Insight ::: 10.31.2022

FIGHTING FOR REPRODUCTIVE

Transforming

New Justice Project launched national voter initiative

By Jiccarra Hollman, Contributing Writer

Transforming Justice Coalition, led by Barbara Arnwine, Esq. and Dr. Kimberlé Crenshaw, and in partnership with the New Justice Project, launched its national Black voter engagement effort in North Minneapolis on October 8.

The tour’s goal is to encourage Black communities across the nation to register to vote and to go to the polls in droves on, or before, November 8. It was no regular stopand-talk at the community about voting integrity. Their mission was to make it a celebration and that they did.

There was a live DJ, free food, community, and a community press conference with state officials to discuss the many ways voting brings change, the importance of exercising that right, and the challenge of staying strong when barriers are placed to restrict Black voters turn out like excessively long lines or ridiculous new clauses.

The event began at Sanctuary Church in North Minneapolis and included a

book giveaway and facilitated readings from various community members. Next, the leaders ventured on a votercade traveling through downtown Minneapolis along Portland Ave to George Floyd Square.

“The Transformative Justice Coalition(TJC) is in the streets, where the action is happening, working and pushing to make sure people have the right to vote,” said Daryl Jones, co-leader and chair of the board. The tour is nonpartisan with no political affiliation to any party. They don’t tell people how to vote but they believe that if they can inform them and get them out to the polls that they will vote in the way that is in the best interest of the Black community.

The tour’s focus is not just on Black communities. The focus is on the communities with the lowest performing voter rates in the election which happen to be predominantly Black and Brown communities. The concept is to get to the lowperforming communities and to get them to the polls to vote.

Barbara Arnwine shared statistics based on polling within the African

American communities.

Results of a survey showed that less than 49% of African Americans knew that there is an election on November 8.

“The awareness that we have an election that you can vote in is not as popularly known as you may think. That’s why we are out here. To make sure that if people do not vote it is a matter of choice but not from being ignored, neglected, oppressed or not engaged from not knowing that they have a right to vote,” said Arnwine.”

The tour aims to engage, activate, motivate and inspire Black voters to be involved in the November 8 midterm election.

According to Arnwine, black voters are the reason for today’s political landscape.

The consensus often is that young people will not turn out to vote.

Reportedly in predominantly Black communities, voters have become frustrated or suppressed by long lines, new voting clauses, or beliefs that felons do not have the right to vote. It is one target to change this belief and reeducate the community members of their power, including formerly connected felons.

“The worst day for a formerly incarcerated felon is election day because they believe that they are being reminded that they are not full citizens. On that day, they believe that they don’t have the right to vote,” said Jones. One of the issues the tour addresses is to let those that have been formerly convicted of felonies know when their rights have been restored.

“We are out here to say even if you have $.10 to your name you have the same right to vote as Biden and millionaires. It is your power to vote and we want the community to use that power,” said Arnwine, Esq.

Dr. Kimberly Crenshaw, Executive Director of African American Policy Forum (AAPF), joined Arnwine, on the tour to show the connection between banning our votes and banning our thoughts.

“The books are banned for some of the same reasons that our votes are being banned. The folks with ideas about the right to equity, the right to a different type of world, their ideas are reinforced by books and reading so they ban access to

information,” said Crenshaw.

The African American Policy Forum seeks to promote racial justice and gender justice. “We are all about showing the intersections between racism and white supremacy and patriarchy and sexism,” said Crenshaw. “It came to be in the aftermath of the Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill confirmation hearings in which it was clear that a lot of members of the African American community were unaware of the history which shape back women’s lives. The fact that black women were the first plaintiffs to argue that sexual harassment was actually gender discrimination.”

“The dynamics of repressing the right to vote, learn, read or protest has always been a part of retrenchment whenever we’ve made advances,” said Crenshaw.

“The tour is for the people, the moment, and the need,” said Arnwine.

“It’s not good enough to tell people to vote, people need to understand how they are affected and so often that part gets ignored and the communities, especially black communities are blamed for not showing up to the polls.

