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A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota
A 2020 selection of One Book, One Minnesota!
"Reading this book in community offers some Minnesotans the opportunity to see their experiences broadly shared and others a chance to educate themselves―and to discover ways to act on their convictions."
In this provocative book, sixteen of Minnesota's best writers provide a range of perspectives on what it is like to live as a person of color in Minnesota. They give readers a splendid the gift of touching another human being's inner reality, behind masks and veils and politeness. They bring us generously into experiences that we must understand if we are to come together in real relationships.
Minnesota communities struggle with some of the nation's worst racial disparities. As its authors confront and consider the realities that lie beneath the numbers, this book provides an important tool to those who want to be part of closing those gaps.
With contributions
Taiyon J. Coleman, Heid E. Erdrich, Venessa Fuentes, Shannon Gibney, David Grant, Carolyn Holbrook, IBé, Andrea Jenkins, Robert Karimi, JaeRan Kim, Sherry Quan Lee, David Mura, Bao Phi, Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria, Diane Wilson, and Kao Kalia Yang
"Reading this book in community offers some Minnesotans the opportunity to see their experiences broadly shared and others a chance to educate themselves―and to discover ways to act on their convictions."
In this provocative book, sixteen of Minnesota's best writers provide a range of perspectives on what it is like to live as a person of color in Minnesota. They give readers a splendid the gift of touching another human being's inner reality, behind masks and veils and politeness. They bring us generously into experiences that we must understand if we are to come together in real relationships.
Minnesota communities struggle with some of the nation's worst racial disparities. As its authors confront and consider the realities that lie beneath the numbers, this book provides an important tool to those who want to be part of closing those gaps.
With contributions
Taiyon J. Coleman, Heid E. Erdrich, Venessa Fuentes, Shannon Gibney, David Grant, Carolyn Holbrook, IBé, Andrea Jenkins, Robert Karimi, JaeRan Kim, Sherry Quan Lee, David Mura, Bao Phi, Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria, Diane Wilson, and Kao Kalia Yang
240 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2016
346 people are currently reading
2,948 people want to read
About the author
Sun Yung Shin
20Ìýbooks86ÌýfollowersSun Yung Shin's first poetry collection is Skirt Full of Black (Coffee House Press 2007); she is also the co-editor of Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption (South End Press 2006) and the author of the bilingual (Korean/English) book for children Cooper's Lesson (Children's Book Press). Among her awards are a 2007 Bust Artist Fellowship and a 2005 Minnesota Arts Board Grant. She is also the co-editor of WinteRed Press. She lives in Minneapolis and is currently working on a memoir/collection of essays.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 336 reviews
July 24, 2016
The authors of these essays have nailed us, "us" being the white "Minnesota Nice" majority. Turns out our "niceness" masks a clueless indifference that in some ways is worse than the Confederate flags of the South. And it's not just black Minnesotans holding up the mirror in this volume. Asian, Native and mixed-race people of all origins are also yearning to have their identities and struggles acknowledged. This is fascinating but often painful reading. Nearly every author recounts an experience of breathtaking insensitivity or outright cruelty that made me cringe, even cry, to read about it. If you've never understood how our racially divided society and privileged attitudes can be holding all of us back, this book is a fine place to begin a search for answers.
September 10, 2016
Having read, listened, and learned about experiences of people of color in America and knowing that racism is alive in MN, I was still challenged by these phenomenal, raw, and moving essays of the experiences of Micro Aggressions for someone living in MN and being a person of color. Especially in situations and institutions that seemed like there should be a better understanding of race and racism like the English Dept at the U of M. Highly, highly recommend to anyone and everyone, especially white people.
July 14, 2016
4.5 stars. Collection of personal stories about race in Minnesota across racial lines. MN nice isn't always so nice. One author, Taiyon Coleman visits Alabama for the first time for a college interview and is shocked and disturbed by the Confederate flags everywhere. Yet after enough microabrasions in MN, she "longed for the Confederate flags of the South, because at least the South has clear lines of demarcation and warning." Thought provoking.
