CIVIL RIGHTS

Victim’s mother says central Minnesota school threat was racially motivated

Frank Lee — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 17:24:47 GMT

WADENA, Minn. — What would you do if a student threatened to kill your child or harm others?

Kristy Higgins, of Wadena, said she alerted authorities about Snapchat photos sent by a Wadena-Deer Creek student on Jan. 21 that did just that — threats from a classmate with a history of harassing her interracial daughter.

“He Snapchatted my daughter and told her that he was going to kill her and all her Black friends and then was going to shoot the school and sent his pictures of the guns,” Higgins said about one of the boys she claims is a bully.

The WDC �� District canceled classes on Jan. 22 as a result, but Higgins claimed WDC Middle/High �� Principal Tyler Church failed to take her seriously in the past.

“It's been going on probably since October, and I've contacted the school probably three or four times and I've talked to the principal. My daughter was being called racial slurs and it was disrupting her whole day,” said Higgins, a wife and mother of five.

“He told me that he would handle it and he never told me anything else. He never told me what happened to them, what they did. I asked for, like, a parent meeting, and that just didn't happen.”

Higgins said a pair of boys attending WDC Middle/High �� would intimidate her daughter, who is a 10th grader, simply because her mother is white and her father, Robert Higgins, is Black.

Kristy Higgins said of one of the boys: “He would, like, follow her around and just call her all kinds of names — you know, ‘monkey’ and, you know, he would use the ‘n——r’ word and just stuff like that — in hallways and in classrooms.”

Higgins works as a phlebotomy technician at the Staples-based Lakewood Health System. But when the bullying escalated recently to include Snapchat photos sent on Jan. 21 depicting firearms, she said she had to share the alarming pictures with authorities before something tragic might happen.

“We are thankful that someone came forward with the information as quickly as they did,” Superintendent Lee Westrum said in a news release the day classes resumed on Jan. 23.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=911813710948972&set=a.501559221974425

Higgins said: “When this stuff happens, it's got to be dealt with. You can’t just let this go. I mean, this is why kids kill themselves or don't attend school, because nobody stopped it.”

Higgins said her children have been a part of the WDC �� District for three years and the harassment of her children began last school year.

“All threats to our school or students are taken seriously and investigated thoroughly,” Church said in the release. “Unfortunately, this is the stuff we have to deal with in today's world, especially with social media. Local law enforcement is handling the situation.”

Higgins said her 16-year-old daughter is no longer enrolled in Wadena Middle/High �� after being tormented by her peers. She also said the boy who sent the Snapchat photo to her child has been expelled.

“She never wanted to go to school,” Higgins said before the expulsion. “I fought with her and fought with her and then she’d skip classes. … She didn't want to go to the class with the boys, and it just turned into a big mess.”

Higgins believes the problem of racism in the community starts in the home. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 1.1% of Wadena County’s residents identified as Black and 2.3% as interracial, compared to the 95.1% who identified themselves as white in the latest census.

“I have two kids in the elementary school that haven't been to school all week because I have a first grader that's getting teased on the bus,” Higgins said last week. “And it’s just ridiculous. … Racism is a learned behavior. You’re not born racist.”

Classes and school operations resumed Jan. 23 after the one-day cancellation with “an increased police presence” in and around the school, according to school officials, and counselors were available for any students who wanted to talk to someone about the threat.

“My problem with the whole situation is they don't tell you anything as parents. … That's very frustrating because every parent has the right to know,” Higgins said.

Church stated in the release: “We understand that there may be questions, but at this time we are limited as to what information we can disclose due to data privacy laws and the fact that this is still an active investigation.”

Higgins said of the Snapchat sender: “He lives (near) us, but we don't know if he's just wandering around or if he’d be in a different school and is going to do that again.”

Higgins was born and raised in St. Paul but eventually settled in Wadena, where she has lived with her family for five years to avoid some of the problems associated with big-city life.

Racism is a learned behavior. You’re not born racist.

“Anywhere you go, you're going to have the racism problem,” she said. “It's just when it happens though, you have to stop it, especially in the schools. You have to stop it somehow.”

Education Week journalists began tracking shootings on K-12 school property that resulted in firearm-related injuries or deaths. There have been 185 such shootings since 2018. There were 38 school shootings with injuries or deaths last year.

“My goal is to hopefully stay there, but we’ll see how it goes,” Higgins said. “The elementary school is great — my kids love it there — just having issues with the high school is all.”

Those with questions or concerns about this situation are encouraged to contact Church at 218-632-2155 or tchurch@wdc2155.k12.mn.us. Anyone who has any information that could assist in the investigation into the threat should call the police at 218-631-7700.

