recordings of Shostakovich’s “United Nations on the March.” MSR file photo

Photos by Chris Juhn

Employment & Legals

Estate of Court File No. 27-PA-PR-23-1194

Charles John Seanger a/k/a Charles J. Seanger, Decedent NOTICE OF INFORMAL APPOINTMENT OF PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS (INTESTATE)

Notice is given that an application for informal appointment of personal representative has been filed with the Registrar. No will has been presented for probate. The application has been granted.

Notice is also given that the Registrar has informally appointed Ali M. Seanger, whose address is 2825 28th Ave S, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55406, as personal representative of the Estate of the Decedent. Any heir or other interested person may be entitled to appointment as personal representative or may object to the appointment of the personal representative. Unless objections are filed with the Court (pursuant to Minnesota Statutes section 524.3-607) and the Court otherwise orders, the personal representative has full power to administer the Estate including, after 30 days from the date of issuance of letters, the power to sell, encumber, lease or distribute real estate.

Any objections to the appointment of the Personal Representative must be filed with this Court and will be heard by the Court after the filing of an appropriate petition and proper notice of hearing.

Notice is also given that (subject to Minnesota Statutes section 524.3-801) all creditors having claims against the Estate are required to present the claims to the personal representative or to the Court Administrator within four months after the date of this Notice or the claims will be barred.

Dated: 8/17/2023

PCI (1ST RUN)

SUBTOTAL: $307.70

From Classified Department/MN Spokesman-Recorder

RATE $12.06 PCI (PER ADDITIONAL RUN)

PHONE: 612-827-4021

SUBTOTAL: $205.02 X 5 = $1025.10

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MIAC

Continued from page 12

Black football coaches.

Michael Harris

“We’re more than prepared to execute and show what we can and cannot do,” stated Shelby, if that opportunity is afforded to

VIEW

Continued from page 12

Wolves] Coach Chris Finch in Rio Grande Valley in 2010,” recalled Scott. “I’d probably say the average age of our roster was like 26. Now guys that are 26, 27 are less likely to even get an opportunity.”

Now, each NBA club has a G-League team as well, a similar setup to the baseball major league-minor league connection for developing players for the big leagues. The Iowa Wolves serve as a training ground for coaches and other staff as well as players.

“It’s completely turned into developmental now,” noted Scott. “That’s where the value is. If you can produce guys through the G-League and

Michael Harris played both college football (UCLA) and pro ball (San Diego and Minnesota) before he got into coaching. But the second year Hamline assistant told us that he once gave up on football altogether.

“I unfortunately suffered a brain injury a few years back,”

develop those type of guys [for the NBA], that’s huge to a franchise.”

Naz Reid is a classic example—a former two-way player who developed into one of the league’s top reserves for Minnesota. He just signed a new multi-year contract with the Wolves.

But how will Scott handle the delicate balancing act of developing players, but also wanting to win? “It’s not easy, “he pointed out. “The biggest thing is you just take the approach of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

“If we can get each of those guys, if I can be in a situation where I’m able to or our staff is able to produce five or six NBA-ready guys, we should win. If we can develop those guys and get them playing the game the right way and

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Chinese Immersion Classroom Teacher Elementary (multiple openings): Yinghua Academy, Minneapolis, MN

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admitted Harris, a Duante, California native. “For about two years, I hated football. I didn’t want to be around it. I envied those that were playing it because I wasn’t able to.

“But an opportunity came to coach at the high-school level,” said Harris of his time coaching the offensive line at Hopkins High School. That led to a collegiate job, coaching the offensive line for

doing what we need them to do, the winning will take care of itself.”

In any case, Scott is ready for the challenge. “It’s getting the roster together. It’s either trying to hire staff or getting to know the staff who you’re with. Not only are you trying to develop players, you also have to develop a staff,” he stressed.

More importantly, Scott has to be a truth teller. For some players, who have been stars elsewhere and mostly told yes, hearing the opposite can be shocking: “Everybody has an ego. Everybody wants to be a star. It’s tough. My task is being for some of these guys the first real truth teller.”

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

three seasons at Macalester and now coaching the O-line at Hamline.

The MSR handles billing digitally. This means you will get e-tears and e-mailed invoices unless you specifically request a hard copy my dream,” he told us. “I’ve had opportunities to interview, [but it] just wasn’t right. I know what comes with this opportunity.

Harris thanked Coach Taylor and school president Fayneese Miller for his current opportunity. “I feel like I’m here at the right time to help this program.”

