01 June 2020

The "Minnesota Paradox"


From this morning's New York Times:
Minnesota’s Twin Cities metro area has one of the country’s highest standards of living by many measures: high incomes, long life expectancy, a large number of corporate headquarters and a rich cultural scene. 
But these headline statistics hide a problem: The Twin Cities also have some of the largest racial inequities in the U.S.... 
Samuel L. Myers Jr., an economist at the University of Minnesota, has named this combination “the Minnesota paradox.” Because the area is predominantly white, the racial gaps can get lost in the overall numbers... 
“We so want to believe we are not racist,” Doug Hartmann, chairman of the University of Minnesota sociology department, has told The Star Tribune, “we don’t even see the way that race still matters.”
The image below via Sloth Unleashed:

7 comments:

  1. I think wealth does more to combat racism than "anti-racism" does. Wealth generation in a small community is what builds cohesion and positive identities, and lets the next generation enjoy a higher standard of living than the previous one.

    It's not a perfect solution, but I'm skeptical of the return you're going to get from explicitly anti-racist strategies, since it seems like all that accomplishes is making everyone more angry at each other.

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    1. So, when wealth inequality exists, you suggest society should seek to increase the wealth of the lowest-income group? That's almost a "socialist" attitude.

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    2. Socialism is a ham-handed way of resolving that, one that's already failed these communities in the form of social welfare

      A local business is far preferable way of remediating these inequities. They build pride and expertise where a hand-out builds dependencies. Wealth generated via small business endures through generations, and places power in the hands of the business owner. Welfare leaves the recipient completely dependent on an external, faceless agency

      Any community can increase its own wealth, you simply need to step out of its way and let them

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    3. In the movie "Sunshine State," Bill Cobb plays a character that said something that stunned me. He lives in a run-down black area that was once quite prosperous. He said (paraphrase), "Integration ruined everything. Before, blacks couldn't go to certain places, so they brought their business to the establishments that used to be here. But when integration came, blacks began to go elsewhere...and these places died."

      That was the general idea, anyway.

      Wealth was building a rising middle-class of blacks, as I understand it. But though integration had good intentions, it also had unintended consequences, if the movie can be believed.

      I also have come to think that Booker T. Washington's approach would have worked, even though it was longer term. He felt that the only way that whites would truly consider blacks their equals was for blacks to become so known for their skill, talent, integrity, etc., that whites simply couldn't deny the obvious.

      W.E.B. Du Boise, though, took the approach--at least to some degree--that America needed to legislate equality/civil rights, etc. And while that happened, it didn't fix the heart of most.

      Perhaps BOTH of their ways together would have worked best? I know that I have some African American friends that do work so well that I PREFER to hire them. It's hard to dismiss such quality just because a person is the "wrong" color.

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    4. There's nothing equal about someone having to work twice as hard to be accepted as "equal."

      Martin Luther King, Jr. was as 'successful' as he was in having legislation passed since the White power structure well understood that if they didn't deal with him... it would then have to deal with those who would not be willing to turn the other cheek.

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    5. Blame Socialism all you want, but unbridled Capitalism (what we have in the good ol' US of A) is what has made entities such as Walmart and Amazon possible- the two single, biggest destroyers of small business in America!

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  2. Over time, I have come to realize that racism is not directed at individuals, except so much as they are part of a GROUP. That's why a racist can say--and honestly mean--"I'm not a racist--my best friend's a black guy!"

    Racism doesn't play much of a role, I don't think, in INDIVIDUAL relationships (unless, I suppose, the individual is exhibiting all the negative stereotypes that the racist believes about some group). If you have a KKK member and a Black Panther sit down together and share a meal, talking sports, etc. (and maybe not letting them know up front what organization the other belongs to), they might actually come away liking each other. I know there is this one black guy that made it a POINT to speak to KKK guys. They actually liked him! One even gave him a KKK robe (not to wear, but as a gift, etc.).

    A while back, neo-Nazis were demonstrating. A number of blacks were demonstrating back. One black guy walked up to the neo-Nazi and...hugged him. If I recall right, the neo-Nazi broke down in tears. So long as he didn't have to confront and know and INDIVIDUAL, he could go through life wrongly assuming the worst about blacks. But now he had to confront that this was a good man in front of him.

    I preached the other day about the Good Samaritan. Of course, Jews and Samaritans did not care for each other. But I guarantee you that the man that was lying wounded and, perhaps, dying, felt differently when it was over. He might have still been suspicious of Samaritans at large, but he did know one man who was as good as gold.

    It is my opinion, and I could be wrong, that the only way forward is NOT legislation--that's already on the books over and over. It is the simply fact of whites and blacks asking each other over for dinner (or out for lunch, etc.), and JUST TALKING! No trying to "solve" the issues, but just getting to know one another.

    When that dinner is over, two people are likely going to go back and share that they met someone who does NOT fit the stereotype (very few do). If that is followed up on, with invites going back and forth, acknowledged birthdays, and the such, it spreads.

    Now, that's all pie in the sky sort of stuff. Will it happen? Probably not. But I do know some black youth in my neighborhood that attend our church (I'm a white man, in my late 50s) that we load up and take to Wendy's every now and then. I guarantee you that they don't think about me like they might other whites...and I don't think about them like I might other blacks (I'm working on it--help me, Jesus).

    It's the only way I know, since there is no magic bullet. It's just people reaching out...and that, in turn, rippling out.

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