The cruelty of nice folks : why Minneapolis is the story of America / Justin Ellis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ellis, Justin (Journalist), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Minneapolis (Minn.)--Race relations--21st century.

Minneapolis (Minn.).

African Americans--Minnesota--Minneapolis--Social conditions--21st century.

African Americans.

Police brutality--United States--21st century.

Police brutality.

Racism--Minnesota--Minneapolis--21st century.

Racism.

Homicide--United States.

Homicide.

Police brutality--United States--History.

Racism--United States.

African Americans--Minnesota--Minneapolis--Social conditions.

Genre:

Informational works.

Physical Description:

x, 418 pages ; 24 cm

24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Why Minneapolis is the story of America

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Harper, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2026]

Language Note:

Text in English.

Summary:

"It's the 'North,' they like to say, not the Midwest. It's dif­ferent. Minneapolis is a city for everyone. But in 2020, George Floyd's murder by the city's police left many Americans stunned and wondering, 'How could this hap­pen in Minneapolis?' To Ellis, the real question is: What made people think it couldn't? The Minneapolis Justin Ellis grew up in is not the idealistic metropolis it claims to be. The 'City of Lakes' was built on discrimination-- in its housing, its schools, its politics--much like all other American cities. Black families were systematically cut out of the prosperous neighborhoods, lush parks, and pristine lakes that make Minneapolis a haven of the heartland. Because of its image as a liberal ally in the fight for civil rights, Minne­apolis has rarely been forced to confront this fact. But when George Floyd's murder sparks a global protest movement with the city as ground zero, its residents must finally ask what being a good neighbor actually means. In a powerful new epilogue, Ellis turns his gaze back to Minneapolis as the sweeping federal immigration operation once again thrusts the city into national headlines. If George Floyd's murder forced Minneapolis to confront questions of policing, power, and responsibility, the events of 2026 ask what those years of reckoning ultimately changed. Where fear once threatened to overwhelm the city's response to state violence, Ellis finds a community newly practiced in dissent and collective action. The crisis reveals a Minneapolis still wrestling with its identity, but also one transformed by experience--no longer shocked into awakening, but shaped by it"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Good intentions

Going home

Who is welcome

Rules of the house

'Some good white people'

Out in the cold

We'll make it work

Those of us left in the middle

The Minneapolis riot that wasn't

Guilty, all three

The state that works

We all come together at some point

Protest zone without protestors

What I know

City of wakes

You talk around it

Sending a message

Deliverance

History and testimony.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 359-418).

ISBN:

9780063091245

0063091240

OCLC:

1582420171