Insight ::: 01.23.2023

The concert examines the African American examines cultural landscape and explores the evolution and richness cultural and the evolution and richness of gospel music The story will come to life through dance of music. The story will come to life dance, drama, instrumental and vocal music Producer William instrumental and vocal music. Producer William Pierce says, “The audience will experience the rhythm Pierce says, “The audience will the from the shores of Africa, the moans and cries of slave from the shores of the moans and cries of slave work songs, the melodic sounds and tones of what we work songs, the melodic sounds and tones of what we know as the ‘Dr Watts hymn’ They’ll hear the harmonies know as the ‘Dr. Watts hymn’. hear the harmonies of quartets, learn choir origins, the upbeat sounds of what of quartets, learn choir the sounds of what we refer to as ‘Praise and Worship Teams’ and today’s we refer to as ‘Praise and Teams’, and contemporary Gospel Gospel.”

Jevetta Steele and William Pierce bring to the stage an Steele and William Pierce to the an all-star lineup of gospel music artists includingTonia all-star of music artists Hughes-Kendrick Cornisha Garmon Geoff Jones J Hughes-Kendrick, Cornisha Garmon, Geo Jones, J. Michelle Caldwell, Fred Steele, Jr , Jhadiya Steele, Jackson Michelle Fred Steele, Jr., Jackson Hurst, Angel Woods, and Lysanis Shelby 7pm Saturday, and Shelby.

February 4, and 3pm Sunday, February 5, at and at North Central University University, 1400 Elliot Ave S Minneapolis , 1400 Elliot Ave. S. Minneapolis.

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An article published by the Brooking Institute stated that the underrepresentation of Black businesses does not come from a lack of will or talent. Rather, the underrepresentation of Black businesses encapsulates a myriad of structural barriers underscoring America’s tumultuous history with structural racism. One of the principal barriers to the growth and development of Black businesses is that Black households have been denied equal opportunities for wealth accumulation. The median Black household’s wealth ($9,000) is nearly one-fifteenth that of non-Black households ($134,520). The article states that 90% of new businesses among all races do not receive any outside investors. Most people use the equity in their homes to start their firms. This is a huge disadvantage to Black folks in Minnesota because of the home ownership gap. Further, the report stated that minority owned businesses experience higher loan denial probabilities and pay higher interest rates than white-owned businesses even after controlling for differences in credit-worthiness, and other factors. Limited access to investment capital in its many forms is inextricably linked to systemic discrimination in lending, housing, and employment. It cripples Black business development.

2. Employment Invest now in creating employment opportunities for the Black community

In an article published by the Urban Institute, the issue of Black employment was addressed. It stated that, “while many are heralding the drop in the national Black male unemployment rate, which recently fell below 10 percent for the first time in seven years, joblessness remains much higher in many poor African American communities. It stated that for many low-income Black men, finding and keeping work is a constant struggle, never far from their minds. Black job applicants might not even make it into the queue if they have had an encounter with the criminal justice system. Helping Black folks secure steady employment at decent wages will require resources to break down the institutional barriers that separate people from decent job opportunities and to enable Black people to build the skills needed for well-paying jobs

3. Public Safety

Invest now in Public Safety in the Black community. Public safety exists to protect citizens, organizations, and communities by preventing them from being in danger and guarding their well-being. Abraham Maslow defined safety in his famous “Hierarchy of Human Needs“. He said that to function as a society public safety is needed. He said this safety goes beyond just physical safety but also safety when it comes to health, money, possessions, and family. Less we forget, there’s an Emotional Impact on Public Safety. When folks feel unsafe, it could have major effects on individuals, their loved ones, and the community they live in. Violence has been way to prevalent in the inner cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Playgrounds are unsafe, the streets are unsafe, and the shopping malls are unsafe.

home ownership

Multiple housing options are an important part of any community. It provides a safe and affordable place for people to live and can help reduce poverty and homelessness. However, there are many challenges associated with providing low-income housing, such as limited resources, high demand, and the need to ensure that the housing is safe and secure. Minneapolis has one of the widest homeownership gaps in the country between whites and Blacks.

5. Education Invest now in ensuring that our Black students are educated at the same level as White students.

Dr. Sinclair Grey lll stated that education is without a doubt crucial to the success of our students competing for jobs. Quality education that enforces and reinforces math, science, writing, and cognitive thinking will separate those who desire a prosperous future from those who are simply content with getting by. Yet, in Minnesota, reading test scores for Black students are over 20 points below state average and math test scores are 20 points below state average. Minnesota ranks 50th in the nation for Black students who graduate on time. Minnesota has one of the worst college-readiness gaps in the nation by race and ethnicity – only 25% of Black students are prepared for college. Thus, Black students who attend college must take significantly more remedial courses than their peers as their starting point.

6. Health & Wellness Invest now in efforts that will impact the health and wellness of the Black community. The Black community is faced with escalating social, economic, and life-style problems, which threaten the life and well-being of current and future generations of Black people in crisis proportion. The rising number of deaths due to heart disease and stroke, homicide and accidents related to substance abuse, AIDS, cancer, and infant mortality are among the leading culprits. They interfere with prospects of longevity and contribute to joblessness, poverty, and homelessness and further complicate the crisis in the Black community. The magnitude of the problems dictates the need for support from the Minnesota State Legislature.

