A Smoldering Skyline View of Minneapolis

 

Lake Street

Aftermath of the riots on Lake Street in Minneapolis

I waited over a week for the flames to subside before remarking on my city. After the heinous death of George Floyd sparked protests that devolved into violent riots, lawlessness, and absolute terror-inducing chaos, things have become unsettlingly…settled. The eyes of the nation have shifted from Minneapolis to cities from coast to coast. The names of the streets change, but the scenes are shockingly similar: smashed storefronts, roving bands of looters, brutal violence perpetrated on the streets, shooting flames lighting up the night sky. But it’s the aftermath that brings the conclusion into focus. The last three months have proven what the underclass in America has known for decades: the problem is no longer too much government, but too much bad, self-serving government.

The 2016 election echoed resoundingly within the gated communities of the privileged class and shook the ivory towers of pundits and political elites. The rebellion of the ruled against the rule-makers was partly a result of a growing unrest among Americans living under this two-tiered system. Regurgitated platitudes that only benefitted the growing bureaucracy has two effects on citizens: submissive defeat, or acting for change. Much post-election analysis showed working- and lower-class white Americans opted for the latter. Now the rest of the unheard ignored is coming to the same realization.

I live and grew up in the Minneapolis area. I’ve lived and worked on the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ sides of the city. I lived close to the University of Minnesota campus while attending college and worked at a Mexican restaurant on Chicago Avenue that has since closed. I worked as an Uber driver between jobs. The Minneapolis communities are distinct and close-knit; the people are proud. But I didn’t have to venture too far to find streets without working street lamps, open drug deals, and prostitution. The most heartbreaking is driving past homes that I would’ve assumed were condemned they were so dilapidated. Yet here were kids running in the yards, jumping between posts missing their chain links – mere skeletons of fences. It is a grim contrast between the pristinely manicured, lakefront homes of the white, liberal neighborhoods only a few miles away. Those homes never have a fence in disrepair and more often than not, have a ‘Black Lives Matter’ sign posted prominently in the yard.

The segregation of Minneapolis has been going on for years. Decade after decade of Democrats in office have paid lip service to poor, mostly minority communities. They cater to the upper-class liberals and sell out to political unions and academia. Liberal residents thought they could insulate themselves from responsibility by voting for people like Governor Walz and Mayor Frey, men whose virtue signaling was reflected in their voters’ pursuit of compassion and equality and hope. They believe they use their privilege to save ‘those poor minorities’ (a racist condescension in its own right). And voting for liberal policies creates a dependent underclass is fine, as long as they stayed on the other side of the fence and in the other school districts. They vote for Amy Klobuchar because she self-proclaims a message of inclusivity, pitting herself against people like Donald Trump – except when bad cops come before her like Chauvin, who has a record of police brutality, then the only compassion she shows comes in the form of dismissed charges. What happened to “No justice, no peace”?

Poor minority communities are sacrificed at the altar of political correctness and liberal appeasement. For years, politicians and government officials promised to enact change and foster a community of equality in exchange for more power. Instead, they forced small businesses to close during COVID. Barbershops, restaurants, and independent retail stores that line Lake Street and Chicago Avenue, in addition to those that began to spring up in some of the poorest neighborhoods in North Minneapolis and St. Paul were forced to close. Community pools and beaches – the only respite for many families during the hot, humid summer months will stay closed all summer. No community k-12 school programs. No daycare. And to make certain these communities would be absolutely devastated economically, the Governor and Mayor stood aside while they were burned to the ground. But the wealthy who go lake cabins or backyard pools, who shop at boutiques in the suburbs and have jobs where they work from home needn’t worry about such neighborhood strife. Besides, they have a yard sign that says they care.

Many in the elite political class on the Right perpetuate this two-tiered system as well. It’s no secret they hold themselves in a place of higher moral authority when they lecture Trump about his coarse language. But where is the morality in decades of ignoring working-class Americans of all races when they traded away jobs to China? What’s the message in sending us and our kids to fight in a perpetual war where mission creep is the norm, not the exception? Talk is cheap, and the supply is endless.

What are we to think of a government that locks us down for months on end without a real metric on when we can be free? When the state shuts down family drive-in movie nights and public parks but allows elderly COVID patients to go back to certain death in long-term care facilities? When the Mayor of New York City targets Jews gathering to mourn a beloved community leader but refuses to answer for his own romp in a city park miles from his own mansion? Looters and rioters have free reign of destruction on cities already breaking under the burden of regulation, taxes, and forced COVID shutdowns. Law-abiding citizens are helpless to defend themselves not only against the criminals but also against a suffocating government. This barbershop in Minneapolis was destroyed by fire. Orthodox Jews were scolded for not social distancing while New York City shattered. Gun owners are continually targeted just for exercising their First and Second Amendment rights, but brick-throwing radicals are allowed to ‘express their anger.’

