Pawns of Hamas

It is extremely saddening to see the trauma that continues in Gaza as shown on the front page of the Thursday, Sept. 18, edition. The people are pawns used by Hamas to generate strife.  If the terrorist organization that is Hamas cared one bit about the suffering it has bestowed on the civilian population they would free the hostages.

Tom Bates, St. Paul

 

Meet neighbors? Good. But clean up after slobs?

I am responding to the letter on Sunday Sept. 14 about neighbors organizing to clean up streets.

I think he has a great idea to get out and meet your neighbors.

However, I don’t think we should have to have clean-up clubs. I think people need to be responsible for their own trash.

It’s disgusting to see bottles and cans floating in our lakes and rivers. McDonalds bags full of trash tossed whereever you happen to be when you finish your happy meal. Your old couch does not go in the ditch. Your old sink and toilet don’t belong in a park.

Dispose of your junk yourself. Then people would have time to meet their neighbors instead of picking up garbage.

Penni Hergert, Maplewood

 

Burden crooks before they get worse

Thursday’s front-page reported: “Consensus on gun proposal elusive.”

I wonder why?

When I was a youth, a few years ago, Minnesota had a simple statute that stated it is “illegal to discharge a firearm on or upon any Minnesota street or highway” as it was publicly stated. Subsequent modifications have burdened that simple statement with scenarios, caveats and definitions with the result that the state legislation now contains a million words of gibberish — with efforts to add more. Municipalities have added their own ordinances barring the discharge of a firearm within their boundaries without a permit.

Yet, all of this is apparently being ignored by those charged with prosecution because recent articles on these pages have reported shooting followed by no charges filed.

Illegal firearms use is at the bottom of the crime food chain. It is the street-level entry into that world. And it is too often being ignored by prosecutors as a minimal or “not worth the effort” crime. Wouldn’t common sense indicate that we stop something at its source? And why wouldn’t further charges be added to any obviously applicable charges? It’s time to always burden the criminal with everything possible before they graduate to bigger things.

Art Thell, West St. Paul

 

The good old days?

Wow, “Make America Great Again” could mean, bring back the “old days of America” without all of those “bad childhood vaccines.”

Yes, in the old days when I started my pediatric training and then private pediatric practice, we didn’t have all those shots to prevent pneumonias and brain infections. Hah, I was doing “spinal taps” (needles into the spinal cord spaces) to detect early brain infections etc., at least four times a month. Those were deadly diseases. Wow, then the “Hib” and “Pneumococcal” vaccines came out and “POOF” those diseases literally disappeared.

Now we have Robert F. Kennedy Jr., our new Secretary of Health and Human Services, declaring all of those vaccines are dangerous and should be voluntary for parents to use. Hmmmm, I guess he has some research that proves epidemics causing deaths are a myth, and the measles vaccine causes all of those autism cases, and therefore can’t really trust those doctors who only want to make money?

I’m surprised he hasn’t declared tap water as poisonous. I put some kids in the hospital for drinking only water for several days when they got sick and their blood-sodium levels dropped to near deadly levels causing their heart rhythms to stop.

So, I guess it is time to bring back the measles, chickenpox, brain infections etc., etc., just like the old days.  Well, the measles cases are now coming back and expect a few more deaths. Yes, we are making America “Great Again” and of course expect to see many more deaths and thousands of more infections, which apparently are better for the country than the vaccines?

Mark Nupen, Anoka.
The writer is a retired pediatrician.

 

Lock up the people who pull the trigger

Very shortly after the horrific murder of Minnesota sate Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Gov. Tim Walz moved swiftly to ensure the safety of all state politicians by closing a majority of the doors into the State Capitol, installing metal detectors on the three remaining doors left as public access and exploring methods to ensure the safety of elected officials. With the equally horrific murder of two children and the wounding of 20 others attending church in South Minneapolis, Gov. Walz calls for a ban on assault “style” weapons. During the 2024 legislative session, a bill was introduced to place School Resource Officers (SROs) in public and private schools. The bill was rejected by the Democratic majority.

