Nekessa

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Biography

About me

Julia Nekessa Opoti is the producer and host of Reflections of New Minnesotans on AM950 where she interviews immigrants from all over the world who have made Minnesota their home, temporary or permanent.

As a writer, Nekessa has reported extensively on Somali, Liberian and other immigrant issues in the Twin Cities for the Twin Cities Daily Planet. She served as editor of Mshale, an immigrant African newspaper.

Nekessa is the co-founder and publisher of the Kenya Imagine, an opinion and analysis portal that is on hiatus.

For questions, tips and story ideas send her an email at nekessa [at] tcdailyplanet [dot] net.

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Nekessa

Afrifest and African Global Roots: Twin celebrations of African-Minnesotan culture

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Afrifest 2007

Drums and music, prose and poetry, storytelling and spoken word are all quintessential elements of African culture.
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Counting the masses: Why the census matters

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Image from Census Bureau

It is almost common knowledge that every ten years the U.S. Census Bureau counts the number of people residing throughout the United States.

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Postville one year later: Still anger and pain

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

March in Postville on May 12, 2009. Photos by Nekessa Opoti

One year after an immigration raid that arrested nearly 400 immigrants, Postville is a town still torn on many fronts. The raid sent the town into economic turmoil.MORE »

Meeting Minnesota Muslims: Da'wah Islamic Center in St. Paul

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Somali children at a weekend Islamic and leadership class at the Da'wah Islamic Center in St. Paul. Photo: Nekessa Opoti/TCDP

Mukhtar Osman heard the familiar tone informing him that a new text message had come in on his phone.MORE »

Old, new immigrants join at JCA Freedom Seder

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Washington Yonley (Photo: Vic Bloomfield for JCA)

Steven Foldes and Washington Yonly sat two tables away from each other at the JCA's seventh annual Freedom Seder on March 22. One is an old immigrant, the other a new immigrant.MORE »

Liberians want to stay in Minnesota

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet and Mshale

Two Minnesota Liberian residents sign letters to Congress at a gathering last year. (Photo courtesy of Jewish Community Action)

Their faces somber, about 300 Liberians gathered in a church in Plymouth, a few miles from Brooklyn Park, on a chilly Sunday evening in January.MORE »

Obama: A new era for Africa?

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Map by Julio Reis, published here under Creative Commons license

Two years ago, Barack Obama was a barely-known U.S. senator, the son of an African foreign student and a native of Kansas.MORE »

Protesters occupy Klobuchar's office

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet
A group of about 40 protesters on Tuesday afternoon took over Senator Amy Klobuchar's Minneapolis office, demanding that the Senator take a stand against the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza.MORE »

Recession stories: "I thought I'd end up being the bag lady"

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Representative Keith Ellison at forum, The Road to Economic Recovery

Jeremy Iggers
Imagine, if you will, that elderly retiree couple across the street. They have worked their whole lives, and now live in their dream home by the lake, with their pets and each other for company.MORE »

Interpreting the pain of Postville immigration raid

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Caption: Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas at Common Roots Cafe in Minneapolis. Photo by Nekessa Opot

When a group of federally certified interpreters were asked to travel to Waterloo, Iowa from different parts of the country to conduct an unknown mission for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),MORE »
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