Peeks past the surface of Minnesota Nice and reveals some of the too-often unspoken pains and tensions beneath.

This collection of articulate, mostly firsthand observations of the accumulating legacy of the insidious racism present in Minnesota is both a welcome revelation and an uncomfortable indictment. Pushed beyond acknowledging the most obvious racism manifesting itself today, I am forced to ask myself questions the answers to which I don't always like.

"...It's easy to take the moral high road on a social issue when your personal commitment to the principals you espouse remains largely untested. It's easy to point a finger at the egregious violation of basic human rights going on elsewhere in the country and ignore the widespread, if less obvious, violations going on in your own backyard. "Contemporary Minnesotans are often genuinely shocked to hear that there was active, ongoing slavery at Fort Snelling from the 1820s through the 1850s- and t...

Excellent, eminently readable collection of thoughtful, thought provoking essays.

This is an important book that everyone should read-even if you're not from Minnesota. Many painful experiences are recounted. The essay "People Like Us" by David Lawrence Grant, was written with a keen insight into the dominant Minnesota culture and offered a path forward for bridging various cultures.

Published in April 2016, this book is perhaps even more valuable today.As an old white guy, I need to hear all the voices, although the white voices I hear talking about racial difficulties only have value in that I can see the truth of what is being said by the writers of these essays. (Find various sites where there are ratings of this book. Read the one and two star reviews. You can see clueless white voices.)I gave it only 4 stars because there were clearly some stellar writers here, which m...

Most essay collections are hit-or-miss, and you read them hoping for a few gems and expect mostly solid pieces and a few duds. A Good Time for the Truth is unusual in that the essays are consistently well-written and each has a distinctive voice. I can hear many of the writers in my head now and they aren't blending into one perspective, which sometimes happens with these collections. The essayists are all Minnesotans of color or Indigenous Minnesotans and they write about the particular experie...

This, I feel, is a very important book, especially now. A collection of essays by writers of color living in Minnesota, A Good Time for the Truth was published this year by the Minnesota Historical Society. As the visibility of the persistence of racism in our culture rises, now is definitely a time for the truth regarding race and racism in Minnesota. After I began reading it, this became all too clear as Philando Castile became the latest victim of police violence in the United States, again s...

The authors of these essays have nailed us, "us" being the white "Minnesota Nice" majority. Turns out our "niceness" masks a clueless indifference that in some ways is worse than the Confederate flags of the South. And it's not just black Minnesotans holding up the mirror in this volume. Asian, Native and mixed-race people of all origins are also yearning to have their identities and struggles acknowledged. This is fascinating but often painful reading. Nearly every author recounts an experience...

Everyone should read this book.

Having read, listened, and learned about experiences of people of color in America and knowing that racism is alive in MN, I was still challenged by these phenomenal, raw, and moving essays of the experiences of Micro Aggressions for someone living in MN and being a person of color. Especially in situations and institutions that seemed like there should be a better understanding of race and racism like the English Dept at the U of M. Highly, highly recommend to anyone and everyone, especially wh...

This was devastating to read--to know what the experience of living in MN has been for people of color. It included varied experiences from many different ethnicities. This is a wake up call to me and my privileged class. A must read!

Read this. Absolutely essential reading for working to understand the nuances of race and racism in Minnesota, both today and throughout history. Includes writers from a variety of different racial perspectives, which seems important for understanding what diversity means. Each person has a different story to tell. From David Lawrence Grant's essay "People Like Us": "Listen. If you fail to value a people's stories, you fail to value *them*."

Such a powerful book and should be required reading for every Minnesotan. I feel like the struggles we have in our state exist throughout the country. As Taiyon J. Coleman said, "...there are Confederate flags everywhere, even in places where we can't see them." Do yourself a favor and read this book. You won't stop thinking about it.

Stories from Minnesota authors with the theme of race in Minnesota, but also experiences growing up, learning, being change-agents and supplying calls to action. I loved reading the varied experiences and learning more personal things about people who have not had the same advantages as I have as a white woman. The diversity of authors and lenses had me captivated and also helped me realize my own complicity in “Minnesota Nice”.

4.5 stars. Collection of personal stories about race in Minnesota across racial lines. MN nice isn't always so nice. One author, Taiyon Coleman visits Alabama for the first time for a college interview and is shocked and disturbed by the Confederate flags everywhere. Yet after enough microabrasions in MN, she "longed for the Confederate flags of the South, because at least the South has clear lines of demarcation and warning." Thought provoking.

Read for a SURJ Book Club, totally required reading for any Minnesotan.

I appreciated Taiyon J. Coleman's insight about how one's perspective changes when one ceases to be the only person of one's demographic in a space: "Like a flat balloon inflated by air, together [we] helped each other take shape and form." I was struck by Heid E. Erdrich's theorizing a connection between the concept of owning land and the concept of owning other human beings, and between both these concepts and the concept of "standing one's ground." David Lawrence Grant's contribution to this

"The white people here don't like controversy or conflict. They like insisting that things are just fine. But in 2016 America, no one can discuss race without controversy or conflicts coming up, with tension arising. So many white people here subscribe to the following tautological wheel: The only time we encounter racial tensions is when the use the of race comes up. So the way to keep away tensions is to not talk about race. If no one is talking about race, then that must mean racism no longer...