Barbara and Kimberle’s tour is about correcting this approach. Telling people to vote, yes, but showing people what the stakes are, how they are affected, and how they can have power in the conversation beyond just a single vote,” said Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, Ward 5 representative. The point is to make concrete the consequences of not voting. “We thought of joining this campaign to show that many council members that were voted in then turned around and made sure people didn’t have access to ideas, history, or books within the schools in certain school districts of certain states. Wherever Barbara goes to activate people to vote, we go to make sure people know the reasons why they should, said Crenshaw. We chose Minneapolis because of George Floyd. We chose the states where the black voters are that can make a difference. “As we looked at the map of the black communities it turns out that those are the same states that banned these books,” both leaders agreed.

The tour concluded in Jacksonville, Fla.,

21

President Kamala Harris at Metro StateKamala at Metro State

Photo/Zola Richardson

The voter engagement tour focused on communities with the lowest performing voter rates in the election which happen to be predominantly Black and Brown communities.

Photo/Jiccarra Hollman

Dr. Kimberly Crenshaw, Executive Director of African American Policy Forum (AAPF), and Jiccarra Hollman.

Photo/Jiccarra Hollman

Daryl Jones, tour co-leader, and Barbara Arnwine, Esq, Transforming Justice Coalition.

Photo by Uche IroegbuPhoto

By Brenda Lyle-Gray

Last Wednesday’s edition of The Conversation with Al McFarlane reflected the power of sitting together in community, examining the sense of inevitability and imminence of exponential development of our community fueled by excellence and experience in data driven decision making in creating health and wealth.

“I think people interested in business need to explore and understand there are no real boundaries or barriers in life. You must make up your mind on what you want to do

and who you want to be and put yourself in a position to win,” said Kenya McKnight, founder, President and CEO of Black Women’s Wealth Alliance (BWWA) and owner of ZaRah a Cultural Wellness Hub located at 1200 West Broadway in North Minneapolis.

“At BWWA, we continue to learn more, build more, and fill in the gaps in important ways, resulting in our being more healthy, wealthy, wise, and being bridges for others to cross,” McKnightAhad said.

Dr. Brooke Cunningham, Assistant Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) holds doctorate degrees in medicine and sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Duke University and fellowships

in health services research, health policy, and bioethics at Johns Hopkins University, and an Academy/Health Delivery System Science Fellowship at the Medica Research Institute. Currently, she is a general internist, sociologist, and assistant professor at the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at University of Minnesota.

This year she was named Assistant Commissioner for the new Health Equity Bureau at MDH.

“We say things with a general sense that are rather vague, like ‘there are huge disparities and problems’ But Minnesota Department of Health has an imperative to provide, encourage, and support data driven decision making in our communities. We are the organizers and the interpreters of the data, and we do our jobs

quite well,” Cunningham said.

As part of working their way into the next legislative session, MDH and the Governor’s office, along with colleagues from the Minnesota Department of Education, are conducting a series of listening sessions on different topics of concern to Black Minnesotans, she said. The sequence is called ‘Mind, Body, and Soul’.

“As the appointed representative for MDH, I emphasized in my presentation that not only do we have to produce the data, but we must appropriately act on the analyses with community participation, as well. What the data made clear was the need for more disaggregated data from the very diverse Black communities because cultural and home country experiences

Sviggum must

She posted on Twitter, last week “I sent a letter to the Board of Regents asking them to take action after recent comments made by former Vice Chair Sviggum. The Regents must formally condemn Sviggum and it is imperative he resign from the Board immediately.”

She also said, “I also sent a letter to President Joan Gabel asking her to take immediate action to align the University’s stated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion with the reality and lived experiences across the University of Minnesota system.”

The vice chairman of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents has apologized for questioning whether declining enrollment at one college is due to its diversity.

Steve Sviggum said in a statement issued late Tuesday that he’s willing to learn and must do better, referring to his comment about falling student numbers at the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Sviggum said during a board meeting last week that he has received a couple letters from friends who decided not to attend Morris because it is “too diverse.” He said the prospective students “just didn’t feel comfortable there.”

