Sahan Journal

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.

2 days ago | sahanjournal.com | Becky Dernbach

A University of Minnesota business student who has been in ICE custody since March — despite an immigration court judge ruling he cannot be deported  — brought his case to a federal judge Monday. Doğukan Günaydın is one of at least three Minnesota international students in recent months who remained in ICE custody after an immigration judge ordered their release, because DHS invoked a little-used stay to override the immigration judge’s decision.

2 days ago | sahanjournal.com | Becky Dernbach |Cynthia Tu

Joletta Edwards knows firsthand that school staff don’t always know what homeless students need. She recalls the moment when a staffer came into her son’s classroom, introduced herself as the caseworker in charge of the homeless and highly mobile program, and asked for her son by name — in front of all his classmates. “The next call I got was them trying to get him to come out of the bathroom because he was in there crying, because the lady set his business out like that,” Edwards said.

3 days ago | sahanjournal.com | Becky Dernbach

It’s 8 a.m. As usual, Marcia Howard is at George Floyd Square for the morning meeting. A group of eight neighbors has gathered at the People’s Way, a one-time Speedway gas station where they sip coffee on benches around empty gas pumps, as Howard delivers updates. Labor unions are planning rallies for May Day; a neighbor needs help moving bins out of her house; and the group will be repainting the long list of names of people around the country who were killed by police.

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.