An assault weapons ban would take months to pass and perhaps years to demonstrate a realistic effect on the possession of assault “style” weapons. Considering this fact, the Hortman murders were carried out by one individual armed with a semi-automatic pistol containing 17 rounds of ammunition. Many of the Minneapolis “shootouts” involve handguns with a capacity of 30 to 50 rounds of ammunition, capable of firing all 30 rounds in less than five seconds.

We don’t need new laws or a ban on assault “style” weapons; we need the long-term incarceration of those people who “pull” the trigger.

Jim Feckey, Mendota Heights

 

‘You have to be carefully taught’

In the words of the song from “South Pacific,” “You have to be carefully taught.” Babies enter the world quite ready to love everybody. It is only when they start interacting with “society” that they begin to be concerned about “the other.” On Sept. 3 we saw the Annunciation community demonstrate how they taught their children to take care of each other.

I read once about a country in Europe in which empathy was part of the school curriculum from kindergarten to graduation. The children are taught at school, never mind what is happening at home, to honor and respect each other. I suggest that empathy can and should be taught in our schools. We need to change the culture around the “them vs. us” attitude so many people seem to cling to.

Also we need to insist that schools have mental health counseling available at all times. These individuals and teachers can spot the “loners,” the children who have a hard time cooperating, who need to feel included and noticed. Most school shooters seem to be kids who felt excluded, not noticed, isolated.

I am all for banning guns, background checks, etc., but teaching children to love and care for each other, and that kindness is better than bullying, may show better results in ending the gun culture we currently experience

Evelyn V. Lawyer, St. Paul

 

More departments of war

Self-proclaimed “peace president” Donald Trump wants to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War. But why stop there? Since policies and actions taken by other federal departments seem to have turned away from their intended missions, no longer protecting our Earth and health, for example, why not create more accurate names for those, too? Maybe the Department of War on Environmental Protection, or the Department of War on Health and Human Services, and on and on …

Steve Masson, St. Paul

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What we have now isn’t working

The police are tired of arresting the same “bad guys” over and over.  We have far too much plea bargaining, too many legal loopholes, weak laws and soft consequences. So many times we read “that is all that the law allows.”

Solution: Our legislators must change the incarceration guidelines.

Eliminate much of the plea bargaining and bail. This would mean that the “bad guys” would be incarcerated before their trials and not on the streets.

We have lost our moral compass. There will never be a perfect system, but obviously what we have now is not working. Tough love is needed or things will only get worse.

John Heller, North St. Paul

 

It’s not carbon-free

Amidst all the chaos in the country, I want to draw people’s attention to a bill on the docket that seems to me to be a potential bipartisan betrayal of Minnesotans. The bill wants to redefine biomass, “renewable” natural gas, and trash burning as “carbon free” when they simply and factually release more carbon than coal or natural gas. That would be placing straightforward lies on our books for the sake of appeasing corporations. People who don’t stand to profit from this deception generally accept that “carbon capture” and so called “lifecycle” carbon concepts are misleading half-measures at best, and dangerous at worse.

Call me cynical, but I can’t help connecting this and recent initiatives to try to attract AI data centers into Minnesota. Each center can easily use the same amount of power as all of Minneapolis if they’re not depleting the groundwater well dry. We’re already seeing that, where they’ve been built before. I’m not excited about the idea of drought or $600 electricity bills, and the thought that attracting these centers will “create jobs” is painfully shortsighted.

Firstly, because it’s in support of an industry that openly advertises itself as a way to lower wages and lay people off. And secondly — surely I’m not the only one who remembers the dot-com boom and bust? It seems like Minnesotans could end up with low jobs, a carbon-pumping power grid, and no way of enacting the very popular climate goals we were promised and that we fought for.

Teri Blauersouth, St. Paul

My favorite planet, besides the one I live on, is on the rise in the low eastern sky during evening twilight. It’s Saturn and you can’t miss it.

It’s the brightest star-like object in that part of the sky. This weekend, Saturn reaches its closest approach to Earth for 2025, just under 795 million miles away, which is close for Saturn. Astronomers call this opposition. Not only is the separation in space between Earth and Saturn at a minimum but the sun and Saturn are at opposite ends of the sky, with Earth in the middle. That’s why they call it opposition. Because the sun and Saturn are at opposite ends of the sky, Saturn is available all night long, rising in the east at sunset and setting in the west at sunrise. Opposition happens every 378 days as Saturn and Earth travel in their respective orbits around the sun.