There are too many heartbreaking examples of a government that targets the law-abiding but appeases the lawless. We need to stop being bystanders to our own destruction.

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  1. Duke Powell Coolidge
    Duke Powell
    @AmbulanceDriver

    Living in an outer ring suburb, I can say that Jenna has accurately described the mess that is the City of Minneapolis.

    Now the useless City Council wants to do away with the police department and replace them with social workers (I’m not kidding). The University of Minnesota, which lies within city boundaries, has severed all ties with the department. The Minneapolis School Board, yesterday, kicked the Resource Officers out of the schools.

     

    • #1
  2. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    I have extended family in Minneapolis, and have visited enough to have seriously considered moving there several years ago after a particularly blissful day lunching at Lake Minnetonka.  We explored a “hip” little area around Nicollet Ave. that even had a record store, and were wondering whether it was time for a change to get closer to family.  Then, as they say, life got in the way, and nothing happened.  It brings to mind the old sports adage “Sometimes the best trades are the ones that you don’t make.”

    • #2
  3. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    @JennaStocker

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    I have extended family in Minneapolis, and have visited enough to have seriously considered moving there several years ago after a particularly blissful day lunching at Lake Minnetonka. We explored a “hip” little area around Nicollet Ave. that even had a record store, and were wondering whether it was time for a change to get closer to family. Then, as they say, life got in the way, and nothing happened. It brings to mind the old sports adage “Sometimes the best trades are the ones that you don’t make.”

    That’s a perfect example of what many people are going to do. Why on earth would someone want to make a move here? Why start a business? Economic opportunities will dry up along with tax revenue, property values plummet, public schools continue on a downward spiral. The people who can leave, will. The people left will continue to suffer even as liberal politicians point the finger at each other. Btw, you must’ve visited in those coveted two weeks each spring & fall where the weather is sublime. If anyone is seriously considering a MN move, visit in January. ;-)

    • #3
  4. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    Would like to like this post at least 100 times.

    • #4
  5. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    @JennaStocker

    Duke Powell (View Comment):

    Living in an outer ring suburb, I can say that Jenna has accurately described the mess that is the City of Minneapolis.

    Now the useless City Council wants to do away with the police department and replace them with social workers (I’m not kidding). The University of Minnesota, which lies within city boundaries, has severed all ties with the department. The Minneapolis School Board, yesterday, kicked the Resource Officers out of the schools.

     

    A disaster. By the time the liberal Democrats learn to govern, there won’t be anything left.

    • #5
  6. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Men at some time are masters of their fates;
    The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
    But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

    Julius Caesar, Act 1, Scene 2

    • #6
  7. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    In the 1930s many British aristocrats and Royals admired Hitler and Mussolini. Even in the late ’30s and beyond, when admiring progressives were distancing themselves even though the Italian trains were running on time.

    Hope Walz, the daughter of the Governor of Minnesota, is collaborating with “protestors” and giving them information about the movements of the National Guard.

     

    • #7
  8. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    @JennaStocker

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):

    In the 1930s many British aristocrats and Royals admired Hitler and Mussolini. Even in the late ’30s and beyond, when admiring progressives were distancing themselves even though the Italian trains were running on time.

    Hope Walz, the daughter of the Governor of Minnesota, is collaborating with “protestors” and giving them information about the movements of the National Guard.

     

    The first I’ve seen of this. Another example of how journalists are actually racing politicians to the bottom. (But there are a few decent local news outlets here. And some really, really bad ones).

    Thanks for the info!

    • #8
  9. John Park Member
    John Park
    @jpark

    No metric? First, it was hang tight for a couple weeks, so we don’t overwhelm out hospitals. Then, it was hang tight until we have done a million kajillion tests. Then, hang tight until we get a vaccine. Next, it will be just hang tight.

    • #9
  10. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    @JennaStocker

    John Park (View Comment):

    No metric? First, it was hang tight for a couple weeks, so we don’t overwhelm out hospitals. Then, it was hang tight until we have done a million kajillion tests. Then, hang tight until we get a vaccine. Next, it will be just hang tight.

    Finally, we all hang separately.

