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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.

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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

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Oakland Post: Week of June 4 – 10, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of June 4-10, 2025

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

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Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)
Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.

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