St. Cloud gets the New York Times treatment... for its anti-Somali racism

[TexasTowelie]

There are a few ways to get your hometown splashed across the pages of the New York Times. Its Thursday morning portrait of a fearful, refugee-hating St. Cloud is probably not the most coveted one.

The piece includes a string of baffling vignettes, each one portraying white residents airing their distrust and even disgust with the couple thousand Somali refugees that have settled in town over the past decade or so.

There were accounts of people who viewed Somalis as “innately less intelligent than the ‘typical’ American citizen,” a looming menace threatening to “replace” all white people, and most sinisterly, “not from Norway.” One unnamed woman “bemoaned” sections of the city where Somali immigrants had supposedly taken over, and where white people were simply too uncomfortable to return.

“‘They were just—’ she said, searching for the words to describe the offending behavior of the Somali Americans. ‘They were just walking around.’”

Read more: http://www.citypages.com/news/st-cloud-gets-the-new-york-times-treatment-for-its-anti-somali-racism/511580851

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Michelle Bachmann's old district. St. Cloud is the Alabama of Minnesota.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Might add Stearns County as a whole

tends to be the Alabama of Minnesota.

[applegrove]

2. We had somalis settle in ottawa way back. When government cutbacks happened,

and the high tech community was in trouble with the switch to digital, Ottawa could still count on a growing somali community to make the economy keep going. They were moving in and starting businesses and after a while buying homes. Diversity has always made america great.

[captain queeg]

4. I was at a conference in Minnesota a couple years ago

Apparently they have a real high number of Somali immigrants. As I’ve noticed all over many immigrants end up driving cab and before I figured out Lyft/Uber used cabs fairly often. I hooked up with one cabbie from Somalia who was willing to schedule my rides a day in advance (I was staying a long way from the convention center because I booked so late) and we talked a lot. I’ve had very similar conversations with other cab drivers in other cities.

I’d have thought most immigrants came here to “the land of opportunity” to improve their standard of living and that’s certainly an element. But the number one reason I’ve heard again and again is just that they want a safe place to raise their family. People in America have no concept of this; life isn’t perfect and there can be occasional danger but few of us are regularly in fear for our lives.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. There are a lot of Somalis in Minneapolis. I see them every day

in my neighborhood. They're just my neighbors.

[captain queeg]

7. Yeah that's where I was

But there are a lot in Portland. I’d think the coastal cities tended to get most immigrants so was surprised how big an enclave of Somalis are in Minneapolis.

I posted here before about the Somali that ran the parking garage at where I worked. I usually chatted him up when I paid. One day he was smiling from ear to ear; he’d just become a US citizen. Brought a rear to my eye to tell you the truth. These guys are the most representative of immigrants. There’s bad apples amongst any group but statistics show crime among immigrants is well below the national average.

[geardaddy]

8. The reason why we have so many refugees from war-torn places

is because the HQ of the Center for Victims of Torture is here in Minneapolis https://www.cvt.org/

So, lots of East Africans, West Africans, Southeast Asians. There is also a sizeable Tibetan community here.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. CP calls this the "New York Times" treatment but it is definitely accurate for St. Cloud.