    • #10
  11. Painter Jean Moderator
    Painter Jean
    @PainterJean

    JennaStocker:

    The last three months have proven what the underclass in America has known for decades: the problem is no longer too much government, but too much bad, self-serving government.

    Where’s the proof in Minneapolis of this? The underclass is Minneapolis has been voting in Democrats for decades. I see no sign that’s going to change. It’s not just wealthy liberals electing these people.

    Lake StreetLake StreetAftermath of the riots on Lake Street in Minneapolis

    Now the rest of the unheard ignored is coming to the same realization.

    Are they? I doubt very much that anyone in Minneapolis is going to change their voting habits even after this chaos.

     

    Poor minority communities are sacrificed at the altar of political correctness and liberal appeasement. 

    Then why do they keep voting for liberals?

     

    There’s too many heartbreaking examples of government that targets the law-abiding but appeases the lawless. We need to stop being bystanders to our own destruction.

    I hate to be such a kill-joy here, but I don’t think anything is going to change in Minneapolis. These are the people who elected Ilhan Omar, after all.  

     

    • #11
  12. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    @JennaStocker

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    JennaStocker:

    The last three months have proven what the underclass in America has known for decades: the problem is no longer too much government, but too much bad, self-serving government.

    Where’s the proof in Minneapolis of this? The underclass is Minneapolis has been voting in Democrats for decades. I see no sign that’s going to change. It’s not just wealthy liberals electing these people.

    Lake StreetLake StreetAftermath of the riots on Lake Street in Minneapolis

    Now the rest of the unheard ignored is coming to the same realization.

    Are they? I doubt very much that anyone in Minneapolis is going to change their voting habits even after this chaos.

     

    Poor minority communities are sacrificed at the altar of political correctness and liberal appeasement.

    Then why do they keep voting for liberals?

     

    There’s too many heartbreaking examples of government that targets the law-abiding but appeases the lawless. We need to stop being bystanders to our own destruction.

    I hate to be such a kill-joy here, but I don’t think anything is going to change in Minneapolis. These are the people who elected Ilhan Omar, after all.

     

    It’s true there’s a very vocal liberal cadre here. Also a very heavy, Somali immigrant population in Omar’s district (I used to live there). But the last presidential election showed a very significant right-leaning outer-urban movement. I think the threat of violent riots and criminal behavior may be enough for some liberals in affluent neighborhoods to retreat to a law & order stance- but they would NEVER admit to it in public. My hope is that the small business owners follow suit and realize the impact of voting (D) has gotten them nothing but tragedy and poverty. But I’m no political pundit. I didn’t go to an Ivy League university. I just slum with the rest of the Ricochetti from here in Minneapolis. ;-) I truly appreciate the feedback.

    • #12
  13. Sursum Ab Ordine Member
    Sursum Ab Ordine
    @Sailor1986

    Great post – thank you.  Have to say it:  Uff da!  What is happening to my hometown?  I’m Minneapolis born and raised, moving away 33 years ago after joining the Navy.  Even as a youngster I appreciated that growing up in south Minneapolis, near Minnehaha Parkway, in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, was about the best place and time anyone could grow up in the history of the human race.  Not everyone enjoyed the same idyllic childhood – busing to a minority heavy school help me learn that, as did delivering Domino’s on the near north side a bit later.  On visits home in the past decade or so, though, I noticed that the neighborhoods along Lake Street west of Chicago looked more and more foreign and more and more dangerous (not necessarily synonyms, but in this case, they were).  The city has fallen hard under uniformly liberal leadership, it’s obvious.  Many other great U.S. cities have cratered without fighting back and I dread the thought of Minneapolis following the path of Detroit or Memphis.  Could happen.  There’s a lot of ruin in a city, but the recent years must have taken a heavy toll on the Twin Cities.  Anyone who can move to the suburbs will surely do so.

    Minnesota, like many states, is really two states:  the densely urban Twin Cities and the more normal everywhere else.  All the craziness is concentrated in about 2% of the surface area.  Urban interests always wrestled with rural interests in the state capital, but it appears the urbanites solidly have the upper hand.  I assume the good folks in Bemidji and Faribault shaking their heads right now.  Fair assessment, if anyone knows?

