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Read about March Madness on page 10.
Counting down to our 90th Anniversary
March 7 - 13, 2024
Vol. 90
Phone: 612-827-4021 www.spokesman-recorder.com
No. 32
Buses return to
George Floyd Square
By H. Jiahong Pan Contributing Writer
24 demands, which addresses how the city and state should handle criminal justice and etro Transit buses economic investment in the will soon start run- neighborhood. “We’ve been working with ning through George Floyd Square for the first time the city of Minneapolis and since George Floyd was mur- the community to get accepdered in 2020. tance to move [Route 23] back During this time, as com- to 38th Street,” said Metro munity members descended Transit manager of service on the Southside intersection planning Adam Harrington at of 38th and Chicago to mourn a Met Council Transportation yet another murder of a Black Committee meeting held on man at the hands of police, February 12. “That’s gonna Metro Transit realigned Route be a big help for our custom23, a crosstown route that ers and operators and improve runs on 38th Street between the reliability of the service as Uptown and St. Paul’s High- well.” The city and Metro Transit land Neighborhood, further confirmed through a test on south to 42nd Street. Activists hoped to keep the December 27 that buses will intersection closed to vehicle be able to navigate the traffic traffic until the city met their ■ See GFS on page 5 Once a hub of attraction, GFS is set to reopen to city buses.
Experience
Women’s History Month By Al Brown Assignment Editor s we exit Black History Month and enter Women’s History Month, we thank our many readers for sharing these inspiring and educational articles on people, places, and events.
During March, we will profile women of inspiration, courage, and leadership across all walks of life. We kick off our coverage this week with a story about Pan-African solidarity and sisterhood as Somali women showed their support of Angela Davis during the 1970s and MSR Publisher Tracy Wil-
liams-Dillard’s inspiring speech to Stillwater Prison inmates. The celebration continues on page 2, as we highlight the health advocacy work of Anissa Keys, and Sister Spokesman’s recent event showcasing powerful women in the community. Readers are encouraged to
National Urban League 2024 report highlights progress, persistent challenges
submit articles, op-eds or sug- By Stacy Brown gestions of women doing no- NNPA Newswire table work in Minnesota that positively impacts many peohe National Urban League has unveiled ple. Please submit your sugits highly anticipated gestions to the email below. 2024 State of Black America Al Brown welcomes reader Report, a comprehensive comments to abrown@spokes- benchmark and thought leadman-recorder.com. ership document offering profound insights into racial equality in the United States.
Timeless photo evokes
Photo by Chris Juhn
to economic empowerment, National Urban League President Marc Morial emphasized the nuanced progress revealed by the Equality Index. “Civic engagement and health show improvement among African Americans; however, significant work remains in the areas of economics and social justice,” Morial stated. The Equality Index visually
Black solidarity
Somali women protested for Angela Davis’ release By Abdi Mohamed Associate Editor
holds a placard with Davis’s arrest photo calling for her freedom. Almost all don white decades-old photo hijabs as they patiently, yet of Somali women passionately, pose for the timeprotesting in Moga- less photo. Often shared on Internadishu for the release of Angela Davis in the United States tional Women’s Day on March has long served as a symbol 8, many have used the image of solidarity for a generation to capture a sense of Black soliof young Somalis. darity, Pan-Africanism, and the Hundreds of women are de- fight for global Black liberation. Asha Noor shared the photo picted in the black-and-white photo holding signs reading on Twitter in 2018 with the “liberty” and “innocent.” One ■ See WOMEN on page 5
Established in 1976 under represents how Black Amerithe visionary leadership of cans fare in economic status, the late Mr. Vernon E. Jordan health, education, social justice, Jr., the organization’s fifth and civic engagement compared president, the report remains to their white counterparts, utia cornerstone for understand- lizing whites as the benchmark ing the multifaceted challeng- due to historical advantages. es faced by Black Americans The 2024 Equality Index for across crucial domains such Black America stands at 75.7%, as economics, employment, indicating that despite notable education, health, housing, strides, African Americans still Courtesy of Twitter criminal justice, and civic par- miss approximately 24% of the pie that symbolizes ticipation. full equality. This year’s edi“We are Breaking down tion continues in a world the tradition of the Equality Index, featuring insightcategories include of deep economics, health, ful commentary attack by an from influential education, social ideological justice, and civic featured music, African dance, figures in various extreme that engagement. Each and drumming by “The Voice of sectors, providing Culture,” a local anti-capitalist a comprehensive wants to erase category is careweighted Black space for cultural arts view of the comso much of the fully based on its sigplexities of the and liberation. Civil Rights nificance, and naAs the crowd cheerfully current landscape. Movement.” tionally represensettled in, one of the young vo- Economic empowtative statistics calists approached the podium. erment is central are employed to Her tone, pitch, and intensity to the National Urmomentarily seized the room ban League’s mission, and the calculate sub-indices that capas she tested the microphone Equality Index is a powerful ture the relative well-being of with a brief, soul-stirring rendi- tool to measure progress for African Americans compared tion of the first few lines of the Black Americans relative to to whites. “Civic engagement whites. and health are areas in which inspirational pop song “Hero.” Attributing the mission’s core ■ See URBAN LEAGUE on page 5 ■ See STILLWATER on page 5
MSR publisher delivers inspiration to Stillwater inmates By Kimerlie Geraci Contributing Writer
Tracey Williams-Dillard speaking to inmates at the Stillwater prison. Photo by Chris Juhn
“Giving a voice to the voiceless” was a resonating mantra repeated during the speech given on February 28 by Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (MSR) publisher Tracey Williams-Dillard, before 78 men of color at Stillwater Prison. The event occurred in a prison gymnasium thoughtfully turned into a Black History Month symposium. It also