7.

Policy

Each member of the legislature, regardless of political affiliation, is involved in setting public policy. These policies should reflect the will of the people and is carried out by those elected to vote. Because of conflicting interests and capacities, some policies have disenfranchised the Black community. There is therefore a need for coherence of interest/capacities in an attempt to pass policies that reflect the needs of the Black community.

Every time another national “quality of life” is broadcast or published about the best places to live in the U.S., Minnesota and the Twin Cities always rank at or near the top. The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson once referred to this as the miracle of Minneapolis.” Likewise, every time those lists are parsed out further, the state and the metro fall all the way to the bottom when it comes to quality of life measures for Black people, or, what some have called the “Two Minnesotas.” But to ensure that all those in our state have the opportunity to thrive, we cannot forget about the communities that have been systematically abused, persistently underrepresented, and long underserved.

Minnesota is now the seventh (7th) worst state in the country for Blacks to live. This dubious recognition alongside the May 2020 murder of George Floyd has brought the State into an era of racial reckoning and has put racial inequity at the center of the national conversation, and Minnesota on the racial map. Today Black folks are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to live below the poverty line. Additionally, the typical Black household earns just 63 cents for every dollar a typical white household earns, and African American workers are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as white workers.

the worst states

and white Americans

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 24/7 Wall St. created an index to measure socioeconomic disparities between

Black Americans. High on the list of cities that have extremely troubling disparities is Minneapolis-St. Paul. Minnesota’s urban core boast these disturbing rates:

• Black population: 290,210 (8.2% of total)

• Black median income: $36,127 (44.0% of white income)

• Unemployment: 9.2% (Black); 3.2% (white)

• Homeownership rate: 25.2% (Black); 75.5% (white)

• Black poverty rate of 28.3% in the metro area, 5.9% (white)

• Black medium household earn $36,127 a year — the median income among white area households is $82,118.

The profound racial wealth gaps for Blacks in Minnesota is structural, as they are across the United States. Structural racism is inherent in intersecting and overlapping institutions, policies, practices, ideas, and behaviors that give resources, rights, and power to white people while denying them to others. The roots of racial wealth gaps can be traced back centuries through racialized public and private policies and practices, which fueled economic boosts to white families that allowed for intergenerational wealth transfers and created barriers to Black families.

Past discrimination and injustices accumulate and build across generations, making it hard for communities that have been harmed to catch up. As one example, the losses from unpaid wages and lost inheritances to Black descendants is estimated at around $20 trillion today. The NAACP Twin Cities 2019 Economic Inclusion Plan states: “There are two Minnesota’s, one white, one Black – separate and unequal.”

Data from the 2019 Prosperity Now Scorecard shows that 40% of Americans are liquid asset poor—meaning they do not have enough in savings to make ends meet at the poverty level for three months ($6,275 for a family of four in 2018). This problem is even more stark when disaggregated by race. 31.7% of white households are liquid-asset poor compared to over 62% of Black households.

Recent trends in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties are moving in the wrong direction. The share of Black families who own a home has declined from 31 percent in 2000 to 21 percent in 2018. The racial homeownership gap in the Twin Cities is the highest in the nation and has only widened over the past two decades, especially in neighborhoods where investors have acquired hundreds of single-family homes to now use as rentals, according to a June 2021 report from the Urban Institute.

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to identify

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4. Housing Invest now in multiple housing options for the Black community to close the

gap.

2. That the Governor hold his appointed State Commissioners and the state departments they lead accountable for measurable and reportable processes and strategies to eliminate disparities that exist in and that are supported by policies and procedures of state governance.

3. That the Minnesota Legislature prioritize intentional solution making that can occur when Legislators, Committee Chairs and Committees engage Minnesota’s Black community at the table of decision.

Maya Moore, 4-time WNBA champion, officially retires at 33

Jonathan Jr., in February.

By Tim Walker Minnesota Session Daily

Rep. Ruth Richardson (DFLMendota Heights) says there is an “unacceptable crisis” in the state’s Black population.

And in presenting HF55 to the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee Thursday, Richardson cited a long list of reasons why an Office for Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls is needed:  Black women are

nearly three times more likely to die of homicide than white women; 

missing persons cases involving Black women and girls stay open four times longer than their white peers; and  while comprising only 7% of the state’s population, 40% of domestic violence victims in Minnesota are Black women.

And there’s an urgency in these distressing statistics, Richardson said, as they are rapidly getting worse.

“Behind these numbers are real people and real families that are devastated,” she said. “We must do better, we can do better, and Black women and girls deserve better.”

The committee approved the bill, as amended, and sent it to the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee.

Richardson said the bill would enact recommendations in the December 2022 report of the Missing and Murdered African American Women Task

Force and would be dedicated to preventing and ending the targeting of violence against Black women and girls.

Artika Roller, executive director of Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said the office would build accountability, leverage responsibility, and facilitate resources and services to reduce and prevent violence against Black women and girls. Roller and several

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Maya Moore knew it was time to officially end her basketball career — four years after stepping away.

