c.2026, Harper\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 $30.00\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 419 pages<\/p>\n
By Terri Schlichenmeyer<\/p>\n
The Truth Contributor<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Two blocks up, two down.<\/p>\n
Once upon a time, that was your entire world. You lived here, Grandma\u2019s house was around the corner, uncles and aunties lived along the way, school was nearby, church across the street. That real estate held everything you needed. But what if things changed? What if, as in the new memoir, The Cruelty of Nice Folks<\/em> by Justin Ellis,<\/strong> your hometown, the place that held your memories, betrayed you?<\/p>\n Chances are that when you think of Minnesota, you think of lakes, lush fields or fun in the snow. Justin Ellis thought of home<\/em> because he grew up in Minneapolis, close to family and friends and everything he held dear.<\/p>\n He was, therefore, understandably alarmed when George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis policeman who knelt on Floyd\u2019s neck until he died. Ellis wondered how something like this could happen in the city he loved, and so he headed home.<\/p>\n Being a Black family in Minneapolis was never without its struggles. There, Ellis says, \u201conly 26 percent of Black families own homes\u2026\u201d When unemployment for Black residents was at an all-time low, it was double what white Minneapolitans experienced.<\/p>\n And scattered throughout Ellis\u2019s lifetime, Black citizen died at the hands of police.<\/p>\n He wanted to know why, with such a progressive reputation and a history of welcome for people of color, was there still racial violence in his hometown? Would Chauvin pay for Floyd\u2019s murder?<\/p>\n Ellis says, \u201c\u2026 our eyes had seen this death so many times before and watched a killer walk away. What were we supposed to believe?\u201d<\/p>\n Arriving in Minneapolis, Ellis set out to see the whole picture that he and other Black Minneapolitans had lived, but his arrival there had dual purpose. Ellis\u2019s mother had been diagnosed with cancer, and she needed him close.<\/p>\n As her life slipped away, he studied the death of a man he\u2019d never know\u2026<\/p>\n While you\u2019ll probably pick up Cruelty of Nice Folks<\/em> for its thoughtful content and the fact-finding inside, it\u2019s important to at least give a nod to the books\u2019 exquisite writing. Author Justin Ellis sharpens a thought, turns a phrase and screws it tightly into your heart in a way that most writers will only wish they could do, so pay attention and don\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the first appeal of this book.<\/p>\n The second appeal is in the story itself, and the reporting that Ellis offers. Readers who know all about \u201cMinnesota Nice\u201d but also about Floyd, Renee Good and Alex Pretti will see the yin and yang of the Twin Cities, and why Minneapolis\u2019s long history of race relations explains a lot of what\u2019s going on in the rest of America. That story is woven in with a memoir of a mother\u2019s love that\u2019ll make you want a big box of tissues. You\u2019ve been warned.<\/p>\n This is a thoughtful, thorough book that will satisfy readers of history and biographies, making it a don\u2019t-miss. Start The Cruelty of Nice Folks<\/em> and you\u2019ll find that you can\u2019t put it down.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" c.2026, Harper\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 $30.00\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 419 pages By Terri Schlichenmeyer The Truth Contributor Two blocks up, two down. Once upon a time, that was your entire world. You lived here, Grandma\u2019s house was around the corner, uncles and aunties lived along the way, school was nearby, church across the street. That real estate held everything you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[20],"class_list":["post-20218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book_review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20219,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20218\/revisions\/20219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20218"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=20218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}