The release Tuesday from the board’s public relations ffice said Sviggum was “truly

“Let me unequivocally apologize for my questions, and especially for the unintended hurt my questions may have caused,” he wrote. “They were not intended to cause harm, but my intent does not matter.”

“As a current student, alumna, and former instructor, I am hurt and disappointed at the silence from University leaders. Leadership must take action and advocate for the countless UMN students, alumni, staff and faculty from diverse backgrounds, heritages, and upbringings.,” Fernando said. Morris currently has

By Al McFarlane Editor

Vice President Kamala Harris last Saturday addressed an auditorium of advocates for women’s reproductive rights at Metro State University in St. Paul.

Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan was joined by Democratic political strategist and host of the podcast Your Political Playlist, Emily Tisch Sussman, examining with the Vice President what’s at stake for rights and freedoms in general, but reproductive rights

in particular following Supreme Court ruling dismantling Roe v Wade landmark ruling a generation ago empowering women to make their own decisions about their bodies and health.

Here are brief exerpts of Vice President Harris’ responses to questions posed by the co-moderators.

“Our 23-year-old daughter will have fewer rights than my 81-year-old mother-inlaw. And they’re both acutely aware of it.

My mother had two goals in her life: to raise her two daughters and to end breast

cancer. So, she was a breast cancer researcher … one of the

A live Community Town Hall event, Tuesday, Nov. 1 invites residents along the Hwy252 /I-94 Project corridor to learn about and add their voices to Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) deliberations on how to make improvement in this critical transportation corridor.

The event is 6pm to 7:30pm at Ebenezer Community Church, 9200 W. Broadway Avenue, in Brooklyn Park. It is part of series of meetings and community forums conducted by Stairstep Foundation and

McFarlane Media/Insight News seeking to facilitate greater awareness and engagement in public policy processes that have enduring impact on the lives and livelihoods of people who live in communities traversed by the transportation corridor, and by the people who use the highway system to get to and from work, play, school, shopping and the activities that make the daily business of living proceed.

The Hwy 252/I94 Corridor starts Downtown and goes through North Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park and

Brooklyn Center, neighborhoods with the densest African and African American populations in Minnesota.

MNDot leaders say too often, planning and development initiatives were done to Black communities, not in partnership with Black residents. They are seeking to address systemic inequity by engaging African and African American residents with heightened intentionality.

Stairstep’s Town Hall at Ebenezer Community Church brings the public policy

discussion to a congregational partner that serves a largely West African immigrant community. Dr. Francis Tabla will host other church leaders in the exploration of community interests and priorities in the Hwy 252/I94 Project discussion. Panelists include Bishop Richard Howell, Shiloh International Ministries, Rev., Cyreta Oduniyi, Liberty Community Church, and Supt. McKinley Moore, Jehovah Jireh Church of God In Christ.

Christopher Tracy Royston, 22, died on September 29, 2022 from complications of hemophagocytic lymphohystiocytosis (HLH), an autoimmune disorder.

Christopher Royston was born to Christopher and Roshonda Royston on September 20, 2000 in Minneapolis. He attended Rice Lake, Edinbrook, and Jackson schools during his primary and middle school years and Maranatha Christian Academy in Brooklyn Park for 9th grade.

For his 10th-12th grade years he attended Osseo Senior High School in Osseo and graduated in 2019.

In a Life Reflections account in the Funeral program, he remembered as loving and kind all his life and for his infectious smile that would light up a room. He had several nicknames various loved ones gave him over the years. Among

them was “Captain of the Ship” from his Grandma Renita; “Tyga”

From his great-aunt Rita; “Buster” from greatuncle David; “Scooter” and “Rooster”by his late greatGrandma Deloris; “Pork Chop” by his mother’s former stylist, Arnesha; and his most wellknown monikers, “Li’l Man” from just about everyone and “Doodah”from his mom and sister Ciara.

