White farmer, African American college professor named 2012 Facing Race Ambassadors, and keep the conversation going in Minnesota

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The smiles were broad and the drum beat insistent at the Crowne Plaza hotel in downtown St. Paul Monday evening, April 23. The Duniya Drum and Dance group, part of the opening performance for the sixth annual Facing Race Ambassador Awards, set an energetic tone. The crowd of about 600 people, many of them community leaders and activists, generated its own electricity as noted by keynote speaker, Dr. Anton Treuer, who said, “I get a lot of energy and a big battery charge from being around so many people who care so deeply and are working so hard, many devoting their entire lives, to addressing the issues of race and inequality and are working to make our country a better place.”The evening awards are a project of the St. Paul Foundation. Continue Reading

MN VOICES | Mahmoud El-Kati’s half century as educator and activist in the Twin Cities

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Mahmoud El-Kati has an interesting face. He looks stern until he smiles, which he does frequently, and he maintains a direct gaze animated by the rise and fall of his arched brow; it expresses the intellectual nature of a man who has worked hard as an educator and civil rights activist over the past 50 years in the Twin Cities. That face will be the subject of a sculpture portrait titled “Faces of Rondo.” The piece, which will be installed at the Victoria Station light rail station, will honor a group of individuals who have had a positive impact on the Rondo community.El-Kati is a Professor Emeritus of History at Macalester College, a noted essayist, speaker, honoree of Macalester’s Mahmoud El-Kati Distinguished Lectureship in American Studies and an author. His most recent book is Haiti: The Hidden Truth (2010). Besides El-Kati, other “Faces of Rondo” honorees include people such as Billy Williams, an African-American executive political assistant; Pearla Mae Barnes, active in the foster care system; and Lou Bellamy, founder and artistic director of Penumbra Theatre. Continue Reading