<\/a>Williams was a key organizer of the more than month-long protest outside the Minneapolis Police Department Fourth Precinct headquarters. While Williams never mentioned her opponent during her launch, supporters who spoke in support of her did, saying Yang is not in step with the majority of the residents he was elected to serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cBlong Yang has not done justice for citizens of color,\u201d said Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis NAACP. \u201cWhen we occupied the fourth precinct, Blong Yang stood with (Minneapolis Mayor) Betsy Hodges and decided we needed $605,000 to fortify the fourth precinct. You (Yang) should have put that $605,000 behind jobs. I live in the 5th Ward and I\u2019m embarrassed to say he represents me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Levy-Pounds said Williams has the credentials and the fire to best represent Minneapolis\u2019 5th Ward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven with her college degree, if she needs to get an attitude, she\u2019ll get an attitude. Sometimes there\u2019s a time to get mad,\u201d said Levy-Pounds of the Howard University graduate. \u201cShe\u2019s willing to lay it all on the line in support of her people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Williams is a third generation Minnesotan who attended Minneapolis North Community High School. She said she also attended three alternative high schools, thus she knows the challenges facing students of color in the Minneapolis Public Schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI recognize (the student achievement gap) isn\u2019t about intelligence, it\u2019s about connecting with the students and it\u2019s about having teachers who believe in them,\u201d said Williams, who said she would use her influence to direct resources into youth learning programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The candidate said while she happily welcomes new residents in North Minneapolis, she wants to ensure residents of lesser means do not get priced out of the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEconomic development is at the top of my agenda. We need an economic development center in our own community, and we also need fair housing,\u201d said Williams. \u201cWe (5th Ward residents) have the lowest employment and lowest income in Minneapolis, so if we can\u2019t afford housing who are these new developments for? We welcome new residents; they are wanted and needed, but we have to make sure the people already here can stay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a close election last time around Yang defeated Brett Buckner to capture the Ward 5 seat. Yang made history becoming first Hmong-American elected to the Minneapolis City Council. Ward 5 has the heaviest concentration of African-American and Hmong-American voters in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Raeisha Williams said she has always wanted to serve her community in North Minneapolis; now she is hoping to be in position for a greater level of service by becoming Ward 5\u2019s next councilperson. Williams, the communications chair for the Minneapolis NAACP, announced her candidacy Sept. 30 at the Mpls Photo Center, 2400 N. 2nd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4536,"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":[16],"tags":[2811,2812,2790],"class_list":["post-4535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-minneapolis-naacp","tag-mpls-photo-center","tag-raeisha-williams","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-3-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4535","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=4535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4537,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4535\/revisions\/4537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![<\/a>Williams, the communications chair for the Minneapolis NAACP, announced her candidacy Sept. 30 at the Mpls Photo Center, 2400 N. 2nd Street. The event comes a little more than a year before the seat is up for election, but Williams said she had to step into the political arena to bring a more representative voice to the seat currently held by first term councilperson, Blong Yang. Williams said she is running on a platform of economic development, education reform and police reform. She said the events of last November, in the police killing of unarmed Jamar Clark and the ensuing protests made it clear that North Minneapolis needed new leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI hear people say most police are good \u2026 well duh; most police are good, but there are those who are preying on the community and they need to be held accountable,\u201d said Williams in announcing her reasons for running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>Williams was a key organizer of the more than month-long protest outside the Minneapolis Police Department Fourth Precinct headquarters. While Williams never mentioned her opponent during her launch, supporters who spoke in support of her did, saying Yang is not in step with the majority of the residents he was elected to serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cBlong Yang has not done justice for citizens of color,\u201d said Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis NAACP. \u201cWhen we occupied the fourth precinct, Blong Yang stood with (Minneapolis Mayor) Betsy Hodges and decided we needed $605,000 to fortify the fourth precinct. You (Yang) should have put that $605,000 behind jobs. I live in the 5th Ward and I\u2019m embarrassed to say he represents me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nLevy-Pounds said Williams has the credentials and the fire to best represent Minneapolis\u2019 5th Ward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cEven with her college degree, if she needs to get an attitude, she\u2019ll get an attitude. Sometimes there\u2019s a time to get mad,\u201d said Levy-Pounds of the Howard University graduate. \u201cShe\u2019s willing to lay it all on the line in support of her people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nWilliams is a third generation Minnesotan who attended Minneapolis North Community High School. She said she also attended three alternative high schools, thus she knows the challenges facing students of color in the Minneapolis Public Schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI recognize (the