In this powerful hometown conversation, journalist Justin Ellis returns to Minneapolis to discuss his debut book, The Cruelty of Nice Folks: Why Minneapolis Is the Story of America. Joined by host Lissa Jones, Ellis unpacks the contradiction at the heart of Minnesota's reputation: how a place celebrated for progressivism, politeness, and quality of life can also produce some of the nation's deepest racial disparities.

Drawing from history, personal family stories, and the aftermath of George Floyd's murder, Ellis examines the hidden costs of "Minnesota Nice," the legacy of housing segregation, the concentration of power and wealth, and the ways white politeness can prevent meaningful reckoning with injustice. Through a deeply personal exploration of Black life in Minneapolis, Ellis challenges listeners to move beyond comfort, confront difficult truths, and imagine a more honest future.

This conversation is a meditation on memory, power, belonging, and the enduring resilience of Black families who built lives and communities despite systems designed to exclude them.

Black Market Reads is a product of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, produced in partnership with iDream.TV. Find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts and on www.BlackMarketReads.com with Go Deeper bonus content.

Welcome to a very special edition of Black Market Reads, brought to you by the Givens Foundation for African American Literature, in proud partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center.

In 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson introduced Negro History Week to build a durable, year-round engagement with Black history and cultural memory. One hundred years later, we are honoring that exact vision by activating a public humanities initiative that proves Black history lives all year long, not just in February.

This season, we are charting a unique course at the exact intersection where African American literature and the public humanities meet—exploring how our stories serve as an archive, evidence, and an active tool for social liberation. Today, to launch this centennial initiative, we are diving into the core of what the humanities mean for our collective future.

To kick off this vital conversation, we're joined today by Kevin Lindsey, CEO of the Minnesota Humanities Center.

Recorded live at Franconia Sculpture Park, this episode of Black Market Reads brings listeners into a powerful, place-based conversation about the life, work, and legacy of artist Michael Richards. Host Lissa Jones is joined by curator Esther Callahan and book editors Alex Fialho and Melissa Levin to explore Are You Down?, Richards' monumental sculpture created during his 2000 residency at Franconia. Grounded in the physical presence of the work and shaped by reflections from Richards' own artist statement—read by his cousin and steward Dawn Dale—the conversation weaves together art, history, race, and responsibility, asking what it means to engage with and carry forward the voice of an artist whose story continues through his work.

GO DEEPER visit our website at www.BlackMarketReads.com

Black Market Reads is a project of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in partnership with iDream.tv. Our production team for this episode includes co-producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, camera/YouTube editor Angelo Gbeve, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken.