PRST STD U.S.POSTAGE PAID TWIN CITIES MN PERMIT NO. 6391
THE VOICE OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY SINCE 1934
— See Fashion Designer on pg. 7
May 3-9, 2018 Vol. 84 No. 39 www.spokesman-recorder.com
MAYOR FREY ADVANCES AMBITIOUS AGENDA Some see big battles ahead
housing in every single neighborhood in the city. We have an obligation…that we are doing everything possible to make sure everything is affordinneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey’s first able,” Frey pledged. 100 days in office have had him He added that “deep levels of affordability” “working like a dog,” he told the are necessary to ensure that all Minneapolis resMSR. idents can afford housing. “We need affordable Frey spoke to us last week prior to his April housing in North Minneapolis, but we also need 23 one-hour appearance at the University of it in South Minneapolis, downtown MinneapoMinnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs, lis, and Northeast.” where he reflected on his first three months in The mayor’s housing proposals include buildoffice. “We have in place a bunch of measures ing more affordable housing throughout the that will see action in the next several months,” he stressed. ■ See Frey on page 5 The first-term mayor told the mostly White noontime audience at Cowles Auditorium that there are “three overarching issues that we will be focusing on specifically” – affordable housing, police-community relations, and economic inclusion. This is part of Frey’s 14-goals “Minneapolis 2040” comprehensive plan. By Charles Hallman Senior Staff Writer
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“If there’s pushback, I’m up for the fight.” “We want to get a lot done,” the mayor stressed. “We’ve started task forces and focus groups. We want to create an action-oriented approach to move from a phase of discussion to get [things] done. We want to restructure how our city government functions, to make sure we tackle these issues directly, precisely and efficiently.” Jacob Frey On affordable housing, “We need affordable
Photo by Charles Hallman
More cops of color would change MPD culture things, how he plans on making Minneapolis’ system of public safety less threatening and mproving community more trusted within communiand police relations withties of color. in communities of color Coming into office after a seis one of the most ambitious ries of incidents involving the goals Minneapolis Mayor shootings of unarmed people, Jacob Frey has set for himFrey recognized there is a lot of self, especially considering hard work to do. Moreover, he he came into office at a time knows that there is no univerwhen tensions with police in sal solution to these problems communities of color are at a agreed upon among his constituhigh level. ents, or even within the confines Though he has only been in office for just over 100 days, he of City Hall. “There…are systemic racism recently sat down with the MSR policies that have harmed speand explained, among other cifically people of color, and we
By Keith Schubert Staff Writer
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need to make sure that the precision of our solutions matches the precision of the harm initially inflicted,” Frey said. The two most prominent policies that Frey has stood behind for improving police and community relations are a new body camera policy and the hiring of more police officers. More police Frey’s support of adding more police officers to the MPD was met with pushback during community events and public ■ See MPD on page 5
Hennepin County commits to disparity reduction ‘marathon’ Hires Alex Tittle to lead the charge
News ANAlysis By Dwight Hobbes Contributing Writer When there’s a tough, vitally important job to get done, it is all the more important to call in the right person. This is especially so when the outcome has millions upon millions of dollars at stake, purportedly for the public good, in Minnesota, which is the worst state in the nation at rectifying racial disparity.
