Mshale

Dozens of Brooklyn Park residents last evening crammed into city council chambers to witness history being made in Minnesota’s sixth largest city, the swearing in of the city's first black council member, Wynfred Russell, who was born and raised in Liberia. Russell, a former instructor at the University of Minnesota, defeated former council member Bob Mata by garnering a convincing...

New enrollments of international students fell by 6.6 percent at American universities in academic year 2017-18 compared to the year before, marking the second straight year in declines in new enrollments, according to new data from the annual Open Doors survey. New enrollments fell 6.3 percent at the undergraduate level, 5.5 percent at the graduate level and 9.7 percent at the nondegree level from...

Four musicians climbed the stairs of The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis and flipped the switch from intrigued to enthralled for nearly 200 audience members on March 27th. Les Égarés meaning “the lost” in English, found a place in our hearts and held us transfixed. The quartet spent a solid 90 minutes delivering “strangely satisfying” music according to one listener...

Target continues to face mounting financial and reputational fallout after reversing course on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The retail giant has lost more than $12.4 billion in revenue, seen its stock plunge by $27.27 per share, and is grappling with multiple lawsuits linked to its shifting DEI policies. Separate but powerful actions from Black-led organizations and faith leaders...

Joshua Negussie isn’t an immigrant, but he has one of the most remarkable immigrant stories. His is the quintessential story of an American-born child of Black African immigrants struggling to reconcile the culture of his parents with that of his country of birth. But the pressure to balance the two nearly came to a tragic end twice, when he...

Two years ago Sona Jobarteh took The Dakota stage and filled the house, her kora-playing bouncing off the walls. Her renown has only increased since then. This time around, Jobarteh and band will perform at the Ordway in St. Paul, which more than triples the seating capacity. While the venues are getting bigger, Jobarteh is still focused on playing the...

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar hosted her fifth annual iftar dinner on Saturday at the Brian Coyle Community Center. Iftar is the meal that ends the daily sunrise-to-sunset fast for Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. Over 200 guests gathered for the iftar, organized by the Omar campaign staff, with the food line extending from one end of the gym to...

The U.S. stock markets have continued to experience significant declines, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping to start the week at 890 points (2.1%) to close at 41,912. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite also fell to begin the week by 2.7% and 4%, respectively. The downturn has heightened concerns among Black investors, who have historically faced challenges in...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The arrest of a Palestinian activist who helped organize campus protests of the war in Gaza has sparked questions about whether foreign students and green card holders are protected against being deported from the U.S. Mahmoud Khalil was arrested Saturday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Homeland Security officials and President Donald Trump have indicated that the...

The Minnesota State Capitol rotunda was a hub of activity as a few dozen people gathered Tuesday afternoon for African Heritage Day on the Hill. The annual event, organized by the Council for Minnesotans of African Heritage (CMAH), connects Black Minnesotans with state lawmakers to discuss legislation that affects them, and to highlight the council’s legislative priorities. Governor Walz, Minnesota...

“The challenge of "Les Egarés" is to mix several musical cultures from Mali to Jazz, to Musette to Balkan,” said Ballaké Sissoko when Mshale spoke to the Malian kora player earlier this month. Les Egarés isn’t a band or even a quartet of musicians, but a convivial meeting of four friends that come together to improvise and share the...

A professor who has dedicated part of his tenure to establishing a relationship between his university in the United States, and one in Kenya, his country of birth, has been awarded the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program. Dr. David Kimori, an associate professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato, will collaborate with Dr. George Areba of Kisii University in southwestern Kenya...

Ask Africans immigrants in the Twin Cities about George “Jojo” Ndege, and they will probably tell you about the dance parties he used to host “back in the day.” Maybe they will say that he is an amazing chef, who runs Tamu Grill, a restaurant and catering company he started a few years ago. And others may tell you...