Helping to push a stranger’s car out of the snow. Shoveling beyond your own driveway. Checking on your neighbors when the coldest weather hits. Winters in Minnesota tend to bring out the best in us. They remind us that Minnesota is a community. And community is not just about being “nice.” In a place where it gets this cold, looking out for each other can be a matter of survival. I like to think of it as a Minnesotan’s version of the golden rule: look out for others because it could be you stuck on the side of an icy road.
I did not grow up in Minnesota. I am one of almost 900,000 people to move here from other states and around the world since 2000. No matter where you have come from, or whether you have been in Minnesota for generations, we all have a couple of very important things in common. First, we each have a dream of what our life and future can be in this amazing state. Second, we come with our own version of that same golden rule. I learned it from my father, a minister in rural Appalachian churches, but the idea of treating others as you would hope to be treated appears universally across every faith and culture in the world. It requires no degree in theology. By the time children are 6 or 7, they are capable of understanding and acting on this concept.
That is what makes this winter in Minnesota so disturbing. Our immigrant neighbors, including our Somali and Latino communities, among others, are being singled out, demeaned, threatened, told they don’t belong, and bullied from the highest reaches of our federal government. Communities, families, and children are being made to feel unsafe. It is not how any one of us would ever hope to be treated. And if our second graders are capable of seeing this is wrong, we certainly can’t stand for it as Minnesotans.