Tensions run high in St. Cloud over race relations

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

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ST. CLOUD-- It was an emotional night in St. Cloud Monday as members of the community gathered to talk about race relations. It's been an on-going problem for many years.

"What was happening in 2009 is still happening in the community," said a former student.

Just last month, current Somali students, staged a protest after they say another student was harassed and called a member of ISIS. Monday night they had the ear of the U.S. Department of Education.

The Federal DOE isn't here because of last month's protest. Representatives are here as part of an on-going monitoring process stemming from a civil rights incident back in 2010. The St. Cloud Area School District signed an agreement the following year to ensure improvements and occasional visits from the DOE.

The Representatives used the community meeting as a listening session of sorts.

"The people who were put there to protect us, to tell other kids that's not okay, were actually coming to us and saying there's nothing we can do about it," says a former student who says she was harassed.

As the night went on, it was obvious the tensions go far beyond the classroom and into the community. Some speakers accusing Somali immigrants of not assimilating into the community or taking money from the government.

"I work to feed my kids. I pay taxes to feed my kids. I'm an American as you are," says one Somali mother in return. "I'm not a terrorist but I'm a mother who is feeling sad for her kids the way they are being treated,"

Other speakers gave suggestions for possible solutions and were concerned that their entire community is being painted as a bunch of racists. Still others claim the racism goes both ways in the hallways.

"My kids come home too, crying because they get picked on by you. Okay?," says a tearful parent.

The St. Cloud Area School District says they were not invited to attend the meeting and didn't know about it until Monday. Two school board members did attend the community meeting. Bruce Mohs got up to speak. He acknowledged the issue of race has not gotten better but said it will take everyone involved to get involved to fix it.

"The change must be among the students, the change must be among the parents, the changes must be in the schools and the changes must be in the community," said Mohs.

No decisions were made at the meeting. The Department of Education representatives said very little. One audience member did ask they last time they were in St. Cloud for a monitoring session, the answer was 2013.

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