171205 Minnesota
Mean
Minnesota Nice is a cliché. Just because it might be an accurate
description of a Minnesotan’s aversion to confrontation does not make it any
less a cliché.
The Coen brothers poked wicked fun at
their native state in their movie, Fargo. All that politeness in the context of
kidnapping and murder made for a highly entertaining 98 minutes.
But is Minnesota nice just a
charade? An article on MinnPost
reported that hate crimes were up in Minnesota in 2016.[1] 122 hate crime incidents were reported in
2016: race, religion, ethnicity and
sexual orientation were the underlying themes of these incidents.
The Southern Poverty Law Center tracks
hate groups. It has identified TEN such
groups in Minnesota, including Neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan.
2017 doesn’t look a lot better: Just last week, there was vandalism at a
Native American school in the Twin Cities.
This year, Swastikas have been spray painted at a golf course and
displayed at the University of Minnesota.
A bomb went off at a Muslim community center, which was later
burglarized. Sexual harassment by members of the Minnesota
House and Senate, as well as a United States Senator, is just one more reminder
of how far we as a State and a society need to go to treat others with respect
and dignity.
So, maybe Minnesota Mean is a more apt
description, eh?
But, we are not condemned to accept this
new, perhaps more accurate, moniker. Along
with Minnesota Nice, we are famous for our citizens who have, time and again,
demonstrated moral courage. Whether it
be Hubert Humphrey calling out Dixiecrats for racism at the 1948 Democratic
National Convention or Roy Wilkins working for Civil Rights in the NAACP, there
are plenty of Minnesotans we can look to for inspiration and as an example to
follow.
So, we can accept Minnesota Mean or
stoke our moral courage, in small as well as large ways, to stem the tide of
hatred and bigotry and become Minnesota Nice.
In the absolute best sense of the word.
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