Today is Sunday, Sept. 1, the 245th day of 2024. There are 121 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 1, 1985, a U.S.-French expedition located the wreckage of the Titanic on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean roughly 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.

Also on this date:

In 1715, following a reign of 72 years, King Louis XIV of France died four days before his 77th birthday; he was succeeded by his five year-old great-grandson, Louis XV.

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Today in History: August 28, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers “I Have a Dream” speech

In 1897, the first section of Boston’s new subway was opened, creating the first underground rapid transit system in North America.

In 1914, the passenger pigeon, once one of the most abundant bird species on earth, went extinct as the last known example, named Martha, died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.

In 1923, the Japanese cities of Tokyo and Yokohama were devastated by an earthquake that claimed some 140,000 lives.

In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, an event regarded as the start of World War II.

In 1964, pitcher Masanori Murakami of the San Francisco Giants became the first Japanese baseball player to play in a Major League Baseball game.

In 1969, a coup in Libya brought Moammar Gadhafi to power.

In 1972, American Bobby Fischer won the international chess crown in Reykjavik, Iceland, as Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union resigned before the resumption of their 21st and final game.

In 1983, 269 people were killed when a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 was shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the airliner entered Soviet airspace.

In 2004, Islamic terrorists took more than a thousand people hostage in a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia; the siege would end three days later in gunfire and explosions, leaving 334 people dead — more than half of them children.

In 2015, invoking “God’s authority,” Rowan County, Kentucky, Clerk Kim Davis denied marriage licenses to gay couples again in direct defiance of the federal courts and vowed not to resign, even under the pressure of steep fines or jail. (Davis would spend five days in jail as a result, and is currently appealing a ruling ordering her to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in related legal fees.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz is 86.
Comedian-actor Lily Tomlin is 85.
Singer Barry Gibb is 78.
Talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw is 74.
Singer Gloria Estefan is 67.
TV host-author Padma Lakshmi is 54.
Actor Ricardo Antonio Chavira is 53.
Fashion designer Rachel Zoe is 53.
Actor Scott Speedman is 49.
Composer-producer Ludwig Göransson is 40.
Actor-singer Zendaya is 28.

Leela Willard is driven to help people in marginalized communities have access to better mental health care.

Willard got into becoming a therapist at Kente Circle after she went to a mental health care conference hosted by Kente Circle. Willard said that was the first time she had a feeling that being a therapist was for her, especially after she learned about Kente Circle’s mission and purpose. When there was a spot open for associates at Kente Circle, she went for it.

Willard became a therapist so she could help create a safe space for people of color to share their stories, as well as getting them through their difficult times and trauma.

Willard also works with Blue Cross Blue Shield’s Gender Health Service division to get health care to people who are nonbinary and transgender.

Willard is a therapist for Kente Circle. Kente Circle is a mental health agency in South Minneapolis founded in 2004 that provides culturally relevant therapy for families, couples and individuals.

“I just really want to create safe connections, help people be introspective about their life,” Willard said. They also wanted to help people “really be able to learn how to authentically show up and work through trauma and difficult times.”

With Kente Circle being in such a culturally dense area, just near blocks from George Floyd Square, their work directly addresses the racial disparities in therapy.
Based on the current U.S Census Bureau report, 83% of therapists are white, while the other 17% of therapists are from minority groups.

KFF Health News reports that over 50% of the white community are looking for therapy, while only 39% of African Americans, 36% of Hispanic/Latinos, and 25% of Asians are seeking mental health treatment.

Additionally, “people don’t have access (to mental health care) due to not having access to financial means,” Willard said.

Not only is this about how many different racial or ethnic groups are therapists, but it is also about how Kente Circle and Willard are addressing disparities in mental health care. Offering a safe space to talk is one of the many ways they are addressing it.

“We get to have a conversation and you get to tell your story, and I can help you see parts of that story, where maybe you’re able to have some insight or maybe be able to reframe things or restore things, reimagine yourself, like reimagine who you are as a person and the ways you show up in the world,” Willard said.

Another way Kente Circle wants to address disparities in mental health care in the future is to train barbers in therapeutic practices. This way, African-Americans would have a safe area to tell their stories. Barbers and hairstylists could even be trained to be counselors.

