(gentle music plays) - [Narrator] Funding for "Off 90" is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(bird warbles) (upbeat rock music) - [Narrator #2] Cruising your way next, "Off 90."

We hear about the unfortunate state of segregation in Minnesota schools.

We learn another recipe to try out this summer.

We catch a performance from The Zillionaires.

These stories and more are coming up on your next stop, "Off 90."

(upbeat rock music) Hi, I'm Barbara Keith.

Thanks for joining me on this trip "Off 90."

First, Spark is an interactive learning experience for children.

Their mission is to enrich the lives of young learners in the Rochester area by creating shared, interactive experiences that engage people of all ages in the joy of play, the power of learning, and a sense of community.

(playful music plays) - Spark is an interactive learning experience for children and families in the Rochester community and surrounding areas and our mission here is to provide opportunities for families and children to discover together the joy of play and the power of learning and to really create a sense of community for all those who come and visit and experience with us on a daily basis.

- Spark has worked very closely with the Diversity Council here in the area, keeping inclusivity and diversity in mind when building those exhibits and that exhibit here is called "Our World Bazaar."

And so, we're really focusing on language, food, clothing, things that would really interact children and give children a sense of community and how we are really all the same.

- [Sherden] One of the most popular areas in any type of family exploration center, such as we are, is the opportunity to do some role-playing or dramatic play.

So, that's the backdrop of "Our World Bazaar."

At the beginning of the entrance of the exhibit, we have a very large map of the world that shows Rochester, how it's all being fed by so many different cultures and countries that are represented here in Rochester to really celebrate what that means for us.

- We have several other exhibits in Spark and all of these exhibits are made to have families and children interact with each other.

You have children from all backgrounds, all diversities, being inclusive here in this space with nothing else to worry about except hands-on learning and play and education and the joy on their faces when one person interacts with another person and they create food or they climb the big climber together, or they're doing the program in our backspace, I think that's the most amazing thing to see.

- We have all just a lovely family that we've all fallen in love with.

And they actually found us not long after we first opened our doors here this summer.

And they were just thrilled when they found out that we could offer them a scholarship membership to be able to come and enjoy Spark on as frequent basis as they wanted.

Well, it comes to find out, they're here with us almost daily.

We've gotten to know the little girls and know the family and it's, every day, the little girls find something new that really has captured their attention of the moment and enjoy it.

We also are always excited to work with many community partners who represent a lot of the different communities inside Rochester, which are so rich to come in and do sharing with us in terms of the types of music and art and stories that make up their rich heritages, as well, too.

- This year, we worked with Riverside Elementary School to create something in "Our World Bazaar" in the exhibit called "Shadow Boxes."

And these shadow boxes were made by the students at Riverside to show how one family's home and another family's home may be totally different, but there's things in that family that happen the same: eating together, playing together, reading together.

And it really shows a sense of diversity through each of the shadow boxes, but a sense of community and inclusivity.

It's really, really cool to see.

- [Sherden] We want to be an open and welcoming environment for those who live in the Rochester area and community, as well as those who may be here visiting for the community, as well, too.

(playful music plays) (upbeat rock music plays) - Minnesota is known for progressive politics and a forward thinking approach to regional planning.

But, this hasn't stopped the growth of the nation's widest racial disparities and the worst segregation in predominantly White areas.

Professor Myron Orfield and attorney Dan Shulman discuss the state of segregation in Minnesota schools.

- Well, Brown vs Board of Education, most people say is the most important and most respected Supreme Court decision of all time.

That's what most people will say.

The idea that racially separate, racially segregated, is inherently unequal.

That's what the court says.

And it's a decision that's very powerful and very noble, but it's almost completely ignored in the United States and particularly in Minnesota.

Minnesota in the early 1990s, there wasn't a single racially segregated school in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area and really not a real racial segregated school in the whole state and then in the late 1990s, we really gutted all of our school integration laws and our fair housing laws and we rapidly became a very segregated place.

So, we went from zero segregated schools in the early nineties, which was the best in the country, really.

Last year, there's about 150 schools in the Metro area that are more than 90% non-white and poor.

- The Department of Education was considering the enactment of a new rule, which would enable desegregation to occur with participation by the suburbs.

What happened was politics got in the way and the Attorney General's office, at the behest of the governor, at that time Arne Carlson, sent a lawyer to the Department of Education who took control over the rewriting of the desegregation rule, the creation of a new rule, and changed the rule so that, in order for a finding of segregation, there would have to be a finding of intent.

- And that had a dramatic effect.

You would see segregation explode as soon as that policy was adopted.

Minneapolis, when I was a kid, under court-ordered integration was an integrated system.

Now, Minneapolis has a white system in the southwest part of the city.

It's got a Latinos system in the south part of the city and a Black system in the north part of the city and it's three really different school districts.

And the White system in the Southwest part of the city has kids that go to the best colleges in the whole United States.

