Scholars come to Minnesota to study how neighbors mobilize, care for another through difficulties

People around the world were watching earlier this year as Minnesotans showed up in droves for peaceful protests. The neighborly behavior got so much attention that scholars from North Carolina traveled here to study it this summer.

Whether a peace march, a neighbor or quietly shoveling another's drive, Minnesotans are renowned for helping each other out.

Buff Grace is a Georgia native who's lived in the state for 18 years.

"There's just something in the water about Minnesota where, you know, people all have needs and we're going to help each other out," he said.

Buff runs Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light, a multi-faith action group. He's also a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alum, a school that took interest in Minnesota's neighborly response. 

"I was excited for these students because it is, you know, Minneapolis has been in the news for good and for ill, for a number of things over the last few years, and it's a chance for them to be at the heart of some of what's happening in our nation and really see it up close," Buff said.

Aron Jaiman is one of the Chapel Hill students who are Morehead-Cain scholars; they did extensive interviews with Minnesotans from many perspectives.  

"We had a total of 35 interviews. This was across Minneapolis, St. Paul; we even went to Willmar," Jaiman said. "We were talking to congregation leaders, but then we were also talking to someone that we met at an ice cream shop. There was this three-step framework that naturally emerged and I thought that was really, really surprising and also really kind of reassuring as a young person."

It seems being prepared for shared tragedy is strengthened by having an established friendly, even casual, acquaintance with neighbors, having a plan with clear roles and having roles easy to access, like making phone calls or making food

"Something that we learned in a lot of these interviews is just the importance of those pre-existing relationships, and those relationships need to be built before a time of crisis to actually make them useful. And so I think everyone around the world, around the United States, should make an effort to try to know their neighbors."

Jaiman says what he is also taking away from Minnesota is how open people were to answer his questions. He says he loved the paddle boarding in the Twin Cities and how late the sun stays up in the summer.