Escape to the North Country
Reporter Sharon Schmickle, photographer Jerry Holt and online producer Regina McCombs led a team of more than a dozen Minneapolis Star Tribune journalists who created an amazing package about the hundreds and perhaps thousands of Liberian refugees living in Minnesota. "A People Torn" describes how these men, women and children face deportation from the U.S. after escaping their country's brutal civil war.
The Web package opens with a gripping audio and photo collage before giving us a choice of stories and videos about the Liberian community. Schmickle focuses her stories on Cleo Harris, a Liberian woman now working as a nursing assistant in suburban Minneapolis, who must decide whether to leave her 8-year-old daughter behind if she is forced to return to her devastated homeland. I'm impressed with how Schmickle weaves information about Liberia's history into her narrative about Harris. The terrific videos show Liberians in America worshipping, making music, cooking their spicy cuisine and hanging out at the barbershop. Thank you Brian Summers for the suggestion. www.startribune.com/liberia