The Minnesota Lynx star left the WNBA in 2019 to help her now-husband Jonathan Irons win his release from prison by getting his 50year sentence overturned in 2020. Irons married Moore soon after his release and the couple had their first child,

She announced her decision to retire Monday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Before that, Moore had been noncommittal about playing basketball again, but she said in an interview with The Associated Press that it was time to retire.

“Over the last year, it finally felt right to just close the chapter,” Moore said. “Talk about it in a celebratory way. ... I’m excited to able to give the

By David Riedman Ph.D. student in Criminal Justice and Creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database,

Barely a week into the new year, a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia, becoming one of the youngest school shooters in the nation’s history. While details of the case are still emerging, his teacher remains hospitalized with serious injuries.

David Riedman, creator of the K-12 School Shooting Database, discusses the relative rarity of school shooters under age 10 and the likely aftermath of the event.

How rare is it to have a school shooter this young?

This is the 17th shooting involving a student under the age of 10 at a school since 1970 – the first year for which my database keeps track. Most of these shootings were not intentional. But in 1975, a 9-year-old student at the Pitcher School in Detroit was in a fight with a 13-year-old, left campus, got a rifle from his house and

came back to the school and shot the student in the head, killing him.

In 2000, a 6-yearold boy fatally shot his 6-yearold classmate, Kayla Rolland, in their classroom at Buell Elementary School in Michigan while their teacher lined up

other students in the hallway. The shooting followed a dispute on the playground.

How do kids this young typically get guns? In most school shootings, the gun is taken from the student’s home or from the house of a friend or relative.

In

Court to hear appeal of ex-officer in murder of George Floyd

An attorney for Derek Chauvin is planning to ask an appeals court Wednesday to throw out the former Minneapolis police officer’s convictions in the murder of George Floyd, arguing that numerous legal and procedural errors deprived him of a fair trial.

Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after Chauvin, who is white, pinned the Black man to the ground with his

knee on his neck for 9 1/2 minutes. A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s death touched off protests around the world and forced a painful national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Chauvin to 22 1/2 years after jurors found him guilty of second-degree murder, thirddegree murder and seconddegree manslaughter. Chauvin

the 2000 shooting at Buell Elementary, the student’s uncle pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to prison for a minimum of two years for leaving a firearm in an easily accessible place. The 6-year-old

Jay Paul / Getty Images

A school sign wishing students a Happy New Year stands outside Richneck Elementary School on Jan. 7, 2023, in Newport News, Virginia, where a 6-year-old boy reportedly shot his teacher after an altercation.

University of Central Florida photo/File

In this image taken from video, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin addresses the court at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis, June 25, 2021. An attorney for Chauvin will ask an appeals court Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023, to throw out his convictions in the murder of George Floyd, arguing that numerous legal and procedural errors deprived him of his right to a fair trial.

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First grader who shot teacher in Virginia is among the youngest school shooters in US history

Proposed of

photo/Catherine Davis

Verna Cornelia Price, left, tells the House public safety committee January 12, 2023, of the potential impact an office for missing and murdered Black women and girls would have. Rep. Ruth Richardson, right, is the bill sponsor.

photo/Elaine Thompson Minnesota Lynx’s Maya Moore in action against the Seattle Storm in the first half of a WNBA basketball game, Sept. 10, 2013, in Seattle. Moore has officially decided to retire from playing basketball, making her announcement on “Good Morning America” on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023.

By Doug Feinberg AP Basketball Writer

By Steve Karnowski Associated Press

What Took So Long? Statue of Henrietta Lacks Will Replace Robert E. Lee Monument

The Black woman whose cells have helped advance medical research will be honored in her hometown

By Angela Johnson

The city of Roanoke, Va., is honoring a Black woman who made tremendous contributions to modern medical research without her knowledge or consent.

In a video of a December 19 press conference posted on the city’s Facebook page, it was announced that a statue honoring Henrietta Lacks will be unveiled in fall of 2023 in the very place that once held a monument dedicated to Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

The new statue’s permanent home, which was once named Lee Plaza, was renamed Lacks Plaza in Henrietta’s honor.

Civil Rights attorney

Ben Crump, who was on hand for the press conference, said the new Lacks statue is a step toward healing some of the racial divisions of the past. “In the past, we commemorated a lot of men with statues that divided us,” he said. “Here in Roanoke, Va., we will have a statue of a Black woman who brings us all together.”

Fundraisers collected over $160,000 for the project.

Roanoke artist Bryce Cobbs created the sketch for the 400-pound bronze sculpture based on two photographs.

And Larry Bechtel, a Blacksburg, Virginia, artist, will sculpt the statue of Lacks who was a Roanoke native.

“I really wanted to have a distinguished, powerful pose. And I wanted her looking up. I always remember, like,

looking up as being something like a feeling of proudness and of having that confidence in yourself and the strength in

her

consent. Lacks passed away in October of that year at age 31. Researchers used her tissue to harvest a line of living cells known as HeLa cells that are still used in medical research today.