December 21, 2016
"...It's easy to take the moral high road on a social issue when your personal commitment to the principals you espouse remains largely untested. It's easy to point a finger at the egregious violation of basic human rights going on elsewhere in the country and ignore the widespread, if less obvious, violations going on in your own backyard.
"Contemporary Minnesotans are often genuinely shocked to hear that there was active, ongoing slavery at Fort Snelling from the 1820s through the 1850s- and that as recently as the mid-1950s, black residents and visitors to Minnesota were refused service at restaurants and hotels, even in the downtown Twin Cities. Housing and job discrimination were as prevalent here as they were anywhere else in the country. White Minnesota is part and parcel of White America, after all, and is profoundly influenced by the same prejudice and bigotry that has been so omnipresent in the rest of the country. But up here in the cool blue North, there was no long, bitter history of blood on the soil between black and white, no multigenerational saga of mutual hatred and violence."
- David Lawrence Grant, "People Like Us"
As a white person in Minnesota, this is necessary and difficult reading. I am justly proud of my state. We are L'etoile du Nord, I tell people. Set your compass by us. We are urban and rural, but progressive. We are home to the largest Hmong population outside of Laos, and we have opened our boarders and our hearts to immigrants and refugees from all over the world.
But because I am white, I am blind, so blind, to the hardships faced by people of color.
This book is a glimpse into the racism that bleeds into even my beloved state. We are not perfect. We have a lot of work to do, reaching as far back as our relationship with our native populations, namely the Ojibwa/Anishinaabe and Dakota people that were here before us, who's trust in white settlers is continuously violated (I see you, Standing Rock, and I stand with you). We have a lot of work to do to include our black/African American neighbors, and of course, newcomers to the US from Somalia, from Syria, from any number of places. We have work to do with our Hispanic/latinx neighbors. More still work to do with our neighbors from Asian cultures, a blanket too big to properly describe the diversity that means (India, China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Vietnam, the list goes on and on).
This is a hard book to read. I went slowly, chapter by chapter, absorbing as much as I could. I sat with my own discomfort, reflected on my own experiences with people of color. I understand that no one voice can represent their entire community, so I feel called to listen more, to learn more, to act on what I have learned so far.
But mostly I feel called to elevate these very diverse voices.
This book hit me hard after a difficult election. I'm glad I read it when I did.
Though the weather here is very cold, my heart is warm, and it is open. I will do my best in the next four years and beyond to listen, learn, and act.
"Contemporary Minnesotans are often genuinely shocked to hear that there was active, ongoing slavery at Fort Snelling from the 1820s through the 1850s- and that as recently as the mid-1950s, black residents and visitors to Minnesota were refused service at restaurants and hotels, even in the downtown Twin Cities. Housing and job discrimination were as prevalent here as they were anywhere else in the country. White Minnesota is part and parcel of White America, after all, and is profoundly influenced by the same prejudice and bigotry that has been so omnipresent in the rest of the country. But up here in the cool blue North, there was no long, bitter history of blood on the soil between black and white, no multigenerational saga of mutual hatred and violence."
- David Lawrence Grant, "People Like Us"
As a white person in Minnesota, this is necessary and difficult reading. I am justly proud of my state. We are L'etoile du Nord, I tell people. Set your compass by us. We are urban and rural, but progressive. We are home to the largest Hmong population outside of Laos, and we have opened our boarders and our hearts to immigrants and refugees from all over the world.
But because I am white, I am blind, so blind, to the hardships faced by people of color.
This book is a glimpse into the racism that bleeds into even my beloved state. We are not perfect. We have a lot of work to do, reaching as far back as our relationship with our native populations, namely the Ojibwa/Anishinaabe and Dakota people that were here before us, who's trust in white settlers is continuously violated (I see you, Standing Rock, and I stand with you). We have a lot of work to do to include our black/African American neighbors, and of course, newcomers to the US from Somalia, from Syria, from any number of places. We have work to do with our Hispanic/latinx neighbors. More still work to do with our neighbors from Asian cultures, a blanket too big to properly describe the diversity that means (India, China, Japan, Korea, Laos, Vietnam, the list goes on and on).
