Be the Match need Blacks to join their registry By Charles Hallman Staff Writer The need for African Americans to sign up as organ donors has been promoted through several local and national initiatives. Here in the Twin Cities, a one-year-old is waiting for a donor to step up to the plate. Artan Warsame has Severe […]
MSR News Online
Reach the MSR staff at msrnewsonline@spokesman-recorder.com.
Posted inArts + Culture, News, Opinion
Dave Chappelle sneaked into Twin Cities and left ’em laughing
Dave Chappelle don’t have a lick of sense. For that matter, Tracey Ashley ain’t wrapped too tight, either. Between them both, August 2 at the Historic State Theatre in downtown Minneapolis was a gas. Tracey Ashley, new to Twin Cities audiences, is fairly well accomplished, having to her credit stints on HBO’s The Lucky 21 and NBC’s Last […]
Posted inNews
Threads Dance Project director speaks truth to spirit
She wants audiences to leave iDENTiTY uplifted By Dwight Hobbes Contributing Writer You don’t need to be a dance aficionado, or even be particularly fond of the art form, to understand and appreciate where visionary choreographer-dancer Karen L. Charles is coming from. Artistic director at Threads Dance Project (TDP), she firmly believes in expanding dance […]
Posted inSports
Top prep prospects
University of Wisconsin-bound KEELON BROOKINS (Tartan) leads a talented list of top football prospects for the 2012 season. Brookins is ranked among the top corner back prospects in the country according to Scout Minnesota Preps.com. KIERRE RHODES (St. Paul Johnson), one of the state’s top all-purpose players, is being recruited as a corner back by […]
Posted inOpinion
Ugly America rears its head with Olympic coverage — Mel Reeves
Like referees who bring attention to themselves, the U.S. big-business press, along with the color commentators with their unbalanced, intrusive and unfavorable coverage of African and AfricanAmerican athletes during the London Olympics,brought shame upon themselves and their craft. Truth is, they can’t help themselves; many are the beneficiaries of an uneven playing field themselves. Many of them went to the best schools and were afforded the […]
Posted inNews
More MPS students to ride city buses
District plans to retire all yellow school bus service for high-schoolers By Charles Hallman Staff Writer Over the next two years, Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) plans to replace the yellow school buses serving eligible high school students with student bus passes to use public transportation. According to MPS officials, over the past three years more […]
Posted inNews
Women finally get reentry help targeted to their needs
By Jamal Denman Contributing Writer For adult ex-offenders attempting to adjust to the norms of society, the transition can be quite a challenge. Female ex-offenders, a group rarely mentioned in the media or during public discussions, can face even more complex issues than their oft-discussed, studied, and analyzed male counterparts.Two local community organizations, Twin […]
Posted inNews
Did Blacks help build MPS’s new Davis Center?
Based on contractors’ numbers, there’s no way to tell By Charles Hallman Staff Writer A final report recently submitted by the company that built the new Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) headquarters, named the Davis Center in honor of W. Harry Davis, claims to have exceeded a 25 percent minority hiring goal by two percent as […]
Posted inNews
Experience the shock-and-awe shoe effect at I Dream of Heels
By Robin James Contributing Writer Do you have a fixation on shoes? If finding the perfect pair of shoes and that absolutely-must-have-it feeling is something you can attest to, then you may have a shoe-buying fetish and this story is for you. Enter Shakir Taliaferro, owner of I Dream of Heels, a new, up-and-coming shoe […]
Posted inArts + Culture
Film on 1963 Birmingham Children’s Crusade gets free screening
By Maya Beecham Contributing Writer On any given weekday morning in 1963, average schoolchildren stood upright in classrooms, hand over heart, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. It was a customary act. Ironically, the lives of average Black children and their families during that time were at odds with the pledge’s line, “one nation, under God, […]
Posted inNews
Black and Latino seniors most at risk of home foreclosure
By Charles Hallman Staff Writer Over three million Americans age 50 and over are at risk of losing their homes, according to a recent AARP report. Since 2007, the rate of this population in serious mortgage delinquency because they are more than 90 days behind in their payments has outpaced younger homeowners. Foreclosure rates across […]
Posted inNews
Hip hop classes nurture creative expression
By Dwight Hobbes Contributing Writer Arriving at renowned Watershed High School in South Minneapolis and walking to the “Hip Hop, History and the Arts” classroom to speak with curriculum founder-instructor Chadwick “Niles” Phillips is, to say the least, an interesting experience. The students have wrapped up rehearsal for the day, and he’s prepping them for […]
Posted inNews
Ensuring racial equity in new health care
By Charles Hallman Staff Writer Two-thirds of Americans who will be newly eligible for health coverage in 2014 are people of color. Who will ensure that these diverse communities will be fully enrolled in new Affordable Care Act provisions and that its implementation will be sensitive to cultural differences? To that end, members of the […]
Posted inNews
Union election a historic first
Lee Saunders’ recent election as president and CEO of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is historic in that he thus becomes the first African American ever to lead one of the largest labor unions in the United States. Saunders is pictured below second from the left with Hilary O. Shelton […]
Posted inOpinion
Mark Richie’s own staff proves him wrong on voter fraud
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie (hereinafter “Mark the Shark”) is an outspoken opponent of both the Marriage and Voter ID Constitutional Amendments. For now, let me stick with the Voter ID issue. During my own testimony in favor of Voter ID, being followed by Mark the Shark, his argument (along with other Democrats) is that […]
Posted inOpinion
Black youth need good educations and jobs, not handholding
Barricades, or containment roundups? That seems to be the false choice offered by the City in dealing with the Black community to provide safe streets for Whites. This columnist, however, stands for safe streets for all, Black and White. As we have written in past columns, the biggest barricade holding back Blacks and keeping them […]
Posted inOpinion
Letter To The Editor: Mpls citizen review of police in jeopardy
With the proposed City action changing the Minneapolis Civilian Police Review Authority (CRA) ordinance, the City has decided its citizens will not review police misconduct in a meaningful way in Minneapolis. As a citizen of Minneapolis, current board member of the Neighborhood and Community Engagement Commission (NCEC), former chair and member of the Minneapolis Commission on […]
Posted inOpinion
Letter To The Editor: MSR tells the stories that have to be told
I wanted to send the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder a heartfelt thank you and tell you how proud I am that the MSR continues to carry on its founder Cecil Newman’s legacy. I recently watched the highlights of his life on Grace Media, and I cannot wait to see the documentary on the 25th of July. How he […]
Posted inHealth + Wellness
Breast cancer and Black women
Survivors highlight the importance early detection, network of support By Charles Hallman Staff Writer According to the 2011-12 American Cancer Society (ACS) facts and figures, Black women in Minnesota are seven percent less likely than White women to get cancer but 21 percent more likely overall to die from it. Nationwide, the ACS reports that […]
Posted inHealth + Wellness
African American children at higher risk in motor vehicle crashes
Responding to the disproportionate risks that African American children face in motor vehicle-related crashes, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and Toyota are doubling the reach of their groundbreaking safety education program Buckle Up for Life. Buckle Up for Life is the only national program of its kind. Research analyzed by Cincinnati Children’s — a national […]