Royston was a talented, multi-sport athlete. He started football at age six and played through his senior year of high school. He also played basketball from age six through his 8th-grade year, including traveling and AAU, and dabbled in wrestling his junior year of high school. He made the football team at North Dakota State College of Science, but the

Irene Fernando, Hennepin District 2 Commissioner is calling for the resignation of Regent Steve Sviggum from the University of Minnesota Board of Regents.

photo/www.keyc.com

Steve Sviggum

Columnist

Christopher Tracy Royston

Kenya McKnight

Photo by Uche Iroegbu

Vice President Kamala Harris

Facebook

Irene Fernando, Hennepin District 2 Commissioner

Dr. Brooke Cunningham

Dorothy Bridges

Ol’ Jim Crow’s Jubilee Day

retirement

Attorney Steven Belton last Wednesday announced he is stepping down from the helm of Urban League Twin Cities (ULTC). He said he will leave the organization on Dec. 31, 2022.

“I came to the Minneapolis Urban League in April 2015 with an idea to serve no longer than six months until

a permanent leader could be identified. Instead, service to the Urban League became a labor of love for me and a commitment I have maintained for the past seven years,” Belton said.

“Transitions can be difficult, but also present an opportunity for transformation. In January 2020, for example, we transformed the Minneapolis

Urban League to Urban League Twin Cities, expanding our footprint and creating a platform for advocacy and service to the more than 300,000 African descendants living in the metropolitan area,” Belton said in a letter to supporters. “We have in place at ULTC an outstanding leadership team and staff who will be

guided by a new strategic framework approved by our board of directors earlier this year. We have expanded our reach and influence with the creation of the Center for Social Justice, the Center for the Advancement of Black Families and the African American Community Land Trust—all within the past two years. We

Urban

are updating major areas of infrastructure and technology to assure our capacity to meet the demands of a 21st century direct service and advocacy organization. And we continue to invest in staff development to secure our ability to serve clients and community with excellence. “ he said.

Minnesota State Patrol Troopers complete training

Governor Tim Walz last week attended the graduation ceremony of the 65th class of the Minnesota State Patrol Trooper Academy to congratulate and welcome the cadets to the Minnesota State Patrol. “I’m grateful for the work state troopers do every day to keep Minnesotans safe,” said Governor Tim Walz. “I wish the newest members of the Minnesota State Patrol the best of luck as they begin

their careers. Thank you for your dedication and service to the state of Minnesota.”

“Today’s graduation is proof that the State Patrol continues to hire the best and brightest candidates to become State Troopers,” said Col. Matt Langer, chief of the Minnesota State Patrol. “We are thankful for Minnesota’s support for the work we do each day to make the roads safer.”

The graduation

ceremony was held for 35 new troopers following their successful completion of the Minnesota State Patrol’s 65th Training Academy. The graduating cadets have backgrounds in law enforcement, military, health care, real estate, sales, and finance.

Cadets began training at Camp Ripley on July 18. The 14-week course included motor vehicle crash investigation,

vehicle

operations, scenario-based deescalation, communication and mental health crisis training, and defensive tactics. After graduation, cadets will attend additional training at the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension before starting

eld training with another trooper on Nov. 2. Following successful completion of

eld training, they will begin their solo patrols on Jan. 25.

Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission members sought

The

for the

Commission

Rights closes Monday,

31st.

Conver sation Conversation

From 3From

and tenure in the U.S. can vary in different ways including gender and age. We have to start with disaggregating race by ethnicity and comparing multi-generational African American communities to new African American communities like the Somali community,” Cunningham said.

“Different risks, strategies, beliefs, world views, and encounters with racism in America can prove to be critical in strategizing ways to improve public health. I don’t want to be showing the same 40 slides 10 years from now where statistics depicting the same dismal disparities for people of color have not changed,” she said.

“I’m talking about transformational strategies and outcomes, and more positive and inspirational stories coming out of our lived experiences in our state,” Dr Cunningham said.

Dorothy Bridges recently was named interim CEO and President of Meda

the Minneapolis Commission

(formerly Metropolitan Economic Development Association). She brings over 40 years of financial and banking industry knowledge, leadership and relationships to focus commercial and community development lending in minority, small business, and development markets.