This is a hard book to read. I went slowly, chapter by chapter, absorbing as much as I could. I sat with my own discomfort, reflected on my own experiences with people of color. I understand that no one voice can represent their entire community, so I feel called to listen more, to learn more, to act on what I have learned so far.
But mostly I feel called to elevate these very diverse voices.
This book hit me hard after a difficult election. I'm glad I read it when I did.
Though the weather here is very cold, my heart is warm, and it is open. I will do my best in the next four years and beyond to listen, learn, and act.
Read
June 1, 2020I appreciated Taiyon J. Coleman'sÌýinsight about how one's perspective changes when one ceases to be the only person of one's demographic in a space: "Like a flat balloon inflated by air, together [we] helped each other take shape and form." I was struck by Heid E. Erdrich's theorizing a connection between the concept of owning land and the concept of owning other human beings, and between both these concepts and the concept of "standing one's ground." David Lawrence Grant's contribution to this collection includes not only unsettling and thought-provoking testimonials about his own personal experiences but also an important deep dive into Minnesota history, noting the practice of slavery at Fort Snelling through the 1850s, a 1920 Duluth triple lynching, and the 1920s arrival of the Ku Klux Klan, as well as more obscure facts (I'd previously never heard about how, in 1910, Minnesotans tried to keep out Finnish immigrants by arguing in court that Finns are "Mongolian" and therefore encompassed by Chinese-excluding immigration laws, for example). Diane Wilson's paradigm-rocking piece dissects the differences between indigenous and settler value systems and food systems in terms of health outcomes, environmental sustainability, and more, and probes the devastating consequences of viewing the environment as commodity rather than kin.
The essayist with whose journey I identified the most, despite our belonging to different generations, was David Mura. Mura writes about how, in his 1970s student days, an African American classmate (who happened to be the poet Marilyn Nelson!) gifted him an Asian American literary anthology: "I put it on my bookshelf and did not look at it for several years.... To call myself a writer of color would be to relegate myself to a literary ghetto.... I was so afraid of being tainted by the literary ghetto...that I never went near such works." Although his life as an Asian American in Minnesota at that time had a surreal quality, Mura initially could not conceive of using this as subject matter in his writing, having been brought up to believe that Minnesotan literature must revolve around "snowy fields" or "horses in a farm field outside of Rochester" as in James Wright's or Robert Bly's poetry. Whereas Bly and Wright have always been celebrated as "Minnesota writers," Mura notes his own books "are never in the local authors section.... I will never really ever be considered a true Minnesotan." (I have long been uneasy with classifications like "Midwest writers," "New England writers," etc., for this reason -- that their use often marginalizes certain kinds of writers, including Asian American writers, who are seen as perpetual outsiders/foreigners.) Mura observes that, when compared with the American South, white people in Minnesota tend to be less likely to acknowledge race as a "central issue" in their history, and he speculates on how this might play into persistent racial disparities in the state. He ends by saying that, while he sometimes feels too assimilated ("In many ways, I am still the asshole yuppie..... [T]he part of me that has always lived in the white world...still wants that comfort"), he knows he must "keep working" to move beyond that.
The essayist with whose journey I identified the most, despite our belonging to different generations, was David Mura. Mura writes about how, in his 1970s student days, an African American classmate (who happened to be the poet Marilyn Nelson!) gifted him an Asian American literary anthology: "I put it on my bookshelf and did not look at it for several years.... To call myself a writer of color would be to relegate myself to a literary ghetto.... I was so afraid of being tainted by the literary ghetto...that I never went near such works." Although his life as an Asian American in Minnesota at that time had a surreal quality, Mura initially could not conceive of using this as subject matter in his writing, having been brought up to believe that Minnesotan literature must revolve around "snowy fields" or "horses in a farm field outside of Rochester" as in James Wright's or Robert Bly's poetry. Whereas Bly and Wright have always been celebrated as "Minnesota writers," Mura notes his own books "are never in the local authors section.... I will never really ever be considered a true Minnesotan." (I have long been uneasy with classifications like "Midwest writers," "New England writers," etc., for this reason -- that their use often marginalizes certain kinds of writers, including Asian American writers, who are seen as perpetual outsiders/foreigners.) Mura observes that, when compared with the American South, white people in Minnesota tend to be less likely to acknowledge race as a "central issue" in their history, and he speculates on how this might play into persistent racial disparities in the state. He ends by saying that, while he sometimes feels too assimilated ("In many ways, I am still the asshole yuppie..... [T]he part of me that has always lived in the white world...still wants that comfort"), he knows he must "keep working" to move beyond that.
