MPR News live special: Listening to the voices of black Minnesotans
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On Sunday, MPR News aired a special call-in program focusing on the experiences of black Minnesotans this week. Marianne Combs hosted the hour and introduced it this way:
"This has been a challenging week on so many levels — the grief over the murder of George Floyd, the demands for justice, and the chaos that has ensued on our city streets. We are living in a heightened state of fear, anxiety and plenty of rumors and disinformation to go along with it.
Everyone is trying to figure out which story they’re hearing is the real story. Are the people smashing up our stores locals? Or did they come from out of town, or out of state? Is the destruction the result of impassioned protesters enraged by yet another black life snuffed out? Or is it the work of white supremacists taking advantage of civil unrest? Were our city and state leaders too slow to respond? Or are they simply facing unprecedented historic challenges?
There is no one narrative here … and we need to live in that ambiguity and parse through it as best we can. That’s part of what we’re going to try to do here today. And we also need to figure out what to do next."
Guests:
Ihotu Jennifer Ali with MN Healing Justice
Activist and former Minneapolis NAACP president Nekima Levy Armstrong
Minneapolis City Council member Andrea Jenkins
Mike Griffin with Community Change
Sarah White with Divine Natural Ancestry
Artist activist Ricardo Levins Morales
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