{"id":4015,"date":"2025-08-04T22:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T22:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/?p=4015"},"modified":"2026-07-15T22:39:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T22:39:04","slug":"rondo-days-honoring-legacy-power-and-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/2025\/08\/04\/rondo-days-honoring-legacy-power-and-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Rondo Days: Honoring legacy, power and community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the lead-up to Rondo Days 2025<\/a>, a powerful and deeply personal conversation unfolded on Radio KFAI\u2019s The Conversation with Al McFarlane<\/em><\/a>. The broadcast, which aired just before the July 19 event, featured organizers Merina Neal and Nick Muhammad. Together, they explored the meaning behind Rondo Days, unpacked its legacy, and reflected on the long arc of Black resistance and renewal in St. Paul\u2019s historic Rondo community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wednesdays on McFarlane\u2019s show are typically devoted to themes of entrepreneurship, community wealth, and collective advancement. That particular episode focused on Rondo not just as a festival but as a mirror of what the Black community has endured and what it continues to build.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRondo is historic in many, many ways,\u201d McFarlane said as he opened the segment. \u201cAnd I think the finest example of a space for this conversation is in the work of the Rondo community in St. Paul.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Merina Neal, the conversation was not merely logistical; it was personal. She described herself as a \u201cRondo transplant baby\u201d with roots running deep in the community. \u201cI\u2019m from a legacy family of Rondo that is off of Carroll and Fisk,\u201d she said. \u201cThe actual commemorative plaza is right behind our family houses. I\u2019m a Neal and proud to be part of the Neal family. So, this touches really close to home for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neal\u2019s contributions to the festival went far beyond public-facing roles. \u201cI\u2019ve had the honor to do the admin stuff behind the scenes,\u201d she explained. \u201cMaking sure we are staying on track as far as food vendors and table vendors and making sure everybody has their credentials and licenses. It\u2019s a small but mighty team, and we\u2019ve been working since last year to make sure everything happens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rondo Days is widely recognized as one of the most significant, Black-led cultural festivals in Minnesota. It commemorates a community that was systematically displaced in the mid-20th century through the construction of Interstate 94. The disruption destroyed over 600 Black-owned homes and more than 300 Black-owned businesses. For Nick Muhammad, who also joined McFarlane\u2019s broadcast, the festival serves as an ongoing act of remembrance and resistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe short version is that there was a historic community district on Rondo Avenue,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the city of St. Paul and the state of Minnesota decided to allow the interstate to come through and disrupt that entire corridor, displacing all of that intellectual, economic, and social capital.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet Rondo Days is not only about what was lost; it is also about what endures. \u201cThe beauty of legacy for me is that the community allowed me to come in and essentially adopted me and my family,\u201d Muhammad said. Originally from Indianola, Mississippi<\/a>, which is the birthplace of blues legend B.B. King<\/a>, he said Rondo reminded him of home. \u201cIt was the first space in Minnesota that made me feel like I was back home. You could go to Mr. Tilman\u2019s Market or Earth\u2019s Beauty Supply and see Black-owned businesses in real time, owned by families that lived right here in the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the interview, both Neal and Muhammad emphasized that Rondo Days exists because of love and labor, not funding or recognition. \u201cThere\u2019s no money when you do events,\u201d Neal said frankly. \u201cIt has always been about community and exposing the Caribbean community and the African American community and what we celebrate – food, music, culture, religion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McFarlane affirmed that message and asked what culture meant to Neal, particularly in the context of raising children within the Rondo neighborhood. \u201cFor me, community is love. One love,\u201d she answered. \u201cWhether I\u2019m representing my Caribbean community or my Rondo community, I eat, breathe, and live our Black communities. I reinvest my hard-earned money within the Rondo community every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muhammad, who handled city permits and logistics, brought a similar passion to the table. \u201cI\u2019m basically stuck on all the paperwork. Me and Trinny C (Neal)\u2026 dotting I\u2019s and crossing T\u2019s,\u201d he said. Despite the bureaucratic challenges, his motivation was clear. \u201cThis is really bigger than us. It\u2019s about what happened before us and what\u2019s going to happen when we\u2019re gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conversation also traced the psychological and spiritual weight of displacement. McFarlane spoke of his own memories visiting Sunflower, Mississippi, where his grandmother lived in a shotgun house with gaps in the floorboards and geese that poked their heads through to nip at his toes. \u201cThat\u2019s how close we are to it,\u201d he said, reflecting on how his great-grandmother had been born into slavery. \u201cPeople will tell us we should get over it. We can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Muhammad responded with a story of his own, recalling his great-aunt who was sold for a cow and how that legacy shaped his mother\u2019s choice to name her daughter Amy. \u201cTo know those stories is kind of incredible,\u201d he said. \u201cI just remember my great-grandmother in my grandfather\u2019s house. Every morning, he had to chop wood at 4 a.m. to keep the house warm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The interview shifted again toward the importance of memory. \u201cOur elders are walking universities,\u201d Muhammad said. \u201cAnd a lot of us don\u2019t want to go to school. We ignore them until we become the elders ourselves and realize we didn\u2019t listen. Then it comes full circle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the program came to a close, McFarlane asked Muhammad what he saw for the future. His response was clear and urgent. \u201cI would encourage people to tap into their confidence in the legacy of family. Particularly Black family. Don\u2019t underestimate the power of yourself. Don\u2019t let anybody tell you what you can and can\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added, \u201cThe geographic place isn\u2019t necessarily where the power comes from. It\u2019s the people who made the place up, and that hasn\u2019t gone anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rondo Days conversation offered more than a preview of a festival. It was a love letter to a community, a tribute to its elders, and a declaration that legacy is not only remembered but lived. Through story, laughter, and reverence, the broadcast reminded listeners that Rondo is not an echo of the past. It is a living, breathing commitment to a future built in our own names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the full conversation on Insight News\u2019 YouTube channel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udd17 Watch now<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the lead-up to Rondo Days 2025, a powerful and deeply personal conversation unfolded on Radio KFAI\u2019s The Conversation with Al McFarlane. The broadcast, which aired just before the July 19 event, featured organizers Merina Neal and Nick Muhammad. Together, they explored the meaning behind Rondo Days, unpacked its legacy, and reflected on the long arc of Black […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2607,2608,2606],"class_list":["post-4015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-merina-neal","tag-nick-muhammad","tag-rondo-days","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Insight-News-Website-Images-20.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4015"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4017,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4015\/revisions\/4017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}