ABOUT US
We are a grassroots, diverse group of Twin Cities-based artists, advocates, academics, and community allies who work for racial justice. We believe that injustice for one is injustice for all. Ignoring or being ignorant about the underlying and pervasive effects of racism can no longer be the way forward. As a community, we must Pay Attention!, become informed, and collaborate to promote the common good.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single
garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Letter from Birmingham Jail
Origins of Pay Attention!
How We Came to Be
August 8, 1940 — May 7, 2025
Pay Attention! is a creation of Dr. James Brewer Stewart, who was a James Wallace Professor Emeritus of History at Macalester College,
St. Paul, Minnesota. An accomplished historian of race relations, he spoke nationally, authored books, appeared in PBS documentaries, and developed a series of antiracist YouTube
mini-lectures.
Dr. Stewart, known to many as “Jim,” believed in the Beloved Community that Martin Luther
King, Jr. espoused and envisioned — a community where liberty and justice apply to all.
Below is Jim’s dedication for this project, which he provided just a few days before he moved on to his next chapter.
We dedicate our work to the founders of the original Civil Rights Movement — figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks, who formed themselves into a Beloved Community made up of the full spectrum of humanity. Its members, Dr. King explained, affirm the solidarity of the human family that leads us to understand that “personal growth cannot take place apart from meaningful relationships with other
persons” — that the ‘I’ cannot attain fulfillment without the ‘Thou.’
Godspeed, Jim! May your good works continue and may your spirit guide and inspire us to make the Beloved Community a reality.