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The exhausting struggle to find stable, affordable housing
Few things are as simple as they seem, and that includes the crucial matter of having a roof overhead that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. For openers, it’s a rookie apartment hunting move to scan for affordable housing, which is often a misnomer. Affordable for whom? At Five 90 Park in St. Paul, […]
Q&A with Artika Roller, who says Legislature needs to fund programs for sex assault survivors
The beginning of the pandemic was met with fear that as vulnerable people were stuck at home with abusers, rates of sexual assault would rise. Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, or RAINN, says that 80% of sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim. National Alliance to End Sexual Violence reported that in […]
First Black police chief in Minneapolis leaves much undone
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo betrayed the Black citizens who greatly helped put him in that job.
Things are bad, but defunding the police isn’t the answer | Opinion
Being Black, when a cop so much as looks my way, that’s reason to be uneasy. An automatic suspect for whatever. I got stopped one afternoon, walking on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, minding my business, and was stuck in a squad car. Turns out, somebody Black in a white T-shirt and black jeans — […]
Q&A with activist Erica Mauter on why she’s voting ‘yes’ on Question 2
Even as the police murder of George Floyd spurred Minneapolis to reform the police department, the city has endured one of its worst crime waves since the city was dubbed “Murderapolis” in 1995, numbering more than 500 citizens shot and 78 killed so far this year. Voters must wrestle with this as they consider Question […]
Q&A with activist Al Flowers on why he’s voting ‘no’ on Question 2
Longtime activist and south Minneapolis resident Al Flowers has been outspoken against Minneapolis’ public safety ballot initiative, which is Question 2 on the ballot. In the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and with violent crime on the rise, the city has been gripped by a […]
Simone Biles can help Black America beat the mental health stigma — Opinion
How dare Simone Biles have faults? People have taken out after this young woman like she developed mental health issues just to spite everyone. What good does it do to take one for the team when you’re not confident the team has your back? Had she soldiered on and failed, reinjuring herself in the […]
Where is the outraged sense of self-preservation when we are under attack by our own? | Column
The protests we’ve seen against police, i.e., occupying storm troopers, are an understandable, even obligatory response of Black people, borne of self-preservation. But also I’m sorry to say it’s open to question how much Black lives indeed matter to Black communities. Where is the outraged sense of self-preservation when we are under attack by our […]
Black Americans and African immigrants, at times divided, see opportunities to work together
After a year when two unarmed Black men were killed by police and Black communities suffered the brunt of the pandemic, the recession and a rise in violent crime, never before has solidarity been more important for Black Minnesotans. Whether they are descended from enslaved Africans or newer arrivals escaping war and civil chaos in […]
Art Knight got demoted for saying we don’t need the same old “white boys” on the police force. He wasn’t wrong.
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo made the wrong move when he demoted Deputy Chief Art Knight for calling out the Minneapolis Police Department on its racist culture. Knight simply shot from the hip, telling it like it is, and Arradondo’s overreaction damaged his standing in a Black community that passionately embraced his appointment. Knight told […]
When considering park encampments, consider the neighborhood and its people, too
As with Powderhorn Park and others around Minneapolis, the encampment at Peavey Park was portrayed as a “sanctuary” for the homeless, and there was some hoopla when the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board evicted some tents out of the park recently. park police and bulldozers at peavey currently, eviction attempt has began. get to the […]
As a Black man who lived through the ’60s I know this: destroying your community won’t bring justice
George Floyd’s killing demanded protest. Minneapolis Police Department officers Derek Chauvin and his accomplices Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Kuengsworn — since fired and charged with crimes — were entrusted not to selectively protect and serve but respectfully safeguard all. The Floyd killing continued a history black folk have had up to our eyeballs. […]