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Critics called it a 'thoughtcrime' database. But what will a Minnesota civil rights report actually track?

Alex Derosier — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 09:44:00 GMT

ST. PAUL — As part of a broader public safety bill passed by the Minnesota Legislature this year, the state will soon start collecting reports of discrimination from community groups in what backers say is an effort to keep better track of civil rights trends.

Democratic-Farmer-Labor backers say closer tracking of bias incidents that do not always rise to the level of a crime is key to tackling discrimination in the state, especially amid a recent rise in reports of vandalism and violence against Asian Americans and Muslims in Minnesota. They also say people from marginalized groups, such as ethnic minorities or the LGBT community, are likelier to share incidents with community groups rather than the police.

In a recent interview, Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, a Minneapolis DFLer who carried the bill in the Senate, pointed to two fires at Minneapolis mosques and a COVID-era surge in reports of discrimination against Asian Americans as reasons for the tracking.

“If we don't see what's happening, we will not be able to do anything about it,” Mohamed said. "These communities will continue to be attacked. And there will be no one stepping up to do something about it because we just haven't named the issue."

The new law directs the Minnesota Department of Human Rights to track information from community organizations representing historically marginalized groups, analyze civil rights trends, and compile findings into a report to share with lawmakers in 2025. Officials will compile past and future incidents like “fires at mosques, swastikas painted on property, and Nazi salutes occurring at school events,” according to department spokesman Taylor Putz.

The department will have to produce a report on bias trends over the next two years and deliver it to state lawmakers by Feb. 1, 2025. The public safety bill appropriates $645,000 for the “Report on Civil Rights Trends."

But many may have heard the bill presented in a very different light as it moved through the Legislature this spring, when GOP critics questioned the reliability of reporting and implications for free speech. An earlier version of the bill specifically allowed people to directly call the Department of Human Rights to report incidents, language that did not make it into the bill's final version.

During House debate, Republican opponents characterized the proposal as calling for the creation of a “bias incidents database” which would track reports of discrimination that would not rise to the level of a criminal offense. They painted the bill as an “Orwellian” push to track objectionable speech, and questioned whether the information collected by state officials would be properly vetted. Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, called it a "thoughtcrime" database.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5bknGV4h4s&t=5603s

Publications such as the Daily Mail, New York Post and conservative magazine National Review published reports on the debate and bill using this characterization.

The key moment that caught the most attention? An exchange during a floor debate when Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, asked House bill sponsor Rep. Samantha Vang, DFL-Brooklyn Center, if publishing an article on the theory that COVID-19 was a bioweapon that had originated in a Chinese laboratory could count as a bias incident under the new legislation.

Vang said it would be possible.

“With the rhetoric we have seen since the pandemic regarding accusing Asians of bringing in the coronavirus, that is bias-motivated,” the first-term representative said. “So that can be considered a bias incident.”

Niska also asked if wearing a shirt supporting Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling would count as a bias incident, as Rowling has expressed critical views of transgender people. Vang said it would depend on the situation's context and would be a better question for an attorney.

Asked by Forum News Service whether spreading a lab theory on COVID would count as a bias incident, Sen. Mohamed said she trusted the judgment of Human Rights Department officials.

“Could that happen? Sure, maybe,” she said, but added: “They know exactly what they're doing. They understand the goal of what this legislation is supposed to do.”

Asked the same question, Putz with the Department of Human Rights said the House debate centered around “old language” that is not in the final version of the bill that became law.

The bill's final version is narrower than the original proposal, and it's still unclear what specific information the report from the human rights department will contain.

In the original proposal, the bill called for the department to "solicit, receive, and compile information from community organizations, school districts and charter schools, and individuals regarding incidents committed in whole or in substantial part because of the victim's or another's actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, (or) national origin."

In its final form as a law, language calls for the department to “analyze civil rights trends ... including information compiled from community organizations that work directly with historically marginalized communities."

So the report will track incidents and monitor trends, but officials haven’t decided exactly how they’ll do that, Putz said.

“It's still too early to know exactly all of the information that we'll be collecting,” he explained. “Whatever information is collected, it will provide a robust understanding of what is happening in Minnesota communities.”

What officials do know right now is community organizations such as Jewish Community Action, the Coalition of Asian American Leaders, and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, will provide reports of bias incidents to the state.

Another concern critics raised about the bias report is that it could be subject to abuse by groups who stand to benefit from inflating the frequency of bias incidents. The legislation does not call for any specific vetting procedures for reporting, some Republicans said, meaning false data could end up in a report on trends.

Asked about this concern, Putz said it would have been more of a problem if the human rights department were to take direct reports of discrimination from individuals. With nonprofits and other groups with a track record of documenting discrimination being the source of information, that won’t be a concern, he said.

