Reporter Who Said North Dakota Is Too White Is Actually Going To Visit North Dakota

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Written By:
Rob Port

Oct 11, 2012
11:58am

Back in August I wrote about a reporter from Business Insider named Mandi Woodruff who said she’d never move to North Dakota because it’s not as cool as New York. Oh, and we’re too white here.

I thought that was a pretty unfortunate thing to say. Woodruff objects to our supposed lack of diversity, but her definition of diversity apparently begins and ends with skin color. I pointed out that North Dakota has a very rich and diverse history, which is a point of pride for me since I’m the descendant of Norwegian immigrants who paid their way into this country by serving as indentured servants (just one step above slaves). I’m proud of the history of this state, and my family’s part in it, and it’s a little offensive to me to hear anyone discount that history because its participants didn’t have the right sort of diversity of skin pigments.

Anyway, my post (and apparently the emails from you readers it inspired) prompted Woodruff to complain about “feisty North Dakotans” on her Facebook wall, and also inspired Fargo Forum columnist Sam Benshoof to invite Woodruff to the state for a visit so she can see what things are really like here before she casts any more aspersions.

Woodruff, it seems, has accepted.

This is all probably too much attention for a little-known columnist writing for a relatively obscure online publication, but let’s hope that Woodruff, clearly a pretty naive an inexperienced sort of journalist, learns something from her trip. Which is to say that diversity, and richness of culture, don’t necessarily have anything to do with skin color.