    • #13
  14. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    @JennaStocker

    Sursum Ab Ordine (View Comment):

    Great post – thank you. Have to say it: Uff da! What is happening to my hometown? I’m Minneapolis born and raised, moving away 33 years ago after joining the Navy. Even as a youngster I appreciated that growing up in south Minneapolis, near Minnehaha Parkway, in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, was about the best place and time anyone could grow up in the history of the human race. Not everyone enjoyed the same idyllic childhood – busing to a minority heavy school help me learn that, as did delivering Domino’s on the near north side a bit later. On visits home in the past decade or so, though, I noticed that the neighborhoods along Lake Street west of Chicago looked more and more foreign and more and more dangerous (not necessarily synonyms, but in this case, they were). The city has fallen hard under uniformly liberal leadership, it’s obvious. Many other great U.S. cities have cratered without fighting back and I dread the thought of Minneapolis following the path of Detroit or Memphis. Could happen. There’s a lot of ruin in a city, but the recent years must have taken a heavy toll on the Twin Cities. Anyone who can move to the suburbs will surely do so.

    Minnesota, like many states, is really two states: the densely urban Twin Cities and the more normal everywhere else. All the craziness is concentrated in about 2% of the surface area. Urban interests always wrestled with rural interests in the state capital, but it appears the urbanites solidly have the upper hand. I assume the good folks in Bemidji and Faribault shaking their heads right now. Fair assessment, if anyone knows?

    The Twin Cities are very different from greater MN, and one doesn’t need to go very far out to see the disparity. New Prague, Carver…Even Klobuchar has had to dance very gingerly between the Iron Range residents who have been out of good work, hoping for the pipeline project and the liberal (green new deal-types) who don’t want it. It will be a very interesting election year in Minnesota, dontcha know? ;-)

    • #14
  15. Wiscosotan Member
    Wiscosotan
    @AlanMartinson

    JennaStocker (View Comment):

    Sursum Ab Ordine (View Comment):

    Great post – thank you. Have to say it: Uff da! What is happening to my hometown? I’m Minneapolis born and raised, moving away 33 years ago after joining the Navy. Even as a youngster I appreciated that growing up in south Minneapolis, near Minnehaha Parkway, in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, was about the best place and time anyone could grow up in the history of the human race. Not everyone enjoyed the same idyllic childhood – busing to a minority heavy school help me learn that, as did delivering Domino’s on the near north side a bit later. On visits home in the past decade or so, though, I noticed that the neighborhoods along Lake Street west of Chicago looked more and more foreign and more and more dangerous (not necessarily synonyms, but in this case, they were). The city has fallen hard under uniformly liberal leadership, it’s obvious. Many other great U.S. cities have cratered without fighting back and I dread the thought of Minneapolis following the path of Detroit or Memphis. Could happen. There’s a lot of ruin in a city, but the recent years must have taken a heavy toll on the Twin Cities. Anyone who can move to the suburbs will surely do so.

    Minnesota, like many states, is really two states: the densely urban Twin Cities and the more normal everywhere else. All the craziness is concentrated in about 2% of the surface area. Urban interests always wrestled with rural interests in the state capital, but it appears the urbanites solidly have the upper hand. I assume the good folks in Bemidji and Faribault shaking their heads right now. Fair assessment, if anyone knows?

    The Twin Cities are very different from greater MN, and one doesn’t need to go very far out to see the disparity. New Prague, Carver…Even Klobuchar has had to dance very gingerly between the Iron Range residents who have been out of good work, hoping for the pipeline project and the liberal (green new deal-types) who don’t want it. It will be a very interesting election year in Minnesota, dontcha know? ;-)

    Oh ya, it should be very interesting. I’m hoping for a referendum on Walz’s handling of all this, even though I live just across the river in Wisconsin now.  What’s somewhat ironic to me is how things have reverted back to when I was in high school.  Minnesotans are streaming across the river into Wisconsin to drink at the bars now that we’re a free state.  Back then, it was because the drinking age in Minnesota was 19, but it was 18 in Wisconsin. 

    • #15
  16. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    @JennaStocker

    Wiscosotan (View Comment):

    JennaStocker (View Comment):

    Sursum Ab Ordine (View Comment):

    Great post – thank you. Have to say it: Uff da! What is happening to my hometown? I’m Minneapolis born and raised, moving away 33 years ago after joining the Navy. Even as a youngster I appreciated that growing up in south Minneapolis, near Minnehaha Parkway, in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, was about the best place and time anyone could grow up in the history of the human race. Not everyone enjoyed the same idyllic childhood – busing to a minority heavy school help me learn that, as did delivering Domino’s on the near north side a bit later. On visits home in the past decade or so, though, I noticed that the neighborhoods along Lake Street west of Chicago looked more and more foreign and more and more dangerous (not necessarily synonyms, but in this case, they were). The city has fallen hard under uniformly liberal leadership, it’s obvious. Many other great U.S. cities have cratered without fighting back and I dread the thought of Minneapolis following the path of Detroit or Memphis. Could happen. There’s a lot of ruin in a city, but the recent years must have taken a heavy toll on the Twin Cities. Anyone who can move to the suburbs will surely do so.

