When Minnesota was a new state, thousands of settlers arrived, many of them from Europe. But in recent decades, the state has attracted large numbers of Hmong and Somali refugees. There are also thousands of people from India, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Mexico and the People’s Republic of China living in Minnesota.
The state has become more racially diverse in the last 10 years, and demographers said that's especially true among children. About 83 percent of Minnesotans were white, non-Hispanic for the 2010 census, compared to 88 percent in 2000.
June 11, 1998 - ANCHOR INTRO IN THE 1940S, 50S AND 60S THERE WAS A HUGE MIGRATION OF AFRICAN AMERICANS FROM THE SOUTH TO THE NORTH ... AN ESCAPE FROM THE COUNTRY'S MOST VIRULANT RACISM AND A SEARCH FOR JOBS. BUT NOW .... AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE MOVING BACK TO THE SOUTH IN RECORD NUMBERS.... ACCCORDING TO A RECENT UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN STUDY. MINNESOTA IS RANKED 12TH FOR THE NUMBER OF AFRICAN AMERICANS MOVING TO THE SOUTH. AS MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO'S MARY STUCKY REPORTS, THIS DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFT RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT THE RACIAL TOLERANCE OF NORTHERN STATES INCLUDING MINNESOTA.
June 12, 1998 - THE CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING A BRONZE PLAQUE HANGING IN THE STATE CAPITAL ROTUNDA MAY BE ONE STEP CLOSER TO RESOLUTION. THE PLAQUE HONORS MINNESOTANS WHO FOUGHT IN THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR IN THE PHILIPPINES.....BUT IT CONTAINS INACCURACIES AND LANGUAGE OFFENSIVE TO MINNESOTANS OF FILIPINO DESCENT.. THIS AFTERNOON A NEW EXHIBIT WILL GO UP NEXT TO THE PLAQUE -- AN EFFORT TO CORRECT THE MISTAKES....BUT AS Minnesota Public Radio's MARY STUCKY REPORTS, FOR SOME, IT STILL DOESN'T GO FAR ENOUGH.
September 10, 1998 - GREEN FEATURE: not yet scheduled for air/// More and more southeast Asian immigrants are hunting, fishing, and enjoying Minnesota's outdoors. But DNR officials say they sometimes have difficulty communicating with immigrants who don't speak English. As a result, the DNR is training the state's first Asian conservation officers. It's an important step since immigrants don't realize some of the fish they're catching may be contaminated with pollutants. Minnesota Public Radio's Brent Wolfe reports. When Vuthy Pril and his family moved to Minnesota from
September 18, 1998 - MPR’s Lynette Nyman reports that some Twin Cities Hmong leaders are calling for a strengthening of their traditional clan-based system of justice. They say this is one way of making sure there are no further tragedies, such as the recent killing of six children. Some others in the community are concerned the clan system lacks enforcement and equality, especially with the growing generation and gender gaps within the Hmong community.
September 24, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio's Kathryn Herzog reports on what one town is doing to address its own racism. During the Farm Crisis of the 1980's, many people moved away from rural Minnesota to find work in the city, leaving rural companies struggling with a small labor pool. As long time residents moved out, a few people of color, Hispanic and Hmong families moved in, looking for the rural lifestyle.
October 8, 1998 - MPR’s Chris Roberts reports that representatives from several Hmong organizations met with policy makers and elected officials to discuss ways to respond to a wave of violence in the Hmong community. The group hopes to craft a series of legislative proposals to present to lawmakers in next year's session.
November 13, 1998 - Minneapolis city employees packed council chambers last night to protest the city's residency rule, which requires those hired since 1993 to live within city limits. Minnesota Public Radio's Eric Jansen reports: The St. Anthony West Neighborhood Association's chairman was in the minority last night. Michael Rainville says most neighborhood groups believe Minneapolis city employees should be required to live in the city. 2:42 "Noone's holidng a gun to anyone's head. If you don't want the job, because you don't want to live here, if you view that as a penalty, then perhaps you're not cut out to be a city of Minneapolis employee." :11
November 25, 1998 - Mainstreet Radio's Gretchen Lehmann profiles the Kensington Runestone…and the debate over the authenticity that has has waged on for one hundred years.
November 25, 1998 - A group of Twin Cities high school students is launching an advertising campaign designed to convince kids not to smoke. Students from Mounds Park Academy in St. Paul hope their message will get through to young people since it's coming from their peers. Minnesota Public Radio's Laura McCallum reports... A dozen or so students developed a poster in twelve different languages, a web site and a P-S-A for TV. In the video, children dressed in career clothes - a doctor, a construction worker, a dancer - are happily playing, until a pack of cigarettes crashes down in their midst... (nat - kids laughing, screech of cig pack, sound of heartbeat)
November 25, 1998 - The most recent Surgeon General's report find Native Americans have the highest adult smoking rates of any ethnic or minority group in the country. The report finds tobacco use among Native Americans has soared more than 40-percent at a time when it has levelled off among other racial groups. As a result, more Native Americans are dying of respiratory cancers than ever before. Health officials are alarmed but as Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Stawicki reports, anti-tobacco programs take on new complexities for many Native Americans who've long viewed tobacco as a sacred gift: To get a sense of tobacco's place in indian culture one needs to look no further than a traditional pow wow. (sound of leader talking about of tobacco/creation)