DEI controversy stirs up racist hate mail
By Jasmine McBride
Associate Editor
n a powerful demonstration of community action and advocacy, a series of events unfolded that shed light on the impact of standing up against racial injustice.
Recently, a vile and racially offensive email was sent to civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, a vocal advocate
for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) following Trump’s string of executive orders.
The email, which was both offensive and racially denigrating, was sent from a local Minneapolis self-described tax-preparer, Susan Ciconte, on January 30. In her message, Ciconte expressed hostility toward the Target boycott and Armstrong’s support for DEI, calling the stance a “waste of
time” and using racial slurs and perpetuating harmful racial stereotypes, sparking outrage and a swift response from concerned community members.
Ciconte’s email to Armstrong:
“Oh I wish I had been at Target downtown when you staged your racist meeting. I’m at that Target most days of the week. I would have loved to have spit on the ground in front of you and your a**hole comrades.
I’m so glad to see companies realizing their idiotic so-called DEI policies are absolutely unnecessary. Decades ago it was called affirmative action and many inexperienced minorities lacking the qualifications were hired.
It was a black female downtown Target employee that was fired recently for theft. Yep, while working she was regularly stealing items. It’s rather pathetic since she was working full time and being groomed for a team lead position.
That black woman outside that Target panhandling every f***ing day? She drives a BMW. Wow, what a shocker.
Across the street are your fellow drug dealers. When it’s too cold outside for them, they are
■ See HATE on page 5
Historical drama ‘Little Rock: 1942’ shows how
By Jasmine McBride Associate Editor
he Landmark Center in St. Paul revived its powerful production “Little Rock: 1942” on February 28 for a one-day performance. The story, co-written by Terrance C. Newby and James Lundy and directed by Chad Snyder, honors the true, compelling, and lesser-known story of heroic school teacher Su-
sie Morris and the civil rights lawsuit that brought Thurgood Marshall to Saint Paul. Morris, a Black teacher from Little Rock, Arkansas, sued her school district in the 1940s for equal pay, and in doing so became an integral part of the fight for civil rights in education.
This historical drama not only highlights Morris’ courageous stand against systemic inequality, but also marks
an important moment in the broader Civil Rights Movement, one that deserves recognition — especially during Women’s History Month. At the time, equal pay for Black teachers was not a common practice, and the systems in place actively worked against the advancement of African Americans in many professional fields. Morris’ case would eventually attract
■ See SUSIE on page 5
Five years later, George Floyd Square still mired in controversy
By Clint Combs Contributing Writer
inneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and the City Council are at odds over the future of George Floyd Square at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. City Council proposed studying a Pedestrian Plan that would restrict vehicle access to George Floyd Square, with the exception of emergency vehicles. Mayor Frey attempted to veto the proposal, which the City Council overrode in a 9-4 vote.
Approving the Square as vehicle-restricted would eliminate D Line and Route 5 service on Chicago Avenue, redirecting those routes to other streets; although Route 23 would continue on 38th Street.
Mayor Frey favors allowing traffic access while restoring Metro D Line and Route 5 transit services — known as the Open or Flex Option. This plan also includes wider sidewalks, on-street parking, and space for community gatherings and memorials.
Councilmember Emily Koski, who is running against Mayor Frey, flipped her no-vote from last December in support of studying the pedestrian option. “The mayor’s argument is about infrastructure and economy,” Koski said in a statement.
“But I refuse to reduce this to a debate over convenience when we are talking about the
very site where George Floyd was murdered.” Ally Peters, spokesperson for Mayor Frey, added, “The bottom line [is] the Council’s plan would delay further progress at the Square and is not supported by the surrounding community.” Council member, Andrea Jenkins acknowledged her agreement with Frey in a statement on February 27, al-
luding to community engagement data.
“Overriding the mayor’s veto and moving forward with this pedestrian mall plan is not just a poor decision — it’s fiscally irresponsible,” said City Operations Officer Margaret Anderson Kelliher. “On top of the $2.23M already spent on engagement, we will have to delay other projects around
the city to cover the unbudgeted cost of further studying a plan that the community
opposes and the law doesn’t support. This is a disservice to residents.”
“Sorry that George Floyd happened to inconveniently get lynched on your roadway.”
Debate over delays and priorities
Mayor Frey and Council Member Jason Chavez sparred over potential delays to two options. “The conversation about delay, delay, delay, it’s not a delay. We are choosing a pathway forward,” Chavez said. “I had met with Paul Works directly and I said, ‘Bring forward the concept plan for the pedestrian mall.’ And the answer was, ‘That might not be under your jurisdiction.’ So who’s the one delaying now?” Frey, however, emphasized that the pedestrian plan required 50% business-owner approval and rejected accusations of obstruction. “This is not like some arbitrary roadblock that we’re putting up,” he told Kare 11.
Activists weigh in Community activists, including Marcia Howard and Mileesha Smith, expressed concern that disregarding the Square’s significance would cause more stress. “There are property owners that do not live here, that live in the suburbs, that have a monopoly,” Howard said. She argued that business owners are more directly affected by the outcome of the square. “There are business owners that have the storefront that pay their mortgages or their leases to those property owners. Those are two separate things.”
Activists Marcia Howard (far right), Mileesha Smith (middle), and supporters gathered at People’s Way (George Floyd Square) acknowledge people honking their horns in solidarity.
Susie Morris and Dunbar High School
Arkansas Times
Community advocate Chauntyll Allen (left) speaks at Target Boycott organized by Nekima Levy Armstrong (right), Feb. 1
Chris Juhn/MSR
Minneapolis pastor decries broken public safety promises
Some considered his remarks to the City Council ‘threatening’
By Jasmine McBride Associate Editor
Tensions boiled over at a recent Minneapolis City Council meeting, revealing the deep frustrations that have been building in the community over what many feel is an unresponsive government. Council Member Robin Wonsley accused a local pastor of making threatening remarks after a heated disruption during a committee meeting earlier this month. The incident is a stark reminder of the consequences when a community’s calls for change go unanswered.
The controversy sparked following a proposal to transfer $1.25M in violence prevention funding to Hennepin County following the resignation of former Neighborhood Safety Director, Luana NelsonBrown, which was announced on January 25.
The transfer proposal was approved by the Minneapolis City Council Budget Committee, with members, including President Elliott Payne, expressing a lack of confidence in the city’s management of violence prevention programs and believing the county should take over administering these efforts for the remainder of the year. City council argue that mismanagement in the Neighborhood Safety Department has led to inadequate services for at-risk individuals. They’ve said the goal of the proposal is to improve the effectiveness of violence prevention and ensure high-risk individuals receive necessary services.
Rev. Jerry McAfee, a longtime activist and the founder of the “21 Days of Peace”
violence prevention group, disrupted the budget committee hearing held on Monday, February 10. The meeting was focused on violence prevention funding, but the council’s discussions around potentially moving policing alternatives under the umbrella of Hennepin County sparked a reaction from McAfee, who says he has been pushing for more direct action to curb violence in the community and distrusts the intentions behind this decision.
“I was just serving food to the community yesterday in [North Minneapolis], where young women and men are strung out on fentanyl,” shared McAfee during a follow up with MSR, on February 26.
“The city is so disconnected from what’s really going on in this [North Minneapolis] community.”
McAfee, who says he has spent decades in the fight
for safer neighborhoods, accused the council members of ignoring his calls for collaboration. “I’ve been fighting for 30-some years to keep everyone safe, and they’re ignoring me?” McAfee said. “When the people in the streets feel like nothing is changing, this is what happens.”
As McAfee shouted, the conversation turned ugly. His accusations of corruption and failure to act were met with escalating responses from council members. At one point, Council Member Wonsley casually ate an apple as the argument unfolded. McAfee’s frustrations led to inflammatory comments, including antagonist remarks toward Council Member Jason Chavez and accusations of corruption directed at Wonsley.
McAfee, during a follow up with MSR, says he feels former Neighborhood Safety Director,
Food insecurity on
Luana Nelson-Brown, has built a solid database to measure and manage violence prevention efforts. An action he says should have been implemented long ago, and raises the question of how 100s of thousands of funds were formerly used. He worries of continued corruption in transferring such a large amount of funds from a community who has yet to see sustainable benefit from those resources, sharing with MSR that he wonders why the council is “going backwards.”
Nelson–Brown, who led the department for a year and a half and has been held responsible for the council’s lost faith, has been very vocal publicly about seeing the city’s Neighborhood Safety Department as a “broken system ripe for corruption” due to lack of transparency, tracking, and deliverance with funded contracts. She says she tried to
reprimand the issue, but that lacked council support.
“My priority was very much focused on fiscal accountability because the biggest deficits were in that area,” shared Nelson-Brown. “The council’s priorities were focused on services,” Nelson-Brown continues. “I eventually decided to resign, as I felt despite it being a solvable issue, it could not be solved as a secondary priority.”
“When the people in the streets feel like nothing is changing, this is what happens.”
Nelson-Brown shared she is now working as the head of advocacy and Victim support for the city’s new Office of Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls, where she says she looks forward to humanizing Black women.
Ultimately, if the full council approves the budget committee’s proposal to transfer the lump sum of funding from the
city to the county, they also transfer control over how those funds are spent and spread the resources over a wider range of communities. If there are misaligned priorities between the city and county, unserved communities like McAfee’s grounds, North Minneapolis, where crime is increasingly high – are risked with higher rates of unmet needs.
Wonsley has stated that security measures are in place for future council meetings. But the real question is how city leadership will confront the desperation for meaningful, lasting change. Will this transfer proposed by the budget committee genuinely address the needs of the people — particularly those in the most vulnerable communities? Or will the cycle of frustration, disruption, and, eventually, conflict continue? McAfee says this is what happens when promises of change remain unfulfilled: the community becomes disillusioned, voices rise in anger, and trust in leadership fades.
Jasmine McBride welcomes reader responses at jmcbride@ spokesman-recorder.com
the rise in Minnesota U.S. budget cuts threaten to make matters much worse
By Jasmine McBride Associate Editor
House Republicans narrowly passed a budget proposal in a 217-215 vote on February 25, aimed at advancing President Trump’s agenda. The proposal now moves to the Senate, where both chambers must agree on a unified budget plan to proceed with budget reconciliation, a process that allows bypassing the typical 60-vote threshold in the Senate. Threatened cuts could be the last straw for Minnesota’s already stressed hunger-relief programs.
The budget directs committees to propose plans for meeting spending targets, with Republicans seeking to cut trillions in spending to finance tax cuts. The plan includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, and increased funding for areas like defense, homeland security, and the judiciary.
