This moment in history will define our times. Federal agents scooping people up, clashing with protestors in the streets of my home state. Not just in Minneapolis, but across the state, including communities up north. Perhaps some legitimate criminals were arrested, but many innocent people were terrorized.

And yet, I found myself frozen for a couple days this week. Not because of the Minnesota winter, but because I could not think of a deliberate action I could take that would do any good.

As a historian and writer, this was a painful, but a good education. This is how it is, and how it was for most people in history.

Eventually the pain, the disappointment, the fear cleared long enough to write today’s column (gift link). I’ve often written how restoring the past is a foolish and impossible goal. But looking back can sometimes show us a way forward. Change is inevitable, but nothing is new.

Read “A weary Minnesota must find shared reality amid chaos and fear,” in the Sunday, Jan. 18, 2025 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

 

Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.