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It has been heartbreaking and inspiring to watch and hear the events unfolding in the city of Minneapolis. Heartbreaking that our government flooded the streets with masked, unidentified thugs in unmarked vehicles acting with at best reckless abandon and quite arguably murderous intent against that community. Inspiring that the people of Minneapolis came together in profound unity, organizing networks to protect, assist, and safeguard their fellow community members with everything from people who stood watch in the freezing winter temperatures to those standing outside the center where the thuggish government released people into the snow and ice without cold weather gear, without their possessions, making sure each and every one was safe. That, to me, is the spirit of America, the Spirit of 1776, not the arrogant parading about with long guns trying to intimidate your fellow citizens.

It would seem that the architects of this pogrom failed to see that this sort of reaction might occur. They had no real plan to deal with a community that not only refused to assist them but actively and with deep and wide coordination opposed them. Why? Why were they so blind to this possibility?

I think it is because the people behind this heinous operation, the attempted occupation of an American city are at heart, racists.

Most people have a very difficult time getting out of their heads to see the world from another’s point of view.  People tend to think that everyone thinks and feels the way that they do, that they see the world through the same lens. In fact, they are ignorant of their own lens and assume that they objectively see reality and not an interpretation that has been filtered by their own history and biases. One of the more challenging aspects of fiction writing, and one not every author published or not achieves, is successfully climbing into that point of view that is alien to your own. It is a difficult task at the best of times, requires not only effort but sustained practice, and with a charged subject such as religion or politics it can be nearly impossible. Overlaid with the disease of racism, it becomes unthinkable.

The thought that people, particularly white people, might come together for their neighbors when their neighbors had darker skin and spoke accented English or foreign languages, risking their own liberties and lives is utterly alien to the racist. They wouldn’t get in the way; They wouldn’t risk anything of theirs for someone who wasn’t like them. As such they were blind to people who see community as something that transcends color and language.

It is not over. Not in Minneapolis, not for America, but Minneapolis shows us the way, Minneapolis gives us hope and now we must find our courage as they found theirs.