July 16, 2020
Excellent, eminently readable collection of thoughtful, thought provoking essays.
June 22, 2020
Published in April 2016, this book is perhaps even more valuable today.
As an old white guy, I need to hear all the voices, although the white voices I hear talking about racial difficulties only have value in that I can see the truth of what is being said by the writers of these essays. (Find various sites where there are ratings of this book. Read the one and two star reviews. You can see clueless white voices.)
I gave it only 4 stars because there were clearly some stellar writers here, which made me want to have *only* stellar writers. LOL. I also wish there was a Volume II that would focus on, "So what can I do? How can I best be an ally? What questions should I test myself with?"
As an old white guy, I need to hear all the voices, although the white voices I hear talking about racial difficulties only have value in that I can see the truth of what is being said by the writers of these essays. (Find various sites where there are ratings of this book. Read the one and two star reviews. You can see clueless white voices.)
I gave it only 4 stars because there were clearly some stellar writers here, which made me want to have *only* stellar writers. LOL. I also wish there was a Volume II that would focus on, "So what can I do? How can I best be an ally? What questions should I test myself with?"
May 30, 2016
This is an important book that everyone should read-even if you're not from Minnesota. Many painful experiences are recounted. The essay "People Like Us" by David Lawrence Grant, was written with a keen insight into the dominant Minnesota culture and offered a path forward for bridging various cultures.
April 22, 2017
Such a powerful book and should be required reading for every Minnesotan. I feel like the struggles we have in our state exist throughout the country. As Taiyon J. Coleman said, "...there are Confederate flags everywhere, even in places where we can't see them." Do yourself a favor and read this book. You won't stop thinking about it.
June 22, 2018
This was devastating to read--to know what the experience of living in MN has been for people of color. It included varied experiences from many different ethnicities. This is a wake up call to me and my privileged class. A must read!
June 27, 2016
Peeks past the surface of Minnesota Nice and reveals some of the too-often unspoken pains and tensions beneath.
September 1, 2022
Really well edited anthology of pieces by authors of color (a term I think a lot of them actually wouldn’t care for) through the context of race and my home state of Minnesota. While no one person can be the spokesperson of their race/identity, this collection recounts a range of experiences within a state known for its Niceness (read: kindness with microaggressions often sprinkled in). It was published in 2016 so obviously by 2022, the racist history and practices of Minnesota have been cracked wide open for those who didn’t already recognize them, but I think it’s an important read especially for Minnesotans that boast about our welcoming attitude but ignore the small to medium offensive/exclusionary actions that happen each day.
March 26, 2017
This collection of articulate, mostly firsthand observations of the accumulating legacy of the insidious racism present in Minnesota is both a welcome revelation and an uncomfortable indictment. Pushed beyond acknowledging the most obvious racism manifesting itself today, I am forced to ask myself questions the answers to which I don't always like.
September 18, 2020
Read for a SURJ Book Club, totally required reading for any Minnesotan.
December 24, 2020
Everyone should read this book.
August 16, 2016
This, I feel, is a very important book, especially now. A collection of essays by writers of color living in Minnesota, A Good Time for the Truth was published this year by the Minnesota Historical Society. As the visibility of the persistence of racism in our culture rises, now is definitely a time for the truth regarding race and racism in Minnesota. After I began reading it, this became all too clear as Philando Castile became the latest victim of police violence in the United States, again showing that the great state of Minnesota is not immune to the perpetration and perpetuation of white supremacy. Like everywhere in the United States, racism is a legacy that Minnesota needs to face and the authors in this collection present a great, and sobering, introduction.