Bridges’ stellar career included serving as Senior Vice-President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, overseeing the bank’s activities in government and media relations, internal and external communications, public outreach, and community development, along with the activities of the bank’s Center for Indian Country Development (CICD).

“As a lifelong banker and a lifelong learner, I’ve had many opportunities to engage with MEDA over the years. As a banker, you first cut your teeth on lending in the consumer world and then you move over to the commercial world. That’s when your real passion begins for not just banking, but for what banking can do to help promote sustainable communities, particularly Black and brown

communities,” Bridges said.

“MEDA operates a Community Development Fund Institute (CDFI) that provides capital to enable business owners to become sustainable entrepreneurs and employers. Our mission is to provide integrated wrap around services in the areas that those contemplating owning a business need including management education, money, and marketing. MEDA has all the resources to be able to engage in a very intentional way with technical assistance for start-ups, and a different support component for the next phase of growth. The organization also assists in connecting entrepreneurs with buyers and decision makers in the corporate world,” Bridges said.

McKnight-Ahad brings a laser focus on problem solving to illuminate, transform and eliminate some of the ills historically perpetrated against African Americans. She says vanquishing the immobilizing notion of impossibilities motivates her determination to create and deliver generational wealth to our community through Black Women’s Wealth Alliance (BWWA).

The work reflects the guiding hand of the ancestors who instruct her to take the leap of faith and make things happen, she says.

Black Women’s Wealth Alliance (BWWA), is a million dollar company that has curated and developed a team of professionals who have a passion for entrepreneurial success and community building. The company currently is developing a ten-year strategic plan.

“I believe in creating the reality we want to see, and we’re making that happen. We are growing an infrastructure. I’m proud to say we’ve raised 9 million dollars in the last year and a half to renovate this building, turning it into the first Black holistic wellness complex in the state and located in North Minneapolis,” McKnight-Ahad said.

“ZaRah will be occupied by Black women entrepreneurs who provide holistic wellness services from acupuncture to massage therapy to Black mental health therapists, birth works, and other amenities our community really needs as part of how we address our own health disparities,” she said.

“We intend to broaden

our modalities, normalize the necessity of health and wellness, and recognize the opportunities for prosperity that occur in our communities and in our lifetimes, starting with the creation of jobs and the vision of ownership,” McKnight-Ahad said.

“We will have retail, direct services, an event space, and 15 office suites. We are modifying the original restaurant expanding it into a food hall. We have the only commercial kitchen and sit-down eatery on West Broadway,” she said.

It should be noted that singer, Lizzo, included BWWA in one of her Juneteenth Annual Giveaways citing that the organization is on the front lines doing the real work and that it was an honor for her to contribute in any way.

This intergeneration conversations elevated the brilliance, intensity, power, and insight at work transforming our community and authoring futures that show our people, humanity, winning. The conversation acknowledged a legacy of fierce accomplishment that is noteworthy and is foundational. According to McKnight-Ahad, “forward progress entails research and

innovation and building on the work of giants whose shoulders we have stood on. It is a responsibility we have to the memory of those who laid down their lives. They taught us all that none of us can do everything, but all of us can do something. One of those ‘somethings’ is keeping our work alive without undermining each other.”.

McKnight-Ahad paid personal tribute to one of those giants, business titan Dorothy Bridges. “Her name says it all! She is a bridge helping BWWA and others to advance our generational work and she describes me as a ‘movement’ within my own right. ‘I will do everything I can,’ she told me. ‘It might be just a shoulder to cry on, but know, I’ll be there.’”

Another ‘something’ is prioritizing solution making for our youth who are surrounded in a digital world environment that often turns violent, and by challenges our generation never had to experience, especially looking at the past two years and the continued paralyzing impact of the televised execution of George Floyd.”

3

few women as a scientist and certainly one of the few women of color. My mother was always fighting for the right for women to have dignity in the healthcare system.

You know, a frequent

word in our household growing up was “mammary gland.” “Hormones.” I mean, these things were talked about all the time.