The House Ways and Means Committee is tasked with the tax cuts.
Spending increases would target areas such as the judiciary ($110 billion), armed services ($100 billion), and homeland security ($90 billion). Meanwhile, other committees, including energy and commerce, education and agriculture are tasked with finding substantial cuts.
The final budget must be deficit-neutral, relying on projections that tax cuts will spur enough economic growth to offset the costs. However, these projections have been challenged by experts and Democrats, who suggest the budget could lead to a $2.8 trillion deficit increase by 2034.
One alarming financial impact in specific calls for at least $230 billion in cuts over 10 years to federal farm and nutrition programs such as SNAP. According to experts, Minnesota is already facing a critical issue: food insecurity. A recent release from local hunger-relief organization Second Harvest Heartland revealed troubling statistics about the rising hunger crisis in the state. With one in five families in Minnesota struggling with food insecurity — equating to 20% of the population — the state’s food assistance programs are being stretched thin.
According to Second Harvest Heartland CEO Allison O’Toole, last year, Minnesota’s food shelves saw nearly 9 million visits. She says any cuts to these nutrition programs will have catastrophic effects on Minnesotans, particularly at a time when the cost of living is already skyrocketing.
“I said that six months ago without knowing about these cuts. The system breaks at some point. It’s unsustainable.”
O’Toole says the end of pandemic-era benefits has compounded the situation, leaving families unable to keep up with the rising costs of groceries, transportation and energy.
These cuts, O’Toole warns, could prove devastating not only to individuals but also to organizations like hers. With the demand for food assistance increasing every year, the system is already at breaking point. Last year alone, she says the organization distributed 170 million pounds of food, a significant increase from the previous year.
Beyond the immediate impacts on food programs, the proposed cuts would also affect businesses, as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides individuals with money to purchase groceries. If cuts to SNAP benefits are enacted, not only will families suffer, but local businesses that rely on these purchases may also face a loss in revenue.
“There is bipartisan opposition to these cuts... It’s music to my ears, because we all have to rally around this,” states O’Toole. “It can’t get worse.”
O’Toole says Second Harvest Heartland is advocating for broader solutions, not just emergency food. O’Toole pointed out that the answer lies in addressing the systemic
Allison O’Toole
issues contributing to food insecurity, such as the cost of childcare, transportation and housing. For example, there is bipartisan support for a federal child tax credit that could help alleviate some of the financial pressure on families.
“The system breaks at some point. It’s unsustainable.”
The organization has also declared a “Hunger Moonshot” initiative, aiming to cut hunger
in half for all Minnesotans by 2030. “This is a solvable issue, but if we do not look at some of the bigger issues around this, we’re never going to solve it.”
This initiative is part of a larger push to address food insecurity through long-term policy changes, not just temporary fixes. As O’Toole explained, these cuts highlight the importance of policies that target the root causes of hunger. “Hunger is a policy choice,” she said, emphasizing that without systemic changes, Minnesota’s hunger crisis will only worsen.
O’Toole says the organization is not waiting for these changes to occur. She says her and other advocates are actively engaging with local
and national policymakers. O’Toole is scheduled to meet with Senator Amy Klobuchar in Washington, D.C., the first week of March, where she will join nutrition experts to discuss the impacts of the proposed cuts.
As Minnesota grapples with the potential consequences of these budget cuts, the community is rallying together, recognizing that solving hunger will require a united effort. The hunger relief network in the state is strong, but even they acknowledge that without major policy changes, the current trajectory is unsustainable. The focus now is on finding longterm solutions that go beyond providing emergency food and addressing the systemic issues that perpetuate hunger. In the face of these challenges, Minnesota must come together to find solutions that support its most vulnerable citizens and ensure that no one goes hungry. As advocates continue to raise awareness and push for change, it is clear that the fight against hunger has become an immediate and urgent need.
For more information, visit https://www.2harvest.org/ about-us/make-hunger-history.
Jasmine
Rev. Jerry McAfee interrupts the City Council budget committee at City Hall, February 10. Live Recording of Council Meeting
Former Minneapolis neighborhood safety director Luana Nelson-Brown Courtesy
By Clint Combs Contributor
Gov. Walz would tap private insurers to help keep health care affordable
MN Gov. Tim Walz expressed concern over ongoing threats to federal health care programs, particularly in light of recent actions in Washington. He emphasized the importance of maintaining access to affordable health care, especially for the state’s workingclass families.
About 163,000 Minnesotans have purchased health insurance through the marketplace, most of which was sold through the MNsure exchange. Enhanced federal subsidies during the pandemic temporarily raised the income cap for qualifying for financial assistance through the Affordable Care Act, significantly lowering monthly premiums for private plans purchased on MNsure. If these subsidies are lifted, many Minnesotans, including farm families and younger retirees, could see their premiums increase beyond their means.
Stabilizing costs through reinsurance
The governor’s proposal centers on the state’s existing reinsurance program, which has been crucial in keeping premiums down for individuals buying insurance on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. Minnesota was the first state to establish this reinsurance program, which has since been adopted by other states. The program helps lower premiums by providing subsidies to health insurance com-
panies, reducing their costs. Under the Governor’s proposal, a surcharge on healthrelated premiums across the state would be increased from 0.6 percent to 1.25 percent.
This surcharge, paid by the state’s large health insurance companies, would help fund the reinsurance program, freeing up approximately $500 million in the state’s general fund.
The money saved from this shift could then be redirected to cover expected Medicaid cuts.
“We’re not just talking about shifting costs around. This is about keeping costs down for over 200,000 Minnesotans who rely on this market,” Walz said.
“We’re going to make sure this program continues, and that Minnesotans have access to the
care they need, no matter what happens in Washington.”
Funding shift: Spreading the burden more evenly
A key component of the proposal involves shifting the funding source for the reinsurance program from the state general fund to private insurers. This means that instead of relying entirely on state funds to support the program, the financial burden will be shared by insurance companies.
“This is about keeping costs down for over 200,000 Minnesotans who rely on this market.”
It’s unclear if health insurers plan to pass those costs on to consumers. The state plans to raise an estimated $235 million in the first year of the new program and $276 million in the second year.
Grace Arnold, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Commerce, explained the shift, noting that other states have adopted similar funding models. “We’ve long had a large program that has relied heavily on state dollars. With the budget situation now, we looked at other states’ programs and borrowed from those to make the system more fair,” Arnold said. “Now, we’re looking to the insurers to help fund it, much like other states have done.”
The shift to funding through an assessment on insurers, in-
stead of relying solely on the state’s general fund, is intended to make the program more sustainable. Arnold further clarified that this approach helps spread the financial burden more evenly and ensures that the program remains financially stable.
Support despite costs
While Walz initially opposed the reinsurance program when he took office, he acknowledged its effectiveness in reducing premiums. “I think there are better ways to manage health care,” Walz said. Walz noted that he preferred a public option but knew that would fail to pass a divided legislature. “But this program works, and if we can find a way to make it more sustainable,
we need to take that chance.”
However, the program remains costly. “It’s basically subsidizing the health care companies to be able to provide this insurance at a super expensive rate,” Walz said. “And while I think there are better solutions, this works for now.”
Despite his earlier reservations, Walz noted bipartisan support for the reinsurance program, particularly from Republicans, who have previously backed it. “There should be no reason Republicans shouldn’t help us get this thing done,” Walz said. “It’s just a matter of looking at what it does in the end.”
Future sustainability
Ahna Minge, Minnesota’s budget director, clarified that the reinsurance program will be supported by both state and federal funds. She noted that, in addition to the surcharge paid by insurers, the federal government will also contribute to the program’s funding.
“We’re making sure this program is financially sustainable,” Minge said. “By increasing the surcharge and securing federal funding, we can keep premiums affordable and continue to provide quality care to Minnesotans.”
“We’re taking action here in Minnesota,” Walz said. “As the federal government makes its decisions, we are securing the future of healthcare for Minnesotans.”
Clint Combs welcomes reader responses to ccombs@spokesman-recorder.com.
The corporate war against breastfeeding
What’s best for infant health is not everyone’s priority
By Clint Combs Contributing Writer
A new grant will help Minneapolis expand breastfeeding and lactation services, with a focus on improving health outcomes for communities of color. Two clinics are slated to pilot this spring with a goal to expand to five by 2028.
The Racial and Ethical Approaches to Community Health (REACH) grant award from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will add 35 new providers in hospitals and clinics working in tandem with the Cultural Wellness Center and the Division of Indian Work. Why are these services important for infant and maternal health? Experts like Claire Fleming Sivongsay, community impact director for the American Heart Association in Minneapolis, highlight breastfeeding’s protective benefits. “You know breastfeeding or lactation, chest feeding, it’s helpful in being protective against hypertension,” said Sivongsay.
“For women, it’s helpful in being protective against type 2 diabetes. For women, it’s also helpful in one of our priority areas of food security.”
Amira Roess, professor of global health at George Mason, found in data from DC’s WIC program (2007-2019) that the non-Hispanic Black demographic had the lowest
breastfeeding initiation rate at 73%, with Black immigrants at 69%. Although rates for both groups increased over time, they remained below the national trend of 81%.
“Lactation clinics need to be convenient and accessible to avoid undue burdens on mothers,” Roess said. She also stressed the importance of hiring lactation professionals who speak the language and understand the cultural background of the families they serve.
“Lactation professionals are essential in improving breastfeeding rates,” Roess added. “But we face the chal -
lenge of underpaying these professionals, which affects the quality of support they can provide.
“We’ve seen a few things. Number one, lactation professionals, who are well trained, do an excellent job in helping the moms improve their breastfeeding rates. It’s important that they speak the language of the person they are working with, and have a similar background.
“We also have a problem in the U.S. where we don’t value the work, with an inability to pay living wages or competitive wages to a lot of lactation and other health
care professionals and public health professionals,” said Roess.
“Breastfeeding is best for infant health and avoids the high costs and potential risks of infant formula.”
added that breastfeeding lowers the risks of infections in children and reduces ovarian and breast cancer rates for mothers. “Breastfeeding is best for infant health and avoids the high costs and potential risks of infant formula,” Nestle said.
However, efforts to promote breastfeeding are often challenged by powerful corporate interests. For instance, Kenyan officials pushed back against the formula industry’s opposition to regulations aimed at increasing breastfeeding, citing that less than half of Africa’s infants were
exclusively breastfed and setting a goal to raise the rate to 75%. In 2021, formula companies lobbied U.S. officials to oppose advertising restrictions in Kenya and suggested changes to the proposed law. These corporate lobbying efforts may impact local breastfeeding practices in Minneapolis’ East African community, where cultural and economic pressures already limit exclusive breastfeeding. International interests promoting formula feeding could further undermine efforts to encourage breastfeeding as a healthier, culturally appropriate choice. In Minneapolis, federal funding through the R.E.A.C.H. grant is vital to addressing these challenges by offering cultural support and training. The Fatwa issued by the Minnesota Islamic Council two years ago, which supports the use of pasteurized donor milk, provides a culturally acceptable approach to preventing chronic diseases.
