Race

By Nyasia Arradondo

When a white student at her school questioned why black students like Nyasia needed an after-school group just for them, she had an answer for him. And an invitation.

By Minnesota teens

This spring, the government will attempt to count every single person living in the United States in the 2010 Census. ThreeSixty, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune asked teenagers how they count to America. Their essays were published in both papers, and online on April 1. Check them out!

By Mariah Davis

In the middle of ninth grade, my family moved from suburban Shoreview to St. Paul. I transferred to Arlington High School, a school with significantly fewer white kids, and more black and mixed-raced kids than I’d known before. The kids would make fun of me for things harder to change than my hair – my light skin, my suburban accent, my mostly Asian and white friends, and my punk style. They thought I acted like a white kid.

My parents had taught me all my life that I was black, but now, I was white.

By Mariah Davis

In 1990, Robert Lilligren had to choose whether to check American Indian or white on the census form. Even though he is both, the census form only allowed him to choose one.

By Youth Communication, reporting, and Meleck Davis, graphic, of Triangle Park Creative

The 2010 census is the shortest in its 220 year history, said Minnesota State Demographer Tom Gillaspy. It only asks 10 questions this decade.

By Grace Pastoor

The census, first required in 1790, is — as Minnesota State Demographer Tom Gillaspy says — “the very core of being American.” When we were fighting the Revolutionary War, we were fighting for representation, and that’s exactly what the census has set out to do – represent us by counting us.

By Leah Chaney

By Ariel Nash

In my sociology class, our teacher suggested that Mr. Favor broke up the student body because of the achievement gap. We students argued that it couldn’t have been that bad.

The teacher went over to the computer and put up MCA-II math and reading scores broken up by race. The room went silent. In 2008, among Cooper students who took the statewide math test, 21 percent of Asian, 20 percent of Hispanic and 43 percent of white students scored high enough to be considered proficient. For black students, only 4 percent did that well.

After staring at the scores and waiting for the shock to wear off, my mind did a complete 180. I no longer felt that breaking the student body up by race was a bad thing. If I, as a senior, felt embarrassed for my peers to see that my race was at the bottom of the chart, imagine how the younger students would take it.

By Ariel Nash

Principal separates students by race to expose difference in test scores

When the daily announcements started one day in early April, students in Robbinsdale Cooper High School’s orchestra class were zoning out like usual until they heard their principal say he would be breaking up the student body by race to speak to them about upcoming assessment testing.

Principal Michael Favor announced that the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment, or MCA-II, was coming up and he wanted each student to know its importance.

The room got silent. The students looked at each other with nervous smiles or just plain shock. Even the teacher was shocked. As students started their scales, a student muttered that Favor’s idea was stupid.

By Hibo Ahmed, Ubah Medical Academy, and Mahmood Karimi, Shakopee High School

According to one directory, there are 94 new ethnic media in Minnesota and the Twin Cities: weekly newspapers, monthly magazines, cable newscasts, radio shows and regular newsletters.

The mainstream media are getting the idea. Paul Douglas and his newly created Weather Nation recently hired two bilingual meteorologists. The Star Tribune is seeking new readers and discovering untold stories in the growing ethnic communities.

By Marian Hussein

Ubah Medical Academy, predominantly an East African immigrant school in Hopkins, Minn., was buzzing with joy and excitement over the previous nights elections Nov. 5. Not a single student at Ubah supported John McCain. Student were euphoric as they exchanged greetings and congrats. Every other sentence you heard in the hallways contained the phrase “We made history!”

By Paris Porter

The last day of the Democratic National Convention when Barack Obama spoke about the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech is when I became emotionally engaged.

I was no longer happy to vote just because it was my first time voting. I was proud to vote because of the historic meaning this election represented. I became inspired while watching Obama deliver his great speech to cap off a great convention.

Change was the message Barack Obama used to motivate his voters. I hope change can help put an end to the race issue in America. The country
has come a long way — no doubt — but there still is more to be done. Sometimes my friends and I talk about times when we felt we were being stereotyped as thugs. I also hope Obama can help more young blacks get serious about politics.

By Paris Porter

In March, ThreeSixty writer Paris Porter wrote about his family’s move to St. Paul back in 1996 to escape the violence and poverty of Chicago’s South Side. This summer, Paris and Minnesota Public Radio producer Sasha Aslanian produced a powerful radio documentary about his family’s experience and the controversy the inflow of poor, black families from Chicago caused in Minnesota in the 1990s. Listen to the radio story and read his original story here.

By Drew Bryant

Walking in, we find marble floors, nice polished wooden tables, and quiet. A beautiful receptionist offers us soda and some chocolate. Looking out the windows, we see the Foshay Tower and people in suits, walking the streets below, enjoying the summer weather.

Richard Terrell walks in with a warming smile and greets us, looking like the next new thing in the Briggs and Morgan law firm.

The IDS building, which is in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, is home to one of the most prestigious law firms in the state of Minnesota. Terrell, dressed in a two-piece suit on the 22nd floor, has come a long way from being an at-risk youth. The 21-year-old has worked at Briggs and Morgan as an intern during summers and school breaks for five years.

By MaKaLa Farr

Nico Brown graduated this spring from Face To Face Academy in St. Paul. It was his toughest year; Barack Obama helped him through.

“I sat and I watched him on TV and listened to some things he would say, and it made me want to push more. He said that I could be something — you know, more than just the stereotype.”