Our Black News

02/21/2026

So let me get this straight.

Minnesota can pass resolutions about snow emergencies in record time. It can debate stadium funding, tax incentives, and what color the state bird should be in the margins of a brochure. But when it comes to a comprehensive legislative agenda for Black Minnesotans? Suddenly...radio silence. Crickets. Static.

Apparently, we only trend at the Capitol when someone wants to regulate hairstyles.

That’s it? That’s the scope of our political imagination? We show up in committee hearings for “hair conversations,” but not for wealth building, education pipelines, procurement access, land ownership, literacy acceleration, or institutional accountability?

Impressive.

This week on Our Black News, part of the Independent Business News Network, we’re searching for something radical: an actual legislative agenda for Black Minnesotans.

I’m calling it the 'Tin Man Legislation'.

Because right now? The policy framework feels heartless. No comprehensive strategy. No structural blueprint. No coordinated economic vision. Just performative nods and seasonal statements.

We’re asking basic questions:

* Where is the statewide education investment plan?
* Where is the capital access strategy for Black-owned businesses?
* Where is the measurable accountability structure?
* Where is the long-term infrastructure commitment?

Or are we just going to keep celebrating symbolism while ignoring systems?

And if you think this conversation ends with video, it doesn’t. We’re also launching 'Ni**le', where we’ll push deeper—policy, economics, leadership, and the uncomfortable truths no one wants to name publicly.

Minnesota prides itself on being progressive. Great. Progress requires plans.

Join us Saturday, February 21, 2026, at 9:30 AM (CST).

Bring your ideas. Bring your receipts. Bring your courage.

Because if we don’t draft the agenda, someone else will draft it for us.

02/14/2026

On Saturday, February 14th, on Our Black News, we are asking a question that many whisper but few are willing to confront publicly: Who decides who our Black leaders are in the Twin Cities, and what does it cost to be chosen?.

Every community has structure. Power does not operate randomly; it organizes itself. In the Twin Cities, a visible and invisible hierarchy often elevates certain voices while others remain locked outside the room. The public is introduced to a familiar roster of “approved” leaders; individuals positioned as spokespeople for Black communities in education, nonprofit spaces, politics, philanthropy, and business. But leadership is not always the same thing as representation.

Across America, gatekeeping has long influenced which Black voices gain legitimacy. Historically, institutions have often preferred leaders perceived as collaborative, predictable, and non-disruptive. That preference can create a quiet but powerful filtering process, one that rewards diplomacy over dissent and comfort over confrontation.

Who gets to decide what Black leadership looks like next?

This is Our Black News.

And the conversation is just getting started.

02/12/2026

Who are these people? Who cares…

01/17/2026

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, alleges that this affirmative action mandate discriminates against, limits, and classifies employees and prospective employees on the basis of their race and s*x in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII). “Because staffing is a zero-sum game,” the complaint states, “when Minnesota gives preferences to employees or prospective employees on the basis of their race, color, national origin, and s*x, it inevitably and necessarily discriminates against other employees or prospective employees because of their race, color, national origin, and s*x.”

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit today against the State of Minnesota challenging Minnesota’s requirement that all state agencies implement s*x- and race-based affirmative action plans and consider “affirmative action goals on all staffing and personnel decisions....

01/10/2026

One of the grants examined by OLA was $1.6 million issued to The Wellness Collaborative through Zion Baptist Church in North Minneapolis. According to the OLA report, BHA didn't have documentation to give the auditor to show that services were rendered.

What's more, the audit says the grant manager directly profited by leaving BHA and, months later, by providing consulting services to the Wellness Collaborative for the grant she managed, which Randall says is not illegal.

"But I think it raises a bunch of ethical questions at the very least," she said.

Representatives at Zion strongly dispute the claims made by BHA and DHS to the auditors.

They tell KARE 11:

DHS sought them out for the grant.
They provided services that DHS workers witnessed.
They gave DHS documentation.
And now they believe they are being scapegoated.
The former grant manager told KARE 11 that any wrongdoing falls squarely on DHS.

"Conduct a monitoring visit to make sure the services are actually being provided. These aren't rocket science types of things," Randall said.

Randall says the audit found that fewer than 1 in 5 DHS workers surveyed felt adequately trained to scrutinize how grant money is spent.

Legislative Auditor Judy Randall says her auditors conducted site visits on grant recipients that DHS employees failed to do. Workers then fabricated documents.

12/22/2025

You can’t make this stuff up.

07/27/2025

From Alpha News: It appears Dominic Peace was arrested earlier this week on felony burglary. A source says it was related to an incident at the St. Paul Midway Target. Three days later he was “found disrobed” in the Capitol.

07/27/2025

09/18/2024

Yeah- it’s 9:03 PM (CST) - the moon is not red. I’m thinking that SpaceX might be putting Mars in its place. May Werewolves, Trolls, and good luck prevail!