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THE VOICE OF BLACK MINNESOTA SINCE 1934 August 6 - 12, 2026
Vol. 93
No. 1
Phone: 612-827-4021 www.spokesman-recorder.com
In MSR’s 92nd year,
publisher and CEO reflects on her grandfather’s legacy
By Ella Stern Contributing Writer
i n n e s o t a Spokesman-Recorder founder Cecil N ewman and his granddaughter, current MSR CEO and Publisher Tracey Williams-Dillard, were both 8 years old when they became interested in journalism. Eight-year-old Newman was the publisher of his school newspaper, an 8.5-by11-inch sheet of paper. Williams-Dillard remembers accompanying her grandmother to the newsroom as a kid, using tape to make the lines dividing articles on a grid sheet in the front office. Now MSR’s CEO and publisher, Williams-Dillard is carrying on the legacy her grandfather started, a commitment to Minnesota’s Black community, while leading the paper as its first publisher in the digital-first era. Newman moved to Minne-
Cecil Newman (center) present while Governor Harold Levander (seated) signs the Minnesota State Act Against Discrimination into law in 1967. It was renamed the Minnesota Human Rights Act in 1973. Minnesota Historical Center The office door of founder Cecil E. Newman still bears his nameplate at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder's Minneapolis headquarters. Ella Stern/MSR
apolis from Kansas City, Mis- he wanted to make change. … know things that they needed souri, in 1922 with the goal of Then as now, [the Black press to know that nobody else was was] telling stories that no- telling them.” starting a newspaper. After being refused jobs at “That was his dream,” Wil- body else was telling, letting liams-Dillard said, “because them [the Black community] ■ See CECIL on page 5
St. Paul mayor skips encamp- Sabathani Community Center marks 60 years with block ment listening session amid harassment investigation party honoring Clarissa Walker and Launa Q. Newman
By Clint Combs Contributing Writer
t. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her was scheduled to appear at a community listening session July 28 on the Aug. 5 closure of the Pig's Eye Park encampment. She did not show, leaving Assistant Mayor Cedrick Baker alone to face an angry crowd at the North Garden Theatre. Her absence comes as St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry's sexual harassment allegations against her, filed in an April complaint letter but only made public this week, have thrust the mayor's office into crisis. Henry's complaint alleges Her made inappropriate sexual comments to him and other city employees, prompting the city to hire an outside law firm to investigate. Baker declined the Spokesman-Recorder's request for comment on the allegations that Tuesday. When asked why the mayor was absent from the listening session, Baker said the Mayor's Office had concerns that one of the moderators may have been biased. “We had a little bit of a back and forth with the organizers,” Baker said. “One of the concerns was the position of the moderator. I was told that this would be a situation where
By Jasmine McBride Editor abathani Community Center will celebrate six decades of serving the heart of South Minneapolis with “Coming Back Home: Sabathani’s 60th Anniversary Block Party” on Saturday, Aug. 8, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the center’s parking lot at 310 E. 38th St. The event An encampment resident named Cash speaks with St. Paul Asis free and open to the public. sistant Mayor Cedrick Baker at the North Garden Theatre on The celebration marks a mileJuly 28. Photo courtesy of Clint Combs/MSR stone for one of Minnesota’s we would be able to have a yond that, but acknowledged oldest Black-founded nonprofroughly 1,400 people remain its while honoring two women neutral conversation.” The harassment investiga- on Ramsey County's housing whose leadership helped shape South Minneapolis: Clarissa tion has amplified frustration waiting list. Justin Demico Ford, who among community members already upset over the city's has lived at Pig's Eye, said he's plan to clear an encampment gone more than a year without home to roughly 120 people hearing from the Homeless along the Mississippi River. Assistance Response Team. “I haven't heard from HART Officials say the closure follows a safety assessment that in over a year. I didn't even detailed fires, sexual assaults, do an assessment yet,” Ford thefts and two overdose said. “I get more help from the people from the community... deaths at the site. For many inside the the- That's where our help is comater, the numbers didn't add ing from. That's where we feel up. Ramsey County Board more safe, at our neighbors. Chair Rafael Ortega said the Not [with] the state, not [with] county has purchased just 48 the city.” Ford said he hasn't seen shelter beds from Catholic Charities. Baker said the city any outreach workers from ■ See PIGS EYE on page 5 Clarissa Walker is working to add capacity be-
Rogers Walker and Launa Q. Newman, longtime Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder publisher and grandmother of current MSR CEO and Publisher Tracey Williams-Dillard. Walker and Newman were both honored in November 2019 when the Minneapolis City Council designated sixblock stretches of South Minneapolis in their names: Clarissa Rogers Walker Way, running along 3rd Avenue South, and Launa Q. Newman Way, along 4th Avenue South, both stretching from East 36th to East 42nd streets. This year’s block party gives the broader community an opportunity to celebrate
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both women together, following what organizers describe as a recognition that never got its full moment amid the pandemic. Two women who shaped the South Side Walker, a Kansas City transplant who arrived in the Twin Cities in the 1950s, became a social worker and eventually landed at Sabathani, where she organized the Sabathani Family Resource Center. She ran its food shelf, clothing shelf and emergency assistance programs, making sure families in need were treated with dignity. ■ See SABATHANI on page 5
Launa Q. Newman
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