Why 378 days? That’s because in the one year that it takes our Earth to orbit the sun, Saturn moves only about 1/29th of its orbital distance around our home star. It has a much larger and slower orbit than Earth, so it takes the Earth about two more weeks to come between Saturn and the sun once again.

Saturn is by far my favorite planetary telescope target. It’s been that way since I was a kid. I’ll never forget seeing Saturn through a telescope for the first time in the early ’70s at the Woodlake Nature Center in Richfield. That was a game-changer for me as I plunged into the hobby of backyard astronomy! Even through a small telescope, you can see Saturn’s ring system. That was a real thrill for me way back when and still is now. I’m now blessed to own larger telescopes, which really put my view of Saturn over the top. Even more fun for me is being able to show Saturn off to the hundreds of folks at my stargazing programs over the years, especially the kids. I never get tired of hearing reactions like “sweet,” “awesome,” “incredible,” “holy ____,” and much more! If you’ve never seen Saturn through a telescope, now is the time.

While Saturn is still one of the best telescope treasures, it’s been a bit of a bummer the last year or so. That’s because its beautiful but very thin ring system is temporarily on edge from our vantage point on Earth. This occurs every 14 years because of the alignment of Saturn and Earth in their respective orbits around the sun. The good news is that the angle of the very thin ring system will begin to open up after this year and continue to improve over the next several years. Don’t let that discourage you, because Saturn’s still one of the best telescope treasures of the night sky. Also, make sure to stay up as late as possible to view Saturn, so it has a chance to climb higher in the sky and escape the blurring effects of Earth’s atmosphere near the horizon. Start by viewing with low-magnification eyepieces and work your way up. When you’re viewing Saturn or any other planet through a telescope, it’s important to discipline yourself to take long, continuous views. Your eye needs to adjust to the level of light coming into your eyepiece. You also want to catch pockets of less turbulent air for better views of Saturn. As with a lot of things in life, you’ll be rewarded for patience and persistence!

Like all the planets in the outer solar system, Saturn is primarily composed of a ball of hydrogen and helium gas, with other trace gases present. It’s approximately 75,000 miles, way larger than Earth’s 8,000 miles. Its hallmark, though, is its incredible, intricate ring system that spans over 175,000 miles in diameter, which is more than half the distance between Earth and its moon.

Amazingly, the ring system is less than 50 feet thick on average and is made up of billions and billions of mainly ice particles ranging in size from crystals to the size of your house. Most likely, the ice is the pulverized remains of one or two of Saturn’s ice moons that were ripped apart by the planet’s tremendous tidal forces. Eventually, the ring system will dissipate millions of years from now.

Along with Saturn’s ring system, it’s also possible to see some of Saturn’s moons, even with a small telescope. The moons resemble tiny stars surrounding the planet. The brightest and biggest is Titan, over 3,200 miles in diameter. That’s larger than the planet Mercury. Enceladus, one of Saturn’s much smaller moons, is a strong candidate for possible life under its surface. The Cassini spacecraft during its 13 years orbiting Saturn detected geysers of water shooting out of Enceladus before it purposely plunged into Saturn at the end of its very successful mission.

Enjoy the rise of Saturn this autumn! Every night, it’ll start out higher and higher in the southeastern skies as evening darkness sets in.

Starwatch programs

Monday, Sept. 22, 7:30-9:30 p.m., River Bend Nature Center in Faribault, Minn. For more information and reservations, call Faribault Parks and Recreation at 507-334-2064 or visit www.ci.faribault.mn.us/219/City-Enrichment-Programs.

Tuesday, Sept. 23, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Paperjack School in New Richmond, Wis. For information and reservations, call 715-243-7421 or visit newrichmond.ce.eleyo.com/ce.

Thursday, Sept. 25, 7:30-9:30 p.m., in Northfield. For information and location call 507-664-3649 or visit northfieldschools.org/communityeducation.