Willard hopes marginalized communities see the benefit in therapy and how it helps people.

“I think that it’s more about helping people see the benefit of therapy and actually talking about what it is and what it isn’t,” Willard said.

Additional reporting for this story was done by Alexis Aryeequaye and Amira Mohamud.     

About this report

This story was produced as part of ThreeSixty Journalism’s Multimedia Storytelling Institute for high school students in partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. ThreeSixty is a nonprofit program dedicated to offering technical, ethical and entrepreneurial training for fulfilling careers in storytelling and civic leadership.   

Today is Saturday, Aug. 31, the 244th day of 2024. There are 122 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Aug. 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed as the car she was riding in crashed on the Pont de l’Alma bridge in Paris; her partner Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul (who was found to have been intoxicated at the time of the accident) also died.

Also on this date:

In 1881, the first U.S. tennis championships (for men only) began in Newport, Rhode Island.

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Today in History: August 27, Krakatoa erupts, causing tsunamis

In 1886, an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of up to 7.3 devastated Charleston, South Carolina, killing at least 60 people.

In 1962, the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago became independent of British colonial rule.

In 1980, Poland’s Solidarity labor movement was born with an agreement signed in Gdansk (guh-DANSK’) that ended a 17-day-old strike.

In 1992, white separatist Randy Weaver surrendered to authorities in Naples, Idaho, ending an 11-day siege by federal agents that had claimed the lives of Weaver’s wife, son and a deputy U.S. marshal.

In 1994, Russia officially ended its military presence in the former East Germany and the Baltics after half a century.

In 2006, Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream” was recovered by Norwegian authorities after being stolen nine days earlier.

In 2010, President Barack Obama announced the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, declaring no victory after seven years of bloodshed and telling those divided over the war in his country and around the world: “it’s time to turn the page.”

In 2019, a gunman carried out a shooting rampage that stretched ten miles between the Texas communities of Midland and Odessa, leaving seven people dead before police killed the gunman outside a movie theater in Odessa.

Today’s Birthdays:

World Golf Hall of Famer Isao Aoki is 82.
Violinist Itzhak Perlman is 79.
Singer Van Morrison is 79.
Rock musician Rudolf Schenker (The Scorpions) is 76.
Actor Richard Gere is 75.
Actor Stephen McKinley Henderson is 75.
Attorney and author Marcia Clark is 71.
Olympic gold medal hurdler Edwin Moses is 69.
Rock singer Glenn Tilbrook (Squeeze) is 67.
Rock musician Gina Schock (The Go-Go’s) is 67.
Singer-composer Deborah Gibson is 54.
Queen Rania of Jordan is 54.
Golfer Padraig (PAH’-drig) Harrington is 53.
Actor Chris Tucker is 53.
Actor Sara Ramirez is 49.
Former NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is 41.
NBA All-Star Jalen Brunson is 28.

The Saints dropped the first game of Friday’s doubleheader 6-5, despite outhitting the Omaha Storm Chasers, but won the second game 8-3 on the road at Werner Park.

In the first game, Omaha got on the board first with two runs in the first inning. The Saints tied the game 2-2 in the third, with a groundout from Brooks Lee that scored Anthony Prato and a double from DaShawn Keirsey Jr., scoring Michael Helman. Saints tied it again at 4-4 in the fifth, but Omaha again answered with two of their own and the Saints’ last seventh-inning run couldn’t bring a third tie, giving the Storm Chasers a final 6-5 victory.

Randy Dobnak started and allowed four runs in four innings. Giovanny Gallegos (0-2) took the loss after surrendering two runs — one earned — while getting just two outs and walking four batters. The two runs scored on a wild pitch from Gallegos and a throwing error by catcher Jair Camargo.

Yunior Severino had three hits for St. Paul.

In the second game, Andrew Morris threw five shutout innings, earning his first Triple-A win.

Patrick Winkel gave the Saints their first run with a single to right in the second inning. Prato’s walk loaded the bases and Payton Eeles tripled on a line drive to right that gave the Saints a 4-0 lead.

The Saints doubled their lead in the third inning, thanks partly to Carson McCusker’s three-run homer, his second in three games.

The Storm Chasers added runs in the sixth and seventh, but couldn’t come near the Saints.

They meet again tonight at 6 p.m.

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