student achievement gap) isn\u2019t about intelligence, it\u2019s about connecting with the students and it\u2019s about having teachers who believe in them,\u201d said Williams, who said she would use her influence to direct resources into youth learning programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe candidate said while she happily welcomes new residents in North Minneapolis, she wants to ensure residents of lesser means do not get priced out of the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cEconomic development is at the top of my agenda. We need an economic development center in our own community, and we also need fair housing,\u201d said Williams. \u201cWe (5th Ward residents) have the lowest employment and lowest income in Minneapolis, so if we can\u2019t afford housing who are these new developments for? We welcome new residents; they are wanted and needed, but we have to make sure the people already here can stay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn a close election last time around Yang defeated Brett Buckner to capture the Ward 5 seat. Yang made history becoming first Hmong-American elected to the Minneapolis City Council. Ward 5 has the heaviest concentration of African-American and Hmong-American voters in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Raeisha Williams said she has always wanted to serve her community in North Minneapolis; now she is hoping to be in position for a greater level of service by becoming Ward 5\u2019s next councilperson. Williams, the communications chair for the Minneapolis NAACP, announced her candidacy Sept. 30 at the Mpls Photo Center, 2400 N. 2nd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4536,"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":[16],"tags":[2811,2812,2790],"class_list":["post-4535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-minneapolis-naacp","tag-mpls-photo-center","tag-raeisha-williams","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-3-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4535","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=4535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4537,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4535\/revisions\/4537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.insightnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DSC_0375.jpg\"){kind=link}
![<\/a>Williams was a key organizer of the more than month-long protest outside the Minneapolis Police Department Fourth Precinct headquarters. While Williams never mentioned her opponent during her launch, supporters who spoke in support of her did, saying Yang is not in step with the majority of the residents he was elected to serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cBlong Yang has not done justice for citizens of color,\u201d said Nekima Levy-Pounds, president of the Minneapolis NAACP. \u201cWhen we occupied the fourth precinct, Blong Yang stood with (Minneapolis Mayor) Betsy Hodges and decided we needed $605,000 to fortify the fourth precinct. You (Yang) should have put that $605,000 behind jobs. I live in the 5th Ward and I\u2019m embarrassed to say he represents me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nLevy-Pounds said Williams has the credentials and the fire to best represent Minneapolis\u2019 5th Ward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cEven with her college degree, if she needs to get an attitude, she\u2019ll get an attitude. Sometimes there\u2019s a time to get mad,\u201d said Levy-Pounds of the Howard University graduate. \u201cShe\u2019s willing to lay it all on the line in support of her people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nWilliams is a third generation Minnesotan who attended Minneapolis North Community High School. She said she also attended three alternative high schools, thus she knows the challenges facing students of color in the Minneapolis Public Schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cI recognize (the student achievement gap) isn\u2019t about intelligence, it\u2019s about connecting with the students and it\u2019s about having teachers who believe in them,\u201d said Williams, who said she would use her influence to direct resources into youth learning programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe candidate said while she happily welcomes new residents in North Minneapolis, she wants to ensure residents of lesser means do not get priced out of the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cEconomic development is at the top of my agenda. We need an economic development center in our own community, and we also need fair housing,\u201d said Williams. \u201cWe (5th Ward residents) have the lowest employment and lowest income in Minneapolis, so if we can\u2019t afford housing who are these new developments for? We welcome new residents; they are wanted and needed, but we have to make sure the people already here can stay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nIn a close election last time around Yang defeated Brett Buckner to capture the Ward 5 seat. Yang made history becoming first Hmong-American elected to the Minneapolis City Council. Ward 5 has the heaviest concentration of African-American and Hmong-American voters in the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Raeisha Williams said she has always wanted to serve her community in North Minneapolis; now she is hoping to be in position for a greater level of service by becoming Ward 5\u2019s next councilperson. Williams, the communications chair for the Minneapolis NAACP, announced her candidacy Sept. 30 at the Mpls Photo Center, 2400 N. 2nd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4536,"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":[16],"tags":[2811,2812,2790],"class_list":["post-4535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-minneapolis-naacp","tag-mpls-photo-center","tag-raeisha-williams","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Insight-News-Website-Images-3-2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4535","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=4535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4537,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4535\/revisions\/4537"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apexsamplework.com\/insightnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"http:\/\/www.insightnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/DSC_0378.jpg\"){kind=link}