Friday, Sept. 26, 8-10 p.m., Big Marine Park Reserve near Marine on St. Croix. For information and reservations, call 651-430-8200 or visit www.co.washington.mn.us/index.aspx?NID=532.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net. Mike is available for private star parties. You can contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.

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Three heavy hitters in Minnesota music — Prince, the Replacements and Hüsker Dü — have new deluxe editions coming to stores and streaming.

Each takes a look back to a key, early career moment in the careers of the musicians who remain influential to this day.

Two of the impending releases have fans grabbing for their wallets, while the third has others wondering who is making the decisions regarding the legacy of one of the state’s biggest musical exports.

Here’s a look at what’s on tap.

‘1985: The Miracle Year’

Who: Bob Mould was a Macalester College freshman when he met Grant Hart, a clerk at St. Paul’s Cheapo Records in 1978. The pair bonded over a shared love of the Ramones and formed Hüsker Dü with Greg Norton, who knew Hart through the record store.

By 1980, the trio was playing clubs in the metro and building an audience with their take on hardcore punk rock, a genre that was starting to emerge across the country. They signed a deal with California indie label SST, which released the band’s “Metal Circus” EP in 1983. By that time, Mould and Hart began dabbling in more melodic songwriting, which spiked interest in the band at college radio stations around the country.

After issuing several more records through SST, including the ambitious double album “Zen Arcade,” the group jumped ship for a contract with Warner Bros. that led to two more releases, “Candy Apple Grey” and “Warehouse: Songs and Stories.” But by the end of 1987, a host of issues including substance abuse led to the end of the band.

A full Jan. 1985 Husker Du concert, recorded at First Avenue in Minneapolis, anchors the upcoming box set “1985: The Miracle Year,” due out Nov. 7, 2025. (Courtesy of the Numero Group)

What: As its title suggests, “1985: The Miracle Year” focuses on an important year in Hüsker Dü’s history, when they were bursting with creativity in the studio and honing their storied live act.

The latter is the focus of “1985,” which features a newly restored concert recorded on Jan. 30, 1985, in front of a sold-out crowd at First Avenue. The set list featured songs from their then-new third studio album “New Day Rising” along with five numbers that would appear on “Flip Your Wig,” which hit stores later that year.

The 23-song set also includes covers of the Beatles’ “Helter Skelter” (with guest Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum) and “Ticket To Ride, ” the Byrds’ “Eight Miles High” and “Love Is All Around,” the theme song to “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” An additional 20 live tracks recorded at various tour stops that year and a 36-page book complete the package.

When: The four LP set is due out Nov. 7.

‘Let It Be’

Who: The Replacements began in Minneapolis in 1978 when 19-year-old Bob Stinson gave his 11-year-old brother Tommy a bass guitar. The pair soon began playing music with Chris Mars, a high school dropout who started on guitar before switching to drums. Paul Westerberg happened to hear the band rehearsing at the Stinsons’ home and eventually convinced them to take him on as lead singer and guitarist.

In May 1980, Westerberg handed off a four-song demo tape to Peter Jesperson, the manager of the Minneapolis record store Oar Folkjokeopus and co-founder of Twin/Tone Records. The label went on to release the Replacements’ first three albums.

Like Hüsker Dü, the Replacements went on to sign with Warner Bros. via its subsidiary Sire Records. They lasted a little longer, too, issuing four more albums before calling it a day in 1991.

A newly-remastered version of the Replacements’ third album “Let It Be” will be reissued Oct. 24, 2025. It includes a host of previously unreleased material from the album’s recording sessions along with a 28-song performance recorded in Chicago in 1984. (Courtesy of Rhino Records)

What: The Replacements’ third album, 1984’s “Let It Be,” saw Westerberg and his bandmates starting to mature — as much as any of them actually did mature, anyway — and produce now-classic songs like “I Will Dare,” “Unsatisfied,” “Androgynous” and “Answering Machine.” It earned rave reviews and enough industry attention to land the band their aforementioned deal.

A 2008 reissue added six additional rarities from the era and now a further expansion brings 36 more tracks to the party, most of which have never been released. In addition to a host of other studio outtakes, the set includes “Goodnight! Go Home!,” a 28-song concert recorded in Chicago in August 1984.

