Racism, redlining and reparations

BY ED FELIEN The wheels of justice grind slowly but exceedingly fine. Sometimes it takes an earthquake to shake up City Hall. In this case it was Myron Orfield’s report on housing discrimination in the Twin Cities metropolitan area, which documented that the area lost $20.5 billion as a result…

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Sports mascots and racist stereotyping

On May 13, 2014, at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 13th Session, The National Coalition Against Racism in Sports and Media, the American Indian Movement Interpretive Center, the American Indian Movement and its Affiliates called for a resolution or a study that addresses racist and derogatory, demeaning…

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‘International development’ in Bolivia

BY NATHAN BLUMENSHINE In January I left my home and job in South Minneapolis to do volunteer work in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Like many people in my neighborhood, I feel a duty to address the pressing issues of our time with both local and global knowledge. Unfortunately, environmental destruction, economic inequality…

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The end of the Rainbow

BY ED FELIEN The corner at Lake and Minnehaha is changing dramatically. On the surface it looks calm and much the same, but there aren’t nearly as many cars in the parking lot as there were last fall, and if you go inside Target or Rainbow the most dramatic thing…

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Music in the Town Square

BY ED FELIEN If you’ve ever driven through a small town in almost every section of the country, the main street will lead to a downtown and a small, one-block- square park in the center of town, and it almost always has a bandstand in the center for band concerts…

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Tenants win hope of bedbug-free building

BY PETER BROWN, MINNESOTA TENANTS UNION Bedbug infestation is widespread in Minneapolis rental property. Bedbugs lead to renter instability/forced relocation as tenants flee infested buildings. Bedbugs also cause great distress and property damage to tenants who can ill-afford to throw out and replace the mattresses, box-springs, and furniture that become…

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Queen of Cuisine “The Second Coming”

BY CARLA WALDEMAR Travail 4124 W. Broadway, Robbinsdale 763-535-1131 No sign on the façade. The entrance—when you finally find it—is through an industrial refrigerator door. Rock music blares, competing with a sports bar TV. The kitchen crew (who double as servers) are dolled up with piercings, tattoos, T-shirts and bandannas.…

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Movies

BY TONY BOUZA Movies are America’s pre-eminent art form. I love them. As I lay reading, Erica was watching a movie we’d seen, and enjoyed, years ago—“Good Will Hunting.” I vaguely looked. A romantic comedy about a genius at Harvard whose math mentor is frustrated by the hero’s reluctance or…

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Neighborhood Notes

• The Field Regina Northrop Neighbor-hood Group will be celebrating its 25th Silver Anniversary with a colorful parade of VIPs, decorated cars and bikes, and lots more that will travel from 42nd Street to the McRae Park grounds on Saturday, June 7, starting at 10 a.m. The Celebration at McRae…

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