    Minnesota, like many states, is really two states: the densely urban Twin Cities and the more normal everywhere else. All the craziness is concentrated in about 2% of the surface area. Urban interests always wrestled with rural interests in the state capital, but it appears the urbanites solidly have the upper hand. I assume the good folks in Bemidji and Faribault shaking their heads right now. Fair assessment, if anyone knows?

    The Twin Cities are very different from greater MN, and one doesn’t need to go very far out to see the disparity. New Prague, Carver…Even Klobuchar has had to dance very gingerly between the Iron Range residents who have been out of good work, hoping for the pipeline project and the liberal (green new deal-types) who don’t want it. It will be a very interesting election year in Minnesota, dontcha know? ;-)

    Oh ya, it should be very interesting. I’m hoping for a referendum on Walz’s handling of all this, even though I live just across the river in Wisconsin now. What’s somewhat ironic to me is how things have reverted back to when I was in high school. Minnesotans are streaming across the river into Wisconsin to drink at the bars now that we’re a free state. Back then, it was because the drinking age in Minnesota was 19, but it was 18 in Wisconsin.

    “Minnesotans are streaming across the river into Wisconsin to drink at the bars now that we’re a free state.”

    That made big news here, as it does every Independence Day when Minnesotans want real fireworks, when they prohibited smoking in bars, and then haircuts and restaurants opening in the age of COVID. When that happened, I could almost feel the collective pain of those businesses here in MN watching customers cross the border to greener pastures and cold beer.

    • #16
  17. Painter Jean Moderator
    Painter Jean
    @PainterJean

    JennaStocker (View Comment):

    The Twin Cities are very different from greater MN, and one doesn’t need to go very far out to see the disparity. New Prague, Carver…Even Klobuchar has had to dance very gingerly between the Iron Range residents who have been out of good work, hoping for the pipeline project and the liberal (green new deal-types) who don’t want it. It will be a very interesting election year in Minnesota, dontcha know? ;-)

    You betcha! Funny you should mention Carver – when I was a kid, we drove through that little town every time we went from our home in New Brighton to our farm in Belle Plaine, where we spent most of our summers and still tended livestock several times a week in the winter. For most of my life, Carver was a tiny little place with a post office, old gas station, and several bars. I was an adult living on my own when the first huge suburban homes went up on the hill across the creek. Now it’s gentrified, though a couple of the institutions are still the same. Who would have thought that tiny Carver would become a suburb? Not me!!!

    I think Trump has done a lot to alienate suburban women. Ground there has been lost, not gained, since the 2016 election. Still, it’s possible that this chaos might reverse that trend.

    From where I live, in Wabasha county, the liberal leadership up in Minneapolis looks pathetic and not up to the challenge at hand. 

    • #17
  18. JennaStocker Member
    JennaStocker
    @JennaStocker

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    JennaStocker (View Comment):

    The Twin Cities are very different from greater MN, and one doesn’t need to go very far out to see the disparity. New Prague, Carver…Even Klobuchar has had to dance very gingerly between the Iron Range residents who have been out of good work, hoping for the pipeline project and the liberal (green new deal-types) who don’t want it. It will be a very interesting election year in Minnesota, dontcha know? ;-)

    You betcha! Funny you should mention Carver – when I was a kid, we drove through that little town every time we went from our home in New Brighton to our farm in Belle Plaine, where we spent most of our summers and still tended livestock several times a week in the winter. For most of my life, Carver was a tiny little place with a post office, old gas station, and several bars. I was an adult living on my own when the first huge suburban homes went up on the hill across the creek. Now it’s gentrified, though a couple of the institutions are still the same. Who would have thought that tiny Carver would become a suburb? Not me!!!

    I think Trump has done a lot to alienate suburban women. Ground there has been lost, not gained, since the 2016 election. Still, it’s possible that this chaos might reverse that trend.

    From where I live, in Wabasha county, the liberal leadership up in Minneapolis looks pathetic and not up to the challenge at hand.

    A farm in Belle Plaine?! You’re living my dream!

    • #18
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