According to Johns Hopkins, the HeLa cells have contributed to several major medical developments over the past several decades, such as the development of polio and COVID-19 vaccines and the study of leukemia and AIDS. Johns Hopkins says they have never sold or profited from the HeLa cells and have shared them freely for other scientific research. That is little consolation to the Lacks’ family, who is still seeking justice on Henrietta’s behalf.

15 startups receive Innovation Grant funding Launch Minnesota awards over $380,000 in Innovation Grants to startups

Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) last week announced $386,964 in Launch Minnesota Innovation Grant awards to startups across the state.

The grants were awarded to 15 startups, over half of which are led by entrepreneurs of color, veterans, women, or located in Greater Minnesota. Launch Minnesota Innovation Grants target the most promising, innovative and scalable technology businesses in Minnesota. The grants help reduce the risk for Minnesota technology startups and entrepreneurs who are solving problems and growing our state’s innovation ecosystem.

“The launch of new technology startups is important to Minnesota’s overall competitiveness,” said DEED Deputy Commissioner Kevin McKinnon. “These grants encourage more Minnesotans

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to pursue future solutions and opportunities for industry.”

Innovation Grants provide up to $35,000 for innovative, scalable startups based in Minnesota. These funds can be used for research and development, direct business expenses and technical assistance. The $1.5M of funding for this fiscal year is now exhausted. Launch Minnesota will begin accepting applications for Innovation Grants again in July 2023.

Since its inception, Launch Minnesota has received $19.84M in funding requests, and has awarded 260 Innovation Grants totaling $6.4M to 187 unique grantees – accelerating the growth of startups and amplifying Minnesota as a national leader in innovation.

“This funding is critical for helping start and grow new technologies,” said Launch Minnesota Executive Director Neela Mollgaard.

Roller and several other Black testifiers who were victims of violence, or family members of victims of

“We continue to see the impact these grants provide. 100% of grantees have said this funding helped move their business forward.”

The following companies received business operations grants:

All Clean Food, LLC: Developing specialty food products and meals that make eating well easier for those with allergies and food sensitivities.

ArteMedics L.L.C.: Developing medical devices and custom implant services for the veterinary community.

BABY KNOW: Bodies, Hearts & Minds, LLC: Developing an online platform that provides educational content for parents and their infants.

FreeNav, Inc.: Developing a wireless instrument tracking system for use in diagnostic and surgical procedures.

violence, identified what they see as a common theme: Law enforcement agencies have routinely failed to adequately investigate crimes that victimize Black women and girls. Proof of this is in the dismal statistics cited at the committee hearing, Roller said. Richardson also acknowledged the failures of

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clarity to the basketball world.” Moore said it did cross her mind that her son and husband wouldn’t get to see her play in the WNBA, but that didn’t sway her to keep playing.

Irons said he supported Moore’s decision.

“It was totally her decision and you know it brewed from her heart,” he said. “I was gonna root for her whatever she chose to do. I’d been right there at the stadium yelling: ‘Go girl! Take that jump shot, win that championship!”

The 33-year-old Moore won four WNBA championships with the Minnesota Lynx, two Olympic gold medals with USA Basketball and two NCAA titles with UConn.

“On behalf of the Minnesota Lynx organization, I want to congratulate Maya on an incredible basketball career,” Lynx coach and President of Basketball Operations Cheryl Reeve said. “We will always cherish her time in a Lynx uniform and we wish her the best as she continues to pursue this next chapter of her life.”

Moore will be eligible for the Naismith Hall of Fame

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shooter did not face charges due to his age.

What stands out about this recent case?

Glimpse Diagnostics L.L.C.: Developing an artificial intelligence diagnostic aid that enables telehealth treatment for children’s ears.

Kinbee LLC: Developing an online platform to connect families who need short-notice childcare with licensed daycare providers.

MFR TECHNOLOGIES, INC.: Developing a singleuse surgical device that stimulates bone marrow to regenerate cartilage in joints.

Momease Solutions, Inc.: Developing a wearable device that aids in expressing breast milk. Pneumeric, Inc.: Developing a medical device for treatment of tension pneumothorax (air trapped inside the body cavity that prevents proper lung function).

Radices Bio LLC: Developing microbial food-grade ingredients.

law enforcement to adequately address the violence and trauma disproportionally experienced by Black women and girls, which she said has led to a “disturbing trend of too many families feeling alone as they conduct their own investigations looking for answers.” Managed by the Office of Justice Programs in the

next year since she stopped playing four years ago, one of the rare athletes to leave their sport in the prime of their career.

She was drafted No. 1 by the Lynx in 2011, winning the Rookie of the Year award and going on to average 18.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals over eight seasons for Minnesota. She was the league’s MVP in 2014 and the only player in WNBA history with four 40-plus point games.

“Her four WNBA championships, six All-Star selections, an MVP award and a Finals MVP trophy are indicative of the type of rare, generational talent Maya brought to this league, but perhaps her greatest legacy will be what she accomplished beyond the game,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said.

When Moore stepped away from basketball, she started a social action campaign “ Win With Justice.” Moore and her husband also have a book coming out this week titled “Love & Justice.”