A Good Time for the Truth reflects the diversity of voices that has long been neglected in telling the story of contemporary Minnesota, often seen as a “white� state (among the whitest) while also being among the most progressive. Known for our high standard of living, often rated among the nation’s best places to live, the truth is that we . The hypocrisy and dark side to this is something many white Minnesotans don’t wish to acknowledge or deal with, preferring to think of our reputations of “Minnesota Nice,� and that “the cold keeps the riff raff out� (with all its racist implications). The voices collected here critique and shed light on the inequalities that non-white people experience in the state they call home, whether from black, Asian, hispanic, indigenous, and other populations, and paint a very different picture of the land of Lake Wobegon than the Scandinavian stereotypes. The authors tackle these questions with some deep, hard hitting writing, including the complexities of racial ambiguity, gender, immigration, and identity, making for an effective and stunning work.
Having grown up white in Minnesota myself, these perspectives caused me to question my privileged position on the culture and perhaps look at the culture through a lens invisible to me, and my own place in perpetuating this. Bao Phi’s blistering account of police violence in “Brutal,� for instance, came as particularly unsettling, calling into question many societal conceits and assumptions regarding police and police brutality in regards to race. None of the accounts in the collection are comforting to the Minnesotan status quo, with its belief in colorblindness and aversion to confrontation. They expose the same racist problems here as everywhere, and shed light on how they are expressed. In many of these stories, seemingly benign and well meaning white Minnesotans will reveal shocking prejudices while denying that they could ever be racist. So often, White Minnesotans (and northerners in general) are content to pat ourselves on the back, secure in the knowledge that racists are redneck hicks in white robes who have nothing to do with us enlightened urbanites who, of course, know that racism is bad. At the same time, we are uncomfortable being confronted with evidence and views that show that all is still not well in Minnesota or the nation.
This is well seen in “Disparate Impacts,� in which Taiyon J. Coleman writes of a trip from her hometown Chicago to Mobile, Alabama and where she experiences the negative connotations of being black in the South, before coming north to attend the University of Minnesota and discovering racism of a very different, though no less virulent, type. The racism of asking “where you from?� with the veiled implication “‘cause it sure can’t be from around here,� noting that one doesn't need Confederate flags flying publicly to be living under in a racist society.
A Good Time for the Truth reflects the diversity of voices that has long been neglected in telling the story of contemporary Minnesota, often seen as a “white� state (among the whitest) while also being among the most progressive. Known for our high standard of living, often rated among the nation’s best places to live, the truth is that we . The hypocrisy and dark side to this is something many white Minnesotans don’t wish to acknowledge or deal with, preferring to think of our reputations of “Minnesota Nice,� and that “the cold keeps the riff raff out� (with all its racist implications). The voices collected here critique and shed light on the inequalities that non-white people experience in the state they call home, whether from black, Asian, hispanic, indigenous, and other populations, and paint a very different picture of the land of Lake Wobegon than the Scandinavian stereotypes. The authors tackle these questions with some deep, hard hitting writing, including the complexities of racial ambiguity, gender, immigration, and identity, making for an effective and stunning work.
Having grown up white in Minnesota myself, these perspectives caused me to question my privileged position on the culture and perhaps look at the culture through a lens invisible to me, and my own place in perpetuating this. Bao Phi’s blistering account of police violence in “Brutal,� for instance, came as particularly unsettling, calling into question many societal conceits and assumptions regarding police and police brutality in regards to race. None of the accounts in the collection are comforting to the Minnesotan status quo, with its belief in colorblindness and aversion to confrontation. They expose the same racist problems here as everywhere, and shed light on how they are expressed. In many of these stories, seemingly benign and well meaning white Minnesotans will reveal shocking prejudices while denying that they could ever be racist. So often, White Minnesotans (and northerners in general) are content to pat ourselves on the back, secure in the knowledge that racists are redneck hicks in white robes who have nothing to do with us enlightened urbanites who, of course, know that racism is bad. At the same time, we are uncomfortable being confronted with evidence and views that show that all is still not well in Minnesota or the nation.
