Somali students stand in front of their school following a group meeting of Somali students May 28 at Tech High School.
Sunday, July 05, 2015
Summer brings its usual sense of calm to the hallways of 98-year-old Technical High School.
Most students have dispersed to temporary jobs, sports, camps and other pursuits.
A group of about 20 students continues to meet periodically, however. They're members of an affinity group, one of two developed after cultural tensions sparked disturbances at the school in late March.
Al Johnson, a former equity integration specialist with the Hopkins school district, helps facilitate weekly meetings for the group called the Tech High School Student Advocate Team. Its members are mostly Somali students.
Johnson, principal at the McKinley Area Learning Center, commutes from Minnetonka even when he could be on vacation. He has been eager to meet with the students in an effort to bring change when classes resume at the end of August.
"One of them told me 'Mr. Johnson, I'm tired of coming to the building and not being able show up as my authentic self,' " Johnson said. "We went through the good, the bad and the ugly. Things that are good in the building. Things that are not good in the building, and things that are absolutely hurting kids. I wanted them to vent it out."
A second affinity group, made up of a racially representative cross-section of the Tech student body, met through the end of the school year with Sebastian Witherspoon, district director of equity services. The plan is to reconvene that and similar groups in the fall at Tech and Apollo High School, where Witherspoon has an office.
The groups were created after a student's social media post depicted a Somali student in a wheelchair with a caption implying she was affiliated with a terrorist organization. About 70 students, most but not all Somali and about one-third of the Somali population at the school, walked out for two hours March 18 and demonstrated on the Tech lawn. The school went into containment and a brief lockdown. Two days later, police responded to a verbal disturbance at Tech and tensions boiled over again.
Similar conflict surfaced about five years ago at Apollo, which has close to a 50-50 ratio between white and non-white students. But the current unease appears to emanate from Tech, which has a higher percentage of white students. Somali students there believe they have experienced bullying and discrimination and that school officials did not adequately respond.
Superintendent Willie Jett also has met regularly with a Somali task force of community members, and the affinity groups plan to present their work to the school board Aug. 12, according to Johnson. Possible actions include formation of a student cultural advisory group, including 20 or more kids of all races who would help the administration interpret potential cultural issues. There also could be a student-led peer council, Unity Days to highlight students of all cultures, and school-wide training for staff on cultural responsiveness.
"Right now I feel like both the students and staff members are more aware of what went on and how Somali students feel," said Nimo Mohamed, a member of Johnson's affinity group, who will be a senior in the fall. "It really was a sensitive topic. We felt we had to go out and protest because we couldn't come to school and learn because we were being constantly harassed. I feel like this advocate group can help better the situation. But we also know this isn't going to happen overnight."
Teen troubles
Najima Omar came to the United States when she was 3 years old. She went to Westwood Elementary, where she was one of four Somali children in her class, and had a wide variety of friends up through sixth grade. She felt a change coming in junior high, however, and says the tensions at Tech have been a buildup of many acts. Some of those she labels as racist, others as misunderstandings.
She notes how students tend to congregate with their own cultural group. If curriculum calls for working with a partner and the teacher lets the students choose, they pick their friends. If the teacher assigns partners, that can lead to awkward relationships and, occasionally, match-ups that may not be culturally acceptable. For example, to some Somalis it's not appropriate for a boy and a girl to sit in close proximity.
"The Somali kids are kind of uncomfortable — they have a fear they won't get accepted," said Omar, who will be a junior this fall at Tech. "They can't even say 'Hi' because either they're shy or they're afraid of getting shunned because of what they're wearing or how their English is. On the other side, I feel like the other kids have a fear of trying something new at the same time. I kind of understand where they're coming from. I think it's on both sides that we should all be open and try to communicate."
Johnson said he's been told of incidents where Somali students have had things thrown at them. He said students have been told "You stink!" or "Why don't you go back where you came from?"
"If I'm a spirited child, I'm not going to go for that and, all of a sudden, I'm defiant and getting sent to the principal and disciplined because I feel this is wrong for me," Johnson said.