The Black system in North Minneapolis, a young man is more likely to be in jail than in post-secondary education when he finishes.

The Latino system is not much better.

(somber music plays) In 2012, a majority of the school children in the United States were no longer white students.

So, in 2012, less than 50% of the students in the United States were White.

And, in about 2039, the same thing will be true of the population.

Whites will be the biggest minority group and experience really shows that when people share institutions like schools and share neighborhoods, they get along.

And when racial segregation limits that ability to share common institutions, usually the people that are the most disadvantaged never really get to participate in the education and economic system of the country.

- All you have to do is look at the statistics.

We are more segregated in schools, especially in urban centers, than we have ever been before.

And the result is, it's unrest and it's poverty and it's denial of opportunity and it's a dissatisfaction with democracy, a cause of great polarization, even hostility in our country today.

We are as divided as we've ever been, and we need to be united into one country.

We are one people.

- The most powerful predictor whether you're going to be a success in the United States is the education and income of your parents.

The second most powerful predictor of your success is your peer group and their strength.

And it's much more powerful than any particular educational institution.

It's much more powerful than any method of instruction.

People are social beings.

We rarely get our first job or our most important opportunity based solely on our grades or our test scores.

If you grew up in a neighborhood where nobody's been to college and no one knows anyone that's been to college where most of the young men have been in jail or are in a constant process of going in and out of jail, where nobody has a nice house, where no one really has the ability to take care of anyone else, it's very hard to find that piece in society.

If you've never known anybody, that's gone to college and your parents haven't gone to college, it's very hard for you to figure out how to do that.

And poor kids that go to integrated schools, they never catch up, really.

They never get all the benefits that middle-class kids do, but they graduate with at least twice the frequency of kids that go to really poor schools and they go to post-secondary with at least twice the frequency of very poor schools.

Now that's not perfect and it's not a utopia, but it makes an enormous difference.

- I have been a trial lawyer now for over 50 years.

I left the big firm I had been with to associate with a smaller law firm to continue litigating a school desegregation case, which I had brought against the state of Minnesota over segregation in the Minneapolis and St. Paul public schools.

The name of the case is Alejandro Cruz Guzman vs. State of Minnesota.

The lawsuit alleges the state of Minnesota has permitted the Minneapolis and Saint Paul public schools to become segregated by race and by socioeconomic status, in other words, poverty.

In 2018, we got a decision from the Minnesota Supreme Court that the segregation in the Minneapolis and St Paul public schools, we could prove that it violated the three provisions of the Minnesota constitution.

The first is the Education Clause, which says that the legislature shall establish a general and uniform system of public schools and that it will provide funding for those schools by taxation or otherwise so that the schools are thorough and efficient.

The Minnesota Supreme Court said in 2018, it is self-evident that a segregated system of public schools is not general, uniform, through, or efficient.

- They're trying to settle that case.

There was a bill in the legislature at the end of the session, but it didn't go anywhere.

So, that case has gone back to trial, to prove up whether the state violated the constitution and to have a court order that legislature to do something.

So, I think that case will result in some improvements.

Maybe it'll be a little improvement.

Maybe it could be a lot.

We'll see.

- It starts with children.

Children are our future.

And we can't afford, with all the threats we're facing today, including climate, to blight those young lives and deprive them of the opportunity to have an education that will enable them to work cooperatively and collaboratively to solve the problems that we are facing and that we know will come and get worse if we don't do it.

(upbeat rock music plays) - The Northfield Arts Guild is a place for everyone: creators and audiences alike.

Every month, the Guild Theater hosts a live performance of a local musician.

One of these performers, the Zillionaires, performed an original song, "Time Will Tell" and the Guild was kind enough to share their performance with us today.

Enjoy!

(americana music) ♪ Picture from the past ♪ ♪ Photograph ♪ ♪ Days gone by ♪ ♪ Goin' fast ♪ ♪ We were standin' in the light ♪ ♪ Doin' all right ♪ ♪ Can we make it through ♪ ♪ Another night ♪ ♪ Time ♪ ♪ Time will tell ♪ ♪ Time ♪ ♪ Time will tell ♪ ♪ Time will tell ♪ ♪ Playin' in a band, guitar in my hand ♪ ♪ Singin' about love and the state of man ♪ ♪ You know the one about love gone wrong ♪ ♪ Maybe we can get along ♪ ♪ Time ♪ ♪ Time will tell ♪ ♪ Time ♪ ♪ Time will tell ♪ ♪ Time will tell ♪ ♪ Picture from the past, nothing's gonna last ♪ ♪ There's a time to love and a time to laugh ♪ ♪ Here's what you do, hang onto what's true ♪ ♪ Life will slip away from you ♪ ♪ Time ♪ ♪ Time will tell ♪ ♪ Time ♪ ♪ Time will tell ♪ ♪ Time will tell ♪ ♪ Time will tell ♪ (upbeat americana music) (upbeat rock music) - Strap in for a delicious recipe from Rochester chef Shari Mukherjee.

