When it comes to racial equity, Minnesota is a state filled with people who intend to do the right thing, Augsburg University history professor Bill Green said Wednesday.
“But the price of doing the right thing is very, very, very high, and there are many other things the people have to worry about,” Green said during a talk titled “What Happened in This Region to Create the Disparities That Black Americans Continue to Experience Today?” His talk was part of the St. Croix Valley Foundation’s lecture series, “Conversations of the Valley,” which is focusing this season on racial justice.
During the protests last summer after George Floyd, a Black man who died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, Green said news reporters often asked him to comment.
“They wanted me to say that it was a major change, that we were about to enter a new era, simply because of the people going to the streets,” said Green, the author of “The Children of Lincoln: White Paternalism and the Limits of Black Opportunity in Minnesota, 1860-1876″ and “Degrees of Freedom: The Origins of Civil Rights in Minnesota, 1865-1912.”
Although the protests were “an impressive thing to see,” Green said he told reporters at the time that people “should wait and see how this turns out.”
There have been moments in history, notably the Civil War, when people “came together to deal with an injustice,” Green said.
“But then afterward, the problem of integrating people of different ethnicities and different races and different classes together, and the sacrifice that it would require of society to be able to do that, was oftentimes too high and the duration of that challenge was too long,” he said. “As a result, the campaign was allowed to die while people got distracted by other issues and other priorities.”
Speaking via Zoom on Wednesday just two hours after President Joe Biden was inaugurated, Green said he was “very happy and very hopeful” about the change in leadership “because the leaders seem to be talking about the need to deal with an integrated series of problems.”
Green said he was impressed when Gov. Tim Walz, speaking during the protests last summer, said Minnesotans must deal with systemic racism.
“He then began to try to define it. That is something that seldom happens,” Green said. “He talked about it in terms of not just about police/community relations, but education and employment and housing and health…. That can be overwhelming, but I think that kind of systemic approach is what is really called for.”
A commitment to continue that work can come only from leaders making that a priority, according to Green.
“It takes a continued sense of sacrifice, like we’re at war,” he said. “Unless we have that kind of inspiration, people will understandably begin to move to other issues. It’s possible that things can change, but I think it really remains to be seen whether we have the ability to sustain that challenge.”
St. Croix Valley Foundation leaders weren’t quite sure how to respond after Floyd’s death last Memorial Day, said Heather Logelin, foundation president.
“On one hand, this was all happening not so far from the Valley,” she said. “Standing on the overpass in Hudson, you could see the skies glowing orange from the fires in Minneapolis. On the other hand, our predominantly white Valley communities sometimes seemed worlds away from all of this. And yet there seems to be a growing recognition that it’s perhaps less about being worlds away — and more about being worlds apart.”
When asked how white residents of the Valley could work for racial equity and connect with people of color, Green said there must first be a “formation of trust.”
“Trust doesn’t happen if people don’t feel comfortable with people,” he said. “Comfort can’t be underestimated. People live where they live. I think if there is some effort placed on ‘How do I get communities together in a comfortable environment where they can just get to know each other as people?,’ that can serve as a foundation, as a segue to the deeper conversations, but you have to have that relationship first. Trust can’t come with just the head; it must come with the heart.”
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For racial equity to occur, there must first be a “formation of trust,” professor says - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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