“If we just import the Western model to the Muslim world, it will not work. Technology is not working in a vacuum,” said Dr. Mohammed Ghaly, professor of Islam and biomedical ethics at the Research Center for Islamic Legislation & Ethics, in a 2021 interview with Salon.
Clint Combs welcomes reader responses at combs0284@ gmail.com.
Professor Marion Nestle, a nutrition expert at NYU,
Dr. Amira Roess, professor of public health at George Mason Claire Fleming, community impact director, American Heart Association Twin Cities
Gov. Tim Walz speaks to reporters about proposals to stabilize premiums through Reinsurance
Business
This kitchen’s a symphony of food, culture and healing
Aria Binns-Zager Staff Writer
In the kitchen, chef Lachelle Cunningham brings food to life — transforming each dish into a celebration of flavor, history and culture. Her cooking is an experience, engaging the senses with sizzling aromas, vibrant colors, and rich textures.
“It’s about celebrating the ingredients,” she says, her voice lighting up with passion as she speaks. “You could take any one ingredient, but then you think about all the different cooking techniques — grilling, pickling, dehydrating. There are dozens of ways to bring a dish to life.”
Lachelle’s philosophy extends far beyond preparing meals — she honors the story of each ingredient, from its origins to the moment it hits the plate. For her, food is a gateway to remembering ancestral knowledge and wisdom.
“I’ve been foraging and doing herbalism for years,” she shares. “But now in the past two years since I’ve been running Frogtown Farm, I’ve been able to share what I know. I can really teach people what I know, but I also take those opportunities to touch base with community and see what they know. I’ve learned so much just from everyday people.”
Her love for food extends beyond its taste — it’s about honoring the experience, the people, and the land that nurtures it. Cooking for Lachelle is a chance to transform ingredients and community.
“Buy a chicken, eat it with sides the first day, then make a second dish — maybe chicken salad or tacos,” she advises.
“On the third day, boil the bones and make soup. You could stretch one chicken to make four or five different dishes.” Her approach to sustainability in the kitchen is about maximizing resources, reducing waste, and making the most of every meal.
There is a commitment to sustainability that drives everything she does — whether it’s maximizing the use of a chicken in the kitchen or finding new ways to nurture the Earth. “People don’t realize how much food we waste.
“We’ve disconnected so much from it that we don’t even think about how we can use the scraps,” Lachelle reflects. By teaching her community to repurpose food and reduce waste, Lachelle is building a more sustainable and equitable food system.
This same respect for food follows her into her work as the head of Frogtown Farm in St. Paul. Here, Lachelle connects her culinary craft to the soil, grounding herself in the teachings of her ancestors while tending to the Earth.
“That’s how I feel like I’m honoring and connecting with my ancestors — through nature, plants, understanding them,” Lachelle explains. Her passion for farming is rooted in the deep history of African and Indigenous traditions, as she works to learn about the plants native to this land, the invasive species, and the knowledge her ancestors left behind.
“I’ve been able to bring people into the farm and show them how to grow food and forage in their own communities.”
“Some of my ancestors were African, some of them were Indigenous. And we’re not in Africa. We have different plants here, and I am really trying to understand these plants that we do have; which ones are native plants, which ones are invasive species.”
Cunningham’s ability to champion food leads into healing, educating, and re-
connecting with the land in ways that empower the community. Through her foraging and farming, Lachelle is teaching others to honor the Earth while learning to grow food sustainably.
She’s reconnecting with the land but also with the people, using food to bridge generational gaps and create shared experiences. “I’ve been able to bring people into the farm and show them how to grow food and forage in their own communities,” she says.
Cunningham’s work empowers the people around her, teaching them how to cultivate the land, how to cook what they’ve grown, and how to make food an integral part of their lives.
This commitment to food justice is also at the heart of her advocacy work. Cunningham is a key member of the Metro Food Justice Network, a group dedicated to decentralizing power in the food system and ensuring equitable access to food for marginalized communities.
“I’m part of…a group dedicated to bringing justice to our food system and empowering communities,” she says, highlighting her focus on breaking down the barriers that prevent people of
color from accessing healthy, culturally significant food.
The challenges she faces extend beyond growing crops or preparing meals; they involve shifting perspectives.
“The biggest challenge is just people’s mindsets. They’ve been stuck in doing things a certain way,” she observes.
She remembers a woman who once explained that she couldn’t eat leftovers because of the trauma she experienced growing up. For Cunningham, cooking and eating are acts of healing, reclamation and empowerment, and she uses food to help others overcome the burdens of their past.
In March, Lachelle is also leading an event that celebrates Black women who have transformed their lives after incarceration, showcasing how food can play a role in personal transformation.
“There’s gonna be a panel of Black women entrepreneurs who came out of incarceration, turned their lives around, and became successful businesswomen,” she says, underscoring how food and community can spark empowerment and positive change.
Through her work at Frog
town Farm, her cooking workshops, and her advocacy for
Uniting the diaspora through music and culture
By Kiara Williams Staff Writer
On any given night, the pulse of the African diaspora beats strongest at a Samambo World event. It’s not just about music — it’s about movement, connection, and an immersive experience that brings Black joy to the forefront. What started as a party series has now evolved into a cultural movement, celebrating the African diaspora with intentionality, creativity, and a deep sense of community.
The birth of a movement
Samambo World was founded in 2018 out of a desire to create a space where the African diaspora could be authentically celebrated. The founder, driven by a passion for music and community, recognized the lack of spaces that truly embraced the depth and vibrancy of culture. “We want to get away from ‘section culture.’” says founder Kwey Mensah, referring to the ongoing division across the Black identity.
What began as an event series has since transformed into a platform that not only hosts parties but also provides op-
portunities for artists, DJs, and creatives to showcase their talents and generate revenue.
“There’s a level of intentionality in everything we do,” Mensah shares. “From carefully curating lineups to collaborating with artists who align with our vision, we’re building something that invokes all the senses.
Samambo World is about more than just throwing events — it’s about creating lasting relationships and ensuring that every experience is meaningful.”
At its core, Samambo World is about bringing the collective of Black bodies and expression together. It’s a judgment-free space where joy is centered, even in the face of external challenges.
Mensah says the platform loves to highlight local talent in all aspects — production, promotion, hosting and beyond. He says the organization also collaborates with out-of-state event curators with aligned missions, such as Afrobeats to the World, to expand its reach and impact.
2 Tbsp flaxseed meal (ground raw flaxseed)
5 Tbsp water
1 ½ cup black-eyed pea flour*
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour (or other desired flour)
4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 4-6 tablespoons brown sugar (adjust to your sweetness preference)
3 cup milk (you can use dairy or plant-based milk)
4 tablespoons coconut oil melted (or other oil of choice)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional) Cooking spray or oil for greasing the waffle iron Maple Syrup for serving
*You can purchase Black-Eyed Pea Flour or create your own by pulverizing the Black-Eyed Peas into a fine powder using a blender, coffee/spice grinder or other food processors.
Preparation
1. Add flaxseed meal and water to a medium sized bowl and stir. Let rest for 5 minutes to thicken. Preheat your waffle iron according to its manufacturer’s instructions.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the black-eyed pea flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the milk, melted coconut oil (or other oil), and vanilla extract (if using) to the bowl with the flaxseed mixture, Mix well.
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Don’t overmix. Lightly grease the waffle iron with cooking spray or a small amount of oil.
4. Pour an appropriate amount of batter onto the preheated waffle iron, following the manufacturer’s Instructions.
5. Close the waffle iron and cook until the waffles are golden brown and crisp, around 3-5 minutes.
6. Serve your black-eyed pea waffles with your favorite toppings such as fresh fruit, maple syrup and whipped cream.
food justice, Lachelle is creating spaces for people to reconnect with the land, their culture, and each other. For Cunningham, food is nourishment, an experience, and a way to honor the past while creating a more sustainable, equitable future.
“There are layers to what we do,” Mensah explains. “It’s about creating a space where people feel safe to express themselves. It’s about uplifting creatives and making sure that the work we put in resonates beyond just one night.”
The sound of Samambo As a DJ and producer, known simply as “Kwey,” Mensah has collaborated with artists like Doechii, Dizzy Fae, and Papa Mbye, approaching music with an interpersonal and organic process. “Music is energy,” he says. “It has the power to shift what’s happening inside of us. That’s why we’re intentional about the sounds we bring into our spaces.”
Every Samambo event is a carefully crafted sonic experience, introducing audiences to sounds from across the diaspora. The founder emphasizes that hip hop has lost much of its vibrational power and sees Samambo World as a space to reintroduce people to music that moves them — physically, mentally and spiritually.
Overcoming challenges, embracing growth Despite Samambo World’s
curation in 2018, it wasn’t fully established as a business in 2023. Mensah says it has faced the growing pains of transforming from a passion project into an enterprise. One of the biggest challenges? Developing a business mindset as a creative.
“It felt lonely at times,” Mensah admits. “Asking for help wasn’t easy, but we’ve learned that collaboration is key to keeping our space safe and sustainable.”
Despite the hurdles, the most rewarding part remains clear: “Knowing that I’m serving something bigger than myself. It affirms that what we’re building has longevity.”
Looking ahead, Samambo World is scaling beyond where it stands. The vision includes launching Samambo TV — a media extension featuring event recaps, DJ sets, and interviews — and expanding into larger-scale events like curating a festival akin to Soundset.
“I think people see Samambo World as just a party — and that’s great — but we see beyond that.”
Additionally, the founder cohosts ‘Purewateradio’ alongside Awa Mally, a platform amplifying emerging artists and global sounds in collaboration with Oroko Radio, based in Ghana. Through this project, Samambo has hosted beat battles and highlighted rising producers, all while tapping into the pulse of international music movements.
Aria Binns - Zager welcomes reader responses at abinns@ spokesman-recorder.com
With each meal prepared, each seed planted and each community engaged, Cunningham reminds us that food has the power to heal, connect and empower in ways that extend beyond the plate.
