North Star Journey

03/05/2023

Five years ago, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe had more than 70 licensed foster homes.

Today, that number has fallen to about 40. Most are already caring for children, or are licensed only to care for relatives.

That means some kids are being sent to non-Native foster homes or facilities outside the community – a problem rooted in historical trauma, Chief Executive Melanie Benjamin said during her annual State of the Band speech in January.

“For our oldest generation of band members living today, there were boarding schools that stripped our children of their culture, identity and caused generational trauma,” Benjamin said. “Today, our youngest generation face a similar loss of culture when they are sent to foster homes outside of the band.”

The need for foster care comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide on a challenge to a federal law that aims to keep Native children within their community and culture.

24/04/2023

Just off East Lake Street in Minneapolis, William “Billy” Gustavo Franklin squints at the sun reflecting off the Mosaic of the Americas.

The tiled mural is two stories high. Hands reach out, faces pulsate, splintering in color like light shooting through a prism. At the top, a condor and an eagle face each other, representing South and North America.

The imagery comes from a prophecy, he says.

“A prophecy that tells how the human race went around the world,” Franklin says. “But it’s also a prophecy that one day we reunite.”

William “Billy” Gustavo Franklin has edited a book titled “Latin Art in Minnesota: Conversations and What’s Next,” featuring 12 Minnesota artists with Central and South American roots. The book explores their art, personal journeys and conversations about identity, aiming to bridge gaps an...

18/04/2023

A case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court could affect how American Indian children are treated in the foster care system. In response, Minnesota lawmakers took steps this year to strengthen a state law designed to keep Native children connected to their families and communities.

05/04/2023

Professor Brittany Merritt Nash's honors history students at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University were familiar with racial covenants — clauses inserted into property deeds that reserved homes and land exclusively for white people, or prohibited them from being sold to certain ethnic groups, including Jews.

But most research on restrictive covenants has focused on the Twin Cities metro. The students wondered whether the same thing happened in central Minnesota, and decided to launch their own research in Stearns County.

“I think that all of us found it really remarkable how many there were,” Nash said.

08/03/2023

The first Black families who settled, worked and started businesses in Hastings, Minn. are an example of the city’s rich Black history. Many were barbers, farmers and mill workers. This history also exemplifies the triumph — not just the trauma — residents experienced.

27/02/2023

Persia Erdrich’s son had just turned 2 years old when he spoke his first sentence in Ojibwe. The pair were visiting the Minnesota Zoo when her son Patrick Linehan, whose Ojibwe name is Ogimaagaabaw, pointed at a bear in an enclosure.

“Mokwa nibaa,” he said. The bear is sleeping.

Erdrich’s son attends a language nest in Cloquet, Minn., on the Fond du Lac Reservation called Gookonaanig Endaawaad, or “Grandma’s House.”

Grandma’s House in Cloquet, Minn., on the Fond du Lac Reservation is not like a drop-off daycare or an immersion school where only the children learn. Seven families learn Ojibwe traditions and language from elders who speak it as their first language.

14/02/2023

Co-curators and participating artists Olivia House and Silent Fox have been planning this show for more than a year. It is a production of their 13.4 Collective, led and made up by Black artists and designers.

They say the number, 13.4, comes from a recent study that found that Black people make up 13.4 percent of the U.S. population.

“It was basically to amplify voices of the Black community and be able to share and reach an audience for the Black community that they normally don't have access to, or aren't aware of, the opportunities because they're not handed to them,” Fox says.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/02/14/taking-up-space-black-designers-focus-on-joy-in-augsburg-exhibition

01/02/2023

On a freezing January weekend, an all-woman Indigenous snow carving team makes it mark in a psychically demanding art form.

30/11/2022

It’s a Sunday morning at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Minneapolis. Pastor Elijah McDavid III is preaching to the congregation.

At 30, McDavid may be young for a senior pastor, but he has deep roots in the Black church.

Thirty-year-old Elijah McDavid is the senior pastor at Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in north Minneapolis. He’s continuing the long standing role of the Black church playing an active role in helping the community, but doing it with his own style.

18/05/2022

Historically, tribal communities and county governments in Minnesota have had difficult relationships, so a 2014 agreement was a breakthrough for Leech Lake and Cass County. It called for the two governments to work together on projects from public works to law enforcement. As the land transfer neared approval, Cass County stayed effectively neutral.

LeRoy Staples Fairbanks III, representative for Leech Lake’s District 3, called it “a humongous turning point for our relationship with the county.”

The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe will soon get back nearly 12,000 acres wrongfully taken in the ‘40s and ‘50s. As they plan for the land’s future, tribal leaders say their fight has also helped strengthen bonds with the Cass County government.

17/05/2022

African American farmers in Minnesota are trying to connect with their agricultural roots, and at the same time, build a more sustainable and equitable agricultural system.

17/05/2022

17/05/2022

Birthdays are about celebrating the arrival of a child, but in Korean tradition, one special dish made every birthday honors motherhood and the relationships between parents and their children.

An MPR News reporter and her mother talk about relationships mothers and daughters have through Korean birthday soup.

24/03/2022

In the first installment of MPR News’ series North Star Journey, editor Brandt Williams considers the power of changing and saying names from Bde Maka Ska to George Floyd.

24/03/2022

It’s been more than a century since John Cheatham last walked out of a Minneapolis firehouse after more than 20 years of service. He was one of the city’s first Black firefighters and the city’s first Black fire captain. And, as of today, the street a block from his old station bears his name.

24/03/2022

Lack of representation is a concern for those who need support from government leaders to fund projects and provide resources to fill in gaps for needed services.

People of color are the majority now in Worthington, but politics in the city and across Nobles County remain nearly all white and male. That’s a growing concern for those who see political representation in southwestern Minnesota as the next important step. Change may be coming.

24/03/2022

For decades, Indigenous language speakers have been part of a larger movement for cultural revitalization for tribal communities in Minnesota and across the U.S. As the movement grows so does the need to engage language learners in new ways.

Minnesota artists say learning and writing in Indigenous language sparks their own creativity. They are building on a revitalization effort.

24/03/2022

16/03/2022

Efforts to restore the historic, largely Black neighborhood should include people most impacted by freeway construction.

More than a half-century after construction of I-94 tore through the predominantly-Black Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul, various community members are pitching redesigns meant to repair harm. The aging highway infrastructure is now in need of upgrades.