He has tried to create an understanding among Somali students about the history of the civil rights movement in America. He talked with them about Selma, Alabama, and slavery and how people from many ethnic backgrounds have been able to affect change.
"It's very easy to call someone a racist and not have an understanding of what that means," Johnson said. "You will find very few racist people that you will come in contact with in our buildings. What you will find, though, are acts of prejudice and bias. ... It's because there's so much that so many people don't know. I don't know why you wear a hijab. I don't know about your religion and why you need to pray so much. It's a lack of knowledge."
Some groups segregated
Kaydee Miller plays tennis and participates in band and choir. She will be a senior in the fall and has been elected class president. She participated in the affinity group led by Witherspoon, and said she doesn't see a lot of race mixing at Tech.
"Some students and teachers that I've seen the last couple of years have been kind of uncomfortable around each other," Miller said. "They're either scared to discriminate or they just don't know how to act around each other because they're different. ... I think a lot of people are scared of offending others, but then they also don't want to be offended. So, because of that, I think people kind of don't do anything. They stay to themselves."
That's evident in the cafeteria, in gathering spaces and when students are waiting for buses. In each instance, the crowd is invariably defined by race, according to Rachel Christenson, who will be a sophomore and was invited to be part of Witherspoon's affinity group. Staff at Tech asked about 20 kids from a range of backgrounds to participate. Some were involved in activities and others not as engaged. All accepted the invitation.
Christenson said language can be a barrier to interaction.
"It's something that's blatantly obvious that's different if someone has a hard time with the (English) language," Christenson said. "When you hear a different language down the hall, you can tell immediately 'They're different from me.' I've heard students who feel threatened because they think (the Somali students) are talking about them."
Faisal Omar immigrated to the United States when he was 16. Three years later, he will be a senior at Tech this fall.
"We have a lot of Somali kids who were born here and we have Somali kids who came here when they were almost 18," Faisal Omar said. "It's hard for (the second group) to understand the other students. Most of the Somali students who came here when they were older, they don't speak English very well. When they want to talk to their teacher, face-to-face or one-on-one, sometimes they don't know the right words to describe a problem. And then the teacher doesn't understand if it is serious or not."
Naima Mohamed has lived in the U.S. for more than a decade. Until last year her family was in Tennessee, which she said was a more comfortable atmosphere than she has experienced in St. Cloud.
"Tech is a diverse school," Mohamed said. "But I feel like we don't take advantage of that. Instead of learning about a person's culture, background or where they come from, instead we choose to make fun of them or bully them or give them labels. That's kind of sad. ... We're all here for the same reason: To get educated and make something out of ourselves. Why would you bully someone because they don't speak English well or they don't know the stuff you know?"
Miller says she doesn't expect everyone to be welcoming. But sometimes you can develop a relationship when you don't expect it. For example, she met a girl as part of the culture group and they've become friends.
"I don't think it's good to assume that the majority of white people aren't favorable toward Somali people," Miller said. "Just like you can't assume all Somali people don't like white people. There may be some people who aren't comfortable talking to different cultures in the time we're in right now. But I think you have to be careful if a few students may not be nice toward someone, you can't say 'that means all white people don't like me.' "
Need for diversity, perspective
Hassan Yussuf was born in Somalia and came to the U.S. 15 years ago. He has lived and worked in St. Cloud since 2002 and, as a former executive director of the Somali Elders Council of Central Minnesota, he's a member of yet another group that has met occasionally with Jett, ensuring he gets another perspective on the cultural clash.
Jett, who came to St. Cloud about two years ago and has dealt with other crises — including the fire that destroyed the landmark Roosevelt school — said the March walkouts rank right at the top of the list of issues he's faced.
Together, Yussuf and Jett are trying to chart a course parallel to the students' steps toward better understanding.
