Bob CollinsA couple of weeks ago the National Rifle Association issued an amped-up video that some people say was a call to violence.
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Tag: black lives matter
People who wanted WNBA players to just shut up and play basketball have gotten their wish. Sort of.
At least two teams are vowing to stop talking. About basketball.
Read more →
The former Bloomington city attorney, who had refused to back down from prosecuting members of Black Lives Matter for their occupation of the Mall of America in December 2014, is now pushing back against some critics of the group’s positions. Read more →
Vi Hart, famous — and adored — for her YouTube videos explaining complex math, has a point in her latest video. Even with all of the hours of news coverage, and the barrels of ink in newspapers, the surrounding coverage of rising tensions ignores the complex problems behind complex problems. They’re not doing all that well with the simple context either. Read more →
When a group of mostly black protesters met a group of mostly white protesters in Dallas, it could’ve gone badly. It didn’t. Read more →
MPR’s Tom Weber asked his considerable audience today, ‘What’s next? Where do we go from here?’ in the aftermath of last week’s police shootings, the attack on police officers in Dallas, and Saturday night’s riot on I-94.
Of the many suggestions, ‘equip police with body cameras’ seemed to be among the most common. That’s not surprising, Minnesota politicians have been wrestling with the question even before Jamar Clark was shot to death by Minneapolis police last November.
Read more →
Aside from the fact they’re the only team capable of actually winning games in this town, what separates the Minnesota Lynx of the WNBA from almost every man’s team, well, anywhere is they’re not afraid to take a stand and speak out when speaking out is necessary.
Read more →
‘The media is complicit in this morbid voyeurism, when it chooses to be,’ one writer says.
If not for the videos, ‘we wouldn’t be having these conversations at all,’ counters another. Read more →
A trial would have at least been a venue to question and cross-examine everyone involved in the shooting. Read more →
When it comes to civic participation and protest, 11-year-old boys don’t usually stand out.
But Taye Clinton, a student from Linwood Monroe Arts Plus Elementary School in St. Paul, had plenty to say about what life is like for an 11-year-old biracial student in the city’s school system. He spoke at this week’s raucous school board meeting at people protested a Como Park teacher who they say has written racist posts on Facebook and on his blog.
Read more →
The latest controversy involving a public employee posting on Facebook doesn’t involve any specific racial mentions, but Black Lives Matter wants a Como Park Senior High School teacher fired anyway. Read more →
Tensions have increased between the new generation and the old guard since Black Lives Matter interrupted Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, at a Hillary Clinton rally this month. Read more →
If we can defend the right to burn a cross in St. Paul, we can surely defend the right to post a message on Facebook, or to be compelled by the government to post something on Twitter. Read more →
Ellison and other officials tried the declare-victory-and-go-home strategy to get Black Lives Matter protesters to end their 4th Precinct demonstration. It didn’t work. Read more →
A controversy at Connecticut’s Wesleyan University is symptomatic of an increasing reality. Commentary and opinion in journalism is declining as a roadmap to a healthy exchange of ideas. Read more →