"North Dakota not so Nice"..Opinion piece that needs to be said (about A LOT of States)
Letter: North Dakota not so nice after all
Written By: Ryan Hilmoe, Grand Forks | Aug 14th 2020 - 8am.
We have a phrase used to describe the residents of our area: “North Dakota nice.” Whether we earned it from our neighboring states or we gave it to ourselves, don’t you think we should try to actually live up to it?
Our North Dakota Republican party recently voted to approve the platform as nicely labeling our LGBTQ+ population as infectious, manipulative, dangerous, unhealthy, and even predatory.
After it got national attention, they walked back their claims.
That might mean we’re nice for walking it back, or it might mean that we don’t like the public blowback.
We can determine which of these two options is more accurate by observing our lawmakers’ past treatment of our LGBTQ+ community as second class citizens. They’ve nicely gone out of their way to offer little to no protection from discrimination in a multitude of settings, which would actually detract zero rights from any other citizen.
This isn’t our only pitfall in fulfilling our reputation for niceness.
Often when presented with the idea of vulnerable groups in great need, whether it’s immigrant children detained without their parents or impoverished families that are just getting by, compassion seems to fall to the wayside.
Nice discussions on these matters often include how individuals deserve the situation they’re in, followed by a proud declaration of how great it is that they’re kept in their state of anguish. Other times, “that black guy” is taking up too much of the nice news cycle.
George Floyd’s murder is a bother, or a tribute to John Lewis’s lifelong fight for equality (in which he was jailed, beaten, and skull fractured) is not history worth appreciating.
The latest conundrum regarding masks is another example where we seem to have forgotten our neighborly niceness, again. We obey speed limits and wear shirts in public for others’ safety and comfort, but wearing a mask is out of the question because “it’s a free country.” I would characterize that attitude as selfish, callous, and antipathetic…not nice.
So which is it? North Dakota nice-when-it’s-convenient? Nice-if-benefits-me? ND nefarious? I truly prefer to show some humanity in my words, my actions, and my life. I’m not saying we have to be nice, but then we should stop pretending like we’re defined by that particular adjective.
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FYI..(Article Hidden behind Survey Paywall)
https://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/letters/6614897-Letter-North-Dakota-not-so-nice-after-all
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