This is well seen in “Disparate Impacts,� in which Taiyon J. Coleman writes of a trip from her hometown Chicago to Mobile, Alabama and where she experiences the negative connotations of being black in the South, before coming north to attend the University of Minnesota and discovering racism of a very different, though no less virulent, type. The racism of asking “where you from?� with the veiled implication “‘cause it sure can’t be from around here,� noting that one doesn't need Confederate flags flying publicly to be living under in a racist society.
August 10, 2019
Everything changes and we can't get stuck in old ideas. Racism is an old idea. A tradition that harms children is not worth conserving or continuing.
My mother taught me to look people directly in the eye whenever I was alone and walking in public especially at night. Don't look away. Let them know that if they come after you, that you gonna fight them hard, and they will decide that you are not worth the trouble and leave you alone.
Incognegro
South Beach Night club in downtown Minneapolis
Maybe in America, race is the card I am always dealt.
And "the first black President" makes no sense to my brothers and sisters when you don't add "of America" to it.
Every small child's query: "Are we there yet?"
Before white, there was Irish, Catholic, Italian,...
Something about the story we are forgetting and the way in which our story, Indigenous stories, are the ground upon which all race crimes are committed. Because we do not know where we stand when we stand our ground.
Diversity meant white missionaries presenting slideshows of their work with people of color in so-called "heathen" countries.
May you live in interesting times. -Chinese proverb
I was born by the river, and just like that river, I been running ever since. It's been a long, long time coming, but I know a change gon' come, oh yes it will. - Sam Cooke song
If Prince were white, would he still be Purple?
America's real original sin was not slavery, but white supremacy.
With the support of both the federal government and churches, nearly five hundred new schools were created for the purpose of assimilating Native children by forbidding their languages and spirituality and forcing them to dress and act according to European values. Typically underfunded, the schools provided in adequate diets, and thousands of children suffered from malnutrition, disease, and even death.
My mother taught me to look people directly in the eye whenever I was alone and walking in public especially at night. Don't look away. Let them know that if they come after you, that you gonna fight them hard, and they will decide that you are not worth the trouble and leave you alone.
Incognegro
South Beach Night club in downtown Minneapolis
Maybe in America, race is the card I am always dealt.
And "the first black President" makes no sense to my brothers and sisters when you don't add "of America" to it.
Every small child's query: "Are we there yet?"
Before white, there was Irish, Catholic, Italian,...
Something about the story we are forgetting and the way in which our story, Indigenous stories, are the ground upon which all race crimes are committed. Because we do not know where we stand when we stand our ground.
Diversity meant white missionaries presenting slideshows of their work with people of color in so-called "heathen" countries.
May you live in interesting times. -Chinese proverb
I was born by the river, and just like that river, I been running ever since. It's been a long, long time coming, but I know a change gon' come, oh yes it will. - Sam Cooke song
If Prince were white, would he still be Purple?
America's real original sin was not slavery, but white supremacy.
With the support of both the federal government and churches, nearly five hundred new schools were created for the purpose of assimilating Native children by forbidding their languages and spirituality and forcing them to dress and act according to European values. Typically underfunded, the schools provided in adequate diets, and thousands of children suffered from malnutrition, disease, and even death.