"I think the first step is to give the teaching staff, who are doing a tremendous job, training on sensitivity for different perspectives," said Yussuf, who ran unsuccessfully for school board in 2014 and was one of the finalists for appointment to the board last month. "If they can welcome trainers who are Somalis, who are African-American, who are Spanish, who are Caucasian, we can get somewhere."
Yussuf, who is pursuing a second master's degree at St. Cloud State University in teaching English as a second language, said he and the Somali Task Force have talked to Jett about making the district's workforce more diverse.
"With Somali teachers, we're close to square one, but there are about 16 students going to St. Cloud State for the master's program in teaching English," Yussuf said. "Recruiting them, even part-time, would be a great step. We also need a diversified workforce in the administration. When people come in and voice their complaints, they need to see diversified people that they can approach."
Jett also has met with parents who have sought him out, concerned that Somali voices are the only ones being heard in the wake of the walkout.
"The adults are also asking themselves how they come together and solve this problem and find common ground," Jett said. "I have to try and remember, as adults we love our children. We try to do what's best for them. That's been a nice common theme. They've heard from their students what's going on. Now they're trying to understand what's real and the adults are mirroring the student groups. The conversations are kind of the same."
Non-white, non-Somali views
Siddharth Paari had an unusual angle on the cultural issues he saw at Tech High School this past spring. As a non-white student, he could imagine the Somali perspective. And yet, as a graduating senior, member of the student council, soccer player and honors student, many of his friends are among the white majority.
"Since I am different from both sides I kind of get to see both perspectives," Paari said. "There was frustration between two different sets of people because it was presented as very black-and-white instead of gray, which is where most people live — in the gray area. I think people aren't necessarily angry at the other race. It's more about how we can solve it and get past it and figure out how we're going to act in the future."
He said it's wrong to label any large portion of the white students at Tech as instigators of a race problem.
"It's a wrong perspective on things at Tech," Paari said. "It seemed like (media reports stated) everyone in the entire school was against each other, like a civil war. It wasn't like that. It was just small groups of kids in conflict. And that's bound to happen at any high school."
Paulina Bustillos is a Latina student who will be a senior this fall at Tech. She participated in the walkout.
"The reason I joined is because I felt what they were saying and understood it," Bustillos said. "To me it wasn't white against Somali, it was one race against another. Because I'm into social justice, I felt proud they wanted to do something and I wanted to accompany them. I was defending the people who felt discriminated against. They felt out of place, that they weren't getting treated the same as others. And when that picture was posted, it pushed them over the line."
For much of the last two months of school, once administrators began listening to the Somali students' concerns, Bustillos said, the atmosphere was less tense. She wonders, however, what she'll find when it's time to go back.
What's next?
That's the big question: What will happen when students and staff return to school?
"We need to pay strong attention to the feeling in the building and have our hands on the pulse of that," Jett said. "We didn't do a good job of that in the first place."
Jill Kedrowski, who was senior class president in the spring, said parents have to take a constructive interest in what's going at the school, too, and that home environment has a lot to do with school behavior. Her successor agrees, and that's perhaps one reason she doesn't expect rapid evolution.
"Over the summer and coming into school, I don't think things will change drastically, although we want them to," Miller said. "But I want to tell everyone, these are all people just like you. They might look a little different, and everyone has different personalities. You might not get along with one individual and you might with someone else."
Paari said he'll be watching and believes the situation will resolve itself in time.
"It's difficult for the students at this time because there was a cultural shock from the Somali perspective and the people who live in this area because they weren't exposed to them as much before," Paari said. "As time goes on, younger kids are going to have been exposed to this pretty much their entire lives. For them, it will be a new norm. That's my hope."
About all that's certain is the conversations will go on, between Johnson and his group, with Witherspoon and other students, and for Jett and other adults and parents. Jett says there's no "end-game or end date to any of this."
"I feel like after summer break maybe some people will improve," Najima Omar said. "I understand why things happen — maybe it's a misunderstanding or just being ignorant. Kids see bad things in the media and I don't blame them for some of their feelings. But I don't feel like it's going to change until everyone gets educated about the cultures."