“It’s been a real journey writing and telling this story,” Moore said. “There’s so many details, so many struggles and some victories that are so key to the human heart and relatable to people.”

During her career, she was at the forefront of

The most striking part of this shooting is that it appears to be intentional. While many details remain unknown, it is likely that the student had the gun with him the entire day, possibly multiple days, before shooting his teacher. In many states, the legal system assumes that young children

SteelheadOutdoors LLC:

Developing and manufacturing patented modular safes.

Verilytix, Inc.: Developing robotics that integrate artificial intelligence for agricultural growers.

Verso-Cap, LLC: Developing a patented flexible, reusable, nonthreaded cap for bottles.

Visura Technologies, Inc.: Developing a disposable camera that seamlessly connects a probe for use in medical procedures.

VOCxI Health, Inc.: Breath diagnostics company focused on accurate, non-invasive, real-time, mobile disease identification.

VisitLaunchMinnesota. org or the Launch Minnesota grants section of the DEED website to learn more about grant opportunities, see a listing of grant recipients and access application materials.

Launch Minnesota,

Department of Public Safety, duties of the office would include reviewing cold cases for missing Black women and girls, and death investigation reviews of Black women and girls ruled as a suicide or an overdose under suspicious circumstances. It would also distribute grants to communitybased organizations to “provide

the Lynx becoming one of the first pro sports teams to fully embrace social activism, starting before a game on July 9, 2016, when players wore black T-shirts that read, “Change Starts With Us.” Their message was prompted by fatal police shootings earlier that week of Philando Castile in Minnesota and Alton Sterling in Louisiana.

“I hope people saw me as someone who gave all she had,” Moore said Monday, “but also somebody who looked beyond the craft that I pursued.”

The Lynx went 20071 in the regular season and 40-16 in the playoffs during Moore’s career as the star among stars in a core that featured Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen, Rebekkah Brunson and eventually Sylvia Fowles.

She finished her career as the Lynx franchise leader in scoring average, 3-point field goals made (530) and steals (449) and finished second in total points scored (4,984), field goals made (1,782), assists (896) and blocks (176).

“Maya Moore has forever left a mark on the state of Minnesota, the Minnesota Lynx franchise and the hearts of Lynx fans everywhere,” Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx owner Glen Taylor said. “Maya’s accolades are numerous; her leadership and talent both

are not capable of the thought and planning that goes into committing a violent crime. In Virginia, the minimum age to charge someone with a felony is 14 years old.

Do schools need to start searching first graders?

Despite the attention

spearheaded by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), empowers and elevates our state’s innovation ecosystem. By convening and catalyzing efforts statewide, Launch Minnesota helps make Minnesota the best place to start and scale new ventures by providing access to capital, statewide connectivity, and expertise Find additional details atLaunchMinnesota. org,theDEED website,and theJoinUsMn.comwebsite, or follow us onTwitter.

DEED is the state’s principal economic development agency, promoting business recruitment, expansion and retention, workforce development, international trade and community development. For more details about the agency and its services, visit the DEED website, the JoinUsMn. com website, or follow us on Twitter.

services designed to prevent or end the targeting of Black women or girls, or to provide assistance to victims of offenses that targeted Black women or girls.” The bill would appropriate $700,000 in fiscal year 2024 and $650,000 in fiscal year 2025 to fund the office.

fearless and inspirational set the foundation for the most exciting and historic championship run in the league from 20112017. While today culminates Maya’s basketball career, there is no doubt she will continue to impact the game we all love.” Moore went 150-4 in her career at UConn. The two-time AP Player of the Year was a key part of the Huskies’ 90-game winning streak that was the longest ever until the school had an 111game run a few years later.

“Maya obviously has thought this out and I’m sure it wasn’t a decision that came easily. The love that Maya had for the game, the way she played the game, the passion that she played the game with –you don’t walk away from that nonchalantly. I’m sure this was a very difficult decision for her and her family,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “At the same time, to be able to make this decision says to me that she is so committed to the life and family that she’s built and the causes she’s fighting for now.”

This story has been corrected to show that Moore’s baby was born in February, not July. The birth was announced in July.

AP Sports Writer Dave Campbell contributed to this report.

that they generated, school shootings at any age are relatively rare. There have been 17 shootings involving kids under 10 publicly reported across a 52-year period. More than 50 million students attend schools every year,

who you are,” Cobbs told NPR. Henrietta Lacks was undergoing treatment for cervical cancer at Johns

Hopkins Hospital in 1951 when doctors sent portions of her cancerous tissue to another laboratory without

Henrietta Lacks / City of Roanoke Facebook page

Henrietta Lacks

As part of their landmark partnership, the five Generation Now theatres (Latino Theater Company, Ma-Yi Theater Company, Native Voices at the Autry, Penumbra, and Children’s Theatre Company) have awarded their first round of commissions to four incredible projects. Funded by the Mellon Foundation, Generation Now brings together five nationally ranked theaters to commission and develop new works for multigenerational audiences by both established and emerging BIPOC artists. The commissions include Ifa Bayeza’s One Small Alice, Michi Barall’s Drawing Lessons, Dustin Tahmahkera’s Comanche Girl on the Moon and a work exploring the world of folklórico dance created by Latino Theater Company. All commissions will receive at least two developmental workshops at the co-commissioning theatres.

