The Killing of George Floyd: Minnesota's Racial Woes Stem from its Culture
Yesterday’s killing of George Floyd—during an arrest by Minneapolis police—has once again stoked flames of frustration toward the Twin Cities' race-related problems. We’re more segregated than other metro areas, and the state maintains some of the highest racial achievement gaps in the country.
Americans are sometimes confused how politically-Progressive Minneapolis/St. Paul could contain these striking interracial problems. Many Minnesotans are as well. I think it’s because we fail to recognize its underlying cause.
Minnesota overall has a reserved, passive-aggressive, "clique-y" social culture. In-group bonds are tight, which is great. But intergroup activity—reaching out and connecting to new/different people—is notoriously difficult. Ask transplants here about that.
This cultural trait, by itself, would already hinder inter-cultural relations. But mixed with the area’s Progressive political ideals, these problems are exacerbated.
People and political leaders of Minneapolis-St. Paul like to talk about racial interactivity and helping various disenfranchised communities. And because of Minnesota's prosperity, such folks can also vote for a lot of tax dollars toward such efforts. But real connections to these groups are much less common, so real solutions to these various communities’ problems aren’t discovered/addressed. Sometimes, because some solutions largely just “throw money” at the problem, things worsen. And when strong connections do exist, solutions offered are almost exclusively through a Progressive lens, which equate to a one-sided approach. (A one-sided conservative approach would be harmful, too.)
As a result, the racial gaps persist/widen—as do other social issues such as crime and rising homelessness. Overall, the Twin Cities political approach can be misused to compensate for meaningful action to help—which is originally hindered because of our standoffish culture.
The difficulty of intergroup interactions is naturally enhanced when such an interaction is confrontational (arresting someone or taking down homeless camps). Thus, such situations are often messy and ineffective—and even fatally horrific as has now been the case multiple times here. And the worse things are for disenfranchised communities, the more these confrontations occur, the more strained intergroup relations become.
Culture and politics in Minnesota play off of each other, snowballing things to where they are today.
Perhaps this intergroup cultural struggle is a product of the Scandinavian upper-Midwest, which contains four of the states with the country’s worst achievement gaps.
Such an embedded Minnesota/Midwest cultural feature isn't going away—at least not anytime soon. So the best way forward, I believe, is to first acknowledge it and address it as individuals, from the bottom up. It's not fast, but it's a foundation. And then, resist the desire to compensate for this cultural shortcoming with overreaching efforts on the surface. They aren't as helpful and can even exacerbate problems. Finally, when considering how to address social issues in a community, consider a mix of typically conservative and Progressive angles.
We’re in the midst of an ugly cycle in Minnesota with culture and politics playing off of each other. Rising homelessness, high achievement gaps, and the killing of George Floyd are the symptoms.
I'm working with the board of directors of my nonprofit The Periphery Foundation to begin projects working toward solutions to our biggest social problems.
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