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Celebrating 90 years of Black journalistic excellence. August 7 - 13, 2025
Vol. 92
No. 1
Phone: 612-827-4021 www.spokesman-recorder.com
Trump’s message to abusive cops: ‘We’ve got your back’ Fortunately, real reform continues at local levels By Joseph Williams hile less than 2% of policeinvolved homicides result in criminal charges, more than 280 police officers are or have served prison sentences for excessive use of force. The number has been steadily ticking upward over the last decade. In 2020, when Louisville police gunned down Breonna Taylor during a botched raid, the incident helped galvanize the ascendant Black Lives Matter movement. Along with the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, Taylor’s killing spurred nationwide outrage and brought police reform tantalizingly close to reality. How times have changed. Five years after Taylor was killed, the only officer convict-
pretty small piece of the overall accountability picture.” Most police prosecutions, she explains, happen at the state level, where charges like murder, manslaughter, or reckless homicide are more likely to be brought. “Typical-
ly, officers are almost always prosecuted [federally] for civil rights violations, and those are hard to prove.” Thaddeus Johnson, a criminal justice professor at Georgia State University, agrees. States, ■ See BLM on page 5
ed for his role in the raid was with the ongoing drumbeat of sentenced to roughly three police killing unarmed Black years in federal prison. But the people, leaves many wonderDepartment of Justice under ing whether the Black Lives President Donald Trump want- Matter movement’s push for reform is already over. ed him to serve just one day. But experts who study Though a judge ignored the recommendation, it marked police accountability say the yet another setback for police #BLM era is still active; just accountability and signaled not at the federal level. that abusive officers have a friend in the White House. A smaller role than people From Trump’s campaign prom- think “I definitely do not think this ise of immunity for police misconduct to his pardoning is the end of efforts to hold of two Washington, D.C. offi- police accountable or even efcers convicted in a fatal chase forts to prosecute police officover-up, the message is clear. cers,” says Rachel Moren, a law An April executive order roll- professor at the University of St. ing back Biden-era reforms, Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. While the Trump adminisand the DOJ’s withdrawal from consent decrees in Min- tration appears eager to exneapolis and Louisville, add to cuse police brutality, Moren emphasizes that “the federal the list. Trump’s vocal support of government’s efforts to pur- Chicago and 38th, where a Minneapolis memorial honors lives lost to police violence, notably aggressive policing, coupled sue police accountability are a George Floyd Photo courtesy of Chris Juhn/MSR
Robin Hickman Winfield: a life of vision and legacy By Jasmine McBride Associate Editor
End gun violence before more children die
enue.” But Hickman Winfield’s impact extends far beyond the screen. Her parallel creative pracobin Hickman Wintice is her celebrated work field describes herself with dolls. What began as a not just as a filmmakchildhood comfort became a er or artist, but as someone form of healing and a tool for molded by community. A fifthtransformation. “My mother generation Minnesotan with Frequently throughout made sure we had dolls that roots in both Minneapolis and 2025, space in these pages looked like us,” she said. “And St. Paul, she is the grandniece will be given to organizations when the world felt uncertain, and protégé of legendary phoworking to end racial injusI found peace in that.” tojournalist Gordon Parks. Her tice across the state. We Today, her “Soulful Dolls” life and work honor a lineage hope that these reflections project involves reimagining of Black excellence while ofspark policy changes for a and styling dolls that reflect fering young people a vision of more equitable Minnesota. the beauty of Black identity. possibility through storytelling, This week’s guest contribuShe’s taken these creations as mentorship, and doll artistry. tor is Shanasha Whitson, far as West Africa, where she “I am because we were,” she founder of Mothers Against gifted dolls with natural hair said. “It’s hard for me to talk Gun Violence (MAG). and Afrocentric features to about myself without talking girls in remote villages. “They about the village that raised cried,” she recalled. “They had By Shanasha Whitson me.” never seen a doll that looked Born in St. Paul and