Friday 26 March 2010

Somali population, cultural tension rising in St. Cloud, Minnesota



St. Cloud, Minn. — The Facebook group, "I hate the Somalians at Tech High," didn't live online for a long time, but word traveled fast among high school students in the St. Cloud area.

While that page no longer exists, students of Somali descent say the attitudes expressed on that Facebook page have a strong presence on two of St. Cloud's public high schools.

Sahra Alin Ahmed, a Somali student and freshman at Apollo High School, wasn't surprised by the group's views as she regularly hears them on campus.

The atmosphere at the city's high schools is so hostile to Somali students that Alin Ahmed finds herself having to stand up for newly arrived immigrant students.

"They don't say anything to the people that know English, but the ones who just came from Africa, who don't really know English, you know, who don't really understand, those are the ones they get at most," she said.

Somali students now make up about 10 percent of the student population in the St. Cloud Area School District 742 and their numbers have been steadily growing. The entire district has about 10,000 students.

Alin Ahmed said white students make disparaging remarks about how they perceive their Muslim classmates to dress, speak, and smell.

Apollo sophomore Fadumo Adan said she's been the target of those comments ever since she moved to Minnesota from Somalia two years ago.

"They always make fun of us and they say, 'Go back to your countries,' and, 'You guys stink,' and, 'This is our country, and we don't need black people,' so it's every single day," Adan said. "It's not several times, it's all the time."

Adan said some of her classmates spray perfume as Muslim students exit classrooms. Although she has complained about that to teachers and her counselor, sometimes they won't do anything, she said.

But Alin Ahmed said that in her experience, school administrators do try to address racial tensions when problems arise.

St. Cloud Area School District 742 Superintendent Steve Jordahl said school administrators do follow district discipline policies when students report any kind of inappropriate behavior. When district officials receive complaints of bullying, racial, sexual or religious harassment, he said, they take action.

"Detention can happen [and] legal authority, the police, in other words, can be called in," Jordahl said. "Kids can be suspended or dismissed from school. Sometimes expulsion things can happen. Of course, that doesn't happen very often, but it does happen."

That's what happened to 18-year-old Kyle Adams, a senior at Area Learning Center Wilson, an alternative school. Adams used to go to Technical High School, but officials expelled him when he was in the tenth grade.

"I was young and dumb and saying some stuff and then a Somalian came up at swung at me and I ducked out of the way and then I said, 'you stupid, f'ing n----- and all of this,'" Adams said. "And then I got in trouble and got kicked out and there was nothing followed up on them for swinging at me or yelling at me and that really made me kind of mad."

This wasn't Adams' first altercation with classmates of Somali descent.

Though Adams now says he shouldn't have said the things he said, he still harbors resentment. He was one of the people who joined the Facebook group, "I hate the Somalians at Tech High." He's also a member of another Facebook group called, "I am a 'Rasist' [sic].. ok,, So Deal With It."

Adams, who grew up in Kentucky, explains he called his classmate a racial epithet because his beliefs about race are deep-seated.

"I was raised in believing that this country was founded upon a white Christian nation and the belief of racial separation," he said.

Adams said his family and friends think it's normal to use racial slurs. He said his attitude toward Muslim students is also common among many of his classmates.

His friend, 18-year-old Matt Mayavski, said a few people at the school call themselves "rednecks" on campus. Others make their views known by wearing Confederate flag belt buckles or belts or wearing certain brands of clothing, said Mayavski, a lifelong St. Cloud resident who also went to Technical High School.

Adams and Mayavski say they flash the Confederate battle flag -- an offensive symbol to many blacks -- because they believe in small government. They say it has nothing to do with race.

The resentment stems from feeling like Muslim students receive preferential treatment, Mayavski said.

"Towards the end of my junior year, I was in math class and the Somalians asked to go pray before lunch," he said. "Well, I went to ask my teacher for [a prayer break] and [she] sent me down to the office and I got written up for it. And I was like, 'Well, how can the school respect their religion, but they can't respect ours?'"

Nimco Ahmed, a policy aide to a Minneapolis City Council member, said it's understandable that white students in St. Cloud have such questions.

"Why can they go every Friday and step out of class and have a Friday prayer while I have to be in class is a good question," said Ahmed, who is from Somalia. "It is a legitimate question and somebody needs to answer these questions to them."

When Ahmed went to Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis ten years ago, the Somali population was growing rapidly, and cultural misunderstandings were common.

Ahmed said school administrators have to take extra steps to educate students about other cultures. That's how her school was able to overcome cultural tensions.