Expanding the vision Success for Samambo World isn’t just about growing the brand — it’s about ensuring the connections it fosters extend beyond events. “It’s about bridging gaps in the diaspora, creating new relationships, and forming new collaborations.” With its most recent collaboration with Afrobeats to the World on Mar 7 at the Green Room in Minneapolis, and the intimate Samambo Sessions, the platform continues to evolve. The ultimate dream? Mensah says it’s bringing Samambo World to Accra, Ghana — returning to his birth home – to the place that made this vision possible.
“If it weren’t for Ghana, Samambo wouldn’t exist.”
For aspiring entrepreneurs, the founder offers a simple but powerful piece of advice:
“Understand your ‘why.’ It can change, but it’s your fuel. It keeps you going and aligned with your purpose.”
As Samambo World grows, its mission remains the same: to unite the diaspora through music, culture, and intentional experiences. And with every beat, every dance, and every connection made, the movement continues to thrive.
Kiara Williams welcomes reader responses at kwilliams@ spokesman-recorder.com.
VEGAN BLACK-EYED PEA WAFFLES
Black Eyed Pea Waffles, culinary innovation by Lachelle Cunningham
Lachelle Cunningham
DJ Kwey spins at Samambo World event located at The Green Room in uptown Minneapolis.
in the skyway near Target. And they always have that woman with young children around them. That’s so nice. But she gets her subsidized housing and everything else free; she has plenty of time on her hands.
Oh, by the way a**hole, I voted for Harris, as I did for Biden, Bill Clinton, Hilary Clinton, Obama, and many other democrats, with a few republicans mixed in from decades ago. Susan Ciconte”
Armstrong says the email was originally sent to her spam. She says she found it when she was browsing through, going to Facebook about it on February 17.
Armstrong’s Facebook post: “Friends, Take a look at the
contents of a grotesque email that I received below from a white woman in Minneapolis who is upset about the Target boycott and my advocacy for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. After being so racially-denigrating in her email towards Black people, she had the nerve to sign her name at the bottom of the email and to use her real email addressso I looked her up online and just gave her a call. At first she tried to deny emailing me, but once I read her email address back to her, she admitted it. I then told her that her email was racist and evil and I asked her what would compel her to do such a thing. I also asked her why she thought it mat -
tered that she voted for Democrats in the past. And I asked her why she felt the need to call me an a**hole for fighting for justice. She then responded that it wasn’t evil and that I should use my background as a lawyer to work for the Innocence Project (which she said she donated to in the past) instead of fighting for DEI. I then asked her, am I calling your office to tell you how to use your background as a tax preparer? So why are you emailing me, trying to tell me what to do
“I then told her that her email was racist and evil and I asked her what would compel her to do such a thing.”
with my law degree and being so rude and disrespectful? She then hung up in my face rather than answer my questions.
Sadly, these are the types of
attitudes that ensure that our society remains inequitable and/or goes backwards. And Susan clearly doesn’t understand that as a white woman, she is or would be one of the
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the attention of the NAACP and Thurgood Marshall, who would go on to play a key role in representing her in court. Morris’ story illustrates the ripple effect of women who fought for their rights and the rights of future generations.
“I’m a white man and I’m living in the early part of the 21st century,” said co-author James Lundy, “and here’s a story about a Black woman who was in the South in the 1940s... But the more I got into it, the more I felt like I was channeling Susie. And I don’t mean that as appropriation or anything like that, but I just felt like on a human level, I could kind of understand her through this exercise of writing a play.”
While the history of civil rights activism is often fo-
cused on well-known figures like Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr., this story offers a fresh perspective of the value in the underdogs — underscoring the essential role of ordinary people in driving social change.
In addition to recognizing Morris, “Little Rock: 1942” also
honors the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder’s involvement during the civil rights era when the publication was split into two separate publications, the Minneapolis Spokesman and the St. Paul Recorder. Former St. Paul Recorder reporter Rev. Clarence T.R. Nelson, who passed away in 1977, was
FLOYD
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“We still gonna keep on keeping on,” Smith said, “but for the City of Minneapolis to disregard that, it’s just gonna cause more hurt, more harm, and more trauma on top of the hurt and trauma that’s already there.”
Howard also spoke about property owners who are not considering the painful context of Floyd’s death. “We’re sorry we inconvenienced people and capitalism by having a Black man lynched,” Howard said.
“Sorry that George Floyd happened to inconveniently get lynched on your roadway,” she continued. “Minnesota used to be known for Minnesota Nice...and now it’s the by-
among the first to document the case, and his coverage helped ensure that this critical chapter in civil rights history was not forgotten.
“I didn’t know that Susie Morris’ efforts to address equal pay for teachers was a direct connection to Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP in breaking down ‘separate but equal,” said Landmark Center Executive Director Amy Mino. “I mean, who knew that?... We all know about Brown v. Board of Education, but we don’t know what led up to that.”
biggest beneficiaries of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, along with affirmative action.”
The outcome was a swift one. A few days later, Armstrong announced on February 24 that Susan Ciconte had been removed from the Hennepin Health Enrollee Advisory Council. Armstrong expressed her gratitude on social media, particularly to three women, Andrea Morisette Grazzini, Michelle Gross, and Chayo Smith, who had written to Hennepin Health’s CEO, Mike Herzing, demanding action. Armstrong attached the email confirmation from Herzing, who responded that the organization “does not tolerate racist language or behavior [and that] – it is contrary to [their] work as a health plan to improve equity and reduce disparities within our community.”
conducted by Mino and her team, it also honors the importance of local journalism in preserving the legacy of ordinary people who became part of the larger fight for equality.
The Landmark Center’s production of “Little Rock: 1942” is a collaboration that brings together historians, legal professionals, artists and actors. Although their roots are typically, as lawyer and cast member Dennis Gerhardstein says, “Doing plays about bootlegging in the 1930s
“Civil rights doesn’t happen without everyday regular people taking big risks.”
word for police brutality.”
“Hurt people hurt people,” said Smith. “If you leave us hurt and in a space where we can’t even process…overlooked and having our history washed away like it doesn’t matter… but to those that it does matter to, we matter, and we think about those who don’t think about this space.”
Concerns over police accountability Anger and grief over George Floyd’s death has resulted in scathing reports by the Department of Justice and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) that found patterns of policing practices that violate the Constitution in Minneapolis.
A state consent decree was reached between the City of
and 19-teens,” reviving “Little Rock: 1942,” is not just sharing
Minneapolis and the MDHR in 2023, and a report on that progress is due next month.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson has granted a pause, adding nine more days of review to the federal settlement before proceeding. Consent decrees or settlements are legally binding plans to reform troubled police departments that require a judge’s approval.
Howard questioned whether a DOJ under a Trump administration would still honor the terms of the settlement.
“I’m not sure whether or not the consent decrees will even be honored at this point. And quite frankly, we’ve seen very few consent decrees actually lead to a reduction of police brutality,” Howard said. Howard recalled a meeting
By demanding accountability, these women helped ensure that a person with such [alleged] discriminatory views would no longer hold a position of influence over health care decisions, which can disproportionately affect Black people and other people of color.
“This is an example of how we fight back against racial abuse and win! Our whole community benefits from this victory because Susan will no longer be in a position of power to influence health care decisions that can affect Black people and other people of color,” said Armstrong.
The question persists: What precedent does the abandonment of DEI set for general racism in our community?
Jasmine McBride welcomes reader responses at jmcbride@ spokesman-recorder.com
an important piece of history; but creating an opportunity for younger generations to engage with the ongoing relevance of civil rights and the legal system.
As Newby points out, “Civil rights doesn’t happen without everyday regular people taking big risks.” Morris’ story is a powerful reminder of how one person, especially a woman in a time of pervasive inequality, can help change the course of history.
While the live performance has passed, there is a video version provided by Saint Paul’s SPNN of “Little Rock: 1942” on Youtube. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=jnnD_sOq6CY. For more information, visit landmarkcenter.org.
Jasmine McBride welcomes reader responses at jmcbride@ spokesman-recorder.com.
with Frey when he showed her a list of officers he planned to fire, but none were dismissed.
“What I know is that we have a mayor who was elected to his second term as a strong mayor. He personally told me that there was a list of officers he would fire immediately, but none of them got fired. He even turned a laptop around to show me the officers in question, and that’s all I’ll say about that.”
The mayor’s office denies the existence of the list Howard cited: “This never happened and such a list didn’t even exist,” the mayor’s office emailed us after a request for comment.
Clint Combs welcomes reader responses to ccombs@spokesman-recorder.com.
As the production draws from the historical research
Thurgood Marshall, circa 1955
Photograph by Bettmann.Corbis
Target Boycott organized by Armstrong February 1, at 1100 Nicollet
Email from Hennepin Health regarding Susan Ciconte’s board suspension
Marcia Howard (far right), Mileesha Smith (middle), and supporters gather at People’s Way (George Floyd Square).
By Patricia Aguilar Ortiz
CAPI USA is a nonprofit organization in Brooklyn Center that, according to its website, “helps immigrants, refugees, and those in need meet their basic needs, reach financial stability, and get engaged in their communities.” Guest contributor Patricia Aguilar Ortiz is the organization’s economic empowerment director.
Minnesota is often celebrated for its high quality of life, excellent education, toptier health care, and overall livability. However, beneath this veneer of prosperity lies a stark contrast: significant racial disparities experienced by its BIPOC residents.
Minnesota ranks poorly regarding racial equality, highlighting a critical issue that demands our attention and action. For example, Minnesota ranks 50th nationwide for the median household income gap between Black and white residents.
It’s important to consider current statistics to understand the broader context of homeownership. The state ranks 46th in homeownership disparities. According to the Minnesota Housing Partnership 2024 report, the disparity between Black and white Minnesotans who own a home is substantial (77% white and 29% Black homeowners).
Minnesota ranks 50th in the nation for the median household income gap between Black and white residents.
This paradox is rooted in
systemic racism and historical policies that have disadvantaged Black communities. Dr. Samuel Myers, an economist at the University of Minnesota, says, “It’s a great place to live. Let’s make it a great place for everybody.” He says Minnesota has historically professed a progressive ideology and deep egalitarian sentiment, but that often only went so far.
For example, government and business redlined neighborhoods, identifying “riskier” areas to invest in, which was just a form of racial discrimination; racial covenants were language written into home deeds that said who could — or couldn’t — live there. Highways were often placed in areas that destroyed Black neighborhoods (Rondo area of Minneapolis-St. Paul) or separated neighborhoods from community resources.
These disparities highlight the importance of CAPI’s work in promoting equitable access to homeownership. While our client base is ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse, client households commonly share challenges such as racial discrimination, limited work history and educational attainment, housing instability, health care inequities.
They need support in navigating the U.S.-based labor market, educational, financial, and other systems. With nearly all client households facing significant degrees of economic hardship, poverty is the greatest common denominator among those we serve.