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

SOE

Continued from page 12

so young, 17 years old, leaving home.” As a result, Staley “raised” her and others from teenager to grown women, she said.

Aliyah Boston, the 2023 overall pick, added, “I think she’s just helped me be the player that I am right now. Over the past four years she has been able to help guide my steps into what it is to be a pro, guide my habits.”

“I’m definitely excited to know that I was coached by somebody that will be here for the rest of my life, and I love her for that for sure,” said Zia Cooke, drafted by LA as the 10th overall pick in April.

“Her knowledge is through the roof, so we trust every-

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impact not only on her players, but also on the women’s game, added Mitchell. Boston and Las Vegas’ A’Ja Wilson expressed similar sentiments at this year’s WNBA All-Star Game.

thing she says,” added Brea Beal of Staley. Beal was drafted by the Lynx 24th overall this spring.

Staley also doesn’t get enough credit for her overall

“She’s improved the game much more than what she did on the basketball court,” noted Mitchell. “I think she calls herself ‘the dream merchant.’ She makes other people’s dreams come true. And she has that ability to impact young kids at age 17 through 20, 21 years old. “I think she does a great job,” concluded Mitchell. “She does definitely more good than bad. She is a mother figure to me. Easy to talk to, very personable, down to earth.”

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

Aliyah Boston

Photo by Charles Hallman

Black MIAC assistant coaches hope for opportunities

KiJuan Ware

By Charles Hallman Sports Columnist

he late Don Hudson (Macalester, 1972-75) was not only the MIAC’s first Black head football coach, but also the first Black HC hired at a PWI in the modern era. Hamline’s Chip Taylor, there since 2016, now is the conference’s longest serving Black coach.

KiJuan Ware begins his second season on the Augsburg staff as defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator. He has over 25 years of coaching experience but only one season to his credit as interim head coach at Macalester during the 2021 season, two years after he joined the Scots staff, where he was the Scots’ offensive coordinator in 2019.

EJ Shelby

When he told us that he is the only Black offensive coordinator this season not only in the MIAC but also in Minnesota college football, EJ Shelby stressed that he can handle being the only one. He rejoined the Hamline coaching staff this season as its OC after previously serving as the team’s wide receivers coach in 2018.

Traditionally the pathway to becoming a head coach is being either an offensive coordinator or defensive coordinator.

Unfortunately, this isn’t often the case if you’re Black.

This season 18 Black coaches are serving as football coaches, including Taylor—Augsburg has the high-

est (four assistants), with Hamline (one HC, two assts) and Macalester (three) tied for second most.

This week we are profiling three Black MIAC assistant coaches: KiJuan Ware, EJ Shelby and Michael Harris.

“I can be a coordinator at any level,” said Ware of his previous experience. This also includes OC and running backs coach for two seasons at Western Illinois (2011 and 2012), his time as Scots OC, and recruiting coordinator and QB coach at Shorter University in Rome, Ga. He is a 1997 graduate of Springfield (Mass.) College where he played football and earned his degree in mathematics and computer science. He later began his collegiate coaching career there as well in 2002.

G-League develops players for the big time—and tries to win games

rnest Scott is now sitting on the first seat, commonly known in coaching as the hot seat, as the new head coach of the Iowa Wolves, the Minnesota Timberwolves NBA G-League affiliate. He was named HC in August after spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach.

On his coaching journey, Scott told the MSR at the Wolves/Lynx practice facility in downtown Minneapolis, “It wasn’t like I set out with the goal of being a G-League head coach, or even get in the [coaching] business. I didn’t set out with the goal of being an NBA head coach.”

The Marietta, Georgia native played his college ball at Valdosta State, then 13 seasons as a pro in what was thencalled the NBA D-League, Europe, and New Zealand.

more on the youth side. That’s why I like doing travel ball and AAU, and training kids.”

G-League.

“It’s just a matter of time for somebody to give me an opportunity,” predicted Ware. “We are all fighting that fight, trying to be seen, [looking for] an opportunity to be seen,” he said of the ever-present obstacle that confronts Black football coaches. “But when we do get that opportunity, we have to be ready to take advantage.”

A native of Birmingham, Ala., Shelby began his coaching as a volunteer assistant at Concordia-St. Paul in 2015, and then was promoted to safeties coach the next season.

After that he held coaching positions at St. Norbert (Wis.) College, St. Olaf, then at Hamline for a year, then back to Concordia. His experience also includes wide receivers and tight ends coach and academic success coordinator at Millikin, and pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach at Kentucky Christian University.