She saw so much that was about the disparity in terms of the treatment of women, taking them seriously, giving them dignity through the process. So, from my earliest stages of growth and development, I was aware of

this issue and cared about it. And then, you know, through my career as a prosecutor, the vast amount of my work and priority was on crimes against women and children. And then the Dobbs decision came down. It was unimaginable that it actually happened, that the highest court in our land, the United States Supreme Court, took a constitutional right, that had been recognized, from the people of America, from the women of America.

So much about the progress of our nation, when we have tracked it, has been measured by the expansion of rights. and Now we are seeing an intentional restriction of rights. What is that saying about the trajectory and the direction of our country? There’s so much at stake with this seemingly one issue that actually is chock full of issues that should concern us.

”When I was a courtroom trial lawyer, a prosecutor, I specialized in, in particular, child sexual assault cases, which are just some of the most horrendous cases you can imagine.

There are these extremist so-called leaders passing laws or proposing laws on this issue with no exception for rape or incest -- so, understand, we’re talking about a human being who has endured an act of extreme violence and violation to their body, and so-called leaders would then deprive that individual of the

ability to make decisions about their body going forward. It’s immoral. It’s immoral.

”So, what gives me hope? What gives me hope is our willingness to fight for this country that we love. That gives me hope. And I’m going to tell you why.

As Vice President, I have now met, either directly in person or by phone, with 100 world leaders -- my staff has been counting -- presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, and kings. And the thing about those meetings is that when we walk in those rooms representing the United States of America, we walk in those rooms chin up, shoulders back, with a certain level of authority to talk about the significance of democracy, the importance of rule of law, the importance of human rights, freedom of the press.

But what comes with that is also the fact that we then hold ourselves out to be a role model. The thing about being a role model: People watch what you do to see if it matches what you say.

So, thinking then about the issue of this moment which is what this court just did in Dobbs, one of my great fears is that autocrats around the world can then look at their people and say, “You want to talk about these rights? You want to talk about your United States of America? Look what they just

Urban League Twin Cities Attorney Steven Belton

COVID-19 linked to increase in US pregnancy-related deaths

By Amanda Seitz Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — COVID-19 drove a dramatic increase in the number of women who died from pregnancy or childbirth complications in the U.S. last year, a crisis that has disproportionately claimed Black and Hispanic women as victims, according to a government report released Wednesday.

The report lays out grim trends across the country for expectant mothers and their newborn babies.

It finds that pregnancy-related deaths have spiked nearly 80% since 2018, with COVID-19 being a factor in a quarter of the 1,178 deaths reported last year. The percentage of preterm and low birthweight babies also went up last year, after holding steady for years. And more pregnant or postpartum women are reporting symptoms of depression.

“We were already in the middle of a crisis with maternal mortality in our country,” said Karen Tabb Dina, a maternal health researcher at the University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. “This really shows

that COVID-19 has exacerbated that crisis to rates that we, as a country, are not able to handle.”

The nonpartisan U.S. Government Accountability Office, which authored the report, analyzed pregnancyrelated deaths after Congress mandated that it review maternal health outcomes in the 2020 coronavirus relief bill.

The maternal death rate in the U.S. is higher than many other developed nations and had been on the rise in the years leading up to the pandemic, but COVID-19 has only worsened conditions here for pregnant women.

Women who contract the virus while pregnant face elevated health risks. Staffing shortages and COVID-19 restrictions created more hurdles for expecting mothers to get in-person health care; And pandemic stress has intensified depression, a common condition during pregnancy.

Mental health issues likely contributed to the increase in pregnancyrelated deaths, Tabb Dina said. Many women who experience depression and anxiety during or after their pregnancy struggle to get the care they need.

“Mental health is

This is about, as much as anything, our democracy and the state of our democracy.

the greatest complication in pregnancy that we don’t understand,” she said.

The biggest spike in deaths came during July through December of last year, as the COVID-19 delta variant infected millions, noted Carolyn Yocom, a director at the Government Accountability Office.

“It’s really clear from the data that the time in which the delta variant spread seemed to correspond to a huge increase in deaths,” Yocom said.

The maternal death rate is particularly stark for Black women, who have long faced worse maternal outcomes than their peers.