Sourced from an audience tape and newly remastered, it finds the Replacements previewing songs from the not-yet-released “Let It Be,” early favorites and offbeat covers of “Help Me Rhonda/Little G.T.O.” (originally recorded by the Beach Boys and Ronny and the Daytonas) and Bad Company’s “Can’t Get Enough.”

When: The set will be available as four LPs and three CDs on Oct. 24.

‘Around the World in a Day’

Who: Prince Rogers Nelson famously signed with Warner Bros. at the age of 18. His contract gave him a level of creative control rare in the industry and the Purple One took advantage of it from the start.

Prince cranked out a new album each year from 1978 to 1981, earning increasingly warm critical response as well as notice for his often outrageous lyrics and attire. His 1979 single “I Wanna Be Your Lover” made it to No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, but the bulk of his early success came from R&B radio.

His 1982 double album “1999” broke Prince to a wide audience, both here in the States and abroad. It made it to No. 7 on the albums chart and produced a trio of smashes in “Little Red Corvette,” “Delirious” and the title track.

Two years later, Prince rode that wave to superstardom thanks to his record-breaking “Purple Rain” film and soundtrack. He never matched that success, but he spent the rest of his life recording and touring right up until his tragic death from an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park home/studio in April 2016.

What: While Warner Bros. would have been more than happy to milk the success of “Purple Rain” further into 1985, Prince had his own plans. Just weeks after wrapping his 98-date “Purple Rain” tour, Prince released his seventh album, “Around the World in a Day.”

On it, Prince explored more experimental, psychedelic styles, yet still landed two songs in the Top 10 with “Raspberry Beret” and “Pop Life.”

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In the years since his death, Prince’s estate has issued deluxe expanded versions of “Purple Rain,” “1999,” “Sign o’ the Times” and “Diamonds and Pearls,” each packed with unreleased tracks and live material.

This time around, though, there’s nothing in this reissue that fans haven’t long since heard. The album has been newly remastered, but all the bonus material consists solely of previously released b-sides and remixes along with “4 The Tears In Your Eyes,” a song Prince donated to the “We Are The World” album.

Prince fans immediately expressed disappointment about the lack of material from his fabled Vault, but are holding out hopes for the release of the long-rumored “Parade” deluxe edition.

When: The two CD and three LP sets arrive on Nov. 21. (The vinyl version drops three remixes from the CD.)

If you passed Haley Taylor Schlitz on the streets of St. Paul and saw her hanging out with friends, on the hunt for a sweet treat or walking her miniature dachshund, Liora, she’d look a lot like an average 20-something.

Taylor Schlitz is, however, one of the youngest women and the youngest African American to graduate from law school in the U.S., and from 9 to 5 she’s at her desk, suited up and working on case after case in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office.

Taylor Schlitz was hired as an assistant attorney general, assigned to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, in June 2024, according to the office.

Saying yes to the job meant leaving Fort Worth, Texas, and her family, which was challenging. But it helped that her dad was a big Bud Grant and Minnesota Vikings fan, plus he worked for Delta, so they flew several times to training camp in Mankato and games at the Metrodome.

The opportunity to serve the state was a welcome adventure, she said, and now, at 23 years old, she is the youngest assistant attorney general in the state.

“I just knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work for such an attorney like Attorney General (Keith) Ellison … such a role model and a leader, especially in the legal field,” Taylor Schlitz said.

She also had been looking for opportunities to practice outside of Texas.

“I got the job and, being up here for a year, I can confidently say that this truly is the home I was looking for,” she said.

A lifetime of achievements at 23

As a young adult, Taylor Schlitz’s list of accomplishments surpasses what many achieve over a lifetime. At age 13, she enrolled in undergraduate school. At 16, she completed her studies at Texas Woman’s University and was then accepted into nine law schools.

“That was very validating to get acceptance to nine law schools,” Taylor Schlitz said. “I took pictures of all the acceptance letters and celebrated each one that came in. It was a very proud moment for me and my family.”