Still, even with the changes, GOP critics are not convinced. Niska in a May statement on the public safety bill said changes to the bias incidents tracking language still achieve the same goal.

“They are pretending to fix the speech registry but are still funding it while using more vague language that refers to analyzing civil rights trends,” Niska said. “They are embarrassed because they can’t publicly defend their plan to create a new state-funded branch of thought police, so they have resorted to using misleading euphemisms while gaslighting the public.”

Follow Alex Derosier on Twitter @xanderosier or email aderosier@forumcomm.com.

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Honor the Earth, led by Winona LaDuke, loses sexual harassment case to former employee

April Baumgarten — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 23:38:29 GMT

DETROIT LAKES, Minn. — A Native American environmental activist group founded by Winona LaDuke must pay a former employee $750,000 in a sexual harassment lawsuit, a Becker County jury decided last week.

Jurors sided on Thursday, March 30, with Margaret “Molly” Campbell after she filed the lawsuit against Honor the Earth. The jury found the organization based in Ponsford, Minnesota, owed damages for sexual harassment, unpaid leave reprisal and subsequent career harm reprisal.

“We applaud Molly for refusing to stay silent,” Campbell’s attorney, Christy Hall of St. Paul-based Gender Justice, said in a statement. “She reported the harassment to her boss, but rather than protect her the organization protected her harasser at her expense. But Margaret did not back down. Her lawsuit, and the jury’s findings, are an important reminder of the responsibility every employer has to end workplace harassment and abuse.”

The lawsuit filed in 2019 laid out sexual harassment allegations against Campbell’s co-worker, Michael Dahl, and how LaDuke and other Honor the Earth leaders ignored the reports in 2014 and 2015 and retaliated against Campbell.

Campbell started working for Honor the Earth in 2009. Dahl, who had established himself as a spiritual leader, made “inappropriately sexually charged comments” to Campbell, the lawsuit claimed.

For example, Dahl told Campbell it was inappropriate to wear a tank top when she was doing garden work for Honor the Earth, adding that it was “not men’s fault if they stared at her when she was dressed that way,” according to a civil complaint attached to the lawsuit.

When Campbell complained about the comments Dahl made to her and other women and girls, LaDuke said, “That’s just how Michael is,” according to the complaint. In response to another report of inappropriate comments Dahl allegedly made to Campbell in front of colleagues during a retreat in British Columbia, LaDuke told Campbell that Dahl had “verbal Tourette’s,” implying he couldn’t be held responsible for what he said, the complaint said.

Campbell reached out to other Honor the Earth leaders about her personal concerns and concerns for others. At least one board member reprimanded Campbell for making the reports, the lawsuit alleged.

On Feb. 4, 2015, Honor the Earth placed Campbell on unpaid administrative leave, the complaint said. She resigned two days later.

LaDuke told Campbell in an email to “stay quiet” about her allegations, saying it could be grounds for a defamation lawsuit, according to the complaint.

In an open letter to LaDuke and Honor the Earth, Campbell and 40 other community members asked the organization to take action and create victim-centered policies for dealing with complaints, the lawsuit said.

After that, LaDuke sent Campbell a “cease and desist” notice, according to the civil complaint. Another letter from LaDuke said Campbell’s statements were not accurate.

Honor the Earth’s attorney, Frank Bibeau, argued the lawsuit should be dismissed, claiming that Becker County lacked jurisdiction since the organization is in the White Earth Nation. Those efforts failed.

In a statement responding to the jury’s decision, LaDuke noted that a 2019 Minnesota Department of Human Rights investigation found “no probable cause” of sexual discrimination or punitive action.

“As we move forward from the court’s decision, we remain committed to resisting all forms of sexual harassment, violence and assault,” LaDuke said in her statement. “Honor The Earth is an organization predominantly led by Indigenous women and we will continue our organizational mission to raise awareness and offer support to develop needed financial and political resources for the survival of sustainable Indigenous communities.”

LaDuke, Bibeau and Honor the Earth representatives were not present at the Becker County Courthouse when the verdict was read. A letter from Bibeau to the court said LaDuke was attending a tribal utilities commission meeting on White Earth when the verdict was reached.

Bibeau did not return a message left by The Forum.

LaDuke is an enrolled member of the Ojibwe Nation and founded Honor the Earth in 1993 to create awareness and support for environmental issues that impact Native Americans.

LaDuke, who also acts as the co-executive director for the organization, ran for U.S. vice president as a Green Party candidate. She has played a role in protesting the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline that crosses northern Minnesota, including near the White Earth Nation and into the Fond Du Lac Reservation.

LaDuke also regularly writes opinion columns for Forum Communications Co. that are published in The Forum.

