Social Issues

For Hmong community, George Floyd's death isn't just about black and white
George Floyd's death isn't just a story about a black man and the white cop charged with his murder. Among Asian Americans, the involvement of Hmong officer Tou Thao is stirring a racial debate.
Poet and activist Maya Angelou at the 1984 Westminster Town Hall Forum
Poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, speaking in 1984 at the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis.
How a mother protects her black teenage son from the world
Minnesota state Rep. Ruth Richardson doesn't want her teenage son, Shawn, a track athlete, to go running outside. "You can't do the same things that your white friends do," she remembers telling him.
From jobs to homeownership, protests put spotlight on economic divide
Police brutality has sparked days of civil unrest. But the sparks have landed in a tinderbox built over decades of economic inequality, now exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Domestic abuse can escalate in pandemic and continue even if you get away
Loosened quarantine restrictions have given some people an opportunity to flee violence at home, but cyberstalking and high unemployment have also made it harder to completely escape after moving out.