Commentary

COMMENTARY: Let’s stand up for Black excellence at the U of M

MINNESOTA SPOKESMAN-RECORDER — Currently, the University of Minnesota is in the process of changing the names of four buildings named after presidents and vice presidents who have been shown to have racially discriminated against students and faculty during their tenures in the 1930s and early ’40s.

Published

6 years ago

May 8, 2019

Ken Foxworth

By Ken Foxworth

Sometimes we wait for other people who we think are smarter than us to stand up for the truth and fight on our behalf. We think that we don’t have the strong, intelligent voice the others have, so we go silent. But, sometimes they have other agendas.

Currently, the University of Minnesota is in the process of changing the names of four buildings named after presidents and vice presidents who have been shown to have racially discriminated against students and faculty during their tenures in the 1930s and early ’40s.

These buildings are Coffman Memorial Union, Coffey Hall, Middlebrook Hall and Nicholson Hall.

On October 4, 2018 U of M President Eric Kaler and Executive Vice President and Provost Karen Hanson charged members of a task force to “recommend actions regarding the specific buildings…and to utilize tools to gather community feedback on the buildings in question.”

The advisory recommendations of the task force will be considered by President Kaler and Provost Hanson, following which President Kaler will present recommendations to the Board of Regents on the four buildings in question. The president has made a presentation to the Regents on the renaming but has not identified any specific individuals whose names would be considered for this honor.

I visited the president’s office and asked the senior secretary if any African American names had been presented to the president; she told me none at that time.

I was stunned and shocked that the African American faculty had not at least recommended for that honor three iconic African American former students, faculty and administrators who gave their lives to the University of Minnesota campus and showed minority communities that they were welcome there.

These three administrators changed the way the University of Minnesota invited businesses, corporations, students and faculty to the University, a method of practice the University is still using today. I refer to Dr. Josie Robinson Johnson, Dr. Frank Wilderson, and Dr. McKinley Boston, Jr. Limited space here does not allow a full description of their extensive contributions to the U of M, but briefly:

Dr. Johnson served on the University’s Board of Regents between 1971 and 1973. She accepted the University’s offer of a senior fellowship in 1987 and directed its All-University Forum as diversity director from 1990 to 1992. That year, she became responsible for minority affairs and diversity at the college as the associate vice president for academic affairs. The U of M has established the annual Josie Robinson Johnson Human Rights and Social Justice Award in her honor.

Dr. Wilderson came to the U of M in 1962 as an assistant professor in the educational psychology department, then moved up to a full professorship. He was selected by students to help them negotiate and end their 1969 takeover of Morrill Hall.

He secured the Dr. Martin Luther King Scholarship around 1975 with funds coming from private donations, and he started the University of Minnesota Student Legal Services to help students with legal issues. The U of M president recruited him to run both the men’s and women’s athletic departments, and he was part of a six-person committee that went to Washington, D.C. to entice the Kennedys into bringing the Special Olympics to Minneapolis.

Dr. McKinley Boston, Jr. completed his undergraduate degree in education at the University of Minnesota in 1968, earned his master’s of science degree from Montclair State College in 1973, and completed his Ph.D. at New York University in 1988.

He was employed by the University as vice president for student development and athletics, serving as the chief student affairs officer for those services and programs that support and enhance student’s academic experiences and contribute to their healthy personal and social development. During his tenure at the U of M, Dr. Boston generated through sponsorship and fundraising over $75 million in support of student life and intercollegiate athletics.

He is published and active in a number of social justice strategies aimed at supporting noncustodial fathers and their desire to be partners in rearing their children.

This is just a sample of the many positive contributions these three remarkable human beings have made as members of this great institution. We have to stand up and SHOUT to this community that Dr. Johnson, Dr. Wilderson and Dr. Boston all deserve to have their names on campus buildings in recognition of their outstanding service.

[Editors’ update: On Friday, April 26, the U of M Board of Regents voted 14-1 against renaming any of the campus buildings.]

This article originally appeared in the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

Ken Foxworth

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Activism

In 1974, Then-Gov. Jimmy Carter Visited the Home of Oakland Black Black Political Activist Virtual Murrell While Running for President

civil rights icon Georgia State Representative Julian Bond said that Carter, along with governors Reuben Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina, were all a part of what was being dubbed the “New South” and so supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.

Published

8 hours ago

January 3, 2025

Oakland Post

Virtual Murrell chats with Jimmy Carter two years before Carter was elected president in 1976. Courtesy photo.

