[Left-to-right: Phon Khampradith at the Lao American media symposium, Alonzo Harris of the Saint Paul Saints, and Taye and his mother at this month’s protest.]
Inclusion at the new Saints Stadium
-CHS Field, the new public/private baseball park in Lowertown Saint Paul, opened last week, and the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder offers an in-depth story about how the construction team met the 32% workforce inclusion diversity goals during construction. (Compare to the Vikings stadium.)
-And, also from the Spokesman-Recorder, the story of Alonzo Harris, an outfielder from Mississippi, who is the only black player on the team. (Recently in the news, comedian Chris Rock has made waves about how baseball isn’t welcoming to African-American fans.)
Elsewhere in new construction projects, a report from the Alley News about the Park Board voting to build restore and expand an indoor swimming pool in Minneapolis’ Phillips neighborhood. According to the report, Minnesota has “one of the highest state drowning rates for children of color in the nation,” and one of the goals of the pool is to correct that problem. (Note: The article also includes allegations that the Star Tribune has misconstrued the project as expensive and excessive, which are interesting in light of the recent dispute over the paper’s coverage of North Minneapolis non-profits.)
Stories of Young People
–Little Laos on the Prairie reports on the massive “national symposium and writers summit” for the Lao American community, which took place last month in North Minneapolis. Check out all the pictures, blogging sessions, and details from the big event, which marked the 40th anniversary of the Lao diaspora.
–360Journalism, an excellent site written by area high school students, collects a rich set of essays from Saint Paul’s Johnson High. You’ll find stories of families, playing music despite a hearing disability, and what to do when a sibling comes out as lesbian. Highly recommended!
-Also from 360Journalism, an essay from Math and Science Academy’s Shay Radhakrishnan, about how girls (and women) should be more supportive of each other and not be so quick to compare each others’ flaws.
Roundup of the Rest
-Insight News’ emotional report on the story of Taye, the ten-year-old who was maced by police at this months’ #blacklivesmatter demonstration in downtown Minneapolis is a must read. The piece includes quotes from Taye, his mother, and Nekima Levy-Pounds, the new head of the local NCAAP.
-And via the Park Bugle, a new “food hub” is opening on Larpenteur and Snelling in the site of a shuttered greenhouse. The idea is to help local growers find markets for their locally grown products. Ideally, the future might also include housing or co-op retail.
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