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Minnesota restores voting rights to 50,000 felons on probation

Alex Derosier — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 21:57:29 GMT

ST. PAUL — More than 50,000 Minnesotans convicted of felonies who are on supervised release will have their voting rights restored under a bill signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz on Friday, March 3.

Under previous law, felons in Minnesota could not vote until they completed their parole or probation and paid fines related to their sentence. The state Constitution bans felons from voting until “restored to civil rights," and a 1963 law defined that as the end of incarceration.

Opponents of the law argued disenfranchised people convicted of crimes and prevented them from fully reintegrating into society.

"We are a country of second chances. We're a country of welcoming folks back in, and the idea of not allowing those voices to have a say in the very governing of the communities they live in is simply unacceptable," Walz said ahead of signing the bill.

For years, groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have been pushing to restore rights upon release from prison. Attorney General Keith Ellison introduced a bill to restore felon voting rights as a state lawmaker 20 years ago.

Jen Schroeder, a plaintiff in an unsuccessful 2019 lawsuit to overturn the law, said at the bill signing that the ban deprived a voice for thousands of contributing members of society.

"Thanks to this law, that changes today," she said. "The voices of those who struggle will no longer be silenced. Now I'm calling on Minnesotans who are affected by this law to make their voices heard."

Schroeder, who is serving a 40-year probation sentence for a drug possession charge and is now an addiction counselor, would not be able to vote until she is 71 under the previous law.

Opponents also say the law disproportionately affects Black Minnesotans and Native Americans. When Schroeder, the ACLU and others filed their lawsuit in 2019, the Minnesota Justice Research Center said 9.2% of Native Americans were disenfranchised in the state, followed by Black Minnesotans at 5.9%. Just over 1% of white Minnesotans were unable to vote.

The center’s research suggested ending the state’s ban on felons voting could lower the number of disenfranchised Native American voters to 2%, Blacks to 1.5% and whites to 0.1%. The ACLU also said felon disenfranchisement particularly affects Greater Minnesota, where probation lengths are on average 46% longer.

Last month, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld the felon voting ban. Justices acknowledged the disparate impact but ruled the law was still constitutional, sending the issue back to the Legislature.

“There may be many compelling reasons why society should not permanently prohibit — or perhaps prohibit at all — persons convicted of a felony from voting,” Justice Barry Thissen said in his opinion. “But the people of Minnesota made the choice to establish a constitutional baseline that persons convicted of a felony are not entitled or permitted to vote.”

Just a week after that decision, the Minnesota Senate passed a bill to restore felon voting rights, sending it to the governor. The House had acted on the legislation earlier in the month. Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers say expanding access to voting is one of their top priorities this session.

Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office defended the law against the challenge, but he supported legislative efforts to change it.

Minnesota was one of 16 states, including South Dakota and Wisconsin, that only allow people with felony convictions to vote upon 100% completion of their sentence. North Dakota does not allow people in prison to vote, but does not have any other restrictions after release. Twenty-one states automatically restore voting rights upon release, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Washington, D.C., Maine and Vermont allow everyone to vote, including incarcerated people.

In a statement, ACLU Minnesota Executive Director Deepinder Mayell applauded the new law.

“The goal of the criminal legal system is supposed to be rehabilitation, redemption and helping people rejoin their communities," he said. "While there is still much work to be done, this new law brings us one step closer to achieving this goal by giving people a voice and a vote in their own futures.”

Follow Alex Derosier on Twitter @xanderosier or email aderosier@forumcomm.com.

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Minnesota Supreme Court upholds felon voting ban

Alex Derosier — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 22:50:37 GMT

ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday, Feb. 15, upheld a ban on voting for felons who have been released from prison but are still serving parole or probation.

The decision comes more than a year after the American Civil Liberties Union argued the case before the Supreme Court in the hopes of restoring voting rights to nearly 50,000 felons on probation in the state. A group including people serving probation for felony convictions brought the lawsuit in 2019.

In a 75-page ruling released Wednesday, most justices on the court did not agree that the ban violated the Constitution, despite its disproportionate impact on Black Minnesotans and Native Americans. They said restoring the rights of felons is a task for the Legislature.

Now that the court has ruled the restriction does not violate the Constitution, the question goes to the Legislature, where Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers are advancing a bill to allow people who have been released from custody to vote.

The House passed a bill in early February and companion legislation is moving through the Senate.

“We are prepared to pass my legislation that would restore voting rights to those community members who are no longer incarcerated,” said Senate President Bobby Joe Champion, a Minneapolis DFLer who is carrying a felon voting rights bill in the Senate.

Gov. Tim Walz has expressed support for restoring felon voting rights.