CAPI is dedicated to empowering individuals and fami-
Finance
MN’s racial disparities best addressed through financial stability, home ownership
lies in their journey toward homeownership through a comprehensive and compassionate approach. As a HUDapproved housing counseling agency, CAPI USA provides services designed to support community members in achieving financial stability and securing their own homes.
Recognizing that financial stability is a cornerstone of homeownership, we provide personalized financial counseling. This service includes budget assistance, debt management strategies, and guidance on improving credit scores. CAPI USA empowers participants to achieve their homeownership goals by addressing financial challenges and promoting sound financial practices.
“Poverty is the greatest common denominator among those we serve.”
CAPI’s Homeownership Program advances equitable access to homeownership for underserved populations (lowto moderate-income, BIPOC households, single-parent households, and individuals with disabilities). We support homeownership sustainability through instructor-led homeownership education, financial wellness, and homeownership counseling.
CAPI’s holistic approach to
homeownership advocacy recognizes that each participant’s journey is unique. By providing non-judgmental guidance and honoring individual experiences, CAPI USA creates a supportive atmosphere where participants feel valued and empowered. This compassionate approach addresses immediate housing needs and promotes long-term financial stability and well-being.
As a member of the Minnesota Homeownership Alliance, CAPI USA collaborates with other organizations to advocate for policies and initiatives that promote equitable access to homeownership. This partnership amplifies CAPI USA’s impact and ensures that the community’s needs are represented at the state and local levels.
CAPI works closely with the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHFA) and the
Target takes a big hit:
$12.4
By Stacy M. Brown
Target Corporation’s stock plummeted by approximately $27.27 per share by the end of February, erasing about $12.4 billion in market value. The drop came on February 28, the designated economic blackout day, and coincided with mounting backlash over the retailer’s decision to abandon its diversity, equity and inclu-
billion wiped out
sion (DEI) commitments. The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) has taken action through its Public Education and Selective Buying Campaign. NNPA President and CEO Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. said, “Black consumers helped build Target into a retail giant, and now they are making their voices heard. If corporations believe they can roll back diversity commit-
ments without consequence, they are mistaken.”
Reverend Jamal Bryant, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia, has led calls for a “40-Day Target Fast,” urging Black consumers to withhold their spending at the retailer. “Black people spend $12 million a day at Target,” Bryant said. “If we withhold our dollars, we can make a statement that cannot be ignored.”
The NAACP also issued a Black Consumer Advisory in response to Target’s DEI rollback, warning Black consumers about corporate retreat from diversity initiatives. The advisory urges them to support businesses that remain committed to investing in Black communities.
Target is also facing legal battles. Shareholders have filed lawsuits challenging the company’s DEI policies, arguing that the commitments hurt financial performance. Meanwhile, conservative groups have sued over Target’s diversity efforts, claiming they discriminated against white employees and other groups.
“Consumers have the power to demand change, and Target is learning that lesson the hard way,” Chavis said.
Stacy M. Brown writes for the NNPA.
Minnesota Homeownership Center, which offer various programs to help first-time homebuyers, including down payment assistance, affordable mortgage options, and homebuyer education courses.
In addition, cities like Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park, and St. Paul have programs to increase homeownership rates among minority communities, including grants, low-interest loans, and other financial assistance programs.
The state government has passed legislation to reduce racial disparities, such as the First Time-First Gen down payment assistance program. These efforts collectively aim to make homeownership more attainable and sustainable for all Minnesotans, particularly those from underserved communities.
Despite those collective efforts, Minnesota faces an-
other challenge: a substantial housing shortage, with an estimated gap of 104,000 homes. This shortage drives up prices and makes it harder for low-income families to find affordable housing. To face the challenge, streamlining the approval process for housing projects would encourage the development of affordable homes, including simplifying regulations and reducing bureaucratic hurdles.
Additionally, zoning changes should be implemented to allow for the construction of starter homes and more diverse housing options, like tiny homes. This can help increase the supply of affordable homes and reduce housing costs, as well as expanding the use of Community Land Trust models to provide long-term affordable housing.
While Minnesota has already begun implementing several of these approaches, including policy changes and community initiatives, much work still needs to be done. Continued efforts to increase funding, expand financial education and counseling, and ensure livable wages are crucial to achieving truly equitable, accessible, and affordable homeownership.
By maintaining our commitment to these goals, we can create a more inclusive and supportive environment where all Minnesotans can thrive as homeowners. Together, we can build a brighter future for everyone.
For more information, visit capiusa.org.
Patricia Aguilar Ortiz CAPI USA
Arts & Culture
Artist’s collages tell nuanced stories in ‘GIANTS’ exhibit
Aria Binns-Zager Staff Writer
Deborah Roberts, a mixed media collage artist, contributes her powerful narratives to “GIANTS: Art from the Dean Collection” exhibition, a showcase of artworks curated by Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) and Alicia Keys’ extensive private collection.
Organized by Curator Kimberli Gant and Curatorial Assistant India A. Abiskaroon of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Brooklyn Museum, the collection aims to inspire important dialogue between art, culture and identity while supporting emerging and established artists. Roberts is among the latter.
Through her vibrant pieces, Roberts explores themes of identity, innocence and representation, particularly focusing on the experiences of young Black girls. Her participation in “GIANTS” serves as a vital dialogue about visibility and humanity in art.
“I think it’s very important that the community gets to see people and images that look like them, especially if you’re in underserved communities,” said Roberts. “So, so very important. I remember as a child going to museums and seeing all these Renaissance works. And the only person you saw of color was in a servant role. They never were the main characters. So it’s important for me to put those types
of Black images in my work.”
Her work draws inspiration from literature and iconic Black artists. “It’s really weird. It comes from multiple places. I love literature,” Roberts states. “You can look at Toni Morrison, who influenced me. James Baldwin and bell hooks. Then you look at artists such as Jean Lacy or Romare Bearden or Benny Andrews, people like that.”
black and white photographs that exist there. I think there’s a wonderful piece by Derrick Adams in the exhibition. Amy Sherald’s big painting [Deliverance] has motorcycles that are flying.
“We used to ride bicycles. Me and my brother, we would make these wheelies and we would fly across. So that struck a nerve. No, not a nerve, but I guess a really good memory.”
“The whole point of doing multi-face collages is that you find one face and you find the humanity that exists in that person.”
A
Reflecting on the exhibition, she noted, “I think about memories. You can see the
central theme in Roberts’ work is the representation of young Black girls, challeng-
ing societal stereotypes and reclaiming their innocence. “I think Black girls are also sexualized very early, more than their peers. They’re supposedly seen as more mature. It was important for me to talk about the innocence that exists with young Black girls. They’re children. They’re not women. They’re not capable of making those types of decisions.”
To convey this, Roberts uses layered clothing, mismatched patterns, and youthful postures in her collages. “That’s why you see the multi-layered clothes. You see the mixedmatched clothing. You see the hair bows—all sorts of tropes in there to say, ‘I’m young.’ The tilting of the head, the hands on the hips, you know, things like that.”
Her collage technique deconstructs and rebuilds images to tell nuanced stories. “I would say that I’m putting a narrative into the images. I think that because I work on maybe four pieces at a time, I’m trying to get a message across.”
Roberts adds, “The whole point of doing multi-face collages is that you find one face and you find that person [and the] humanity that exists in that person. So many times people see us as one monolith and not an individual, and I’m hoping to see that one individual in the work.”
Deborah Roberts’ presence in “GIANTS” champions the name and invites viewers to a deeper
conversation about identity, community, and the complexity of Black experiences. Her collages are layered with stories, memories, and societal reflections that resonate beyond the canvas, challenging audiences to see and feel the humanity in each piece.
“Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys” is showing March 8, 2025, through July 13, 2025, at
Aria Binns-Zager welcomes reader responses at abinns@ spokesman-recorder.com.
Deborah Roberts, mixed media artist Courtesy photos
A collaged view of childhood by Deborah Roberts (2018)
Education
MN senator’s diverse community reeling from MAGA attacks
By Vickie Evans-Nash Contributing Writer
On November 8, 2022, Erin Maye Quade, Zaynab Mohamed, and Clare Oumou Verbeten became the first Black women in the Minnesota Senate. Quade is focused on families, specifically childhood hunger. She is committed to working across the aisle and representing the diversity of the constituents in the communities she serves.
Her interest in politics began when she was a freshman in high school. At 14, she was fascinated with the 2000 “Bush v Gore” election recount when Gore won the popular vote but lost the electoral college. This hadn’t happened since 1888 when Benjamin Harrison lost to Grover Cleveland.
Most of her early work has been in community organizing. She was organizing for then-congressman Keith Ellison when she expressed concerns about childhood hunger. He asked when she would run for office.
“I was a little bit taken aback,” she says. From her organizing background, she thought, “I don’t run for office; I work for people who run for office.”
The connections she built through organizing and a passion for community issues made her a good candidate for elected office. “What are you waiting for?” Ellison asked regarding running for office.
“I didn’t have a good answer for that,” she says. “And when you don’t have a good answer for Keith Ellison, you end up running for office.”
In 2015, she ran for and won a House seat in District 57A. In 2018, she ran and lost as the DFL primary candidate for lieutenant governor with Erin Murphy as the gubernatorial candidate against
now-Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flannigan.
She took a break after the loss, then ran for the Senate. In 2003 she became one of three senators who were the first Black female senators in the state. Her focus was and continues to be childhood hunger.
“Part of the solution for me is universal school meals to make sure that children have access to meals at school,” she says. Though wages are rising, food costs are rising faster. Avian flu is causing a shortage of eggs and driving up prices. As families struggle to keep up with the cost, food shelves are working hard to fill the gap.
They experienced an increase in visits by 7% in 2020 related to Covid and supply chain challenges. Once these issues subsided, the demand for food shelf services did not decline.
“One of my bills was an emergency $5 million emergency funding to food shelves last year,” says Quade. Yet while consumers are dealing with rising grocery prices, corporations are experiencing record profits.
Quade is interested in regulations for large corporations including tech industries. This includes AI, consumer data usage, and data manipulation.
Dynamic pricing is one way that technology can influence food prices. Digital labels make it easier to change prices on demand. “If it’s hot outside, they could say the price of ice cream is $1.50 more,” Quade explains. “I’m hoping we can prevent those types of essentially surge pricing for food.”
Regulation can decrease the impact tech companies can have on average citizens.
“I think it’s important for lawmakers to be applying the regulatory framework that we already have in place,” says Quade.
“Whether it’s price fixing, data selling, or manipulation of citizens, we somehow never applied [those regulations] to the digital world.”