time when a vast need for workers is anticipated – some 57,000 within this year and 2019. An unprecedented opportunity is at hand to address the gap that has mired in deprivation people subsisting below the federal level who’ve been looking for a chance to earn a decent living, many unable to earn a living at all. In a move to actually walk the walk instead of just talking the talk, this month Tittle stepped on board at Hennepin County as Director of Disparity Reduction. The position was created specifically to rectify these wrongs that have become a way of life for too many. Speaking in a conference room high above state of well-being than in Hennepin 300 South 6th Street in the Government County with its population of more than Center, he said he has no illusions about one million, more than half of whom are what is being asked of him. Confidently confronting a formidapeople of color. In fact, as reported in the Minneapolis ble challenge, he considered the lay of Star Tribune, last year officials calculated the land, noting the disproportionate that doing away with racial and ethnic state of well-being spreads wide “in a disparities in income and employment number of areas, from education to ecowould foster a full $4.6 billion in eco- nomics, everything between. All the arnomic growth. This is the equivalent of eas – education, employment, income, upwards of 17,000 individuals presently justice, transportation and health.” Tittle, understated, firmly asserted, without jobs entering the workforce at a can Americans are homeowners as opposed to about 70 percent of White residents. And while 86 percent of Whites in the county can reasonably expect to graduate high school in the customary four years, compare this to 46 percent for Native Americans and 58 percent for Blacks. Nowhere is it more crucial to concretely address these issues of men, women and children’s quality of life and
“We can’t expect to add hot water and expect instant success.” Unemployment rates for Minnesotans of color are as much as four times greater than for White residents. Most Minnesota families of color now have median incomes about half those of their White neighbors. Black families are hit hardest, earning annual incomes averaging roughly $33,900 compared to about $81,500 for White families. This glaring social injustice is long entrenched, an inequity that has steadily increased over the past five decades. Additionally, only 18 percent of Afri-
Alex Tittle, Director of Disparity Reduction Photo courtesy of Hennepin County “Hennepin County takes leadership, recognizing its own challenges by developing relationships with key stakeholders and representing [the county] in metro and regional disparities.” It will not happen, he realizes, with a quick fix. “No, we can’t expect to add hot water and ex-
pect instant success.” David J. Hough, Hennepin County Administrator, concurred, “These disparities grew over generations and will not change overnight.” Tittle added, “However, this is some■ See TiTTle on page 5
AmericA in the grip of ‘rAciAl Angst’
Michelle Norris asked audience, ‘How diverse is your world?’
Michele Norris
By Charles Hallman Senior Staff Writer Conclusion of a 3-part story
tive Director Steve Humerickhouse and the keynote address from Earvin Johnson. The story concludes this week with the conference’s closing speech by award-winning journalist and Minneapolis native Michele Norris. Norris strongly advised that getting people’s honest ideas about race will help move forward workplace diversity. “When we talk about race…is it always about skin color? Does it reflect your core values?” Norris asked the audience of local, national and international diversity and inclusion leaders and others at the University of St. Thomas-sponsored event. Norris is the founding direcPhoto by Sarah Morreim tor of The Race Card Project that The first two parts of this sto- she started in 2010, and she was ry on the April 10-12 “Power recently named executive directhe Future” conference covered tor of The Bridge, a new Aspen opening remarks from Forum Institute program on race, idenon Workplace Inclusion Execu- tity and inclusion. She admitted
that she had never envisioned talking about race around the nation as she has been doing in recent years. “I tried very hard not to be the person who focused solely on race,” she said. “I’ve been in journalism for three decades, and as an African American woman often [I’ve been] the only, the first, or one of the few people of color in the newsroom. As a person of color, you bring a special understanding around the issue of race. “But I didn’t necessarily want to be the person who covered race all the time. I wanted a full portfolio – I wanted to cover politics, sports, policy and culture. I was afraid if I covered race…that would be all I do and get pigeonholed.” But she eventually realized, especially after doing a book on her family history, that race in America couldn’t be avoided no matter how she tried. “Much of
it based on my growing up here in Minneapolis,” Norris said. “I grew up here as a brown girl. I’m a child who grew up [who] didn’t see a lot of people who looked like me. So I had to imagine a life I did not see.”
ly that race is no longer with us,” she said to the MSR. “I would like to in my lifetime see the eradication of racism… We’ve had 25 decades of slavery, 100 years of the post-slavery period, and really only five decades
“The temperature around race has changed dramatically. We are a divided nation right now.” Starting The Race Card Project “was the right thing for me to do,” Norris later told the MSR. “It is not about me.” Race isn’t always about Blacks and other people of color, and diversity doesn’t mean that Whites can’t be a part of it, Norris said. “White America…needs to understand that race and race issues apply to them as well. “I feel we do each other a disservice if we entertain the fol-
of alleged freedom. The notion that it all [would] be over just because we had a Black president” is wrong, she stressed. The Barack Obama and Donald Trump elections both produced “sudden change” in this country as it pertains to race, Norris noted. “The temperature around race changed dramatically around both candidacies, and inside both administrations. ■ See Norris on page 5