Accomplished Twin Cities actor Charla Marie Bailey is portraying a role, in Good People at Lyric Arts, not altogether uncommon in social circumstance hereabouts. “I’m the only Black person in the play,” said Bailey.
Posted inOpinion
Preparation for a ‘safe’ summer
Black ‘leaders’ work on a plan to reduce crime, but will the community be left out again?
“Leadership’s” annual empty rite for summer begins: “planning” for community summer safety, with the opposite of “community” in play, claiming the solution demands more money for planning and planners, leaving little for community people and streets, betraying Martin Luther King, Jr.’s concept of involved community.
Posted inHealth + Wellness
Healthcare directives are good for everyone
What would happen to you if you were in an accident or sick or if you were just getting older an unable to communicate effectively about the type of health care you wanted? Unfortunately, if you don’t take the time to plan for this type of situation your medical care might be left up to someone else who may not have a good idea of what medical care you would or would not want in a challenging medical situation.
Posted inArts + Culture, Local & State, Television
First documentary celebrating August Wilson premieres this month on PBS
American Masters will present August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand nationwide on PBS, Friday, February 20.
Posted inSports, Vikings/NFL
Vikes take positive steps to improve performance
Things are looking up for the Vikings with a billion-dollar domed stadium 35 percent completed in downtown Minneapolis that is expected to open for the 2016 season.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Third annual Father-Daughter Dance, a sweet celebration of Black fatherhood
African American women have, far beyond reasonable expectation, had to hold their communities together. And a sage saying goes, “A real woman can do it all by herself. A real man won’t let her.”
Posted inArts + Culture
Keith, Luis and Sam get up on the get down
Keith shook himself out recollections of Lesli and the beauty shop and gave up trying to sleep. Had nothing better to do than ring Luis’ room. His buddy answered, “Yeah?”
“What y’ doin’? Bored to my bones. Let’s play.”
“Cool. Come on down. I’m in—”
“I know what room you in. Be there in a minute.”
Posted inGo Green
Lax policies allow dollar stores to offer harmful products
A new national study found over 80 percent of products sold in dollar stores contains at least one hazardous chemical “above levels of concern.” A Day Late and A Dollar Short by California-based Campaign for Healthier Solutions looked at the four largest dollar store chains — Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and 99 Cents Only — which operate over 21,500 stores in this the U.S., have a total annual sales of over $36 billion, and whose customers typically are low-income and residents of color.
Posted inLocal & State
United Way’s CAO says his heart is truly in his work
Craig Warren, named last May as the Greater Twin Cities United Way’s Chief Administrative Officer, took a long and convoluted route to that position, where he said he will finally be fulfilling his long-term ambition to be of service to the community.
Posted inNews
Comedy clip causes racial ‘stumble’ at Park Center High
Achieving racial equity in a suburban school district where over half of the student population is of color is an ongoing process, say school officials. Osseo Area Schools, Minnesota’s fifth-largest public school district, has 52 percent students of color, Superintendent Kate Maguire told us in an MSR interview. “I’ve been in the district for 30 years,” she said, and the district’s top administrator since 2010.
Posted inArts + Culture, Movies, Television
AfroPoP, a showcase for filmmakers of color
Two DuVernay films – Middle of Nowhere and I Will Follow both were shown at the Twin Cities Black Film Festival, notes Founder-Director Natalie Morrow. The acclaimed director is just one of many Black female filmmakers who successfully produced small and big-screen cinematic pieces, which typically get exposure at annual film festivals such as Morrow’s.
Posted inArts + Culture
Keith & Lesli: Keith cheers himself up
It’d be okay, things’d be fine. Keith knew he’d unexpectedly make another nice piece of change, go back home, get with her and finally shake this feeling. He hoped.
His flight touched down at O’Hare. He grabbed his bag, guitars, and grabbed a cab.
“The least Helen could’ve done was me at the airport.”
Posted inLocal & State
Valentine’s Day reflections on the gender gap
Ask a woman to go for a walk and she’ll say, “Sure!” Ask a man and he’ll say, “Where’re we going?” Men will go into a library for a Chilton’s car repair manual. Women are omnivores when it comes to reading.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Child of the South saw civil rights gains transform lives
Samearl Johnson, at 74, can bear witness before and after the fact as to whether honoring Black History Month has actually made a difference for African Americans or is simply celebrating a gesture
Posted inOpinion
The Super Bowl as plantation bowl
The Super Bowl Plantation Bowl, played February 1, 2015, followed the Plantation Bowl of the National College Championship game, January 12. The NFL is integrated on the playing field. For greater future success, it needs to integrate on the coaching sides and outside the white lines on the business sides as well.
Posted inLocal & State
A man with a mission: Walter Scott, chronicler of Blacks in Minnesota
Too often, then and now, Black Minnesotans and their contributions to society locally and nationally are overlooked. The late Walter R. Scott, a transplant from Chicago, instead took it upon himself, with the help of others, to do something about that.
Posted inSports
Hope for Timberwolves? Maybe!
A few days ago, the Timberwolves were floundering 8-40 with worst record in the association better known as the NBA.
Posted inNews
Books carry hope, respect, knowledge through prison bars
It isn’t news that women are still getting a raw deal from society, or that women of color still face further discrimination. None of which helps the situations of incarcerated females, particularly those of color.
The Center for American Progress in 2012 reported, “As the number of women incarcerated has increased by 800 percent over the last three decades, women of color have been disproportionately represented.
Posted inArts + Culture, Theater
SteppingStone’s 4 Little Girls gives voice, dreams to young lives lost
It’s sad how much of Black History is marked by tragedy, perhaps none so heartrending as the 1963 murders of Denise McNair, 11, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins, and Cynthia Wesley, all age 14, by Ku Klux Klan terrorist bombers while attending The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.
Posted inNews
Former MSR columnist hailed as ‘quintessential great man’
The Minnesota Coalition of Women in Athletic Leadership has renamed its annual award after the late MSR senior columnist Kwame McDonald. McDonald, who died in 2011, was honored for his longtime coverage of women and girls in sport at the 29th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day celebration February 5 at the Minnesota History Center.
The day was instituted by Congress in 1986 to honor female athletic achievement at all levels. The first celebration took place in 1987 to honor Flo Hyman for her athletic exploits and work for equity in women’s sports. Hyman, a U.S. Olympic volleyball player, received the honor after she died of Marfan’s Syndrome in 1986 while competing in a volleyball tournament in Japan.
“He [McDonald] is another pioneer, another champion in the cause of equity that all of us have benefited from,” said Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton to the MSR after his proclamation presentation. “It’s fitting that he is properly being honored today.”