In 2019, she and her mother, Dr. Myiesha Taylor, co-wrote the book “The Homeschool Alternative: Incorporating a Homeschool Mindset for the Benefit of Black Children in America,” and she is currently working on her first solo nonfiction book on Gen Z and politics.

Her opinion pieces have been published in media such as the Black Wall Street Times, Insight News and the Minnesota Star Tribune. She was featured in a publication by Beyoncé during Black History Month in 2020, and served as a delegate for then-Vice President Joe Biden at the Democratic National Convention during the same year.

She currently serves on the board of directors for the Greater Twin Cities United Way, is board chair of the CapitolRiver Council in St. Paul, is a Josie R. Johnson Leadership Academy fellow and the list goes on.

“Haley has a lot of positive energy and enthusiasm, combined with a kind of pragmatism about what’s possible,” CapitolRiver Council executive director Jon Fure said. “One word that people most commonly use when they meet her is that she’s brilliant.”

Taylor Schlitz is the youngest board chair the council has ever had, Fure said, which he said speaks to her leadership qualities.

A gifted child

Taylor Schlitz credits much of her academic accolades to her parents’ decision to pull her out of the Texas public elementary school system.

“It’s just amazing what children can do when we allow them to explore their full abilities and their full potential,” her father, William Schlitz, said.

Schlitz said his daughter showed early signs of advanced intelligence. She’d finish assignments at an impressive speed, was consistently getting straight-A grades and could teach herself entire concepts like geometry.

But Schlitz couldn’t ignore that his biracial, Black daughter seemed to be mistreated in comparison to other students.

He remembers a 10-year-old Haley coming home from school and telling him and his wife how her elementary class reenacted the Civil War. The class split in two for North and South and Haley, the only Black student in the class, was cast as “the mullato slave girl,” Schlitz said.

“Her white classmates turned to her and said, in a mean way, ‘You know, if we were alive back then, I’d own you,’” Schlitz said. “We pulled her out at that moment, because it was clear to us.”

When Taylor Schlitz thinks back to that moment, she thinks about how disruptive it was to her learning, she said. An experience like that can break a student’s ability to engage and comprehend the curriculum, she said.

“I certainly was not learning; much less if I had stayed there longer,” Taylor Schlitz said. “We talk about mental health affecting youth, and that’s where it starts. It doesn’t start in eighth and ninth grade, it starts very young.”

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Following that experience, her grades began to drop. She lost her focus, and when she did engage, she was often teased by other classmates for being nerdy, she said. Her parents decided then to homeschool her.

“It was obvious that Texas was becoming a more and more hostile place to Black children in the education system,” her father said.

As a hybrid homeschooled child, Haley would alternate between completing online courses and taking in-person classes at a college preparatory school in Texas.

“I was able to graduate early and go to college,” Taylor Schlitz said. “But deeper than that, I grew as a student and as a person. I knew how I studied best, I managed stress, I changed my measurements of failure and success, and my time-management skills were so incredibly sharp by the time I got to college.”

She’s not the only one, either; her two younger siblings followed in her footsteps, graduating from college at 15 and 16. Her now 17-year-old sister, Hana, is working to get her master’s, and her 19-year-old brother, Ian, is pursuing a doctoral program, which he’ll finish in a year.

From education to justice

Initially, after graduating from college, Taylor Schlitz wanted to be a doctor like her mother, an emergency medicine physician. Her experience with early higher education, however, swayed her in a different direction.

She was fortunate enough to have parents who recognized her academic abilities at a young age, she said, and recognized that not all children are given the same opportunities.

Haley Taylor Schlitz in the Minnesota Department of Public Safety office in St. Paul. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

“So, how many students are we overlooking?” Taylor Schlitz said. “How many future leaders, doctors or lawyers are we … not doing the service we could be because they just don’t have that same knowledge or opportunity?”

The year after graduating from law school, Taylor Schlitz taught a fifth-grade history class for two years in Texas to gain hands-on experience in the classroom that would benefit her long-term aspirations of working in education policy.

“I was right and the experience was invaluable, for me to have my boots on the ground and for me to have my own personal experiences in the classroom with the teachers every single day,” Taylor Schlitz said.