Minnesota law currently bans felons from voting until they have completed their entire sentence, including parole, supervised release and probation. The state Constitution bans felons from voting until “restored to civil rights.” The Legislature created a new statute in 1963 allowing felons to vote after completing their sentences.

Arguments before the Supreme Court took place in December 2021. The court ruled 6-1 in favor of upholding the felon voting ban, though Justice Barry Anderson wrote a concurring opinion separate from Thissen’s and was joined by Chief Lorie Justice Gildea.

In her dissent, Justice Natalie Hudson wrote that the law disproportionately affects Black and Native state residents, something that a previous case she cited found “cries out” for closer scrutiny because it could result in the law being applied unequally.

“In ignoring that cry, the court effectively sanctions a pernicious statutory racial classification regime that maintains the disenfranchisement of large swaths of Minnesota’s communities of color, thereby diminishing their political power and influence in this state,” she wrote. “We are better than this.”

When the lawsuit was filed in 2019, the Minnesota Justice Research Center said 9.2% of Native Americans were disenfranchised in the state, followed by Black Minnesotans at 5.9%, according to Forum News Service archives. Just over 1% of white Minnesotans were unable to vote.

The center’s research suggested ending the state’s ban on felons voting could lower the number of disenfranchised Native American voters to 2%, Blacks to 1.5% and whites to 0.1%.

The ACLU in the past has said felon disenfranchisement particularly affects greater Minnesota, where probation lengths are on average 46% longer.

Plaintiffs Elizer Darris and Jen Schroeder spoke on the case at an ACLU of Minnesota news conference Wednesday afternoon. Unless the Legislature changes the law, Schroeder, who is serving a 40-year sentence for a drug possession charge and is now an addiction counselor, will not be able to vote until she is 71.

“The court decided that I am not worthy to be a full citizen … and a full member of the society because of a past drug possession charge,” she said. “By ruling against our case, the Minnesota Supreme Court has said that what I am doing and who I am is not enough.”

Darris, who served 17 years in prison for second-degree homicide and later became co-director of the Minnesota Freedom Fund, called the justices’ decision to uphold the law despite their acknowledgment of disparities “disheartening.” Darris won’t be able to vote until 2025.

Minnesota is one of 16 states, including South Dakota and Wisconsin, that only allow people with felony convictions to vote upon 100% completion of their sentence. North Dakota does not allow people in prison to vote but does not have any other restrictions after release. Twenty one states automatically restore voting rights upon release, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Washington, D.C., Maine and Vermont allow everyone to vote, including incarcerated people.

Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office defended the law against the challenge, but in a statement said he supports legislative efforts to change state policy on felons voting.

“I believe that the policy is long overdue for a correction,” said Simon, the state’s top elections administrator. “If a person is deemed by a judge or jury to be worthy enough and safe enough to live in our community, then it is entirely reasonable to allow that person to have a say about who governs them.”

Follow Alex Derosier on Twitter @xanderosier or email aderosier@forumcomm.com.

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DOJ files suit against South Dakota hoteliers that announced Native American ban

Hunter Dunteman — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 19:59:22 GMT

RAPID CITY, S.D. — The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against two Rapid City, South Dakota, hoteliers alleging steps taken to ban Native Americans from the property violated the Civil Rights Act.

The lawsuit, filed against Grand Gateway Hotel and Cheers Sports Lounge in northern Rapid City, alleges that owner Connie Uhre and her son, Nicholas, denied access to Native American patrons in violation of Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin in places of public accommodation, such as hotels and other places of entertainment.

Federal authorities cite the lawsuit stems from an email chain in which Connie allegedly told various hotel owners and managers in Rapid City that she doesn’t want to allow Native Americans on property belonging to her.

“I really do not want to allow Natives on property. Every time we have problems I call the police with it, the first thing they ask is what nationality is he or she and 98% of the time I have to say native, and we call at least once a week,” an email from Connie reads. “They kill each other walk around with guns... The problem is we do not know the nice ones from the bad natives...so we just have to say no to them!!”

Following the email, to which Nicholas “did not disavow or otherwise disagree with, Connie allegedly posted to Facebook that Native Americans would no longer be welcome to the hotel or sports bar.

“Do to the killing that took place at the Grand Gateway Hotel on March 19 2022 at 4 am plus all the vandalism we have had since the Mayor and Police Department are working with the non profit organization ( Dark Money),” her comment read. “We will no long allow any Native American on property. Or in Cheers Sports Bar. Natives killing Natives. Rancher and Travelers will receive a very special rate of 59.00 a night. Book Direct.”

Court documents allege that on the following day, on March 21, two Native Americans entered the hotel and inquired about rates. As the booking process was underway, the employee allegedly refused to rent the rooms, citing a policy — which was not in writing at the time — that rooms could not be rented to “locals,” a policy which the employee said came from “Nick.”

