{"id":11153,"date":"2021-02-22T20:20:53","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T20:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=11153"},"modified":"2024-11-05T18:43:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-05T18:43:26","slug":"confronting-minnesota-paradox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2021\/02\/22\/confronting-minnesota-paradox\/","title":{"rendered":"Confronting the Minnesota paradox"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Robert Harper \u201916<\/strong> (Courtesy photo)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Robert Harper \u201916<\/strong> remembers the first time he was called the n-word.<\/p>\n

His family had moved to Minnesota from the South Side of Chicago, seeking a better life. Since then, he\u2019s achieved that better life, earning an undergraduate degree from Augsburg University and a master\u2019s degree from the University of Minnesota\u2019s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. He is now a supplier diversity director for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ve had a unique experience escaping poverty on the South Side of Chicago and North Minneapolis, only to be confronted with the daily decisions made by white people that only re-create those circumstances of oppression,\u201d Harper said.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s now a working professional in a state that prides itself on being \u201cMinnesota nice,\u201d Harper never gets too comfortable, recalling that painful moment when he was walking to middle school and a passing driver shouted the racial epithet at him. More recently, on a trip to northern Minnesota, Harper was told while visiting Gull Lake, \u2018You don\u2019t belong here,\u2019 by a white man.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s moments like that when you\u2019re trying to do better, \u2018pull yourselves up by your bootstraps,\u2019 that society reminds you that there\u2019s a glass ceiling for some,\u201d Harper said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Augsburg University, one of the most diverse private colleges in the Midwest, is positioned to be a statewide leader in the turnaround, with students of color in the majority on campus after years of intentional work on diversity, equity, and inclusion. \u201cI certainly feel that higher education is the clearest path to a middle-class life or better,\u201d Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people constantly remind you that they decide how far you go, what rooms you enter, and in the case of George Floyd, whether or not you live.”\u2014Robert Harper \u201916<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Exposing the paradox<\/h3>\n

George Floyd\u2019s murder three miles from Augsburg University put an international spotlight on not only the experiences of Black people at the hands of the criminal justice system but also the reality of the disturbing \u201cMinnesota paradox.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Samuel Myers (Courtesy photo)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s how University of Minnesota Professor Samuel Myers describes how Minnesota has such a high quality of life and a history of progressive politicians but is one of the worst places to live for Black people.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeasured by racial gaps in unemployment rates, wage and salary incomes, incarceration rates, arrest rates, home ownership rates, mortgage lending rates, test scores, reported child maltreatment rates, school disciplinary and suspension rates, and even drowning rates, African Americans are worse off in Minnesota than they are in virtually every other state in the nation,\u201d Myers said.<\/p>\n

The numbers illustrate the bleak story:<\/p>\n