Serving Minnesota

In her role as assistant attorney general, Taylor Schlitz represents the state and works with law enforcement, handling cases primarily related to road safety, driver and vehicle services, and drinking and driving.

Attorneys like her, working in different divisions, come to work in the office to “serve the people of Minnesota and the state to ensure Minnesota is greater, safer and continues to grow,” she said.

Her work has offered her a unique opportunity to learn about the Twin Cities landscape, roads and law enforcement. A fast-paced work environment, she said, she finds exciting.

“I went into the legal field and wanted to be an attorney to advocate for equity and justice, and that includes in the public safety realm,” Taylor Schlitz said.

As a Black woman working in public safety, she understands the hesitancy many people of color have when encountering law enforcement, she said, which is why it’s even more important that she is a part of increasing cultural diversity in her field, she said.

“Bring a seat to the table, as they say, otherwise you’re on the menu, right?” Taylor Schlitz said.

Taylor Schlitz said her Black heritage has shaped everything in her life, and it is through that lens that she advocates for justice and equity. Her grandfather, Dwight Taylor, was the second person killed during the Rodney King civil unrest in Los Angeles in 1992. She never got the chance to know him, she said, but his legacy is carried in her family.

“The conversations that are very, very unfortunately common in the Black community are of, ‘just make it home,’ when you get pulled over, ‘just make it home,’ when you get stopped, ‘just make it home,’” Taylor Schlitz said. “Not only did we have that conversation, but it also had that vein of ‘because Grandpa didn’t make it home.’”

She’s able to apply what she learns in her own life and help others do the same, she said. For example, it’s important that people of color know their rights, use their right to remain silent and right to an attorney before speaking to officers if they feel uncomfortable, she said. People should also cooperate with law enforcement orders, she said, because, as she was taught by her family, the number one priority is “making it home safely.”

“I’m so proud of her,” William Schlitz said. “She seems every day to wake up with the passion to be better and make an impact on the world.”

More to come in Minnesota

Living and working in Minnesota is a far cry from Texas, Taylor Schlitz said. At work, and in St. Paul, she feels much more welcomed and appreciated, she said, because her values are mirrored in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and in many of the state’s citizens.

“I was also desperate and hungry for that home, and that’s what St. Paul has really become for me,” Taylor Schlitz said. “A place where I’m not questioned, a place where my simple existence as a Black woman and my right to be is not being challenged every single day.”

According to Greater Twin Cities United Way President John Wilgers, Taylor Schlitz has great maturity and intelligence, but something equally valuable as a board member is her positive, infectious energy and the ability to represent the needs of Gen Z.

“She brings a solutions perspective … and I think the work that she does probably also provides her with a deep connection to the community,” Wilgers said.

She credits her mother, the most influential Black female role model in her life, for helping her become the person she is today; for giving her the tools to navigate injustice and believe in herself, she said.

Her mentors, her friends, her attorney team and neighbors have helped create a village, or “forest,” that pushes her to achieve greatness, she said. Most of all, both of her parents continue to be a source of inspiration, comfort and support in her life.

“I always encourage people when they ask, ‘How did you get through the hard times?’ … I always tell people to fall back on their village, on their forests, as I like to refer to it, with all the great trees that are in it, with their pearls of wisdom, with their experiences; they, too, have been criticized,” Taylor Schlitz said.

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Taylor Schlitz will continue to grow in her current position as assistant attorney general, defines herself as a lifelong learner and would like to one day start her own law firm.

“Running for office is definitely on the radar, maybe in the near future, maybe in the far future,” Taylor Schlitz said. “Whatever doors open and stars align.”

When Taylor Schlitz isn’t working on her book, reviewing cases or attending board meetings, she likes to read romance and fantasy novels, paint, play first-person shooter video games, do mind puzzles with friends and attend events at Rice Park in downtown St. Paul.

As Taylor Schlitz has begun to find home in Minnesota, she said she is thrilled to be able to pour herself into the St. Paul community through her various leadership roles.

“St. Paul and Minnesota always hold a place in my heart because it’s the state that gave me a chance,” Taylor Schlitz said.

This story was created in partnership with Power 104.7. To listen to the radio version, visit power1047.fm and click “listen live.”