Race: Conversations around race and racial justice

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

January 31, 2023 4:20 PM

In a Minneapolis salon for natural hair, women wonder if CROWN Act will help

Gov. Tim Walz is expected to sign the CROWN Act, which bans discrimination against people based on their natural hair texture and style. But some say the fight to destigmatize hair is far from over.

by Nicole Ki

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January 31, 2023 1:02 PM

Meet four local arts leaders giving a voice to underrepresented communities

Guest host Jacob Aloi heads into the studios of artists of color, a queer filmmaker and a curator of Latin American Art. They’re all making the art world more inclusive.

by Jacob Aloi, Danelle Cloutier and Nicole Johnson

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January 29, 2023 5:33 PM

After Nichols killing, protesters call for police reform during St. Paul rally

The protesters braved temperatures in the low-single digits to call for Gov. Tim Walz and the DFL-led Minnesota Legislature to end qualified immunity for police officers in the state, which grants them protection from individual liability claims.

by Jon Collins and Estelle Timar-Wilcox

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January 29, 2023 4:15 PM

Tyre Nichols loved skateboarding. That's how his friends say they'll remember him

Old videos of Nichols on his skateboard have taken on new meaning in recent days — offering friends a way to remember what he loved and how he lived, as opposed to the harrowing way he died.

by Juliana Kim

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January 28, 2023 8:10 AM

Timberwolves top Memphis after moment of silence for Nichols

Both teams offered thoughts to Tyre Nichols’ family and friends in messages tweeted before the video was released.

by The Associated Press

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January 27, 2023 10:30 AM

Clint Smith on how to reckon with slavery as America's original sin

Clint Smith’s acclaimed book, “How the Word Is Passed,” is now out in paperback. In it, he examines how slavery has been central in shaping our country’s collective history, and ourselves.

by Kelly Gordon

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January 25, 2023 4:00 AM

Twin Cities Lunar New Year events push on after California mass shooting

“We’re not a community of victims,” said Sia Her, executive director of the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans.

by Nicole Ki

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January 24, 2023 10:35 AM

From the archives: Naima Coster on her novel 'What's Mine and Yours'

This Friday, Big Books and Bold Ideas will feature Clint Smith, celebrated author of “How the Word is Passed,” which powerfully examines the legacy of slavery in America. Kerri Miller’s conversation with Naima Coster in 2021 trod a similar path, only Coster used a fiction lens to look at effects of segregation in her novel, “What’s Mine and Yours.”

by Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

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January 24, 2023 4:00 AM

'Brotherless Night' explores a young Sri Lankan Tamil woman's life, love and idealism set against civil war

Twin Cities writer V.V. Ganeshananthan didn’t expect her second novel to take so long to write. But after almost two decades “Brotherless Night,” a tale set against the Sri Lankan civil war, is drawing critical acclaim. It’s a depiction of a determined young Tamil woman struggling with life, love and family even as her country descends into chaos.

by Euan Kerr

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January 19, 2023 4:45 PM

Nelson Mandela's great-grandson on healing racial divides

MPR News host Angela Davis is headed to South Africa for a tour of the country. Before she goes, she talks with Siyabulela Mandela, the great-grandson of former South African president Nelson Mandela. Siyabulela Mandela is a human rights advocate with a lot to say about racial division and healing.

by Angela Davis, Samantha Matsumoto and Nicole Johnson

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