Victoria,
Given my posting history, and that I am Thelemic I can see how this would seem uncharacteristic of me. I will attempt to answer the best I can.
The amount of vandalism and harassment that the Somali Community in MN has received is unusual for the State. At no point have I, or will I ever deny the events that have happened. They occurred. I also also agree none of that should have occurred, and it is wrong. My Point is that in St Cloud it is not a one way street, where this is only flowing towards the Somali Community. In the City Pages Article cited in the TP Article, Lul Hersi stated about school bullying, “ I’m not going to say Somali students don’t bully back”, “Some retaliate. But if they come and find out that the rule of this school is peace, they will abide the law. But when they get bullied, they bully back.” It also occurs that way from all the Adults.
St Cloud is a very poor city, there is an unusual amount of Poverty for a Minnesota City. The city also belies the storied “Minnesota Nice”. Most of the people there are pricks. Everyone here knows it. I would even bet that the White Community in St Cloud started this Culture War. The State as a whole has generally been accepting and welcoming of Refugees over the years. And over time the Communities merge and integrate. St Cloud is an exception to that. Neither side is willing to adapt to the other. So when we hear from out of state, or from the Twin Cities that St Cloud is refusing to accept and integrate with the Somali Community, it rubs the wrong way. Since I will agree the White Community in St Cloud is refusing for the most part, but so is the Somali Community. It sucks, its complicated, and it is going to get worse before it gets better. But it is what it is. What adds fuel to this fire, is that St Cloud has been dysfunctional and eating its own entrails for 20+ years, the overwhelming majority of jobs are Minimum Wage service Jobs. To add insult to injury the schools there are some of the worst on the state. While I am positive there are good people in the Somali Community, they suffer the same fate as the residents there, crap work with no pay and poverty. This cycle and lack of future has caused their community to become just as much of an a-hole as the white community there. Catholic Charities knew this. Instead of taking up Elk River, Otsego, or Becker on starting a Community there, Catholic Charities chose St Cloud because they have an oversized presence there. The Hospital is Catholic, Catholic Charities owns a very large number of Properties, and they have the ability to dictate terms to St Cloud. It Sucks, it really does. The Somali Community in the Twin Cities had an easier time of it.
“ I agree that nobody should have to put up with being called a “slut” or a “whore” or a threat of rape.”
Then you disagree with Catholic Charities and the Somali Outreach Center that held County and City Meetings over all this a couple of years ago. I went to the Benton County one. According to them you are being intolerant and a bigot. By their culture an unattended woman is a whore, and woman are raped in Somalia as punishment. Of course how was my Wife dressed? Did I understand that in their Culture only Whores do not wear heat to toe coverings? Oh, we were offended? Well that is because I and my flaming liberal Wife are racist bigots because we are not being accepting of what their Community had been raised to believe. I am not joking, or exaggerating. They “need” to be given the slack and time to adapt, we need to be more accepting and understanding, and we need to understand that since they do not understand our culture we have no recourse. Of course if we say anything back then we are being a bigot and unaccepting, and thus their Community will just react hostilely to us. There is no middle ground with that. There is no ability to adapt both communities to become one. That is my issue, and why I have no sympathy. If it makes any difference I don’t feel sorry for the White Community in St Cloud either, they really needed to be knocked down a peg.
“ However, if your wife was subjected to this by four white non-Muslim guys, would you then blame the entire white non-Muslim community?”
Damn Straight I would. There are towns in rural northern MN I would not go to by myself, let alone with my Wife and Children. And those cities are all White, and the people there are worse than deplorable.
Like I said in my OP, St Cloud is Complicated. And the complications keep getting ignored here, which means that no resolution is going to happen, and it will just keep getting worse. *sigh*