A U.S. Air Force veteran, Shel-

by played football at College of the Desert (junior college) and Taylor University, where he earned his exercise science degree. He also has a degree in health informatics from Arizona State, where he also gained coaching experience.

“My ultimate goal is to be a head coach. That’s always been

■ See MIAC on page 11

Dawn Staley’s coaching gets rave reviews

outh Carolina will retire Tiffany Mitchell’s jersey on Nov. 12. She is in her first season with the Minnesota Lynx, her eighth year in the WNBA. She was a first-round pick by Indiana (ninth overall) in 2016.

The Next, a women’s basketball news site.

Mitchell is among 14 players drafted by the WNBA in the Staley era. Ten are firstrounders. She joined other former Gamecocks who overwhelmingly heap praise on Staley, the Hall of Fame college and pro player who is the only Black coach (male or female) to win multiple national championships (2017 and in Minneapolis in 2022).

“I knew I still wanted to be involved with the game,” continued Scott, after retiring from playing. “I thought it would be

That eventually led him on his current coaching journey, he added. Before joining the Wolves’ affiliate, Scott was an assistant coach with the South Bay Lakers of the NBA

■ See VIEW on page 11

A two-time SEC Player of the Year (2014, 2015), Mitchell is the first player who played for Dawn Staley to have her jersey retired, and only the fourth Gamecock women’s basketball player with a retired jersey.

“For a player like Tiffany, who believed in Gamecock women’s basketball before we ever won a title, this is incredible. She paved the way for our team to become the best,” Staley told

“I

“I think she has definitely given us all the tools and the right mindset over the course of four years to make sure we are successful,” said Mitchell of Staley after a recent Lynx practice. She, along with other Black players who talked to us, noted that having the opportunity to play for a Black female coach was instrumental in their decision to attend South Carolina. “I wanted to make sure I felt comfortable with that dynamic of being coached by a Black woman,” continued Mitchell. “I wanted someone that looked like me who did exactly what I wanted to do.”

“She had the approach, a motherly approach,” the veteran guard said of Staley. “We’re

Brown playing well for Nebraska

assisting on two more in the game, made his name starring in football and basketball during an outstanding career for the Minneapolis North Polars.

For many years, the former D-League was seen as a hoop wasteland of sorts where players hung on before retiring—and of course as a developmental league. “I remember when I played for [current hile watching a 13-10 University of Minnesota Golden Gophers non-conference collegiate football victory over the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers on Fox Sports last Thursday evening, I heard a familiar name resonating throughout the broadcast.

The name was Omar Brown!

Before becoming a Cornhusker, Brown, a defensive back who had five solo tackles while

In basketball, with Hall of Fame Coach Larry McKenzie leading him and teammates Zion Sanford, Tre Holloman, Eli Campbell, Odell Wilson IV, Nasir El-Amin, Dashon Townsley, Willie Wilson, Clifford Brown III, and Josh Hodges, he developed into one of the state’s top defensive players in his junior and senior seasons. He led the Polars to conference championships in 2018 and 2019—finishing both years undefeated in league play— and capping the

latter with a state tournament appearance.

The results were nearly identical in football as Brown, playing for one of the state’s top coaches in future Hall of Famer Charles Adams, was the top cornerback recruit in Minnesota. He led North to undefeated regular seasons and state playoff appearances in 2018 and 2019 while teaming with Carlon Manning, Kehyan Porter, Quentrail Travis, Chris Jennings, Phaizon Scott, Farlanders Ross, Da’Koi Hines, and Tayler Johnson

Upon graduation in 2019, he signed with the University of Northern Iowa and made

an immediate impact with the Panthers, earning Associated Press All-American honors and Defensive Freshman of the Year.

After finishing with 140 tackles and eight interceptions in three seasons, Brown transferred to Nebraska and totaled four tackles while playing every game in 2022.

With a new coach, it seems Brown is off to a great start after an incredible performance against his hometown team. Based on his performance, there should be more to come.

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

Dawn Staley Courtesy of X

“My task is being for some of these guys the first real truth teller.”

think she calls herself ‘the dream merchant.’

She makes other people’s dreams come true.”

“My ultimate goal is to be a head coach, that’s always been my dream.”

All photos by Charles Hallman

KiJuan Ware

EJ Shelby Michael Harris

Omar Brown

Photo courtesy U of Nebraska

Ernest Scott

Photo by Charles Hallman

Tiffany Mitchell

Photo by Charles Hallman