The goal of the Generation Now partnership is to expand the canon of work produced for multigenerational audiences and create a model of transformative partnership for the theatre field. With funding received from the Mellon Foundation in 2021, the consortium is committed to cocommission and co-develop 16 new plays by both established and emerging BIPOC artists for multigenerational audiences over five years. The partners strongly believe that if we are to have an extraordinary theatre culture in this country, we must start young, and it must be intergenerational, inclusive, inspiring, transformative, and lifelong.

Artistic Director of Children’s Theatre Company Peter Brosius states, “We are thrilled to partner with these leaders and their extraordinary organizations in developing new ways of creating work for multigenerational audiences. We are eager to work together to support these remarkable artists in their journey to bring new stories, new perspectives and new aesthetics to the field of theatre for young people. The theatre field needs to be a welcoming and inclusive place for all audiences. This work draws on the decades of expertise and insights of these theatres and the ways they engage and bring together artists

and communities. We are excited to be a partner in bringing l6 new plays to life over the next 5 years by BIPOC artists for this important audience.”

Commissions: DRAWING LESSONS

Written by Michi Barall Co-Commissioned by Ma-Yi Theater Company and Children’s Theatre Company Meet Kate — she’s just turned 12, just started middle school and just can’t quite seem to talk to anyone. When Kate meets Paul — a local daily-newspaper-comic strip-artist — the two develop a friendship that helps them both figure out how to speak their truths. Through live-drawing, digital projection and a frameby-frame view of what it’s like to develop comic strip art, the play delves into the ways in which graphic art can help us not only to capture what our lives are like, but who we are meant to be.

“Ma-Yi Theater has a long history working with Michi Barall, both as performer and writer, so we are thrilled to have her as the first commissioned playwright of Generation Now,” states Ma-Yi Theater Artistic Director Ralph Peña. “Peter and I are very excited by Michi’s script Drawing Lessons, which uses a mix of offbeat characters, great humor, and graphic illustrations to bring us into the fertile mind of a young girl.” Michi Barall is a New York City-based actor, playwright and academic. As an actor Michi has worked extensively in theatres in New York and across the country. Michi’s dance-theatre piece, Rescue Me, was produced at the Ohio Theatre by Ma-Yi in 2010. Her music-theatre adaptation of Peer Gynt, Peer Gynt and The Norwegian Hapa

Band, premiered in 2107 at the ART/NY Theatre. Michi holds degrees from Stanford University, NYU (MFA, Grad Acting) and Columbia (PhD, Theatre/English & Comparative Literature). She has taught at Columbia, NYU, and MIT and is currently on the faculty at Purchase College.

DRAWING LESSONS will be available for licensing with Plays for New Audiences post-production.

ONE SMALL ALICE

Written by Ifa Bayeza Co-Commissioned by Penumbra and Children’s Theatre Company

One Small Alice transposes Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass into an Underground Railroad journey of a 9-year-old girl. Separated from her group, the child named Small Alice has to make her way through the wilderness alone. Through her voice and eyes, the world outside of bondage seems a wonderland, a world of great beauty and terror, at once quixotic and curious. One Small Alice is a metaphorical story, exploring the discovery of freedom, identity, independence, community.

“At Penumbra, we have heard over and over again that representation matters” states President Sarah Bellamy. “When young people see themselves reflected in the art we create, they feel empowered, valued, loved. It counters dangerous stereotypes that limit potential and diminish selfesteem. Our partnership with Children’s Theatre Company allows us to reach more youth at critical stages of their identity development, helping them understand that their racial identity, cultural practices, and family histories are not just

valuable, but worthy of beautiful productions that celebrate who they are.”

Ifa Bayeza is an award-winning playwright, director, novelist and educator. Plays include T T T (The Ballad of Emmett Till, That Summer in Sumner, and Benevolence); String Theory; Welcome to Wandaland and Infants of the Spring; musicals, Charleston Olio, Bunk Johnson, a Blues Poem and KID ZERO; and the novel, Some Sing, Some Cry, co-authored with Ntozake Shange. A finalist for the 2020 Herb Alpert Award in Theatre and for the 2020 Francesca Primus Prize, Bayeza in 2018 was the inaugural Humanist-in-Residence at the National Endowment for the Humanities and is the recipient of two concurrent commissions from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A 2022 MacDowell fellow, Bayeza is a graduate of Harvard University with an MFA in Theater from University of Massachusetts Amherst.

UNTITLED FOLKLÓRICO PLAY

Created by Latino Theater Company

Co-Commissioned by Latino Theater Company and Children’s Theatre Company

A journey into the world of Mexican Folklórico dance through the lens of young people in the U.S. who while exploring this tradition are confronted by their roots, their identity and their truth.

“With this play, the Latino Theater Company gets the exciting opportunity to journey into the minds of young people and investigate why, in this particular socio-historical context, it is important for them to be a part of the specific cultural expression that is folklórico, and to discover what that means to

them, their families, and their communities,” states Latino Theater Company Artistic Director José Luis Valenzuela.