On March 22, five Native Americans, each representatives of a Rapid City-based non-profit, attempted to rent five rooms. They were allegedly told the hotel was not renting rooms. After showing an employee an Expedia website that indicated rooms were available, the employee allegedly acknowledged vacancies, but told the group that the hotel was “not really renting out rooms right now.” The employee told the group the policy came from management.

In the lawsuit, the Department of Justice argues that the conduct of the businesses “constitutes a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of rights” by Native Americans and that said practices are in violation of federal law.

The Department of Justice requested a federal court find the businesses’ actions in violation of the Civil Rights Act and enjoin the defendants from engaging in further discriminatory practices.

“Restricting access to a hotel based on a person’s race is prohibited by federal law,” said U.S. Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell for the District of South Dakota. “At the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we are called to ensure that individuals are treated equally at public accommodations in South Dakota. We are committed to protecting that fundamental right for Native Americans.”

Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division agreed.

“Policies prohibiting Native Americans from accessing public establishments are both racially discriminatory and unlawful,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department will continue to vigorously protect the rights of all people to go about their daily lives free from discrimination at hotels, restaurants and other public accommodations around the country.”

No hearing dates have been scheduled for the case as of Wednesday afternoon.

This is a developing story. Check back with Forum News Service for updates.]]>

Andersen Corp. to payout $41K, revise hiring practices after withdrawing job offer from disabled applicant

Hunter Dunteman — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 19:20:55 GMT

ST. PAUL — A Minnesota-based manufacturing company on Wednesday, Oct. 12, agreed to payout over $40,000 and revise their hiring practices as part of a settlement regarding a discriminatory job offer withdrawal.

The settlement resolved a complaint lodged with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR), which works to create a more equitable and inclusive state via the elimination of discrimination.

An investigation by the MDHR found that in 2019, the Bayport-headquartered Andersen Corp. — an international door and window producer — withdrew a job offer from an applicant at their Bayport production facility after the company learned of the applicant’s disability.

The company had claimed the basis for the withdrawal of the offer was on the grounds that the applicant was unable to safely operate a forklift. The MDHR found, however, that forklift operation was not an essential function of the job that had been offered to the applicant.

Countering Andersen’s alleged basis, the MDHR concluded the applicant was able to safely operate a forklift and had doctor’s approval to do so. After providing medical documentation to support his ability to operate a forklift, the applicant reportedly asked the company to reconsider the withdrawal of the offer, to which the MDHR said Andersen “again refused.”

After an MDHR investigation concluded that Andersen’s justification for rescinding the job offer was false and was instead based on the applicant’s disability status, the MDHR found Andersen in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act, the state’s civil rights law which offers additional, more comprehensive protections to individuals than federal law requires.

The MDHR did not release any specific information about the applicant, including their gender, age, disability or position applied for.

As part of the settlement, Andersen agreed to payout $41,000 to the applicant, the equivalent of one year’s salary had the applicant been hired. The company also agreed to audit all manufacturing positions at each Minnesota-based production facility to ensure job descriptions accurately reflect the actual job functions of each role.

Andersen further agreed to create and enforce an appeals process for applicants to dispute a decision to rescind a job offer and to provide all current and future employees with anti-discrimination training, including topics involving disabilities. MDHR will monitor the company for compliance to the agreement for a period of three years.

According to a spokesman for the MDHR, from Jan.1 through June 30, the department received 251 civil rights complaints from Minnesotans this year, over half of which fall under their employment category. Of those complaints, the most common are individuals reporting disability-based discrimination, followed by sex- and race-based discrimination.

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Mother of man who died at Beltrami County Jail says AG Ellison should review case

Alex Derosier — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 20:40:49 GMT

ST. PAUL — The family of a man who died in custody at the Beltrami County Jail in 2018 is asking for the local prosecutor to turn the case over to Attorney General Keith Ellison for review.

Hardel Sherrell died of medical complications at the Beltrami County Jail nearly four years ago. Sherrell's mother, Del Shea Perry, said Beltrami County Attorney David Hanson can’t handle the case properly as he represents the county in other matters and works with the agencies she blames for her son’s death.

The state completed a criminal investigation of the death and handed it to prosecutors earlier this month for review.

Perry voiced her concerns at a Friday, Aug. 26, news conference at Ellison’s downtown St. Paul office.

“What makes us think that they're going to do right now?” Perry told Forum News Service. “They haven't done right for four years.”

A spokesman for Ellison’s office said the attorney general would be open to reviewing the case if Beltrami County decides to hand it over to the state.