With the current administration attacking DEI programs, cultural issues are at the forefront of politics. During her run for office in 2015, Quade says racism was coded. After Trump’s first term in office, that changed.
“The public push to resegregate society has taken such a hold that the way in which people feel comfortable being openly racist has changed,” she says. “It’s not new racism; it’s just more overtly expressed racism.”
Quade sees the importance
Anita Alexander
Torrion Amie
Holly Andersen
Nancy L. Beals
Jonathan Beck
Clara Boykin & Family
Gretchen Bratvold
Amanda Brinkman
Toweya Brown-Ochs
Benjamin F. Bryant
& Dr. Antusa S. Bryant
Deanna Callender
Shirlee L. Callender
Karl Cambronne
Liam Cavin
Janis Clay
Edward Coblentz Coventry Cowens
Alvin E. Cunningham
Michael Davis
Victoria Davis
Marie Denholm
Michael Diehl
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George Ewing
Elizabeth Fealey
David Fettig
Readus Fletcher
Ken Foxworth
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Ella Gates-Mahmoud
of diversity when she comes in contact with little girls. “They say, you look like me, or your hair looks like my hair. That representation matters to them,” she says. “You can’t be what you can’t see. And up until 2023, no Black girls saw themselves in the Minnesota Legislature or the Minnesota Senate.”
Quade describes herself as “very openly gay.” But unlike race, sexual orientation isn’t something someone sees at first glance. What she sees is the attack on the LGBT community, specifically those who identify as transgender.
“I worry about being safe, or being able to parent my daughter, or being able to stay married,” she says. “I know that there are lots of constituents who are worrying about the same things.”
Quade was elected vice chair to the people of color
and indigenous legislature caucus, or POCI. She also represents a diverse community, so the increase in attacks based on identity is something they experience in their everyday lives.
to pass whether it comes to building families, or literacy, or tech and AI.
“I pride myself with being able to work across the aisle to get things done for Minnesotans,” she continues. “And I think that will continue no matter who is in power.”
“I get to bring those experiences into the Legislature,” she says, “and make Minnesota a place where who you are, what you look like, and where you were born doesn’t determine your outcome.”
Will a divided government prevent her from working across the aisle with her Republican counterparts? “I do think that we will have some good bipartisan legislation
What can constituents do to make sure legislation works for them? “I think people assume that legislators know… the ways in which they experience the policies and laws of this state,” she says. “But without them sharing their stories with us, we don’t know.
“So, I always encourage folks to reach out and share their stories, because sometimes all it takes is one story to get something changed.”
Vickie Evans-Nash welcomes reader responses to vnash@ spokesman-recorder.com.
Andrew Issacson
Katie Izzo
Ms. Jewelean Jackson & Sir Steven C. Davis
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Hendon Group, Inc
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Transracial adoptees wish they’d had more guidance
Aria
Author Gibney shares hers through storytelling
Binns-Zager Staff Writer
In Minnesota, stories of adoption are diverse and complex, weaving narratives of belonging, identity, and cultural exploration. For Shannon Gibney, award-winning writer and professor at Minneapolis Community & Technical College known for her powerful exploration of complex identities and untold stories, adoption is not just a personal journey, but a lens through which she examines race, identity and belonging, challenging societal narratives and inspiring others to reflect on their own stories.
Gibney will be keynoting at the Adoptee Literary Festival on March 22. As a transracial adoptee herself, Gibney’s experiences are deeply embedded in her storytelling.
“I think every story that I write is in some way influenced by my experience as a transracial adoptee, even if the story isn’t explicitly about that topic,” she explained. “Just the outsider experience, right?
Like the feeling of my ‘other’.”
“I was so immersed in whiteness and family life through whiteness while navigating life as a Black or brown body.
Not just the body politic of the family, but the body politic of the nation too.” She called it
“a very confusing identity and place to be as a child,” especially when trying to understand her role in her family, community, and as “a quote unquote American.”
Sarah and Viviana For sisters Sarah and Viviana, both mothers and advocates who were adopted from Paraguay via closed adoption into a white American family, navigating identity has been a journey shaped by love, loss, and self-discovery. Their experiences shed light on the often unspoken challenges of transracial adoption, where questions of culture, race and belonging intertwine.
All three parties’ journeys have parallels.
Both sisters have few memories of their early years in Paraguay. Viviana recalls one of her only memories before adoption: standing in a hallway, offered a sucker by a neighbor.
“That’s the only memory I have from being about two and a half,” she says.
third birthday. Their early lives were spent in an orphanage, often separated due to Sarah’s illness.
“We were frequently separated because I was very sick,” Sarah recalls. “That had a huge impact on us emotionally and socially.”
Their mother later recounted her visit to the orphanage, describing rows of cribs filled with crying babies. “She wasn’t allowed in, but she snuck in. She said it looked like a baby farm,” Viviana says. This image stayed with their mother, highlighting the harsh realities of international adoption in under-resourced countries.
Gibney’s story
While Gibney was not adopted from another country, her storytelling mirrors the
“I was so immersed in whiteness and family life through whiteness while navigating life as a Black or brown body.”
The closed adoption meant no contact with biological family members and no information about their birth parents.
“No names, no health history, no cultural background. You’re just left with questions,” Sarah explained.
Adopted during the early 1990s, the sisters were brought to the U.S. at different ages — Sarah at nine months and Viviana just before her
two sisters’ intricacies of race and identity. Gibney’s novel “The Girl I Am, Was, and Never Will Be” is a speculative memoir that shows the powerful exploration of identity, belonging, and the complexities of transracial adoption.
The story begins with Gibney’s fictionalized self, a young Black girl adopted by a white family, grappling with the dissonance between her racial identity and her environment. As she navigates adolescence, she faces questions of who she is versus who she’s expected to be, feeling torn between two worlds.
The narrative takes a transformative turn, down a wormhole, when she imagines an alternate version of herself — one who wasn’t adopted and grew up with her biological family. This parallel life serves as a haunting antagonist,
WObituary
Wilford Steven Green
Sunrise — August 10, 1956 - Sunset — February 20, 2025
ilford Steven Green was born in Chicago, Illinois on August 10, 1956. He was 68 years young when he passed away surrounded by loved ones on Thursday, February 20, 2025 in Roseville, Minnesota. Wilford courageously fought a 10-year battle with cancer. His philosophy on life was “Enjoy Life — it’s a beautiful world.” He was a longtime real estate broker and motivational speaker in Miami, Florida. Wilford loved to drive his convertible and enjoy the warmth and sunshine of Miami when he wasn’t visiting family in Minnesota. He loved being around family and watching football on TV.
Wilford attended Howard University in Washington D.C. and the University of Minnesota, where he played football.
He was affectionately known as “Big Steven” by his family in Minnesota. Wilford’s resilient spirit will be carried on by son Wilford Steven II, step-daughters Robin and Angie, his daughter Jennifer, and two sons Jaden and Jordan who reside in Miami. He had two ex-wives, Kathleen and Bridgette. Wilford leaves behind beloved sisters and brothers, Linda, Anna, Yolanda, Tina, Willie and Timothy, including many nephews and nieces, as well as grandchildren Aubrieanna and Jada and four great
reflecting the internal conflict and sense of loss that often accompanies transracial adoption.
As the story unfolds, Gibney masterfully weaves together these dual identities, illuminating the emotional journey of reconciling the girl she is with the girl she might have been. Gibney says readers found connections beyond adoption.
“I was surprised and happy that a lot of mixed folks contacted me about that book. It wasn’t just adoptees,” she shared. “And they were like, I’ve been at that [family] table. I know that experience.”
Story parallels All three parties’ journeys have parallels.
Despite positive reflections from non-adoptee readers of Gibney’s book, Sarah and Viviana take seats at both sides of the table. Being transracially adopted and somewhat lonely from navigating identity, both sisters struggled to reconcile their racial and cultural identities with their predominantly white surroundings.
“I didn’t look like my parents,” Viviana shares. “I always felt the need to explain myself. I’d introduce myself and feel the need to add, ‘I’m adopted,’ as if it justified my existence in that space.”
Sarah echoes this sentiment, noting that cultural identity was largely ignored.
“Paraguayans are racially ambiguous. People adopted from there were seen as ‘fitting in’ because they didn’t look distinctly different. But we were never connected to our culture or identity.”
Although their parents made efforts by attending adoption groups, neither felt truly connected. “It didn’t feel like community,” Viviana explains. “It was more like, ‘See, you’re not alone.’ But it didn’t help us navigate school, friendships, or our identities.”
Sarah and Viviana emphasize that their parents did their best with the resources available, but acknowledge the lack of societal tools to guide them.
“Our parents wanted kids. They did their best, but they didn’t have the resources to help us navigate our cultural identity,” Sarah says. Viviana adds, “I wish there had been more
guidance, more tools for them to help us navigate both our realities.”
Gibney emphasized the importance of representation and visibility for transracial adoptees. “Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of transracial adoptee authors as I was growing up. And that’s still the case,” she said. Her work on the anthology “When We Become Ours,” co-edited with Nicole Chung, reflects her commitment to uplifting adoptee voices.
Their journey illustrates the complex layers of transracial adoption, from cultural identity and belonging to the impact of early trauma. Their experiences call for greater awareness and more comprehensive support systems for adoptive families, including cultural education, mental health resources, and communitybuilding opportunities.
As Shannon Gibney powerfully signs to other adoptees in her book, “We are not and never were alone.” Through their stories, Sarah, Viviana and Gibney are creating spaces of understanding, visibility and connection, ensuring that transracial adoptees are heard, seen and supported.
The Adoptee Literary Festival on March 22 is virtual, and registration is required. For more information, visit adopteelitfest. com.
Aria Binns-Zager welcomes reader response at abinns@ spokesman-recorder.com.
grandchildren, plus one on the way.
A funeral mass will be held on Saturday, March 8, 2025 at St. Peter Claver Church, 375 Oxford Street, St. Paul, MN. Cremation care has been entrusted to the Cremation Society of Minnesota.
The family will hold a Life Celebration and final resting burial in Momence, IL, at St. Patrick Cemetery in late spring, with details to come.
Special thank you to Crescent Tide Cremation Services and the tremendous staff of The Villas at Roseville Nursing facility. Donations on Wilford’s behalf may be made to American Cancer Society, cancer.org.
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder March 6,, 2025
Shannon Gibney Kristine Heykants
Sarah (l) and Viviana Courtesy
Opinion
Who protects the people from the human rights ‘protectors’?
