On September 24th, the Star Tribune republished a column from conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens. The column itself is riddled with inaccuracies. But the Star Tribune went a step further than even Stephens did. They changed the headline in the republished piece. Sitting above a stock image of rockets being fired, the headline reads: Omar, 'squad,' launch another anti-Israel strike. The original headline, as it appeared in the New York Times, reads: A Foul Play by Progressives Over Israel’s Iron Dome.

Apparently that language wasn’t incendiary enough for the Star Tribune editorial team. Indeed, they felt it necessary to explicitly equate Rep. Omar’s vote on $1 billion in funding for Israel’s military hardware to actual terror attacks. The purpose of the language is clear as day. It is not enough for them to simply criticize Rep. Omar’s vote. The New York Times’ headline was critical enough. Instead, the editorial team decided what was necessary was to draw a direct comparison between Ilhan Omar - Minnesota’s first, and only, Black, Muslim, immigrant Congressperson - and Middle East terrorism. Let’s be clear: equating Muslims with terrorism is something our Muslim brothers and sisters face on an almost daily basis and is the textbook example of Islamophobia. The Congresswoman is subject to routine death threats, many explicitly making this comparison.

We do not feel it is necessary to explain why this represents a clear example of deeply seated racism and islamophobia among the decision makers at the paper. We do feel it is necessary to make clear that headlines like this increase threats of violence to Rep. Omar, her Muslim colleagues in Congress, and to the other women of color in elected office who are so often the targets of far-right racism, hatred, and violence.

But it’s not simply the paper’s coverage of Rep. Omar. Recent coverage of the politics and debate surrounding the amendments to the Minneapolis city charter, as well as the state of the race for Minneapolis mayor, read like campaign advertisements. Coverage of the advocates for question 2 (led by black-led groups like Black Visions Collective) often describes them as large, powerful groups of ideologues, while the (largely wealthy and white) opponents are described in glowing terms. The regular fawning coverage of Don Samuels’ campaign to prevent Minneapolis voters from exercising their democratic rights and vote on the public safety amendment - as well as the Editorial Board’s fluffy editorial describing Don simply as a trusted voice (without any mention of his history of anti-immigrant and anti-Somali rhetoric) - makes it extremely clear what the paper’s agenda is.

To be clear, much of the hard news coverage the Star Tribune provides is excellent. We write not simply as citizens concerned with the editorial slant of the paper’s management, but also as citizens concerned with the way the newsroom’s decision making increasingly resembles the political priorities of management expressed in the opinion section. This has taken the form of biased headlines and story summaries and the choices made in which stories to cover or not cover.

We know there is a diversity of opinion on issues like the Minneapolis Charter Amendment and Rep. Omar’s vote last week—including among the signatories of this letter. We expect the StarTribune to represent the range of those opinions. Our concern, rather, is with StarTribune’s pattern of silencing and smearing communities of color - overseen by a team of overwhelmingly white and male managers and editors. In fact, of the 12 members of the editorial board, only one is Black and none are Muslim. Hardly representative of the city they serve.

The signatories of this letter therefore call on the Star Tribune management to take the following actions:

- Increase the diversity of the editorial board—including Black, Muslim, and female voices.
- Rehire an ombudsman or public editor to hold the paper accountable for its own coverage — particularly of marginalized communities.
- End the practice of electoral endorsements, which invariably serve the interests of the powerful at the expense of vulnerable communities
- End the use loaded, racist or Islamophobic language in headlines in coverage, and
Specifically apologize and update the racist headline against Rep. Ilhan Omar and accompanying image