Previous stories:

Inmate dies in Beltrami County Jail Authorities: Beltrami County inmate died of pneumonia Mother sues Beltrami County Jail in death of her son

Sherell, 27, died in custody at the Beltrami County Jail in Bemidji in September 2018, and the sheriff’s office initially reported his death as pneumonia. But Perry says her son showed signs of significant medical problems before his death that went ignored by jail staff.

Sherell was booked on an illegal firearm possession charge on Aug. 24, 2018, as a transfer from the Dakota County Jail. A federal civil rights lawsuit Perry filed against the jail in 2019 claims jail staff did not believe Sherell when he said he could not move and had lost sensation in his limbs.

Staff brought him to a Fargo hospital where he was cleared, and brought back to jail where his condition continued to deteriorate until he died on Sept. 2.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner concluded Sherell died of pneumonia, but an independent autopsy review cited by Perry’s lawsuit contradicted the official findings. According to that review, Sherell died of “untreated Guillain-Barre Syndrome,” a rare autoimmune disorder where the immune system attacks nerves.

After pressure from Sherell's family, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension launched a criminal investigation of the death. State authorities handed their findings over to Beltrami County earlier this month for consideration of charges.

Hanson said he will need to review whether the prosecutor’s office has a conflict of interest in the case before he begins to dive into the evidence and weigh whether to pursue charges. In a phone call with Forum News Service, he said he understands why Sherell’s family would like to see quick action, but he will need time to make a decision.

“You got to give me more than a week to make a conflict decision on this, and if I do keep it, it's going to take a while to make the charging decision,” he said.

Hanson said it would likely take until September before he concludes whether he has a conflict.

Beltrami County is facing two other lawsuits over deaths in the county jail: Carol Bunker, the mother of Stephanie Bunker, who hanged herself with a bed sheet n July 1, 2017, in the jail, is seeking $6 million and an order mandating policy changes at the jail. And Aldene Morrison filed sued in April 2019 in the case of her son Tony May Jr., 26, who died in the jail in 2016.

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Fifty years since Title IX, the world of women's sports is transformed

Amy Tennery / Reuters — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 13:31:00 GMT

Half a century since passage of the landmark U.S. Title IX law, Olympians and trailblazers say the legislation profoundly transformed global sport for women.

The law passed June 23, 1972, requires U.S. education programs that receive federal funding to provide equal opportunities for participation — including for all sports.

Girls' high school sports participation has increased more than 1,000% since, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Collegiate sport participation jumped more than 500%, according to the Women's Sports Foundation (WSF).

What followed was an explosion in women's Olympic participation.

"The impact of Title IX on Team USA is profound,” U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) Chief Executive Sarah Hirshland told Reuters.

Female participation in Team USA's Summer Olympic rosters jumped 310% since Title IX, while their Winter Games rosters saw a 300% boost.

"We've witnessed a remarkable progression over time of U.S. women representing bigger percentages of our Olympic delegations, and of the team's overall medal success,” Hirshland said. "That's great for Team USA, and great for women's sport broadly."

The number of female events at the Summer Games doubled from 43 in 1972 to 86 in 1992, according to the USOPC, with the Winter Games seeing an increase from 12 events to 23 in the same time period.

"That changed the landscape for women not only in the United States but around the world, because the world was watching what the United States was doing," pioneering marathon runner Katherine Switzer said in an interview ahead of the New York Road Runners Mini 10K race.

Switzer was the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as a registered competitor, after challenging a ban on female runners and competing under her initials in 1967. She also lobbied for inclusion of a women's marathon in the Olympics ahead of its 1984 debut.

"There was now a generation of little girls who were growing up and realizing that they were entitled to an opportunity and they took that opportunity," said Switzer. "So then they could set their sights on the Olympics."

Women accounted for nearly half the athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics — 48.7% — an increase from 45% at the Rio Summer Games, according to the WSF. It projected a "strong likelihood" of equal female participation in 2024.

Still, work remains to be done to achieve a truly level playing field. The progress has been felt disproportionately, with students from marginalized backgrounds gaining fewer advantages.

A WSF report last month found that girls at predominantly white high schools typically see 82% of the athletic opportunities that boys do. That falls to 67% in schools where students of color are the majority.

"There needs to be work in helping and supporting our disabled athletes and giving more opportunities, obviously, to our BIPOC (Black, indigenous and people of color) community as well," WSF CEO Danette Leighton said.

This month, the WSF partnered with the National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative to launch "Demand IX," a campaign for stronger Title IX protections.

'FLASH POINT'

The law was originally aimed at equalizing academic disparities.

"Title IX was not initially about sports, but sports really quickly becomes a flash point," Laura Mogulscu, curator of women's history collections at the New-York Historical Society, told Reuters.

