As a farmer and community organizer in rural Minnesota (Fillmore County), I am worried about some of the reports I have read about anti-Asian racism playing out in our small towns. We know racism exists for all of us in the U.S., and the work of confronting it can seem overwhelming. But now is not the time to let our weaknesses rule. In this crisis, we have a unique opportunity. Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing us all to the brink. This unknown is terrifying, but it’s also, oddly, a kind of gift. Confined to our homes, we are tending our nests, clearing dust and cobwebs, taking inventory of the things that matter. We have time for this as never before. And we are discovering both joy in the simplicity of life within our little domains and nostalgia for the tenderness, the awkwardness, the messiness of relating with people! We don’t know when will be fortunate enough to come within six feet of strangers again. But, we do know that if there was ever a time to work on our compassion and understanding for when that time returns, that time could be now. Now we have the time to choose what sort of behavior will get us all though this crisis not only together, but together stronger. How can we use this fear of an unknown disease to help us conquer the unknown territory between ourselves and our neighbors? Even at a distance, relationships can be built.
Eva Barr
Wykoff, Minn.
Jeffrey Erding says
“” We know that racism exists for all of us in the U.S.” Really? America elected a black president, not once but twice. Of course there are racist people in America, and not all of them are white.
The fact is the vast majority of Americans are good people who judge others not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.
Leftists tend to see a racist behind every rock, while themselves engaging in the most damaging racism of all; the soft bigotry of low expectation: always and forever telling people of color ” You can’t be successful without massive government intervention.”
Which of course is nonsense, but is a widely perpetuated fallacy promoted by secular progressive leftist king makers and their useful brainwashed supporters to maintain power over minorities.
Accusing Americans of widespread racism is insulting and inaccurate, but hell will freeze over before the radical left ever admits that. They are too imprisoned in their progressive bubble to see the truth.