A space for original local news with an emphasis on stories pertaining to African Americans
Fourth in a multi-part series
Over the past few weeks, the MSR has published a series of articles focusing on an organization called Better Ed, which has launched a campaign highlighting the shortcomings of Minneapolis and St. Paul Public schools. They promote “school choice” as a solution. Their main argument is that the schools spend approximately $21,000 per students with very poor student outcomes, especially for African American students.
Male-dominated Kenya is being dragged figuratively kicking and screaming into the modern world, the principle architect of that movement being The Honorable Sophia Abdi Noor, former Member of Parliament and founding member of Womankind Kenya.
The seventh annual Black Men’s Healing Conference coming up June 25-26, like those preceding, shouldn’t be perceived as pertaining only to men. The conference has always been about providing insight to empower the community itself.
Seldom photographed together are two of the men pictured above, Walter White, secretary of the NAACP, and Lester Granger, executive secretary of the National Urban League, top officials of the two most powerful interracial organizations in America. White and Granger “call most of the signals and carry the ball” in most of the moves to further the cause of the American Negro.
Minneapolis — On Monday, June 8 the Minneapolis City Council voted 12-1 to repeal spitting and lurking laws as around 100 Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and Neighborhoods Organizing for Change supporters packed the hearing. [See MSR’s story last week, “Mpls City Council considers repeal of lurking, spitting laws.”]
A “community healing service” will help kick off this year’s Juneteenth celebration, set for June 20 in North Minneapolis and other Twin Cities locations.
The Juneteenth festival “observes the June 19, 1865 proclamation of the abolition of slavery in Texas,” states the Twin Cities Juneteenth planning committee’s website.
The Minneapolis Urban League (MUL) is still doing business serving the community, according to Interim Director Steven Belton. But “our image [has] certainly taken a hit,” said Belton last week in an MSR interview at the MUL North Minneapolis office in reference to recent Minneapolis Star Tribune published stories.
Third in a multi-part series
The MSR began this series two weeks ago looking into an organization called Better Ed that has launched a now-two-year-old campaign to highlight the shortcomings of public schools, especially those in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and promote “school choice” as a solution.
The Minneapolis City Council later this week could vote to repeal two longtime city “low-level” ordinances that have not been fairly enforced. Several local groups have called for repeals of the public spitting and lurking laws.
A three-year nightmare has come to an end for me.
Most of my life has been spent applying the “Golden Rule.” Get your education, work hard, apply oneself, volunteer, and higher positions can be attained along with financial rewards.
The 39th Annual David M. Winfield Scholarship Awards Banquet honoring outstanding students of color will be held Sunday, June 7 at 6 pm at the Crowne Plaza St. Paul Riverfront Hotel, Kellogg Blvd. and Wabasha Street, in downtown St. Paul.
The public must be more vocal in getting President Barack Obama’s tuition-free community college plan to become a reality, says Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) Interim President Avelino Mills-Novoa.
In September of last year, President Obama issued a challenge to America: to develop strategies so that our youth may better realize their potential, no matter who or where they are in the United States. Last week, at a joint event on May 19 at the University of Minnesota, the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul publicly took the president up on his challenge, called the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) initiative.
One of the goals in the ten months since Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) opened its new Black Male Student Achievement office was to “change the dynamics,” especially how Black male students are seen by others and by themselves, said its director.
HIRE Minnesota — not to be confused with the HIRED program in Minnesota — hosted a community meeting at the Minneapolis Urban League in North Minneapolis On April 30. According to the email blasts and flyers, the purpose of the meeting was to address the lack of minorities hired on highway construction projects in Minnesota. HIRE MN invited the community to join them in strategizing to address many of the issues and barriers.
As part of our celebration over the next several months of 80 years of continuous publication, the MSR will be republishing notable stories from our extensive archives of more than 4,000 weekly issues of African American news in Minnesota.
Only one of six major St. Paul construction projects, including the now-open Lowertown ballpark, has met or exceeded the 32 percent workforce inclusion goal set by the City and the State. The City says others are still in progress, however, and the numbers will change for the better.
On May 20 the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR), now in its 80th year of publication, and its nonprofit namesake the MSR 501c3, hosted the 20th annual High School Graduation Celebration at the Metropolitan Ballroom located in Golden Valley. As in previous years, the Celebration echoed its traditional theme “Education and Graduation: It’s a family affair.”
Dua Saleh came to the United States when she was five years old with her mother and two younger siblings. Although they identify as Sudanese, they lived during the Darfur War in a refugee camp in Eritrea. For most of her life, Saleh grew up in the Rondo neighborhood of Saint Paul.
Carlton Garner had no prior experience with being a caregiver, but he learned quickly on the fly as he, his wife, and other family members began taking care of his elderly mother. As he has learned, caring for a loved one can include everything from simple everyday tasks to providing round-the-clock care and can be very time-consuming.
For 90 years, the MSR has been more than a newspaper—it’s been a trusted voice for Black stories, struggles, and triumphs.
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