Pregnancy-related deaths for every 100,000 births climbed from 44 in 2019 to 68.9 among Black women last year. White women had death rates of 26.1 last year, a jump from 17.9 in 2019.

Death rates among Hispanics had been on the decline, but they swelled again during the pandemic from 12.6 per 100,000 in 2019 to 27.5 last year.

Black and Hispanic people have also died at higher rates from COVID-19, in part because they have less access to medical care and

is extraordinarily strong and the power it gives the people.

often work essential jobs that exposed them to the virus. Long before COVID-19 began spreading, the stage was set for Black, low-income and rural women to receive subpar pregnancy care -- putting them at further risk for their pregnancies to go wrong, according

for it. That gives me hope.

From 4

did.” And in that way, the impact will be not only for the people of America, but potentially people around the world.

Royston

From 3

pandemic prevented his chance to play. He didn’t let that stop his physical fitness and found a love for kickboxing instead, which he began doing to lose weight, but he soon found himself wanting to compete.

Always one to stay productive and to try to make his own way, Royston would easily find employment. His first job was at Raising Cane’s in Maple Grove. He later worked at Domino’s Pizza in Brooklyn Park, where his mother told him she needed a job there to collect the kind of big tips he was receiving!

Last summer he followed in his PaPa’s footsteps and worked construction, pouring asphalt and tar. His most recent job was at Hom Furniture in Coon Rapids in the warehouse. He took pride in that job and was so happy that he had earned a week of paid time off after being there for seven months. He worked there until he became ill.

One of Royston’s hobbies was gaming, and he loved playing the PlayStation 5 he had just purchased prior to his first hospital stay. He was very particular about his things, and he didn’t like it when people touched them. He told the family not to touch his PlayStation while he was in the hospital! When he got out of the hospital, his father

There’s a duality to it. On the one hand, when the principles upon which our democracy was founded -- freedom, liberty, justice -when a democracy is intact, it

sat with him and watched him download and add games to it for an hour! Christopher also loved music and liked to dance. Two of his favorite artists were Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole. He had an eclectic taste, and his mother was shocked when she heard him listening to The Temptations and artists from the 70s. “My Girl” was one of his favorite songs as well as “Wade in the Water.” There is a video of him singing at the kitchen table when he was little. He couldn’t quite get the words right, so he would say, “Something’s gonna getcha little wa-a-a-ata...” But his obsession was the late, great Michael Jackson. When MJ passed, he made the family listen to just about every MJ album every day for months! His favorite song was “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”

Christopher Royston loved his family and would be so excited for gatherings. He also had special things he did with certain family members. Mother and son time would consist of going out to eat, being in the kitchen together while he asked about the cooking process, watching Netflix, or just having an intimate conversation. And he loved his mom’s mac and cheese! He and his dad often went to the movies together and talked a lot about astrology, science, history, and life in general. Before moving in with Grandma Renita, he would drop by just to see how she was doing. . .and she was always cooking something for him. He loved eating Grandma

The duality is that, on the other hand, it is extremely fragile this democracy. It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it.

What gives me hope is I know we are prepared to fight

Dorothy’s cornbread. PaPa would text him every day to tell him about his bike ride. He took his grandma Renita and great-aunt Rita out to breakfast every year for their birthday since he was about nine or 10 years old. They would go to Perkins, IHOP, or Cracker Barrel. The last breakfast they had was July of this year. He also loved when his great-aunt Rita made him Chex Mix. When he was old enough to donate blood, he did so in honor of his great-grandmother Missionary Deloris Falks, who had to receive blood transfusions when she was diagnosed with cancer.

Christopher loved to hang out with his brother Kim, playing basketball and asking him advice about working out. He and his sister Ciara talked about everything! If anyone wanted to know anything about what was going on with him they had to ask Ciara. Christopher was also great with children, and he absolutely adored his nieces and nephew. Ciara said that Christopher was “privately popular” based on his Instagram and Snapchat pages. So many people have reached out and sent messages saying how he helped them in one way or another or to say just how cool and down to earth he was. He loved hanging with his “boys” Justin, Seth, and Lawrence. He and Justin were inseparable.