Its inception overlapped with critical movements in women's sport including in tennis, when nine of its top women, led by King, began their own professional tour after seeing prize money disproportionately allocated for male competitors.

"The 'Battle of the Sexes' is in 1973 and just a couple of months after that, (Billie Jean King) testifies in Congress in support of the Women's Educational Equity Act, which helps fund programs that implement Title IX at schools," said Mogulscu, who co-curated a "Title IX: Activism On and Off the Field" exhibit.

King defeated former men's world No. 1 Bobby Riggs in a hugely high profile exhibition match dubbed "The Battle of the Sexes," widely seen as giving a major boost to women's sports.

For 2004 bronze medal winner and former U.S. women's marathon record-holder Deena Kastor, Title IX meant she did not "know of missed opportunities."

"When I was 11 years old, I was sitting in the living room of my parents house watching Joan Benoit Samuelson come in and win the first ever Olympic medal in the (1984) women's marathon," she said.

"I don't think I knew the significance of it at the time sitting there as a young girl. But I could feel the importance of it."

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; editing by Bill Berkrot.)

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What's at stake in U.S. Supreme Court abortion case?

Reuters — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 13:31:00 GMT

The conservtive-majority U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide in the coming weeks whether to dramatically curb abortion rights when it rules on a case from Mississippi, potentially paving the way to about half of the 50 U.S. states banning or heavily restricting the procedure.

Here is a summary of what's at stake and how the court could rule in the decision expected by early July:

WHAT IS THE PRECEDENT?

The 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that the court could overturn in the pending case held that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides a fundamental right to privacy that protects a woman’s right to abortion.

The high court reaffirmed abortion rights in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision that said abortion restrictions cannot place an “undue burden” on the right and most recently in 2016, when the court threw out a Texas law that would have imposed difficult-to-meet requirements on clinics and doctors who provide abortions.

The Roe and Casey decisions determined that states cannot ban abortion before a fetus is viable outside the womb, generally viewed by doctors as between 24 and 28 weeks.

WHAT IS THE CASE CURRENTLY BEFORE THE COURT?

The nine justices are weighing whether to revive Mississippi's ban on abortion starting at 15 weeks of pregnancy, a law blocked by lower courts as clearly in violation of the Roe v. Wade precedent.

Mississippi's lawyers have urged the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, to overturn Roe entirely. In May, a leaked draft opinion by conservative Justice Samuel Alito suggested that there is a majority to take that step. The court said in a statement announcing an investigation into the leak that the draft was not the court's final word.

HOW COULD THE COURT RULE?

Based on December's oral arguments, it appeared the conservative majority was leaning toward upholding the Mississippi law, which would at a minimum gut the central holding of Roe that said states cannot ban abortion pre-viability.

The leaked draft opinion indicated the court could overturn Roe v. Wade altogether. In either scenario, states that want to restrict or ban abortion would have much more leeway to do so, although a total reversal of Roe would make it a lot easier for them.

A scenario in which the court strikes down the Mississippi law does not seem a likely possibility, with the three liberal justices lacking any potential allies from among the conservative justices.

COULD THERE BE A COMPROMISE?

It appears unlikely that a compromise that would meaningfully protect abortion rights is in the cards.

At oral argument, Chief Justice John Roberts seemed interested in a ruling that would uphold the Mississippi law, thereby allowing states to ban abortions before viability, without overruling Roe altogether, but his conservative colleagues did not appear receptive.

WHY HAS THE COURT CHANGED COURSE ON ABORTION?

Changes in personnel on the Supreme Court, creating the rock-solid conservative majority, have altered the trajectory on abortion rights. For years, the court had a 5-4 conservative majority that included some moderates like Justice Anthony Kennedy and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor who cast votes to uphold the right to abortion.

That all changed with the four-year presidency of Republican Donald Trump, whose three appointees tilted the court further rightward.

Trump's appointments — Neil Gorsuch in 2017, Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020 — are all likely to be in the majority if the court overturns Roe.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS IF THE COURT OVERRULES ROE?

If Roe were overturned or limited, many women in the United States who want to end a pregnancy could face the choice of having a potentially dangerous illegal abortion, traveling to another state where the procedure remains legal and available or buying abortion pills online. The procedure would remain legal in liberal-leaning states, more than a dozen of which have laws protecting abortion rights.

Mississippi is among 13 states with so-called trigger laws designed to ban abortion if Roe is overturned. In total 26 states would quickly move to curtail abortion access, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research group.

Some legal experts said that a ruling overturning Roe could imperil other freedoms related to marriage, sexuality and family life including birth control and same-sex marriage.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung; editing by Grant McCool.)

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