Racism takes aim at community members in newspaper

What does racism look like?
I saw it in April when I received an envelope filled with clips of nearly every person of color who made our edition of the Monitor that month.
Among them were our regular columnists, Melvin Giles of Peace Bubbles, Rennie Gaither of Greening Frogtown and Dr. Artika Tyner of Planting People Growing Justice Leadership Institute. A female high school wrestler was on our front page, and Como Park High School teacher and coach Eric Erickson also wrote about the group of students who toured D.C. There was an image of the new District 4 County Commissioner Garrison McMurtrey (the first Black county commissioner in Ramsey County’s history), and Hamline Elementary teacher Amanda Jagdeo, who was a semi-finalist for Minnesota Teacher of the Year.
These are the people who are writing about education and sustainability. They care about the community and are working to make it better. They are stepping up and stepping out.
They are our leaders.
And I was so disappointed and upset to see this targeted hate.
It was unsigned and lacked a return address. I question when someone’s opinions are such that they don’t sign their name to it.
We believe in transparency. We also believe in putting our names on what we write.
Erickson is a White teacher at Como Park High School who works to highlight the great things going on at the school for the Monitor each month. “It’s troubling to see a community newspaper reporting on the accomplishments and activities of its local residents be targeted. And for what reason? Apparently, the sender does not want to see or read about people in the community who are not White. If that is indeed the intended message, we have a piece of evidence revealing that racism appears to be seeping into places and spaces where society had seemed to make progress over decades – reporting and celebrating the achievements, work, and voices of people in our community regardless of their skin color,” he said.
“Among the big reasons I have lived in Frogtown for 44 years and continue to live here is that my life has been enriched by my many neighbors who come from all the corners of the earth,” stated Patricia Ohmans of Frogtown Green, who is White.
“It’s alarming that some people suddenly feel enabled to tout their small-minded, racist attitudes. That isn’t what Frogtown is about. It’s not what Minnesota is about. And it’s not what America is about. It’s way past time to call out this thinking and identify it as the hateful ignorance that it is.”
Rennie Gaither also volunteers with Frogtown Green, a group working to plant trees to beautify the neighborhood and bring down high heat island temperatures in urban areas. They are behind the Bee Line, planting wildflowers and creating refuge for the bees that pollinate our crops and ensure we have food to eat. He’s Black, and has been writing a column in the Monitor. “I’ve dealt with similar incidents in my comments left in print and online, from death threats left on my phone in response to my comments regarding U.S. involvement in the Iraq War in a local newspaper opinion page to overt racist replies to my various online posts, including a threat to contact my employer because I mentioned ‘slavery’ in U.S. history. Apparently, the poster researched and dug deep as I refuse to use an anonymous name.
“I stand by all I say and do, whether that be acknowledging the legacies of plantation slavery and Jim Crow in the U.S. imagination and policy implications various social justice issues of the past and present, nationally and internationally,” Gaither remarked.

INCIDENT AT THE NORTHEASTER
The Northeaster newspaper in Northeast Minneapolis recently responded to someone that came to their office and wrote on a recent editorial with profanity and other hateful language and taped it to their front door – unsigned, of course. They responded in the next editorial on Feb. 26, 2025, with a piece calling things out.
“To be sure, the scrawler is within their constitutional right to protest,” Northeaster staff wrote. “We just wish they had the courage of their convictions and would write us a printable letter. ...
“We all have to live on this Earth together, and it’s better if we all get along. This means having a civil discourse about an issue. It means trying to understand one another, rather than putting someone down or becoming angry because the other person doesn’t agree with your thinking. In Congress and in the Minnesota Legislature, it means reaching across the aisle and working together on laws that benefit people.”

WRITE TO US - AND SIGN YOUR NAME
We operate as the Northeaster does. We don’t print letters that denigrate other people or races, and we don’t print cuss words. It’s basic decency. We edit for length (our space is limited), pertinence and libel (we don’t want you – or us – to get into legal trouble). Just make sure to sign your missive. We don’t print anonymous submissions.
Send us a letter or email sharing your thoughts. That’s what this page is for.
Email me at tesha@monitorsaintpaul.com.
I’m proud of the diversity of the Midway community, and we actively work to make sure that our pages reflect that diversity. We’re here to mirror our community, to reflect it, to showcase it.
We’re not going to stop doing that just because a racist individual targeted us.