Scan barcode
ktamayo's review against another edition
5.0
This is required reading for anyone in Minnesota, land of Minnesota Nice-to-your-face. I highly recommend it to any and everyone.
town_scar's review against another edition
5.0
I have been learning about issues of racial injustices for a few years now. But in my blissful world I kept blindly assuring myself, "It's okay though. This doesn't happen in Minnesota. We're exempt." This brings the reality of the situation to light. I had hardly considered that there was so much apparent racism in the state. As a white woman, I have to sit back and reflect on my own actions, behaviors, and prejudices while reading this book. I hope that all Minnesotans read it, and take a moment to reflect on themselves as I did.
lauralauralaura's review against another edition
4.0
An instructive survey? Yes. Uneven? Also yes, but also to be expected from a set of essays addressing the experience of race and racism from a variety of authors and viewpoints.
cnelly22's review against another edition
3.0
"You will not be able to read this book without changing. Minnesota will never be the same" is the heading on the top of the cover. After reading the book, that is racist in itself. It seems to assume to me that whites will read this book and it will open their eyes. First of all, the whites who should read this book won't. Secondly, in any race, not everyone acts or thinks the same. The opening story is about a woman who gets shamed because her son ran off on the grocery store and was eating pastries. I can tell you right now that if I saw that happen in a grocery store, I don't care what color you are, I would have treated you the same way. I was surprised to find out that Fort Snelling held slaves, but that was about the only new thing to me. Well, I was saddened that an author who has lived in Minnesota his whole life and has novels isn't in the "Local" section at book stores. Bottom line, we are all racist in some ways in Minnesota. Even the whites don't necessarily open their homes for people of their same color. The saying "Minnesotans will give you directions anywhere but their home" is mostly true. We are a cold state. My favorite story was one toward the end. A white garage owner got a bad rep for being racist. Turns out he's just cranky and doesn't like dealing with people who can't fix things on their own. If we all took a step back and said "is it because of my color or is it because of what I did or is it because of who they are" before automatically picking the color card, maybe we'd all be better off.
regencyfan93's review against another edition
5.0
Chapters in this book are fodder for deep conversations. Wow.
kevinhendricks's review against another edition
4.0
This a collection of essays exploring race in Minnesota. It offers a wealth of perspectives (black, Asian, Latino/a, native, LGBT, biracial, adopted, etc.) and it's a challenging read. But it's worth taking a look at, and I'd guess valuable even beyond Minnesota.
meg1128's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
This book is a must read for anyone who calls themselves a “Minnesotan”. A collection of emotional essays from our very own neighbors who have willingly shared their experiences of race in a place we have taken pride in as “progressive” “liberal” haven in the Midwest that illuminates how our “Minnesota Nice” has been anything but. It’s a necessary gut punch if we want to truly say we love and care for our neighbors.
katsbooks's review against another edition
5.0
"The law may say Jim Crow is dead... but if it is, then it's having a long and vigorous afterlife." pg. 205
"...if you fail to value a people's stories, you fail to value them." pg. 209
"Collectively, we can learn to tell a story that includes all our stories... fashion a mosaic-like group portrait from those stories that we all can agree truly does resemble people like us." pg. 212
Don't have time to read the whole work? Here were my favorite selections:
Fighting the Oppressive Whiteness by Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria
Dark Trees in the Landscape of Love by Kao Kalia Yang
The Price We Pay by Andrea Jenkins
People Like Us by David Lawrence Grant
The essays in this anthology should be required reading for all Minnesotans. The contributors come from across the BIPOC spectrum and despite their differences, they all had experiences of being "othered" in some way by the people in the place they call home. Some talked about how Minnesota Nice is not always so nice and despite that moniker and our reputation as a fairly liberal state, we are ranked among the worst states when it comes to the racial achievement gaps. These essays explore some of the reasons Minnesota can be a difficult place for BIPOC to live. Despite being published more than four years ago now, it also sheds light, for me, on why Minneapolis was a powder keg for the recent racial uprisings. I was also struck by how unique and different each and every story was. While each spoke about race and their experiences with race in Minnesota, each contributor had a distinctive voice and perspective. Even as someone who often reads about issues of race and attempts to diversify my reading to include all kinds of representation, it was a reminder to me that stories are important, BIPOC are more than their stories of oppression and discrimination and, no matter how "white" Minnesota feels, I don't have to look far to find them.
"...if you fail to value a people's stories, you fail to value them." pg. 209
"Collectively, we can learn to tell a story that includes all our stories... fashion a mosaic-like group portrait from those stories that we all can agree truly does resemble people like us." pg. 212
Don't have time to read the whole work? Here were my favorite selections:
Fighting the Oppressive Whiteness by Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria
Dark Trees in the Landscape of Love by Kao Kalia Yang
The Price We Pay by Andrea Jenkins
People Like Us by David Lawrence Grant
The essays in this anthology should be required reading for all Minnesotans. The contributors come from across the BIPOC spectrum and despite their differences, they all had experiences of being "othered" in some way by the people in the place they call home. Some talked about how Minnesota Nice is not always so nice and despite that moniker and our reputation as a fairly liberal state, we are ranked among the worst states when it comes to the racial achievement gaps. These essays explore some of the reasons Minnesota can be a difficult place for BIPOC to live. Despite being published more than four years ago now, it also sheds light, for me, on why Minneapolis was a powder keg for the recent racial uprisings. I was also struck by how unique and different each and every story was. While each spoke about race and their experiences with race in Minnesota, each contributor had a distinctive voice and perspective. Even as someone who often reads about issues of race and attempts to diversify my reading to include all kinds of representation, it was a reminder to me that stories are important, BIPOC are more than their stories of oppression and discrimination and, no matter how "white" Minnesota feels, I don't have to look far to find them.