"They reached out to other people outside of our school. They had people come in and educate us and sit down with us and mediate us," she said. "That's exactly what is needed. And when we learned how to do it, we reached out to other schools that had the same problems. We didn't stop."

Ahmed said such challenges are typical of any area undergoing significant demographic changes. But the issues at St. Cloud schools need to be addressed quickly before they escalate, she said.

Superintendent Jordahl said he wants people to understand that his schools are doing what they can to address these problems.

"As adults in the system, we recognize that the issues exist and our job is to raise student achievement," Jordahl said. "We recognize that if kids don't feel good, feel safe, they are not going to do as well as if they did. So we want to make sure we are addressing this all the time."

But schools can't tackle them alone, he said.

"We really, really want our parents to understand that they have a huge role in this," Jordahl said. "In fact, I always say this, parents, you are the first and most important teacher your child has."

While Jordahl said St. Cloud schools are working hard to address racial tensions, critics in the wider St. Cloud community say the district isn't doing enough. They've called on the district to adopt a more aggressive anti-bias curriculum than what the district currently has.

source

5 comments:

  1. This really makes me mad maybe we would treat them better if they treated us better. If they say something rude or do something rude to us it's no big deal but if we say something to them it's a big deal. They dont move when your walking down the hall they think you need to move for them which and if I do I end up hitting someone else because they couldn't move over. there more mean to us than we are to them. You people that don't go to school and deal with this everyday don't understand and you never will. yes we say mean things but THEY do to. I'm not saying there all like this I have black friends an friends from different cultures I AM NOT RASIST. If they can leave in the middle of class to go pray I should be able to go and pray as well if I want to. There are to side to every story.

    Yours truely,
    The girl with the other side of the story :)

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  2. You are right. It is a legitimate question and somebody needs to answer these questions to the students.
    Let me explain this, if I may, please.
    We all understand that we are talking about mainly Christian and Muslim students here, especially in school district 742. Christians have a religious holyday called Sunday. Schools are closed that day. Muslims also have a religious holyday, called Friday. If the Christian students want to have time off to pray as the Muslims students do, they indeed, have the right to do so. But in reality, there is no Church in the middle of the day of Friday. We all know that. Is there any possibility for school district 742 to arrange an extra hour of class for Muslim students so that they can make up for the prayer break session or something like that?
    Let's not forget that when the Germans first came here in Minnesota, many times, many of them were sent back home from school, if they spoke German. Do we really need to repeat a negative history. What would we be setting examples of, to our future generations???
    Sincerely,

    A former student

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  3. @ The girl with the other side of the story :)

    Honesty if you wanted to pray, you could have but the reality is knowing the people i go to school[tech high school] with, none of ya'll pray. As a "somalian American" i have a right to go pray if i want just like you have a right to. and you know not alot of somali kids report ignorant(Rednecks)people as much as they should. and yes you're right their are "SOME" somali students that are very disrespectful,even to me but please dont genaralize everyone, just like the way i think "SOME" white students discriminate against us.AND AM REALLY SICK AND TIRED OF the staff not doing anything about the situation. yes the assistant principles do try but all they mostly do is get the students hopes up and lead them on. thats definelty a huge problem. i was once a girl that would do anything to change the way my fellow peers think about different ethnicities but since senior started am starting to give up just because i CANT do it alone !. I have tried and i will try more in the future but i need support and not the kind of support that i use to get from the school faculty/staff !!!.
    -yours truly
    Racism isn't born folks, it's taught.!

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  4. The post is really interesting and informative. City Government should take some action against those creatures.

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  5. As an parent in St. Cloud, I have heard some of the stories about what is happening in the schools. Here is my take on all of it. Non-Somali people, this is a nation of many different peoples. Together we make a rich diverse population. Somali people-this is our country, we are proud of it. We do not resent you, we resent anyone who is not 'American". You are different, new, unknown. To District 742-you have a responsibility to ALL the students. You have counseling after a tragedy, help for the poor, ESL for people who are learning English. Now get up and teach ALL the students about the rich, diversity of other cultures. Teach them the 'smell' is actually a type of incense that Somali's burn after a meal. Teach them some of the Muslim beliefs, so everyone can understand about Somali dress and beliefs. Teach Somali's about American pride and respect for our country. How our country started out with Immigrants from many different countries. Teach respect and acceptance and do NOT allow disrespect from anyone, regardless of their race. If white boy do bad, act on it, if somali boy do bad, act on it. Accept equality for all and in all aspects. Do not let anyone get away with being an a** to anyone else.
    By the way, I am a white, middle aged woman who works with many Somali people every day. I consider it a wonderful thing learning about this vital aspect of the population in St. Cloud.

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