raised like them.” during her early years in Minhere is a club that no Hickman Winfield sees her neapolis, Hickman Winfield one asks to join — yet art as a form of ministry. “My moved permanently to St. Robin Hickman every day, mothers, dolls aren’t toys,” she said. Paul at age five. She came of fathers, and loved ones are Submitted photo “They’re healing. They’re hope.” being forced into it. There are age in the Rondo and SummitFor more than 30 years, no perks, points, free coffees University neighborhoods, King, as well as hosting her own she has also mentored youth or rewards. This club comes which she recalls as “very radio program. Afrocentric, very Black excelThat early momentum car- through media, education, only with heartbreak: stomlence oriented.” Her childhood ried her to Howard University, and the arts. In the 1990s, she achaches, migraines, numbwas full of vibrant experienc- where she pursued her dream helped birth “Don’t Believe ness, anger, and the crushes, from attending J.J. Hill El- of working in film and televi- the Hype,” a groundbreaking ing weight of helplessness. It television brings anxiety, fear, and the ementary School with a Black sion. She credits her success youth-produced principal and teachers, to vis- to a combination of vision and program at Twin Cities PBS. isolating sense that no one iting cultural centers like Hall- community support. “I didn’t The program ran for 10 years else can truly understand. ie Q. Brown and the Inner City come from money,” she said. and was revived under her I know, because I’m in this Youth League, co-founded by “But I had people around me leadership just a few years club. her father, Bobby Hickman. On May 28 I sat down with who helped me shape my vi- ago, until it was recently cut due to funding reductions. “We had everything we sion and make it real.” Tatiana Kilgore, the mother of needed: media, theater, dance, 18-year-old Amarie Alowonle. drum corps. We had options,” Amarie was shot in the head she said. “And our community on May 4, 2025, while at Santaught us not just to dream, born Park in Robbinsdale. She but to do.” was not in a gang. She was not Inspired by the Black Arts the intended target. She was Movement, the civil rights era, an innocent bystander, and as and her granduncle Gordon of today, no arrests have been Parks, Hickman Winfield fell in made in her case. love with media at an early age. Tatiana is now a member She was only 16 when she beof this heartbreaking club, “That was hard,” she admitted. alongside parents like those of gan interviewing major musical Her media career has inacts for a teen TV show on an cluded producing a docu- “But we built something spe- Trinity Ottoson-Smith. While ABC affiliate. Before graduat- mentary for HBO about her cial, and no one can take that Trinity’s killer, Dpree Robining high school, she had inter- granduncle Gordon Parks and from us.” son, was sentenced to over 37 She currently co-teaches years in prison, Amarie’s killer viewed George Clinton, Bootsy working on the acclaimed Collins, and Evelyn “Champagne” HBO miniseries “Laurel Av■ See HICKMAN on page 5 remains free.
“It doesn’t necessarily require that things be equal, like dollar for dollar, but it does have to be equitable.”
demand justice. To the police department: Help us find Amarie’s killer. To elected officials: Declare switches a public crisis and outlaw them city by city. To the media: Shine a light on these stories — our children “Minneapolis, we have are not disposable. To coma problem, and it cost my munity leaders: Stand with us. daughter her life,” Kilgore told Demand action. Amarie’s life mattered. She me. “Our community is being flooded with illegal weapons, had dreams, value, and a fuswitches that turn handguns ture. We’re calling on city leadinto fully automatic killing machines. Children are walk- ers, law enforcement, and the ing around with military-grade media to publicly address this firepower. What has been the case. We are also urging naresponse of law enforcement? tional attention on the spread What about our elected of- of “switches” — devices that make handguns fully automatficials?
(l-r) Amarie Alowonle, Amarie’s little sister, and her mother, Tatiana Kilgore “Amarie wasn’t just the victim of a stray bullet. She was the victim of a failed system, one that refuses to address the root causes of gun violence and the communities left reeling in its wake.” We demand answers. We demand accountability. We
ic — and the devastating lack of urgency in stopping them. We will not rest. We will not be silent. We will not stop until there is justice for Mari. #JusticeForMari #MinneapolisDoBetter #StopTheSwitches ■ See COMMUNITY on page 5