Alberto Gomez

Saint Paul

Digital Producer at Sahan Journal

He/Him | Journalist | Digital Producer at Sahan Journal | Opinions are my own | foremost expert on opinions

Articles

‘Justice for George:’ Events remembering George Floyd, five years later

2 days ago | sahanjournal.com | Myah Goff |Alberto Gomez

When protesters took to the streets after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police in 2020, they created a patchwork of cardboard signs, left handwritten messages and painted plywood murals on boarded-up storefronts. Artist and activist Leesa Kelly began collecting those expressions of grief and resistance to create a living archive. She knew these artworks would carry Floyd’s legacy, preserving his memory long after the protests had ended. “It was a trauma response,” Kelly said.
Songkran Festival celebrates Thai New Year at Minnesota Capitol

6 days ago | sahanjournal.com | Myah Goff |Alberto Gomez

Start your weekend festivities early in the Twin Cities with the Festival de las Calaveras, where live Mexican music meets lucha libre wrestling at The Hook and Ladder Theater. On Saturday, Grammy-winning vocalist Jamecia Bennett pays tribute to Black female musicians who shaped soul and gospel. And throughout the weekend, the State Capitol grounds will come alive with monk blessings, fashion shows and Southeast Asian performances during the annual Minnesota Songkran Festival.
Viral racial slur incident sparks calls for legal action in Rochester

1 week ago | sahanjournal.com | Catharine Richert |Alberto Gomez

This story comes to you from MPR News through a partnership with Sahan Journal. Leaders of the Black and Somali American communities in Rochester are calling for legal action after a video surfaced online of a Rochester woman calling a child a racial slur on a playground. The incident, which happened last week and has drawn national attention, was the focus of a town hall Wednesday, hosted by the Rochester branch of the NAACP.
Pollution from East Side foundry harms students, teachers, too

1 week ago | sahanjournal.com | Alberto Gomez

For the last year, communities on St. Paul’s East Side have been advocating for justice and accountability related to a regulatory enforcement investigation of Northern Iron & Machine, a metal foundry owned by Wisconsin-based company Lawton Standard. In February 2024, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency was notified that Northern Iron’s emissions are likely exceeding national air quality standards.
Karmel Mall owner faces foreclosure suit over Mpls. apartments

1 week ago | sahanjournal.com | Mike Hughlett |Alberto Gomez

This story comes to you from The Minnesota Star Tribune through a partnership with Sahan Journal. Two of developer Basim Sabri’s south Minneapolis apartment buildings are facing mortgage foreclosures because they allegedly failed to make more than $530,000 in required repairs. Fannie Mae, a mortgage company sponsored by the federal government, on Friday sued to foreclose on Rana Village and Karmel Village.
From a garden in Laos to Fort Snelling State Park

1 week ago | sahanjournal.com | Regina Medina |Alberto Gomez

This story comes to you from MPR News through a partnership with Sahan Journal. Kao Thao has always connected with the outdoors. As a young boy growing up in Laos, he said he vividly remembers a family garden filled with vegetables. Thao also recalled fleeing his birthplace when he was six or seven with his parents and seven siblings to go to refugee camps in Thailand. “I do have small memory of going through the jungle,” he said.
ICE crackdown on international students spurs fear, but also resolve

1 week ago | sahanjournal.com | Alberto Villafan |Alberto Gomez

Since March, more than 1,200 international students nationwide have discovered that their legal status had been terminated or their student visas had been revoked with little notice — in many cases over years-old traffic or other minor offenses. In Minnesota, at least three international students have been detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Dozens more have had their legal status canceled; in some cases, schools have advised these students to leave the country.
St. Paul’s Latino community celebrates Cinco de Mayo

1 week ago | sahanjournal.com | Alberto Villafan |Alberto Gomez

Forty years ago, St. Paul began officially hosting a Cinco de Mayo parade, celebrating the city’s Latin American heritage and marking a Mexican military victory back in 1862. While the fifth of May does not carry much significance in Mexico, the scale of St. Paul Cinco de Mayo festivities could rival a medium-sized independence day parade. St. Paul began celebrating Cinco de Mayo three days early, kicking off with a car show on Friday, May 2.
Vietnamese artists reflect on war, diaspora in St. Paul exhibit

1 week ago | sahanjournal.com | Myah Goff |Alberto Gomez

Fifty years after the fall of Saigon, five feminist and queer artists from the Vietnamese diaspora transform St. Paul’s Xia Gallery and Cafe into a space blurring the lines between an exhibition and a site of mourning, memory and imagined return. Through video, photography, sculpture and mixed-media installations, “Re/Homing: Walk-ins Welcome” confronts the instability of “home” for refugees.
Judge ends removal case of student in ICE custody but remains jailed

1 week ago | sahanjournal.com | Brandt Williams |Alberto Gomez

This story comes to you from MPR News through a partnership with Sahan Journal. An immigration judge has dismissed the removal case against an international graduate student at the University of Minnesota who has been in ICE custody for more than a month. However, it appears he will remain in custody during an appeal.