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 Liberal Place: Minneapolis, MN
These are comments on Minneapolis, submitted by other Turn Left visitors. They do not necessarily represent the opinion of the webmaster. You may add a comment on Minneapolis if you want.
 The Twin Cities area of MN is one of the most progressive areas of the
nation. It has a strong Scandanavian/German ethnicity, which undoubtfully
plays it's part in the liberal nature (with the Mixed economic systems of
Europe, etc...) The University Of Minnesota is one of the most accredited
in the nation, and people in this area are generally espicially tolerant
of new ideas. The people of the area are also very proud to see their tax
dollars go to such ventures as Social Security, Medicaid, NASA, the arts,
and to Minnesota's first-rate school system.
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I have lived in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area for over 14 years. Unlike
the previous writer, I would say that the majority population is
politically "moderate" and the liberalism commented on was more likely
"Minnesota nice" (meaning, tolerant to your face) which as a person of
Scandinavian/German/English descent, I am quite familiar with. Our
state politics are a good example of what I'm describing. Our state
Senate has a Democratic majority but, the governor is a Republican and
the state House barely can hold onto it's Democratic majority (70
Democrats, 64 Republicans). The liberal politics are probably more a
reflection of the many academics and other highly-educated professionals
who live in urban areas of Minneapolis and St. Paul than that of the
average Minnesotan. Gay/lesbian/bisexual/transexual folks will find an
active sub-culture here. ( Just don't expect that your Twin City
co-workers and neighbors are REALLY keen on knowing the true you!)
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While I do agree that Minneapolis is very, very good on gender issues (including GLBT), and is extremely labor friendly, we do have one major problem here.
Minnesota is 96% white (the German/Scandinavian heritage you've heard about). The people of color who do live here suffer incredibly. Minneapolis has the highest concentration of urban black poverty of any city in the US. We also have the highest per capita incarceration rate for black males, although the overall rate is the third lowest in the country. Teen pregnancy among blacks is 2nd highest in the nation, although we have excellent public education and public health services. There is one black on the city council and one black in the entire state legislature (and he's retiring!).
Because of "Minnesota nice", white people don't openly talk about the embedded, institutionalized racism in Minneapolis. In fact, they will do just about anything to avoid it. It makes them very uncomfortable and messes with the denial mechanism. They instead will point out that the mayor is a black woman. True, but her administration is being sued by the NAACP for abandoning school integration. She kisses up to the major corporations in the city, giving huge subsidies for new office buildings and hotels while managing to avoid dealing with the affordable housing problem which is reaching crisis level.
Don't get me wrong, I love living here. But I'm white and white privilege is alive and well in Minneapolis. I hope that when my daughter grows up, the fact that she is half asian and looks it will not be an issue in this otherwise liberal friendly city.
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Mpls is overated as a liberal city. The upper Mid-west (I did grow up in Mn and earned college degrees in Mn) is predominantly white and exhibits very little racial intolerance until it becomes a next door issue. This was and is very apparent in the attitudes toward Native Americans. The redeeming quality is in the Mn niceness. You can be a liberal and proclaim this and get no open hassles from the citizens (as long as you are white).
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Minneapolis and Minnesota are not perfect but after living in many other cities I find myself returning to Minnesota with a great deal of pride as one of the exiles who has returned. In a state with over 90% Northern European stock and a large portion of our minority population disadvantaged we still must point out two important facts. The Mayor of Minneapolis is a Black Woman who has been elected and re-elected by the white majority. We have a Black Male Supreme Court Justice who has been elected and than re-elected by the largest majority of an person in the history of Minnesota. Our major downside in Minneapolis and Minnesota is the treatment of Native Americans. They are truly the repressed minority in our state.
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