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

How community members are supporting each other during the Chauvin trial
Some Minnesotans feel traumatized all over again as coverage of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin picks up. On Wednesday, host Angela Davis talks with guests who are supporting friends and neighbors looking for ways to heal as they confront their feelings of grief, anger, anxiety and fear during the trial.
Atlanta shooting suspect charged in spa shootings
Robert Aaron Long, the suspected gunman in three attacks that killed eight people at Atlanta-area spas on Tuesday, has been charged with murder and assault. Six women of Asian descent are among the dead, raising suspicions of a hate crime.
An author replies to the unspeakable in her 'Elegy' for lynching victim Mary Turner
Using original illustrations, archival documents and handwritten text, Rachel Marie-Crane Williams memorializes one black woman, and 10 men, who were killed by white residents in Georgia in 1918.
White supremacist propaganda surged in 2020, report says
There were 5,125 cases of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ and other hateful messages spread through physical flyers, stickers, banners and posters, according to Wednesday's report. That's nearly double the 2,724 instances reported in 2019.
Chauvin trial: 2 jurors out, 2 added as Floyd family settlement roils court
The $27 million settlement between Minneapolis and the George Floyd family continues to hang over jury selection in Derek Chauvin’s criminal trial. There are currently nine jurors after two were dismissed Wednesday morning and another two selected in the afternoon.
As gaps emerge, state hires head of vaccine equity
The Health Department’s new head of vaccine equity is looking to other states for ideas to help vulnerable communities get to the front of the vaccine line. That could include special vaccine allotments and sign-up periods for people who have struggled to get vaccinated.
Racial diversity in children's books grows, but slowly
Data suggests books about people of color stayed largely the same and there were only slight increases in books written by people of color. Experts say the true effect of 2020 on the children's book industry may be seen in the years to come.
Explainer: What is the impact of racially diverse juries?
Scholars, courts and legal groups have increasingly advocated for greater jury diversity, arguing, that by almost every metric, they make for better juries.  Of the six men and three women selected through Monday for Derek Chauvin's jury, five are white, one is multiracial, two are Black and one is Hispanic. They range in age from their 20s to their 50s.
Chauvin trial: Judge weighs delay as Floyd family settlement roils case
Prosecutors pushed back Tuesday afternoon on defense arguments that news of a $27 million settlement between Minneapolis and the George Floyd family may taint the process to pick a jury in Derek Chauvin’s criminal trial.