Race: Conversations around race and racial justice

The May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody has ignited an urgent push for racial equality across Minnesota and the United States. Here are the latest on the fight against racism, voices calling for racial justice and in-depth stories on communities of color and other racial issues from MPR News.

Voices of Minnesota Calls for change across the state

Protests and pain The killing of George Floyd

Call To Mind Spotlight on black trauma and policing

Amplifying voices Share your experiences and hopes for the future

A woman sits in a rocker as she nurses her baby in a nursery room.

Black breastfeeding moms find support in one another

August 14, 2019 12:00 PM

By Riham Feshir

A Minneapolis support group for African-American mothers offers encouragement and advice about nursing their babies.

A man stands in the middle of a circle on the ground.

Native American tour is designed to educate teachers on historical trauma

August 14, 2019 4:00 AM

By Elizabeth Shockman

Minneapolis Public Schools is partnering with the Native American community in the Twin Cities on a new kind of professional development for teachers, designed to help educators become more culturally proficient.

Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer checks his phone while waiting to speak with a television network on Aug. 18, 2017. These days Signer travels the country presenting his city's experience as a cautionary tale.

Former Charlottesville mayor shares painful lessons from fight against hate

August 12, 2019 4:00 AM

By Hannah Allam

In 2017, Mike Signer faced a small-town leader's nightmare: a racist rally that spiraled out of control and ended in bloodshed. Two years later, Signer is on a mission of education — and atonement.

Elizabeth Vega, left, and Jamell Spann became friends after Vega comforted an emotional Spann while they were protesting in Ferguson, Mo., as strangers in 2014.

'What you did changed me': Ferguson protesters found friendship amid unrest

August 9, 2019 6:53 AM

By Emma Bowman , Kelly Moffitt , and Josh Axelrod

Jamell Spann and Elizabeth Vega protested in Ferguson, Mo., after the shooting death of Michael Brown. A comforting response in a moment of rawness, immortalized in an iconic photo, led to friendship.

Shadow of two people in a smoke filled street backlit by police lights.

5 years after Ferguson, racial tension might be more intense

August 8, 2019 6:32 AM

By The Associated Press

Five years after 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on a steamy August day, racial tension remains palpable and may be even more intense.

Calonna Carlisle and her 12-year-old dog Pluto.

Her Native American identity was omitted from her adoption records. Now she wants it back

August 7, 2019 4:00 AM

By Briana Bierschbach

Calonna Carlisle’s mother is Native American and her father is black, but her mother’s heritage was left off her adoption records. She’s spent years trying to get local and state officials to restore her race in her files.

Racist incidents in schools point to deep-seated, structural problems

August 1, 2019 1:29 PM

By Julie Siple and Angela Davis

An MPR News report explores what happened at a Burnsville middle school after the principal was caught on video repeating a racial slur. Angela Davis spoke with two experts about racist incidents at schools, the structural racism that underlies them, and the way it affects student learning.

A brick school building

At Burnsville’s Metcalf Middle School, racial slurs poisoned the culture

July 31, 2019 12:13 PM

By Elizabeth Shockman

John Metcalf Middle School Principal Shannon McParland apologized in December after she was filmed repeating a racial slur at school. But teachers, students and parents say the video seemed to give others license to use the epithet. They say a culture of racism and retaliation, enabled by school leadership, poisoned the school.

Divisive school district borders.

This Supreme Court case made school district lines a tool for segregation

July 25, 2019 5:17 AM

By Cory Turner and Elissa Nadworny

Today, "inequality is endemic" in America's public schools, according to a new report.

Civil rights activist Ron Edwards remembers seeing several blocks of businesses vandalized and set ablaze in July 1967.

'A Fiery Unrest: Why Plymouth Avenue Burned'

July 22, 2019 10:00 AM

By MPR News Staff

A new documentary explores the causes and consequences of violence that broke out in north Minneapolis in July of 1967.