By Virtual T. Murrell
Special to The Post

On his way to seeking the presidency, then-Gov. Jimmy Carter visited the Bay Area in his capacity as campaign chairman of the Democratic National Committee in March of 1974.

A friend of mine, Bill Lynch, a Democrat from San Francisco, had been asked to host Carter, who was then relatively unknown. Seeking my advice on the matter, I immediately called my friend, civil rights icon Georgia State Representative Julian Bond, for his opinion.

Bond said that Carter, along with governors Reuben Askew of Florida, Dale Bumpers of Arkansas, and Terry Sanford of North Carolina, were all a part of what was being dubbed the “New South” and so supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.

Based on Julian’s comments, I agreed to host the governor. We picked him up at the San Francisco Airport. With his toothy smile, I could tell almost right away that he was like no other politician I had ever met. On his arrival, there was a message telling him to go to the VIP room, where he met then-Secretary of State Jerry Brown.

After leaving the airport, we went to a reception in his honor at the home of Paul “Red” Fay, who had served as the acting secretary of the Navy under President John Kennedy. (Carter, it turned out, had been himself a 1946 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a submariner in the 1950s.)

The following afternoon, the Niagara Movement Democratic Club hosted a reception for Carter, which was a major success. Carter indicated that he would be considering running for president and hoped for our support if he did so.

As the event was winding down, I witnessed the most amazing moment: Carter’s wife, Rosalynn, was in the kitchen with my former wife, Irene, wearing an apron and busting suds! You would have to have been there to see it: The first and last time a white woman cleaned up my kitchen.

A few months later, President Richard Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal. He was succeeded by his vice president, Gerald Ford.

On the heels of that scandal, Jimmy Carter’s election in 1976 represented integrity and honesty at a point in America’s history when he was just what the nation needed to lead as president of the United States.

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Oakland Post: Week of January 1 – 7, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of January 1 – 7, 2025

Published

2 days ago

January 2, 2025

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Racially Motivated Violence Against Black Teen Prompts $10 Million Claim Against LAUSD 

In December, a second altercation, on a video shared with news media, showed 4 to 6 boys attacking a Black student and using racial slurs. The video also shows a person in a safety vest trying to stop the fight and telling them to “handle it after school.” Then, the video ends. 

Published

5 days ago

December 30, 2024

Oakland Post

(Left to right) Civil Rights Attorney Caree Harper comforts the victim’s mother as she becomes emotional when describing the attacks on her son while her attorney Bradley C. Gage listens. Verdugo Hills High School on Thursday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Tujunga, CA. (Solomon O. Smith /for California Black Media)

By Solomon O. Smith, California Black Media

A distraught mother and her legal team announced a $10 million lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on Dec. 16, alleging that her son was the target of bullying because of his race.

“CS DOE is a 14-year-old African American student at Verdugo High School. He is a Ninth Grader,” reads a statement the plaintiff’s attorneys shared with California Black Media (CBM).

“Almost from the first day of class (in August 2024), CS DOE was targeted by Latino students who called him racial slurs, physically attacked him and threatened to stab him.”

The family’s identity has not yet been released to the public due to safety concerns, according to their attorneys Bradley C. Gage and Caree Harper. The student’s mother is identified only as A.O. in the complaint.

The first video, filmed in August, showed several non-Black students punching and kicking a Black student in a bathroom on campus while yelling racial slurs. The mother claims that the students who attacked her son were not punished, and the administration asked her to move her son to another school for his safety.

“They wanted him to leave the school without giving any disciplinary action towards those students,” said the student’s mother. “He’s not going anywhere. He’s going to finish. I wanted him to at least stay until the December winter break, and then I was going to transfer schools for him.”

Before she could enroll her son in a different school the attacks escalated.

CS DOE, a 14-year-old freshman, left the school but was followed by a car, according to Gage. Several individuals exited the vehicle, one with a “large butcher knife.” A fight ensued and two people were stabbed. The Black student was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon but was later released into his mother’s custody.

The high school freshmen is scheduled to appear in juvenile court on Feb. 1, but Harper says she will reach out to the District Attorney and make the case against charging the young man.

“His mama had to go find him because he was hiding and fleeing for his very life,” said Harper.

According to the boy’s mother, the young student is still traumatized and has not been able to return to the area because it remains unsafe. Racial slurs have also been spray painted on their home.

“I’m sad. I’m devastated, you know,” said the mother. “I still feel like they’re after him. I still feel like they can kill him, possibly.”

The LAUSD and principal of Verdugo High School did not respond to CBM’s requests for comment.

If you are – or someone you know is – has experienced a hate crime or hate incident, please visit CAvsHate.org for more information and to find out what you can do about it.