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Counting down to our 90th Anniversary
May 9 - 15, 2024
Vol. 90
No. 41
Phone: 612-827-4021 www.spokesman-recorder.com
Are MN prisons receptive to inmate complaints? By H. Jiahong Pan Contributing Writer
Activists question the internal grievance process
said Marvina Haynes, founder and executive director of Minnesota Wrongfully Convicted ast September, in the Judicial Reform. However, the Department unforgiving summer heat, those incarcerated of Corrections insists they are at Minnesota Correctional Fa- not retaliating against them. cility-Stillwater held a protest “The DOC doesn’t restrict or to demand clean water and air punish individuals for their conditioning. Those whom the speech or raising concerns,” Department of Corrections said DOC spokesperson Aaron (DOC) identified as leading Swanum in a statement, adding the protest were charged with they are simply punishing them inciting a riot and unlawful for doing something wrong—in assembly and sent to solitary this case, for protesting. “For security and safety reaconfinement for six months. Activists believe the DOC sons, DOC does prohibit incitis retaliating against them for ing unlawful assembly [and] speaking up. “These politi- protest.” Swanum added they cal prisoners are punished for have avenues of recourse, standing up for their rights,” which activists and advocates
contend are ineffective. They then have to find the DOC’s grievance process in- appropriate overseer of the volves sending pieces of paper overseer to send the kite to. called “kites” through a “chain of “If they don’t get back to you, command.” When an incarcerat- you can send it to the person ed person has a grievance, they above them. But you can only are supposed to send a piece of send it to the right person paper, along with documented above them,” said Boehnke. If their grievance isn’t reevidence, called “kites”, to those who oversee something they solved, incarcerated persons have a grievance about. “They can escalate their complaints have five business days to get to the warden and the grievback to you,” said Twin Cities ance appeal coordinator. If they Incarcerated Workers Organiz- were to exhaust the process or ing Committee organizer David don’t believe it is working as it should, they can complain to Boehnke. If the overseer doesn’t be- the Ombuds for Corrections. Data from the Ombuds lieve anything is wrong, or if they don’t respond, the over- for Corrections show they reseer is supposed to return the ceived 379 complaints about Photo taken outside Faribault Prison by Niko Georgiades, ■ See DOC on page 7 courtesy of Unicorn Riot. kite to the incarcerated person.
U of M and pro-Palestinian protesters reach tentative agreement
By Abdi Mohamed Associate Editor
ro-Palestinian student protestors and University of Minnesota leadership agreed last Wednesday, leading to the days-long encampment ending. The UMN Divest Coalition is a collective group of student organizations made up of local chapter organizations of Students for Justice in Palestine, Young Democratic Socialists of America, Students for a Democratic Society, and Students for Climate Justice. They want the university to take steps toward meeting a list of six demands before they will agree to dismantle the encampment on Northrop Mall. Initially scheduled for a half hour, the discussions between student organizations and university administrators lasted roughly 90 minutes as they sorted out the details of the demands. Students requested that the university divest from corporations such as Honeywell and General Dynamics for their ties to Israel, divest academically from Israeli universities, provide transparency about university investments,
bill introduced this month in the Alabama Legislature aims to revise the state’s holiday calendar by adding Juneteenth as a recognized state holiday. The proposed legislation, known as HB367, also proposes that state offices no longer close on Confederate President Jefferson Davis’s birthday, sparking debate among lawmakers and activists. The bill seeks to amend Section 138 of the Code of Alabama 1975, which lists holidays resulting in state office closures. Under the existing law, state offices close on holidays such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s birthday, and Confederate Memo-
ca l Capsule
Editor’s Note: The attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor in 1941 thrust America into World War II. And even though, on many fronts, African Americans were being denied opportunities to joinHthe i c a l C amany p s u l e shared i s t o rfight, their views and expressed an embedded level of patriotism for a nation that consistently denied them rights as Americans. This article was published in the St. sul1941. Paul Recorder onaDec. ap12, e ic l C H i s to r
Several tents occupied Northrop Mall on Tuesday, April 30 in protest of the University of Minnesota’s financial and academic ties to Israel. Photos by Abdi Mohamed make a statement in support of Palestinian students and Palestinians’ right to self-determination, and provide amnesty for previously arrested
students stating that students protestors. Interim University of Min- would be allowed to address nesota President Jeff Ettinger the Board of Regents on May sent an email that evening to 10 to discuss divestment from university faculty, staff and certain universities. Ettinger
also stated that the university would make a good faith effort to disclose its holdings in public companies by May 7 and ■ See U OF M on page 7
A holiday choice proposed for Alabamians: Juneteenth or Jefferson Davis’ birthday By Stacy M. Brown
H i s to r i
rial Day. Alabama GOP Rep. Chris Sells of Greenville, the original author of the bill, proposed that government employees could decide whether to take off the first Monday in June for Confederate President Jefferson Davis’s birthday or Juneteenth on June 19. Sells asserted that this proposal does not add another holiday to the existing 13 state holidays, addressing concerns raised by some state legislators. The national average of state holidays is 17, four more than Alabama recognizes. Alabama Democratic Rep. Chris England of Tuscaloosa argued against the proposal, stating that there are already three state holidays recognizing the Confederacy, making it unnecessary to give employees an
Workers in Alabama may have the choice between celebrating Juneteenth, a freedom holiday, or Jefferson Davis, the only president of the Confederacy who fought to maintain slavery. Photo by Freepiks either/or choice between Da- lows Mississippi Gov. Tate vis’s birthday and Juneteenth. Reeves declaring April 2024 as The controversial bill fol- Confederate Heritage Month
egro citizens from all walks comment on Japan’s attack on United States “In this world of doubt, confusion and gloom, there is no place for small prejudices and hate. We, as Americans, should le M S together forl C a p su stand R H i s t o rica democracy.” – Dorothy Scott, housewife and beautician, Minneapolis. “This war with Japan and possible conflict with other Axis powers is a threat to our American democracy. The Negro, now as ever in a crisis, will ■ See HISTORICAL on page 7
Eagan firefighter killed in Minneapolis shooting By Declan Desmond victim in Sunday morning’s deadly Minneapolis shooting has been identified as a career Twin Cities firefighter. Joseph C. Johns, who was in his 40s, was struck by gunfire around 12:40 a.m. May 5 in a parking lot at 901 Cedar Ave. S. He was rushed to Hennepin Healthcare and ultimately pronounced dead there. An earlier news release ■ See FIREFIGHTER on page 7
in that state. This reportedly keeps alive a 31-year-old tradition that began in 1993. Beauvoir, the Biloxi museum and historic home of Jefferson Davis, which receives funding from the state, announced the proclamation in a Facebook post. The Mississippi Free Press reported that Beauvoir is owned and operated by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. This neo-Confederate organization promotes the “Lost Cause” ideology, a revisionist history that whitewashes the Confederacy’s racist past and downplays the role of slavery in the Civil War. The Free Press noted that Beauvoir annually receives $100,000 from the State of Mississippi for development and maintenance. Meanwhile, the Alabama Fallen firefighter Joseph C. Johns Photo courtesy X ■ See JUNETEENTH on page 7