How Minnesota nice became Minnesota strong [View all]

How Minnesota nice became Minnesota strong
This is how a society builds resilience and creates lasting change

By Nicole Karlis
Senior Writer
Published January 26, 2026 12:45PM (EST)


(Salon) Social media feeds show different narratives of what’s happening with Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, causing many of us to experience a rollercoaster of emotions. First, there’s the violence, including videos of two American citizens, Alex Jeffrey Pretti and Renee Good, being killed in broad daylight by federal immigration enforcement, sparking fear and despair. The second is the AI-generated misinformation being spread by the White House on what is happening, sparking outrage and anger. The third is how the Minnesota community is coming together to resist ICE, protect and support each other — and while we can absolutely be outraged and anguished by the former, we must also find hope and strength in the latter.

As a health reporter, I’ve been fascinated for years by how communities come together in the wake of a crisis. From natural disasters like a wildfire to the COVID-19 pandemic to a political crisis, time and time again — despite what Hollywood movies like to portray — when humans face a crisis, it brings out the best in people. In an era when self-care has become yet another form of individualism where people are told to buy a certain product or experience to feel better inside, I find it interesting that in times of crisis people take a different approach to self-care — taking care of each other and their communities.

In sociology, there’s a term to describe this phenomenon: “bounded solidarity.” Alejandro Portes, a prominent sociologist at Princeton University, first introduced the term in a paper published in The Annual Review of Sociology in 1998. It’s used to describe when a community is bound by a crisis, and during this time, it can lead to extreme acts of altruism and kindness that aren’t usually seen in non-crisis times.

We are seeing this in Minnesota right now. Multiple media reports have highlighted the ways in which the community has come together. Volunteers are delivering groceries so immigrants can hide at home. People are raising money to help Minnesotans cover rent because they haven’t felt safe to go to work. People are taking each other’s kids to school, organizing shifts for people to stand guard and protect immigrants in their neighborhoods. As NPR recently reported, when a preteen got her period for the first time — a preteen who hadn’t felt safe enough to leave the house to go to school — a community rallied together and launched an underground operation to get her pads. Minnesotans have been braving the below-freezing cold to show up for protests and denounce the violence in their communities for weeks. ...................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/01/26/how-minnesota-nice-became-minnesota-strong/