- Hi.

My name is Shari Mukherjee and today I am going to teach you how to make an Italian soda.

We're going to start with a tumbler full of ice.

And now, just for fun, we're going to add some strawberries to this.

I'm just slicing those up and we're just going to drop those in.

Next, I am going to use some of this store bought strawberry syrup.

We're just going to use a little shot glass.

If you don't have a shot glass, a measuring spoon does great, too.

For something this size, we're going to go ahead and use one tablespoon of this syrup.

Into the tumbler that goes.

Our syrup is in.

Next, We're just going to take a can of sparkling soda.

It doesn't matter, whatever flavor you like, whatever you have in the fridge is great.

In goes to the sparkling water.

If you want to take it up a notch, you can go ahead and add about a tablespoon, a half a tablespoon to a tablespoon, of heavy cream.

But, that just goes straight in, as well.

Give it a little stir.

And this is a beautiful, delicious, cold drink to help you get by on these hot days that really takes little to no effort and I'm not kidding, it's so good.

Cheers!

(gentle music plays) - Riverside Central Elementary School, located in Rochester, has a unique program for education.

They strive to make immigrant students and their families feel at home.

The school offers emotional and social support to immigrant families.

- Riverside, it's considered, it's the biggest center for the newcomers not only in Rochester or in Minnesota, maybe it's among all over the States.

They have got the large population of immigrants.

They have got a new, unique program for learning, for educate the student, not only the school, writing, reading, they have got a way to let the student get in the community.

The family and I get the, the family and the student all together.

So, all the families, they could not feel lonely in the country.

They just feel, yes, there is other family.

There is other people that have got the same situation as them.

- When you come as a refugee or as an immigrant, there's many barriers.

There's the language barrier.

There's a cultural barrier.

And it's very difficult to cross these barriers.

What I love about Riverside is that, as soon as you walk in, I don't have to speak English to see that is a diverse community, it's a community that values people from a different background.

I keep saying that I wish when I came to United States, my first school was Riverside.

- As an immigrant myself, coming when I was five years old, I wish I had all the resources that Riverside has to make me feel special to me me feel I belong here.

- We come from many different countries.

But, in the end of the day, we're very connected into one person.

And I believe that that is what the school bring.

(children chatter) - Did you find a cool rock?

- As you can see behind me, as soon as you come to the Riverside, you see this picture, this amazing picture.

This is a welcoming community, whoever you are, and whatever your background is.

That's how I feel when I'm in Riverside.

Parents are comfortable.

Children are comfortable to go here.

The teachers are amazing and the friendship, the mentorship, that's what we need for our children, to have a community where people can help each other, no matter what is their background.

- To me, it means anyone can be represented at this school.

- Seeing the image really reflects what the school is.

It wasn't just an artist that came in and decided to just paint it however the painter wanted.

It was created by the hands of the kids and community itself.

(gentle music plays) - Like a dark just in front of you when you are leaving home and coming.

How's the people?

How's the weather?

How's the food?

How's the culture?

How is the way they are going to treat me?

That's all thinking, it goes all over your head when you are in the plane for 17 or 18 hours.

They give them a really support, emotionally, social support, with love, with respect, to who they are, where they're coming from, they respect them for their culture.

They're really loving.

I can tell you.

Yeah, this is how I felt because when I arrived, I arrived as a newcomer, but not a student.

I was staff.

And there isn't much different.

You left everything behind.

You left your people, your country, your everything.

And you're just taking the challenge coming to the new society.

- Sometimes back home is very challenging.

There are restrictions on what you can do or you can not do.

But, here, the sky's the limit.

(gentle music plays) (gentle rock music plays) - We've reached the end of this tour "Off 90."

Thanks for riding along!

See you next time!

But, before we go, we share this heartwarming story of a big cat and a mutt from the Blue Earth County Historical Society.

- [Narrator #2] While it may seem impossible for a little dog and a big cat to be best friends, at Sibley Park Zoo, that's exactly what happened in the early 1930s.

For 10 years, Jeff the lion and Mutt the dog were inseparable.

Jeff was born to zoo lions Brutus and Mary in 1932.

However, Mary turned out to be a less than ideal mother, pushing Jeff away by the time he was two.

Zookeepers removed the lion to his own cage.

But, they were worried he would get lonely.

Someone suggested giving him a playmate and someone else suggested a puppy named Mutt.

Word spread about the unusual friendship, bringing in spectators from across the country and even catching the attention of Robert Ripley, who featured the pair of pals on his newspaper comic "Believe It or Not."

The two animals remained inseparable until Jeff's death in late March, 1942.

Mutt was inconsolable.

Zoo workers tried to introduce a new lion cub friend.

But, it wasn't the same.

For more information about historical topics, visit our website at blueearthcountyhistory.com.

(upbeat rock music plays) - [Narrator] Funding for "Off 90" is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(loon warbles)