October 14, 2017
"The white people here don't like controversy or conflict. They like insisting that things are just fine. But in 2016 America, no one can discuss race without controversy or conflicts coming up, with tension arising. So many white people here subscribe to the following tautological wheel: The only time we encounter racial tensions is when the use the of race comes up. So the way to keep away tensions is to not talk about race. If no one is talking about race, then that must mean racism no longer exists." - David Mura
"For the most part, though, discrimination in Minnesota hasn't been about lynching, or the burning of crosses on lawns, or overt, public acts of bigotry. The culture of Minnesota Nice has meant that the face of discrimination has almost always been much more subtle here. But the kind of subtlety that underlies Minnesota Nice - extreme and highly nuanced - only makes racism harder to fight. A subtlety this deep is denials' best friend - makes it too easy to slip into a state of constant denial and remain there. But whether crippling pain comes to you due to deliberate malice or as the unintended consequence of someone's thoughtless action or heedless inaction, the result feels much the same on the receiving end. When we hear a while person say, 'Oh, but I don't even see color,' the subtext we really hear tells us, loud and clear, that what they don't see is us: that our identity, our perspective, our whole history is insignificant, not worthy of attention." - David Lawrence Grant
"For the most part, though, discrimination in Minnesota hasn't been about lynching, or the burning of crosses on lawns, or overt, public acts of bigotry. The culture of Minnesota Nice has meant that the face of discrimination has almost always been much more subtle here. But the kind of subtlety that underlies Minnesota Nice - extreme and highly nuanced - only makes racism harder to fight. A subtlety this deep is denials' best friend - makes it too easy to slip into a state of constant denial and remain there. But whether crippling pain comes to you due to deliberate malice or as the unintended consequence of someone's thoughtless action or heedless inaction, the result feels much the same on the receiving end. When we hear a while person say, 'Oh, but I don't even see color,' the subtext we really hear tells us, loud and clear, that what they don't see is us: that our identity, our perspective, our whole history is insignificant, not worthy of attention." - David Lawrence Grant
January 18, 2017
This book is a must read for anyone who lives in Minnesota (and anywhere else in the U.S., but it is very impactful to understand the experiences in MN). These essays contain deep, personal stories that challenge the idea of how we view Minnesota and how we talk about race in Minnesota.
What does it mean to live in a state that is considered "Minnesota nice" while experiencing subtle racism and mirco-aggression in varying day to day settings?
This book is to help us listen, understand and reflect.
"A society that systematically suppresses the stories and wisdom of certain groups cannot make the best decisions for a shared future. We need a future in this state that leaves no one out. We are interconnected, we are interdependent. In the long run, on our earth, we will thrive or fail together. Those of us who have not always had places at the table, so to speak, want to be heard and understood." (pg. 7).
What does it mean to live in a state that is considered "Minnesota nice" while experiencing subtle racism and mirco-aggression in varying day to day settings?
This book is to help us listen, understand and reflect.
"A society that systematically suppresses the stories and wisdom of certain groups cannot make the best decisions for a shared future. We need a future in this state that leaves no one out. We are interconnected, we are interdependent. In the long run, on our earth, we will thrive or fail together. Those of us who have not always had places at the table, so to speak, want to be heard and understood." (pg. 7).
Read
September 28, 2016Read this. Absolutely essential reading for working to understand the nuances of race and racism in Minnesota, both today and throughout history. Includes writers from a variety of different racial perspectives, which seems important for understanding what diversity means. Each person has a different story to tell. From David Lawrence Grant's essay "People Like Us": "Listen. If you fail to value a people's stories, you fail to value *them*."
Read
June 13, 2021Stories from Minnesota authors with the theme of race in Minnesota, but also experiences growing up, learning, being change-agents and supplying calls to action. I loved reading the varied experiences and learning more personal things about people who have not had the same advantages as I have as a white woman. The diversity of authors and lenses had me captivated and also helped me realize my own complicity in “Minnesota Nice�.
September 4, 2019
While you can't often walk a mile in someone else's shoes, by listening and reading their story, you can engage in their experiences.
This amazing collection of essays shares perspectives that both humble and challenge the reader. Read, learn, be better together. Change is the responsibility of all of us.
This amazing collection of essays shares perspectives that both humble and challenge the reader. Read, learn, be better together. Change is the responsibility of all of us.
July 23, 2020
I bought this book two or three years ago and finally made time to read it—wow! This IS the most important book I’ve read this year and I think it should be required reading for ALL Minnesotans. It isn’t easy to read but the writing is beautiful and poignant and so personal because it is MN voices sharing their experiences as people of color in MN.
October 31, 2016
For Gods & Monsters October 2016. As with any anthology, some essays were stronger than others, but this was necessary, sometimes painful, often lovely, always moving education for me, a white woman of privilege in MN. I'd recommend it to everyone.