The Latino Theater Company was founded in 1985 with the goal to establish a theater company dedicated to contributing new stories and novel methods of expression for the American theater repertoire and to increase artistic opportunities for underserved communities. As the company has evolved, our role as the lease-holder of the Los Angeles Theatre Center has become critical to our mission. As we continue to explore the Latina/ o/x, we program our seasons with work by local playwrights that speaks to important issues within the Latina/o/x, First Nation, Black, Asian American, Jewish American and LGBTQ+ communities.

COMANCHE GIRL ON THE MOON

Written by Dustin Tahmahkera Co-Commissioned by Native Voices at the Autry and Children’s Theatre Company Comanche Girl on the Moon stars an imaginative but insecure Comanche girl named Petu who discovers her late grandmother Kaku’s secret rocket ship on her family’s allotment in Oklahoma. Tired of being bullied at school and missing Kaku and her stories about the Comanche moon, talking animals, and astronaut aspirations, Petu works with her humorous twin rabbits and other animal relatives, along with eccentric interplanetary creatures, to fly to the moon in search of a new start, but at what cultural cost to herself and her tribal community in Oklahoma?

Honoring the creative work of the playwright’s late auntie Juanita Pahdopony and other Comanche artists

and storytellers, Comanche Girl on the Moon explores themes of home, identity, and futurity by asking, “How can one realize and actualize an individual and collective future through the past?” DeLanna Studi, Artistic Director of Native Voices at the Autry, states, “Dustin Tahmahkera’s Commanche Girl of the Moon is a beautiful and exciting coming-of-age story of an Indigenous girl finding strength and pride through the stories of her grandmother. What we love about Dustin’s proposal is that he has created an entire world that is wholly real and ethereal, weaving the struggle of identity and bullying in a Comanche girl’s day-to-day life with the connection to her grandmother who has passed on. What begins as a journey to escape the trials of not being enough becomes a quest for greater connection and a sense of pride.” Dustin Tahmahkera (Comanche) is a parent of four beautiful children, playwright of Comanche-centric theatre, and professor of Native media and sound studies at the University of Oklahoma. Tahmahkera’s recent short play 9-1-1 Comanchería, received both the best play and audience favorite awards at Native Voices at the Autry’s play festival in Los Angeles. 9-1-1 Comanchería is part of a series of original short plays in Tahmahkera’s book project “Comanche vs. the World.” His previous books include Tribal Television: Viewing Native Peoples in Sitcoms (University of North Carolina Press) and Cinematic Comanches: The Lone Ranger in the Media Borderlands (University of Nebraska Press). COMANCHE GIRL ON THE MOON will be available for licensing with Plays for New Audiences postproduction.

The Partners Native Voices at the Autry Latino Theater Company Ma-Yi Theater Company Penumbra Children’s Theatre Company

Ifa Bayeza

José Luis Valenzuela

Michi Barall

and fewer than 300 of them shoot someone on campus.

When most guns that end up in schools come from the home, I’d argue

it is the responsibility of parents, relatives and older siblings to make sure that every firearm is locked, secured and accounted for.

The use of metal detectors has been shown to increase students’ anxiety and are only effective with constant maintenance, training, staffing

and screening procedures. Some of the incidents involving children have resulted from adults putting a firearm in the kid’s bag and the child firing it when they find the gun at school.

What’s next for this boy? This remains unclear, and due to juvenile privacy laws, we may never know.

The 6-year-old who killed his classmate at Buell Elementary in 2000 was not charged with a crime. In 2021 in Rigby, Idaho, a 12-year-old girl shot three people during a planned attack at Rigby Middle School. Based on her written plan, this young girl intended to kill 20 students and wound 40 to 60 others. She is being held in juvenile custody until she turns 19 – and possibly until age 21 if she is not deemed fully rehabilitated – following a guilty plea to three counts of first-degree murder.

What’s next for the school? While much attention is focused on the shooter and

teacher, a classroom full of first graders witnessed their classmate shoot the teacher. She was critically injured, which means that it was likely a gruesome scene. These students will all need extensive counseling to understand and deal with this trauma. For the other students, teachers and parents, this is also a traumatic experience, and many students may no longer want to go to school.

What does this case suggest for school safety in the US broadly?

There were 302 shootings in school property in

2022, more than in any other year since 1970. Since 2017, the number of shootings each year has significantly increased. This pattern matches the spiking rates of violent crime and gun crime across the country. It is important to remember that most shootings at schools are committed by current or former students, not outsiders breaking into the building. Because of this, school security plans need to include all levels of schools and shootings by all ages of students. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

later pleaded guilty to a federal civil rights charge and was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison, which is he is now serving in Arizona concurrent with his state sentence.

While Chauvin waived his right to appeal under his federal plea deal, he continued to pursue his appeal of his murder convictions in state court. Even if he wins his appeal, his federal sentence will keep him in prison longer than his state sentence likely would because he would qualify for parole earlier in the state system. But a successful appeal could set a precedent for future cases involving police officers.