By Ajamu Baracka
Of all the ideological mystifications created by the white West to rationalize and justify its brutal exploitation and colonization of the world the last 500 years, the cruelest hoax ever perpetrated on the colonized and the entire world is the idea that the West has the capacity or intent to define and protect something called human rights.
By A.D. (anonymous disclosure)
Inmate at MCF Rush City
Hello to all interested in this matter. I am a current prisoner here at Rush City. I have been to every high-level prison in this state over the course of about a decade. After having been here in Rush City for less than a year, I can say without a doubt that this is the overall WORST prison I have ever been to in my life.
Don’t believe me? Ask nearly any long-term prisoner here who has been to either Stillwater or Oak Park, and at least 9 out of 10 will tell you they would be willing to add more time on to their sentence to get into either one. As a matter of fact, there are a good number of prisoners who end up committing serious Rule or Law violations in order to do just that.
The D.O.C [Department of Corrections] is well aware of this and is currently doing its best to avoid shipping anyone to Oak Park (the highest level prison) who commits a staff assault, or smuggling, or even escape attempts. Does the D.O.C want another incident like Stillwater had in the summer of 2018? What are they trying to create here?
For those who don’t know, Rush City is a high-level prison. It houses those who either have more than 10 years until their release date, including those with life sentences, or
guys who are regularly breaking prison rules. Interestingly enough, there are also a lot of parole violators in here.
The majority of problems here stem from one issue: TWO prisoners in ONE cell!
This prison was designed for one bed in one cell, although some officials may claim the prison can safely house twice the capacity. The constant short staffing, relatively little time for prisoners out of the cell when compared to any other D.O.C prison, the chow hall having been closed since the Covid pandemic, and the multiple inmates raped or murdered by their cellmates say otherwise.
full swat team riot gear, which takes way too much time before they enter the unit and break up the fight. I watched multiple prisoners attack each other 2 or 3 against 1, which sent the victim to the hospital each time while the guards sat right by the door and watched, waiting for the other guards to prepare.
They do not do such a routine at Stillwater or Oak Park. They immediately break up the fight. They do not take the unnecessary time to hide behind military gear and kevlar armor plating and shields.
Now, to give those who have never been locked up before a perspective on this main
The conquest fueled by advanced weapons and a style of war that has as its objective the annihilation of the enemy, the barbarians that poured out of what became “Europe” into what was eventually named the Americas burned, murdered, raped and destroyed cultures and peoples in a war of extermination. The people that were spared, or who escaped or resisted, were enslaved alongside Africans brought by the millions to provide free labor that would result in consolidation of riches and capital key to the development of what has been characterized as Western civilization.
In this process of conquest and subsequent global colonization there is absolutely no evidence to support the idea that what is referred to as Western civilization possesses any ideas that propel collective humanity forward. Every intellectual and religious production, from Christianity to the so-called Enlightenment period was undermined and distorted by a fundamental flaw in European culture and thought.
That flaw was graphically captured not by the cartesian assertion of Western “man” as rational, but by Thomas Hobbes’s accurate characterization of European society reflected in a “state of nature” or in civil society that life was, “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.”
In some units they do not let
prisoners move to another cell if they are having issues with their cellmate, which means one way or another they will be in solitary with anything from a “Refusing Placement” charge to a false (or real) accusation or victimization of sexual assault, “Attempted Murder,” or even actual murder in some cases.
Speaking of solitary, a.k.a. “segregation,” here briefly: Rush City is also the most dangerous I have seen. Regardless if it is 2 or all 8 prisoners they let out at a time that are fighting, the guards must put on
issue of cell living, go inside of a single-occupant bathroom and try to imagine living inside of it for 23 hours per day. Pretty miserable huh? Now imagine a bunk bed in there with a random and potentially unstable violent individual who will be living in there with you 23 hours per day. Perhaps you get the point.
In my experience and in the experience of everyone I have spoken with on the issue, housing more than one prisoner in a cell is inhumane. If one goes to the dog pound or the Humane Society, you will see that each animal gets its own cage. Apparently the message the state is sending us is that we human prisoners (the majority of whom will be released in the next five years) are worth less than the animals at the Humane Society.
Considering the fact that we are in a high-level prison where prisoners are known to rape and murder one another, it becomes more than inhumane — it becomes criminal. At least it should be with the help of any elected official who claims to support “Rehabilitation” in here.
Imagine what the family of someone in here on a 60-day petty parole violation such as alcohol use thinks when their son gets murdered for being forced into a cell with the wrong prisoner. Are such prison conditions in line with the goals of the MRRA? If not,
By Bruce Dixon
A lot has changed in 50 years, and a lot hasn’t. A few things have gotten better and many others have gotten worse.
Back in 1962, when I was 12 years old growing up on the South Side of Chicago and a Black face showed up on TV, I remember my mother going to one of the windows of our apartment and shouting to the neighbors whose windows faced us less than 20 feet away. “Quick, there’s one of us on Channel 2!”
To be fair, sometimes she used the phone for this, too, and recalls receiving these calls as well as seeing them made. That’s really how it was back in the day, half a century ago. We knew we were Black, we knew we were here, we knew we mattered somehow, but in the world of corporate-owned television we had been rendered all but invisible, made to pretty much disappear.
There really were not a lot of Black faces on the tube at all, so seeing one was a kind of affirmation, a tangible proof, in a strange way, almost as if the world brought to us by corporate-owned broadcasting was more real than our own lives, that we really did exist, that we really did matter somehow in the scheme of things.
We were looking for our own faces, our own stories, our own voices in corporate media and public life, and since we’d never even been
then the legislature should address this issue as soon as possible!
They defined who was human and, thus, deserving of inalienable rights and who were “killable” as Europeans “discovered” new lands and peoples, and exercised their “God given” providence of “manifest destiny.”
Non-Europeans did not even qualify to be included in the category of “human.”
This exercise of power, of “white power,” is defined and informed to this day by the colonial/capitalist, racialized, gendered world views of Westerners who still believe they have the right to determine who lives and who dies, who is provided for and who is not, and what kinds of governments should exist and whose lives count.
Ajamu Baracka writes for The Black Agenda Report.
This characterization was for life in Europe. For nonEuropeans, the assumptions were even worse. Non-Europeans did not even qualify to be included in the category of “human.” The conquest, slavery and colonization institutionalized conceptual and moral frames that defined who belonged in the category of human and who was to be excluded.
More Black faces on TV is not all we’d hoped for
able to pretend to have these things before, they assumed enormous importance for us that is hard to understand in today’s world.
A few things have gotten better, and many others have gotten worse. Black unemployment is still double white unemployment, and Black wealth remains a tiny fraction of white wealth. Gentrification is still the only model of urban economic development on offer, and the number of Black faces in prisons and jails has grown enormously since 1963, the last year whites were a majority in U.S. prisons and jails. But Black voter registration has never been higher, and there have never been more Black elected and appointed officials on every level, from mayors to sheriffs to legislators and generals and even a president. So things are indeed getting better, at least for some of us.
crats, as if any other kind really matters, have MSNBC on lockdown. You don’t earn a daily slot on either side of corporate media if you’re not a consistent and effective shill for corporate interests — for the privatization of public education, for U.S. imperial interventions, and war crimes in Africa, South Asia, and the Americas, for fracking, for unfettered police spying, and for only attacking the bad things the other party does.
That’s Joy Ann Reid to a T, and that’s how you earn those slots at Fox or MSNBC, and that’s how you keep them.
The last real journalist with a daily MSNBC slot was Phil Donahue, who was fired for giving air time to lefty criticisms of the invasion of Iraq. The big boys at Comcast, which owns MSNBC, must have a lot of confidence in Joy Ann Reid to use her blackface to effectively represent their interests.
Things are certainly looking up for the family and friends of Joy Ann Reid, who’s getting her own slot in the MSNBC TV daily lineup alongside Al Sharpton, Rachel Maddow, weekender Melissa HarrisPerry and the rest of that crew.
Just as Fox News is the propaganda arm of the Republican party, the White House and corporate Demo-
A half-century ago, we imagined that if there were more Black faces in more high places, they’d represent our interests. Silly us. We really didn’t see this coming.
“For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Bruce Dixon.” Find him on the web at www.blackagendareport.com.
For those willing and able to do so, I would highly recommend this issue be solved sooner than later. There are many ways they could reduce the population here considerably. One idea would be the re-opening of “A-west” in Stillwater as well as Complex 2 in Oak Park, which would open about 300 beds. Simultaneously moving certain parole violators to the medium level prisons would just about do it right there. I’m sure there are many other ways the D.O.C could solve this issue, but they need to be held accountable and given the proper directives! I ask for the help of those willing and able to do so. Rush City needs to be completely restructured.
Name withheld at the author’s request.
Apparently the message the state is sending us is that we
Employment & Legals
BUSINESS SYSTEMS ANALYST:
improve protections. Drive change and process improvements through metrics and analytics. Offered Salary range: $78,894.00 - $85,000.00 yearly. Send resumes to: HRD, VITS
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder March 6, 2025
At Washburn, OlsonCooper was a standout multi-sport athlete, where she earned all-conference, all-metro and all-state honors in soccer; all-conference in swimming and diving; and four-time all-conference selection in track & field. She competed at Howard University, where she was the soccer team’s co-MVP three straight years and twice allconference as the first HBCU soccer player to do this.
Olson-Cooper also played semi-pro soccer but her career was halted after being diagnosed with lupus, compartment leg syndrome, and Stage 4 arthritis in both knees.
Coaching then became her primary focus. “I would come here in the summers and coach youth [soccer] teams,” she recalled. “I found that the Southwestern Athletic Conference was starting up soccer, and I actually reached out to all the athletic directors in the SWAC asking anyone needing help.
“Prairie View A&M reached back and said I could help as a grad assistant (2002-04),” noted Olson-Cooper, who later was a head coach at South Carolina State (200406) and Southwest Minnesota State (2008-11). But she also soon discovered that coaching took a toll on her in many ways.
“I got my first head coaching job at 23. I was too young,” she admitted. “I didn’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t ready.”
But as she left coaching, athletic administration became her next career move, one that has been very rewarding, said Olson-Cooper. She was hired at Trinity Washington (DC) University in 2012, first as assistant AD then elevated to AD (five years total). Then she was
hired at Howard as associate AD and senior women’s administrator (2018-21).
As an administrator, OlsonCooper championed diversity and inclusion, and equal opportunities for athletes, especially Blacks and other student-athletes of color.
“As a coach, I thought about the soccer team, my student-athletes and our program,” stressed OlsonCooper. “And when I got into administration, I just realized there’s a lot more going on here than just playing the game. I think that’s where my niche was.
