Why Minnesota?

It is an excellent question ... why was I adopted there?

Why do I continue to put my nose into the community business?

Why did I stick around for so long?

I think a lot of it has to do with safety ... to be honest, while I did get a world-class education out of it all.

Though Minnesota is also an excellent representative of the United States as a whole, in my opinion

During my early 20's I didn't want to stray far from my child ... I wanted to stay and fight, even though it seemed futile to do so.

Or maybe that was the excuse I used to walk the path I did ... I don't know; because what I uncovered on my road rightfully scares more than a few people.

That's why I was intentionally silenced, and called crazy, I suspect.

Minnesota has urban liberal core, along with a rural conservative; but there is a twist.

Not only does the DFL maintain the history of a Farmer / Labor aspect, with roots in the rural counties of Minnesota ... because of this, the state is a hot-bed for extreme centrism, on both sides.

This is why DNC elected Ken Martin, the former party chair for Minnesota; and the governor's name has been thrown in the ring, as a potential candidate against the flagrantly felonious one.

Though it recently occurred to me ... we so often view politics on a linear spectrum, of left to right ... but there is so much more dimensionality to it!

If the democrat/republican spectrum is our x-axis; then individualist/communist could be our y-axis.

Now we have two-dimensions ... why stop there ?

What about the pacifist / activist spectrum ... and so we've got 3D politics.

So we'll close with one more ... the optimist / pessimist spectrum ... it's like a tesseract of political identity; always evolving.

And in Minnesota, it all collides in fascinating way.

Minnesota has a solid social welfare system; in comparison to the rest of the US.

That said, there are many immigrants; which can be a catalyst for racial tension.

On top of all of this, the state is built on the land of a significant population of indigenous people.

While having a significant proportion of Fortune 500 companies; Minnesota is quite the milieu of possibilities and pitfalls.

And in these ways, I think more indicative of the bulk of US citizenry, outside of the coastal cities, and other Black/brown strongholds, such as Atlanta and Houston.

And what I mean by strongholds are, places where Blackness and brownness are represented in significant numbers, enough that individuality is allowed without consideration for the white gaze, or the white dollar.

That level of independence and autonomy is what scares the supporters of this administration more than anything.

Though, these fears are not the sole property of Christian conservatives, because the liberal Christians, and their communities, are also scared of any threat to their dominance as docile innocent inheritors of racial privilege.

Respect must be earned by following the words and commands of inefficient leaders, according the a color-gradient. Failure to comply is met with dismissal, derision and denial.

The point is not all this misery though; the point is to find a way through it all, to a better place.

Which is precisely what I've done ... and I don't think I could have done it anywhere else.

Regarding safety ... I think it would have been easier to move if I had a cultural foundation to rely upon; but I did not, and any move would put me further at the whim of world I didn't trust.

More and more I recognize the significance of being "transracial", in that my ability to relate to anyone is significantly impaired, while my perception is proportionally improved.

Unable to participate, I'm constantly forced to observe; participation yields too large a risk, unless certain parameters are in place. And I've been intentionally kept under-resourced, so that I would always need to be fighting for basic needs, unable to focus on growth.

As to whether this was intentional, or just the product of inept parenting, is debatable; though arguably a waste of time as well.

The curious path was experiencing all the individual who refused to help, or attempted to rewrite my identity to fit their desired narratives; and how wildly wrong they were allowed to be.