Mixed Blood Theatre Teams with St. Michael Diversity Group

Though his day of remembrance has passed, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will take center stage Thursday night in St. Michael, thanks to the interpretations of the Mixed Blood Theatre group.

The one-night-only performance, set for 7 p.m. Thursday at the , will present "Dr. King's Dream," a biography of King told through his own words. 

The troupe will re-enact historic events, cite works including the famous "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," the speech from the march on Washington, D.C. and "I Have Been to the Mountaintop."

The unique opportunity is brought to St. Michael through the work of Community U-Knighted, a group formed by local residents to help address issues of equality in St. Michael and Albertville, coming together via "Community U-Knighted." 

For the past three years, it has held a series of presenations and discussions about race, prejudice and St. Michael-Albertville's newfound diversity.

Looking at the 2010 Census, as Patch did last year, it's not hard to see the trends. The population has seen an influx in people of color, particularly Asians and black/African Americans. Hispanics have also moved to the western suburbs. Most have come due to affordable housing (more home for the buck, they say) and job opportunity. 

"Up until approximately 10 years ago, St.Michael-Albertville was almost 100 percent Caucasian [according to census figures]," wrote City Administrator Bob Derus in a narrativie about Community U-Knighted, a 501(c)-3 organization. "As they communities began to experience explosive growth in the late 1990s a new diverse mix located [here]. When racially motivated conflicts emerged, the community responded." 

Derus said incidents within school buildings and in the community put people into action. 

"You had people of different races reporting this kind of stuff, and parents were concerned. There were parents of different race and white parents as well, and the community really came together to try to head this off," Derus said. 

It was a new experience, new problem for the community.

"When I got here, diversity meant you weren't Catholic," said former St. Michael-Albertville Superintendent Marcia Ziegler. "It's changed, and for the better, I believe."

Community U-Knighted was actually a direct result of not only incidents within the STMA area, but a mandate from former Wright County Sheriff Gary Miller, who supported diversity programs in communities across the county back in 2008. 

"It was a really progressive move on his part," Derus said, "because with that hostility can come a lot of different kinds of results, including an increase in crime."

Mixed Blood, meanwhile, is a Minneapolis-based performance group that has been taking its shows, such as "Dr. King's Dream," on the road to reach regional audiences.

"Mixed Blood promotes pluralism throughout Minnesota and the Upper Midwest annually with several touring productions, performing in schools, colleges, community centers, places of worship, detention centers, corporate boardrooms, and on reservations," the group's website states.