He was preceded in death by his great-grandmother Deloris Falks and cousins Terrica Taylor-Coe and Charles Royston, Jr., he leaves to cherish

“Coretta Scott King, famously said, “The fight for civil rights…” -- which is, again -- is the fight for justice and equality, freedom… “The fight for civil rights must be fought and won with each generation.”

his memory his parents; siblings Ciara Royston of Atlanta, GA; Dionne Royston of Phoenix, AZ; and Kim Royston (Hilary) of Minneapolis, MN; grandparents Renita Whicker, Dorothy Royston, and Frederic White

to a separate GAO report. Hospitals have been shedding their obstetric services in rural areas, lowincome and majority Black communities, that report said.

More than half of rural counties didn’t have a hospital offering pregnancy care as of 2018, the review found.

And I think there are two points to that. One is: It is the nature of it all that, whatever gains we make, they will not be permanent.

So, the second point then is: Therefore, understanding it is the nature of it all, do not be overwhelmed, do not be tired,

(Gail); special siblings Jemila McKinney, Gianna (GiGi) Cassidy, and Jonah Cassidy; aunts and uncles Saundra McKissic (Melvin), Sandy Holmes, Charles Royston, Sr., and Freddie Holmes (Brandy);

“The loss of hospitalbased obstetric services in rural areas is associated with increases in out-of-hospital births and pre-term births, which may contribute to poor maternal and infant outcomes,” the report found.

do not throw up your hands when it’s time to roll up your sleeves; it’s just the nature of it all.

So, knowing that: Good. I’m up for a good fight.

nieces and nephews Yanni, Braelyn, and Mack; godparents David and Rita Bryant; and a host of cousins, great-aunts/ uncles, god siblings, special aunts, and friends.

(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File) photo/Rogelio V. Solis

A doctor uses a hand-held Doppler probe on a pregnant woman to measure the heartbeat of the fetus on Dec. 17, 2021, in Jackson, Miss. COVID-19 drove a dramatic increase in the number of women who died from pregnancy or childbirth complications in the U.S. last year, a crisis that has disproportionately claimed Black and Hispanic women as victims, according to a report released Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022.

Crow’s Jubilee Day Caper

Stories

By: W.D. Foster-Graham Book Review Editor

Ol’ Jim Crow’s Jubilee Day Caper

By J. Darnell Johnson

As a Baby Boomer growing up in south Minneapolis, I remember well the lack of information on Black history in the public schools. There may have been a little blurb about slavery in 6th grade, but that was about it. When it came to education outside of home, I learned far more about our history once I was in college than I ever did in elementary and high school. It is heartwarming to see children’s books that

connect us with our culture today. That being said, I present to you J. Darnell Johnson’s voice in his children’s book Ol’ Jim Crow’s Jubilee Day Caper.

In this story, we go back to June 19, 1890, the 25th anniversary of Jubilee Day, what we now call Juneteenth. We have our dyed-in-the-wool villain, Ol’ Jim Crow. Ol’ Jim Crow hates Jubilee Day, and he has done his evil best over the years to destroy the spirit and culture of the now emancipated African American communities. His latest caper is another effort to steal our joy and put an end to Jubilee Day celebrations. How will the community foil this plan?

Johnson’s book represents the kind of books I wished were available when I was in elementary school. His descriptions, coupled with the amazing illustrations of

Whimsical Designs by CJ, capture the essence and the spirit of the times to make the story engaging for young readers. Not only does he connect the history of Jubilee Day, but he also includes the history of its celebratory traditions.

A fellow native of south Minneapolis, Johnson is the Education Director of Evolve Family Services. Ol’ Jim Crow’s Jubilee Day Caper was the winner of the 2021 Planting People Growing Justice Social Justice Award, and it can be purchased through Amazon and the Planting People Growing Justice Press.

Thank you, J, for bringing your unique voice to the literary table and your vital role in changing the narrative for our children. Representation matters.

Sahan Journal,

A journalist sought to amplify the voices of Minnesota’s communities of color