Chauvin’s attorney for the appeal is William Mohrman, who often pursues conservative causes including challenges to President Joe Biden’s election victory and to COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Mohrman argued in his brief to the Minnesota Court of Appeals that the pretrial

publicity was more extensive that any other trial in Minnesota history, and that the judge should have moved the trial elsewhere and sequestered the jury for the duration. Mohrman wrote that the publicity, combined with the riots, the city’s $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family announced during jury selection, the unrest over a police killing in a Minneapolis suburb during jury selection, and the unprecedented courthouse security were just some of the factors prejudicing Chauvin’s chance of a fair trial.

He also argued that Cahill improperly excluded evidence that could have been favorable to Chauvin, and accused prosecutors of misconduct.

Prosecutors said in their brief that Chauvin had a fair trial and received a just sentence.

The prosecutors — including state Assistant Attorney General Matthew Frank and Neal Katyal, who was acting U.S. solicitor general during the Obama administration — argued that Chauvin’s rights were not prejudiced.

They said pretrial publicity had blanketed the state making a change of venue

for the trial pointless, and that Cahill took extensive steps to ensure the selection of impartial jurors. They also said he took sufficient steps to shield the jurors from outside influences so there was no need to sequester them before deliberations.

Other disputes in the appeal include whether it was legally permissible to convict Chauvin of third-degree murder, and whether Cahill was justified in exceeding the 12 1/2 years recommended under the state’s sentencing guidelines.

Three other officers who were present during Floyd’s murder — Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane — were convicted of federal civil rights charges last February and are serving their sentences in out-of-state federal prisons.

Lane and Kueng accepted plea deals on state charges of aiding and abetting manslaughter and are serving concurrent sentences. But Thao declined to plead guilty. Attorneys for both sides agreed to let Cahill decide on Thao’s guilt based on stipulated evidence. That verdict is pending, as is his federal appeal.

IF YOU SEE ME

My Six-Decade Journey in Rock and Roll

By Pepe Willie (with Tony Kiene)

If anyone deserves accolades for his contributions to the music industry, it is this man. He has been a winner because he has helped others win. From Brooklyn to Hollywood to Minneapolis, Pepe Willie’s memoir, If You See Me, takes you on his ongoing journey, its ups and downs, good memories and bad, love and loss, but above all, hope.

Born in 1948, Willie’s roots began in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, better known as Bed-Stuy. When his parents separated, he was raised by his father while his sisters were raised by his mother. Later, due to abuse by his father, he went on to live with his grandparents. During his teen years, he was no stranger to street gangs as a means of survival in his neighborhood, and in later years, drugs. However, music is in his DNA; the prime example is his uncle, Clarence Collins, who was part of the group Little Anthony and the Imperials, now members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Willie became a valet for the group in the 1960s, and as such met many of the music greats we know today. Where Harlem had the Apollo Theater, Brooklyn had the Brooklyn Paramount and the Brooklyn Fox. The atmosphere between groups was one of friendly competition and support of one another. In 1969, while Little Anthony and Imperials performed at the Copacabana in New York, he met the legendary Jimi Hendrix. Little did he know

that another meeting that night, with a young woman named Shauntel, would change the course of his life in ways he never dreamed.

He and Shauntel fell in love and subsequently married. As it happened, Shauntel was from Minneapolis, and she had a 12-year-old cousin named Prince Rogers Nelson.

Prince would go on to become an iconic genius in music, but it was Pepe Willie’s gifts and knowledge of the industry that took Prince to the next levels when he was a teenager in the group Grand Central. Though his marriage to Shauntel didn’t last, his connection with Prince spanned decades, evidenced by the regard with which he holds him as his story unfolds.

Moving to Minneapolis in 1974, Willie’s gifts as a songwriter and musician coupled with a desire to create his own niche, thus he established PMI, Inc., and the group 94 East. His moniker as the Godfather of the Minneapolis Sound is well deserved. Through him and Prince, we have such entertainers as Andre Cymone, Morris Day, the Time, Sheila E., Dez Dickerson, Jesse Johnson, Sue Ann Carwell, and Alexander O’Neal, to name but a few.

By no means does Willie sugarcoat the difficulties and costs of fame and success in the music industry. He relates the 12-hour days of band rehearsals that test the discipline to one’s craft, the pitfalls of drugs, unscrupulous contracts/ deals, talented individuals that never achieved that “big break.”

At the same time, his love and appreciation for music shines through, and his happiness for the success of others as well as his own.

As an original member of the Sounds of Blackness, there is so much to his story I can relate to, since the Sounds was on the same circuit in the Twin Cities as Prince and Flyte Time back in those days. You learn the industry from the ground up, and you pay your dues. As a contemporary, I recognized and remembered the groups and solo artists from those days, and

the level of professionalism and drive it took not only to succeed, but endure over the years. His place in Rock and Roll history is secure.

If You See Me is available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Thank you, Pepe and Tony, for sharing your story and your stamp on the Minneapolis Sound. Your wisdom and insights are invaluable. Readers,

one last tidbit: the title of this memoir is no accident. You’ll

nd out the reason, and the origin, as you read the book.

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