Experts, officials consider criminal policy reform
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Lawmakers and University of Minnesota experts are eyeing criminal policy reform at the state and federal level.
Harambee: Let’s pull together to dismantle the cradle-to-prison pipeline
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During my recent travels to Tanzania, I had the opportunity to learn more about the education system. The most important lesson I learned was community members play a key role in the building a network of support for each student. This network plays a critical role in accelerating academic achievement and advancing personal development. While visiting classrooms in Tanzania, I met aspiring doctors, lawyers, engineers and even a young woman who stated confidently, “I will be president of Tanzania.” Throughout our visit, I witnessed firsthand community members working together to help children learn, thrive and grow. I also watched as the adage that it takes a village to raise a child came alive. One example is the notion of “harambee” which means “let’s pull together.” Continue Reading
Michael Cavlan: Star Tribune article misrepresents the truth
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This is a response to the Star Tribune article November 27th by Strib writer Paul Walsh titled “Driver who hit protester was fleeing ‘the mob’ but is considered suspect” about an incident at Lake Street and Hiawatha outside the 3rd Precinct Police headquarters rally. In response to the Grand Jury acquittal of the Ferguson, MO police officer who killed Michael Brown.I was there and in fact got knocked over by the driver myself.This is a Community Voices submission and is moderated but not edited. The opinions expressed by Community Voices contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the TC Daily Planet.First, the title itself is a flat out lie. The article does not get any better. The initial title was “Driver who hit protester was fleeing ‘the mob.” Continue Reading
VIDEO: Journalists discuss #Pointergate
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UPDATED Tuesday, December 9, 2014, 1:58 pm.The Society of Professional Journalists – Minnesota Pro Chapter, along with the Twin Cities chapters of the National Association of Black Journalists and the Asian American Journalists Association, as well as the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law and the Minnesota Journalism Center, hosted a panel discussion on the recent Pointergate issue in our local community.KSTP-TV sent a letter, but opted not to send a representative to the panel. Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges, the subject of the story, also declined to appear.The panel discussion happened at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs – Cowles Auditorium – 301 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455.See the MNSPJ, TCBJ and AAJA statement for background on the story.Read more TC Daily Planet coverage of #Pointergate. Continue Reading
What we have learned from Michael Brown and Eric Garner
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Something is wrong with the law if those entrusted to enforce it repeatedly violate it. This is the troubling story of race and Michael Brown and Eric Garner, and police brutality in Cleveland, Ohio. But these three examples raise even more profound stories about the role of the law in a democratic society regarding whose legal norms are enforced and how. It is the story of legal legitimacy. Continue Reading
St. Paul police almost twice more likely to fatally shoot black males than white counterparts
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Racial tensions in the U.S. have reached the boiling point in the wake of the deaths of two black males at the hands of police officers, and the announcements in the last few days that grand juries declined to bring charges against either officer.18 year old Michael Brown was shot and killed by Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson, just weeks after Eric Garner was placed in a chokehold that resulted in his death by Daniel Pantaleo in New York. Both officers are white.Read more TC Daily Planet coverage of police misconduct issues.The racial tension, already high, reached the flashpoint nationwide in the last few days following the grand jury announcements. Protests, some becoming violent, took place all over the country, including the Twin Cities, decrying a system that seems to allow police to murder black males with impunity and with no repercussion.Nationally, according to a ProPublica study done last October, black males are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by police than their white counterparts. So the Twin Cities Daily Planet attempted to look into the Twin Cities’ police shooting records to see if the cities’ numbers reflect a similar trend. St. Continue Reading
[PHOTOS] #BlackLivesMatter protesters halt 35W traffic: “We’re ready for change”
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The largest highway in Minneapolis was brought to a standstill on Dec. 4 after protestors marched down a two-mile stretch of I-35W from Uptown to downtown Minneapolis to rally against several recent, high-profile cases of police brutality and racial inequality in the United States.For more than an hour, northbound I-35W was reduced to foot traffic, with cars backed-up for miles behind the barricade of police cars separating protestors from oncoming traffic.Read more TC Daily Planet coverage of police misconduct issues.Related story: Protesters shut down 35W over Pantaleo non-indictment, not fast foodThursday’s “Black Lives Matter” protest was part of a national movement to denounce police brutality, racial inequality and a lack of accountability, sparked most recently by the decision to withhold charging police officers responsible for the deaths of two unarmed black men in New York and Ferguson, Missouri.Around 200 protesters joined the march from Uptown to Minneapolis City Hall.“People are tired of the opposition, people are tired of police not being held accountable and we’re deciding to take a stand,” said Nekima Levy-Pounds while walking down the onramp near 34th Avenue toward the main stretch of I-35W.“We’re ready for change. It’s time for change now,” the University of St. Thomas Law School professor added.Protest organizer Michael McDowell said the group’s goal for Thursday’s protest was to create change and “not just looking to get a bunch of media.”The protesters’ goals include a structural audit of the Minneapolis Police Department, quarterly progress reports to the community on racial diversity issues and police misconduct in the city, and body cameras on officers. The group presented them to Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges in an open letter published in the Star Tribune in September.Hodges, who spoke at a fast food labor rally on 33rd and Nicollet Avenue earlier that day, did not attend the Black Lives Matter protest stating she was unaware of the second protest until she had already arrived. Continue Reading
Protesters shut down 35W over Pantaleo non-indictment, not fast food
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If the Storify story doesn’t appear, refresh your browser.Read more TC Daily Planet coverage of police misconduct issues.Related story: [PHOTOS] #BlackLivesMatter protesters halt 35W traffic: “We’re ready for change”[<a href=”//storify.com/tcdailyplanet/blacklivesmatter-protest-in-minneapolis-shuts-dow” target=”_blank”>View the story “Protesters shut down 35W over Pantaleo non-indictment” on Storify</a>]Coverage of issues and events that affect Central Corridor neighborhoods and communities is funded in part by a grant from Central Corridor Funders Collaborative. Continue Reading
It’s not over
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On the day that President John F. Kennedy was shot, November 22, 1963, a classmate told me that she could see why I was upset, as I was a Democrat, like the president. But why should she, a Republican, feel bad? Something like that is going on now, with the Ferguson/Michael Brown grief and protests. Now, as in 1963, the voices that say “their sorrow, their problem, not mine” are wrong. We are all in this together. Continue Reading
Mapping the market: Alexandra Pierce and Lauren Martin study sex trafficking as a business, with hope it can be stopped
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Market research isn’t new to the work of business – except when it becomes a strategy for disrupting and dismantling the business of sex trafficking.