August 31, 2017
A powerful collection of essays in which each author offers their own perspective on race and the experience of living as a person of color in Minnesota. I learned a lot from reading this book, and would highly recommend it to others.
April 22, 2017
An eye opening account that should be required for all Minnesotans. My eyes have been opened to privilege for a long time and this book opened them even wider.
January 18, 2018
Powerful. As a white Minnesotan, I want to extend genuine gratitude to these writers... I truly hope Minnesota can do better, be better.
March 7, 2019
I'm a Minnesotan. Through and through. Even though I moved to Germany 18 years ago, I still over-pronounce my 'Os'. I can't say 'boat' without betraying where I'm from. I swear I also bleed purple - not only for Prince but also for the Minnesota Vikings. And as every Vikings fan out there knows, our hearts bleed every single season. And if you ever hear me ask for a soda, please know it's a cry for help and that I need a one-way ticket to Minnesota immediately.
So - reading this book was painful. God so fucking painful. To hear of the pain and anguish my fellow Minnesotans experienced within the boundaries of the state I love. And to hear of the pain and anguish my fellow Minnesotans caused just because of someone's skin color or heritage really pissed me off. How dare they act like that? Fucking ignorant and I am ashamed of them. And I am ashamed of myself that I didn't see it while I was living there and did something about it.
I'm not naive, I know racism exists. I've long known that Minnesota Nice is code for "I'll be nice to you because that's how I was raise, but that doesn't mean we're friends". But to read these stories of racism coming from the neighborhoods I know and love was painful. But also enlightening. And I am so grateful for the men and women who wrote their stories in this anthology, because normally their stories are ignored or if heard, quickly forgotten. I won't forget these stories. And I will listen and learn and seek out other, similar stories. Because I love Minnesota and I want to help everyone and everything connected to the state to do better.
So - reading this book was painful. God so fucking painful. To hear of the pain and anguish my fellow Minnesotans experienced within the boundaries of the state I love. And to hear of the pain and anguish my fellow Minnesotans caused just because of someone's skin color or heritage really pissed me off. How dare they act like that? Fucking ignorant and I am ashamed of them. And I am ashamed of myself that I didn't see it while I was living there and did something about it.
I'm not naive, I know racism exists. I've long known that Minnesota Nice is code for "I'll be nice to you because that's how I was raise, but that doesn't mean we're friends". But to read these stories of racism coming from the neighborhoods I know and love was painful. But also enlightening. And I am so grateful for the men and women who wrote their stories in this anthology, because normally their stories are ignored or if heard, quickly forgotten. I won't forget these stories. And I will listen and learn and seek out other, similar stories. Because I love Minnesota and I want to help everyone and everything connected to the state to do better.
February 20, 2023
Having grown up white in Minnesota, I've traveled a long road in coming to recognize in myself white privilege, racism, and an unintentional ignorance of the ways the lives of people of color differed in very significant ways from my life. Living in coastal California for 40+ years certainly helped, but I have continued to learn, even in my senior years. This book of essays took me yet another step further. The essays are touching, dismaying, infuriating. They need to be read not only by every person in Minnesota but by every person in this country. Only when we see our fellow Minnesotans as a vital part of our community, only when we understand as well as we can their experiences and what they want to say to us, will we be able to move forward as a community that accepts, appreciates, and values diversity. Shin's collection of essays can help us in that effort. Highly recommended.
May 7, 2018
Quality of life rankings, both objective and subjective, usually place Minnesota somewhere in the top tier of our fifty states. For most "white" Minnesotans there is good reason to feel self-satisfied, perhaps even a bit smug, about these high ranking report cards. But, as the essays in this compilation attest, for Minnesotans of color the picture is not so rosy. Each of the authors of these seventeen articulate essays, Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native, relate case after case of microaggressions (and a few macro as well) that caused them to feel their legitimacy was in question. This is an important effort to further an on-going conversation about accepting all people who call Minnesota home. As the Introduction concludes: "Niceness is not fairness."
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