Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis officials have canceled meetings of city employees segregated by race to mark the 400th anniversary of slavery in North America.
Fliers promoting three sessions through July have been taken down at City Hall. The lunch-hour meetings were to be segregated by race for black and white city employees.
City Coordinator Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde said she had called off the sessions. The Star Tribune reports she indicated the meetings would be rescheduled, but said the city does not condone dividing people "based on race, ethnicity or any other protected class."
Rivera-Vandermyde told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the intent of the meetings was not to create division, but that her staff intended to create "spaces of healing." She says there is no timeline for rescheduling the sessions.
Minneapolis Urban League President Steven Belton says he thinks separate sessions for black and white people would be productive.
.
___
Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
