Let this sink in – our child poverty rate is higher in the United States than in any other wealthy nation. Nearly 11 million children in the United States live in poverty further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We also know that children of color are disproportionately represented amon…

I celebrated my 69th birthday two days ago. I am neither “years old” — since aging is treated in this country with much disdain — nor do I desire to be “years young” — been there, done that!

While adults debate closing and re-opening schools, youth endure Covid-19-created home isolation juxtaposed to street protests against racism and police violence. Twenty-year veteran history/social studies teacher, Dr. Stephen Bond’s book “Perseverance In A Strange Land” collects his Wilson …

The Senate’s decision to acquit former President Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial may have been a victory for Trump, but it is a clear sign that democracy in the U.S. is in poor health.

Today there is a welcomed breath of fresh political air in Washington, DC even amidst the unprecedented spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic throughout the United States. According to the Biden-Harris Administration the issues of racial justice and equity are now top priorities in a “whole…

“The ultimate measure of …[people] is not where …[they] stand in moments of comfort and convenience, but where …[they] stand at times of challenge and controversy.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

COVID-19 cases continue to spike across the United States and Minnesota has experienced one of the largest per capita increases among states.  Earlier this year, COVID seemed a little distant – we’d hear about a friend of a friend or a distant relative who contracted the virus.  With this re…

For generations, the neighborhoods in North Minneapolis have been the targets of marginalization and disinvestment. Although not always as violent as the states in the South, Minnesota experienced its own institution of Jim Crow laws through redlining, discriminatory lending practices, and e…

Friendship Academy of the Arts (FAA) will celebrate the recently completed construction –which continued throughout the ongoing COVID19 pandemic—of its second campus. A sense of anticipation is in the air for the Friday September 4 ribbon cutting at the new Intermediate School campus located…

This summer, the Minnesota Twins made a significant change, when they removed the statue of former Twins owner Calvin Griffith.

The U.S. Postal Service is under threat of collapse and privatization. This comes after years of federal political maneuvering that has effectively depleted revenues and staffing – issues now amplified by new cuts to overtime worker pay and slowed delivery.

The legacy of structural racism in Minneapolis was laid bare to the world at the intersection of Chicago Avenue and East 38th Street, the location where George Floyd’s neck was pinned to the ground by a police officer’s knee. But it is also imprinted in streets, parks and neighborhoods acros…

"We declare our rights on this earth…to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY."           -Malcolm X

The recent wave of protests against police brutality and systemic racism has inspired numerous comparisons with the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Merriam-Webster defines reform as an amendment of what is defective, vicious, corrupt, or depraved. It defines transform to make a thorough or dramatic change in form. Something altogether new. A significant change in form, nature, or function.

“The time between Memorial Day and Labor Day is considered ‘summer’ for most people. For Black people, this is when the Amy Coopers of the world show up in the park and Black men like George Floyd can't breathe. The disregard for Black Lives was terrible before Covid-19.”

That will never be your son! Calling for his mother as a police officer presses his knee in his neck. That will never be your brother, struggling to breathe as a police officer presses his knee in his neck. That will never be your husband bleeding and unconscious on the ground as the police …

How do I know about the need for decisive leadership?  

We have endured (and grown to loathe) the mandated social distancing required to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. But during these scary times, we have embraced a digital togetherness, connecting with loved ones and clients across platforms from Facebook to Zoom.

There are many feelings about what is ahead for the African American community in Minnesota during this time of uncertainty. We’re worried about the high rates of infection and death, like what our brothers and sisters have experienced in Chicago and Detroit. We are concerned there will be l…

The Equity Lens is a popular term in the field of equity, diversity and inclusion. The Equity Lens is not available in stores. The Equity Lens is not something you can actually touch and feel. The Equity Lens does not come with instructions or a score sheet to assess whether you are using it…

Are my hands clean?

The current COVID-19 crisis has me thinking a lot about leadership. 

Looking down a soccer field, you take stock of the obstacles between you and the goal. There’s no one set way to progress, no certain path that will close the distance between you and the goalkeeper. The object is never to let them stop your forward momentum. 

There’s a lot to cover here, so please allow me to conflate a few things.

Many of us have secret dreams at Christmas. Some want a toy, or computer, a renewing of traditions, or a reunion of loved ones from far away. Part of the holiday for many Christians, though, is a desire for something beyond any of these: a society marked by the fairness, gentleness and justi…

Shortly after arriving in Minnesota in 2010, a work colleague invited me to a Black gathering spot in the Twin Cities. I was excited to experience Black America in Minnesota. I was welcomed with open arms. As a newcomer, I was constantly asked questions about my accent, my experience living …

When President Franklin Roosevelt signed the GI Bill into law on June 22, 1944, it laid the foundation for benefits that would help generations of veterans achieve social mobility.Formally known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, the bill made unprecedented commitments to the nati…