“Now I’m able to utilize my business degree along with my love for sports, and I still get to be around student athletes,” she said.
UST hired Olson-Cooper in 2021, where she oversees the department’s gender equity, finance, administration and compliance. She also advises the university’s Black Student Athlete group and offers support and guidance to underrepresented athletes too. She is the only Black female in senior athletic administration.
“I was really excited when St. Thomas went Division I. I kept looking and hoping that a job would open up that fit my skill set. And then it did,” said Olson-Cooper. “I was on my honeymoon in Maui. I did see the job [posting] and told my husband when we get back, I’m applying for this job.
“It worked out great and I’m just really happy to be here. It’s exciting to be part of history here,” she said. “I feel like in my career, I ended up being the first or making history…
“I appreciate sports in Minnesota, and I’m just really grateful to be back home and a part of progress in Minnesota for women’s sports.”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.
Gena Savage, Court File Number: 27-CV-25-2225 Plaintiff, The Honorable: _______________ v. Bronson Bud Androff, SUMMONS Defendant.
THIS SUMMONS IS DIRECTED TO the above-named Defendant:
1. YOU ARE BEING SUED. The Plaintiff has started a lawsuit against you. The Plaintiff’s Complaint against you is attached to this summons. Do not throw these papers away. They are official papers that affect your rights. You must respond to this lawsuit even though it may not yet be filed with the Court and there may be no court file number on this summons.
2. YOU MUST REPLY WITHIN 20 DAYS TO PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS. You must give or mail to the person who signed this summons a written response called an Answer within 20 days of the date on which you received this Summons. You must send a copy of your Answer to the person who signed this summons located at: Megan Curtis Law, PLLC 332 Minnesota Street, Suite W1610 St. Paul, MN 55101
3. YOU MUST RESPOND TO EACH CLAIM. The Answer is your written response to the Plaintiff’s Complaint. In your Answer you must state whether you agree or disagree with each paragraph of the Complaint. If you believe the Plaintiff should not be given everything asked for in the Complaint, you must say so in your Answer.
4. YOU WILL LOSE YOUR CASE IF YOU DO NOT SEND A WRITTEN RESPONSE TO THE COMPLAINT TO THE PERSON WHO SIGNED THIS SUMMONS. If you do not Answer within 20 days, you will lose this case. You will not get to tell your side of the story, and the Court may decide against you and award the Plaintiff everything asked for in the complaint. If you do not want to contest the claims stated in the complaint, you do not need to respond. A default judgment can then be entered against you for the relief requested in the complaint.
5. LEGAL ASSISTANCE. You may wish to get legal help from a lawyer. If you do not have a lawyer, the Court Administrator may have information about places where you can get legal assistance. Even if you cannot get legal help, you must still provide a written Answer to protect your rights or you may
6. ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION. The parties may agree to or be ordered to participate in an alternative dispute resolution process under Rule 114 of the
Dated:
VIEW Continued from page 12
(Wis.) College (2020-22), “My head coach asked me where I wanted to go. I said that I wanted to go to an HBCU,” recalled Lankford-Johnson. “Almost 30 minutes later, I got a call from [Stillman Coach John Teasley] and he told me about Stillman. He asked me had I heard of it. I said I heard of Tuscaloosa but not Stillman. He told me to check out the website and come down and visit.”
Assistant Coach Montego Hoskins said of Lankford-Johnson, “He is the leader of the team.
He’s our workhorse. He does everything we need him to do.”
“I visited and fell in love with it,” stressed the senior. “It’s everything I thought it would be and more.
“I always love being around people, especially people of color who are from a similar background, and learning about people as well,” said Lankford-Johnson.
jumping like nothing I had ever seen at a basketball game.
“I wanted to do something different. I knew Kirk Franklin would be a hit and build off it… and we had a nice little praise break at the end.
DJ Joose does gospel During halftime of Thursday’s fourth and final tournament game of the day, gospel music was played and virtually an impromptu church service broke out among the spectators at Stillman’s Birthright Alumni Hall.
“The more they wanted to sing, the more I wanted to play,” said Ingram. “You don’t have to praise God [only] on Sunday. They really enjoyed it.”
“Stillman is a Christian school. I wanted to pay respect to the good God above,” admitted Stillman Assistant WBB Coach Harold Ingram, who also is known on campus as DJ Joose. He had the place
Next week – More of our first-ever experience at an allBlack postseason tournament.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@ spokesman-recorder.com.
Coach Harold Ingram
Administrator athlete enjoys best of both worlds at St. Thomas
By Charles Hallman Sports Columnist
t. Thomas Senior Associ-
ate AD Amy Olson-Cooper has spent most of her adult life making history. But she quickly admits this wasn’t her original intent after graduating from Minneapolis Washburn High School.
“I took Japanese [in college] — I was an international business major and so I thought I was going to be working in business.
But I realized my junior year that business was not for me and that I had to do something that had to do with sports,” OlsonCooper told the MSR during halftime of a Tommies women’s basketball game on Feb. 5.
Earlier that day at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul, Olson-Cooper received the 2025 Wilma Rudolph Courage Award from the Minnesota Coalition of Women in Athletic Leadership for “an individual who courageously overcame physical challenges in their pursuit of sports to help ensure future opportunities for girls and women, regardless of their physical ability” at the annual National Girls and Women in Sports Minnesota Day.
ith the sectional basketball playoffs in girls and boys competition underway, this week’s Fab Five spread features photos from Hopkins’ 84-65 boys victory over Minnetonka.
The photos include a 1985 Minnesota Mr. Basketball recipient officiating the C-squad game (Brett McNeal), a guard who led Hopkins with 28 points (Anthony Smith), his back court mate who added 18 (Jayden Moore), Minnetonka’s leading scorer with 16 points (Isa El-Amin), and a teammate whose contributions go beyond scoring (Duke Richardson).
Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald welcomes reader comments to mcdeezy05@gmail.com.
■ See COOPER on page 11
Sports
TUSCALOOSA, Al. – Three native Black Minnesotans participated in the 2025 HBCU Athletic Conference (HBCUAC) Hope Credit Union Basketball Championships played last week at Stillman College. Each individual was pleasantly surprised and honored that a Black journalist from their home would travel over
1,000 miles down south just to speak with each of them. They briefly told their stories on what brought them to their respective Black schools.
Naftal Morara, Oakwood (AL) University junior, hometown Farmington:
“I had a family member that went there,” Morara explained. “It feels like home. I wanted to pursue biology.”
Raena Suggs, Stillman (AL) College senior, hometown Minnetonka:
“It certainly has been better than what I expected,” Suggs
Fab Five photos
There are approximately 100 African American and other student-athletes of color this school year at the University of Minnesota. In an occasional series throughout the school year and sports year, the MSR will highlight many of these players. This week: Minnesota junior wrestler Quincy Hulverson and redshirt sophomore thrower Anthonett Nabwe.
edshirt sophomore Quincy Hulverson in late January made his Big Ten wrestling dual debut at a dominating team win at Northwestern. It was only his second duel in his college career.
said proudly. “I wasn’t used to a small private school. I just love the little things — they give recognition to everybody. Everybody is like somebody here.”
The guard further pointed out that her eventually winding up at the small Southern college that lies in the shadow of the larger University of Alabama in the same city wasn’t a pre-planned straight line travel experience.
“First, I went to a JUCO (Cochise College, 2018-20) for two years and graduated. Then I went to West Florida, and then they kind of blackballed me, so I had to be in the transfer portal for a year,” recalled Suggs, who eventually transferred to Weber State (2020-21) but never played there.
Her present Stillman coach heard about Suggs and recruited her to come there, she continued. “I was so ready to play. I didn’t even see the campus. I just signed the papers. I think the demeanor and family-oriented program is what got me here.”
to have a top game and the bottom game. It’s really establishing these two,” continued Hulverson.
“I think I’ve got a good place with these. Everything can still be better, but I think it’s definitely gotten a lot better.”
Hulverson said he hopes after graduation to be a physical therapist. “I had a really good connection with my physical therapist, and it was something that I could see myself doing. It was a way that I could stay around athletes and stuff like that.”
“All the guys have been feeling really well. We just continue to practice hard.”
Assistant Coach KaTia May said of Suggs, “I’m very proud of Raena. She put in the work.” Suggs scored 14 points off the bench in Stillman’s quarterfinal win over Talladega last Friday, and she had 17 points in a semifinals loss last Saturday. “I actually love the Alabama lifestyle. People are so nice here. You don’t get that up North,” said Suggs.
Brenden Lankford-Johnson, Stillman senior, hometown St. Paul: Lankford-Johnson noted that when his time was winding down at Bryant & Stratton
guys have been feeling really well. We just continue to practice hard. I think we’ll have a really good season.”
“I think I came into college at like 115 (pounds) but I gained about 20 pounds and now walk around at 135,” said Hulverson proudly. “Overall, I think I’ve adjusted pretty nicely.”
“I think I’ve adjusted a little bit” to college wrestling, said the Tea, S.D. native in a recent MSR phone interview. The 125-pounder was a two-time state champion and threetime South Dakota state placement, finishing with a 129-5 record.
The young Gopher wrestler reiterated that he must establish a consistent game plan. “I was always really good on my feet in high school. I never really tried to ride [his opponent] or do anything on the top or bottom in high school. [But] in college, it is really important
The Gophers this weekend will compete in the Big Ten championships March 8-9 in Evanston, IL with a 10-2 overall record (6-2 Big Ten).
“Teams are really good right now,” said Hulverson. “All the
Nabwe throws some weight Redshirt sophomore Anthonett Nabwe set a new weight mark at last month’s Snowshoe Open at the U of M Fieldhouse. Nabwe had a winning mark of 23.56m (77-3 ¾) that puts her one centimeter ahead of the new No. 2 weight throw mark in the NCAA at the team’s final indoor regular sea-
son meet. She was a Big Ten-leading three-time Field Athlete of the Week. Nabwe is the only female student athlete to have earned the week distinction from the conference office this indoor season, and the only Big Ten thrower to be ranked inside the top 10 in both the shot put and weight throw this season.
Charles
spokesman-recorder.com.
Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@
Isa El-Amin (Minnetonka)
Anthony Smith (Hopkins)
Jayden Moore (Hopkins)
Duke Richardson (Minnetonka)
Brett McNeal (1985 Mr. Basketball)
Amy Olson-Cooper Photo by Charles Hallman
First of two parts
Naftal Morana
Raena Suggs
Brenden Lankford-Johnson
All photos by Dr. Mitchell Palmer McDonald.
Quincy Hulverson ready to wrestle
Anthonett Nabwe Photos courtesy Minnesota Athletics