Social Issues

Minnesota’s 2020 Teacher of the Year leaves the classroom
Students, parents, and fellow educators describe Qorsho Hassan as an exceptional teacher: an example of how teachers of color can change a classroom. But in an interview with Sahan Journal, Hassan says that Minnesota schools continue to fail their students — and teachers like her, too. “We’ve been tasked with the impossible job of fighting systemic racism,” Hassan said.
Program helps educators accurately teach Native American content in classrooms
Most Minnesota K-12 educators say they lack access to resources they need to accurately teach lessons which include Native American content. But one teacher training program is trying to change that.
After a six-year hiatus and the pandemic, Sleepy Eye Community Theater is reviving with a production of “West Side Story.” With the re-opening, reaching into new diverse audiences and actors is a priority for the theater group.
Dreamland: Then and now
Anthony Brutus Cassius broke ground in Minneapolis in the 1940s as a labor organizer and then as the first Black man to get a liquor license in the city. His aim was to create safe social spaces for Black people. Eighty years later, Mecca Bos explores his legacy.
Ex-cop Chauvin gets 20-plus years for violating George Floyd's civil rights
“I really don’t know why you did what you did. But to put your knee on another person’s neck until they’re deceased is wrong,” Judge Paul Magnuson told Chauvin during Thursday’s hearing. “And for that you must be substantially punished.”
Valerie Castile says youth give her hope for future
Six years after her son Philando Castile was killed by a police officer, Valerie Castile says she’s encouraged by how a younger generation is speaking out for social justice.
Poll: Most Americans think liberty has waned, rights will further diminish
New poll results, from a survey conducted just days after the initial leak of the Supreme Court’s intention to overturn Roe, show that a majority of Americans believe they have lost more personal freedoms in the past 10 years than they have gained, and will continue to lose more personal freedom in the next decade.