NSS Weekly: Minnesota’s Somali Community: Behind the Headlines

Transcript

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INTRO: You are listening to North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live, a weekly newscast about what it means to live in Minnesota, produced by AMPERS, Minnesota's community radio stations.

BRITT AAMODT: This week, we look at how public perceptions of Somali Minnesotans can affect their everyday life. Then we visit a St Cloud radio station with a unique format.

VICTOR PALOMINO: And we hear from a Twin Cities museum working to preserve Somali culture and heritage. I'm Victor Palomino.

BRITT AAMODT: And I'm Britt Aamodt. But first, North Start Stories reporter Xan Holston with some of the news that made the headlines around the state.

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XAN HOLSTON: In East Central Minnesota, Isanti County's sheriff is ending the county's controversial trial period with flock license plate cameras. After months of controversy over flock cameras, Sheriff Wayne Seiberlich made a long, candid social media post explaining why he's ending the county's experimentation with the surveillance cameras. He says the eight cameras helped with an arson case, silver or elderly missing persons alerts, and a case involving a stolen license plate. He also says his deputies did not misuse the system, but Sheriff Seiberlich acknowledges residents' concerns about privacy, data sharing, government overreach, as well as concerns about the costs.

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Boundary Waters businesses hit hard by the summer's wildfire are pressing the state for economic relief, but Governor Tim Walz says he will not call a special session that is required to pass a funding relief package. Eighty-two Northeast Minnesota businesses and nonprofits are asking for emergency state help. Some outfitters report losing 65 percent or more of their income during peak tourism season. They want the state to give grants of up to $150,000 to qualifying businesses. In an interview with AMPERS member station WTIP, Save the Boundary Waters executive director Ingrid Lyons says the damage spreads well beyond individual businesses.

INGRID LYONS: A summer without visitors doesn't just hurt one of these businesses; it really harms the whole ecosystem.

XAN HOLSTON: Currently, a broader legislative relief package will have to wait until lawmakers return in January.

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A Minnesota manufacturer working to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign-made magnets could get a $150 million federal boost. The new conditional loan would help build a new Niron Magnetics factory in Sartell, northwest of Saint Cloud. The expansion could increase production from about two tons a year to as much as 1,500 tons, about 750 times the current output. Niron makes permanent magnets from iron and nitrogen, instead of the rare earth materials that dominate the global magnet industry and are largely sourced overseas. Those magnets are used in everything from electric motors and robotics to defense systems, making domestic production a supply chain a national security priority.

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A Rochester man who says deportation to Laos could kill him is one step closer to a pardon. The State Clemency Review Commission voted seven to one to recommend a pardon for La Thammavong. He came to the U.S. legally as a child refugee in 1989. Thammavong is the primary caretaker for his wife and father. He also has serious heart and kidney problems and takes more than a dozen medications after a kidney transplant.

LA THAMMAVONG: My doctor said the medication treatment I need is not available in Laos, and if deported, my organ will fail and result in death rapidly.

XAN HOLSTON: Thammavong faces deportation related to criminal convictions for assault and theft in the 1990s, and for a theft charge in the early 2000s. He's had no new convictions in about 25 years. The state board of pardons still has to act, and even a pardon may not stop his deportation.

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The summer drought isn't just drying out farm fields; it's pulling down lake levels. A third of Minnesota is in a severe drought. Another third is in a moderate drought, and the Department of Natural Resources says much of North Central Minnesota is in a storage drought, meaning groundwater has been depleted from lakes, soil, and groundwater. The DNR says it would take months of heavy rain to restore lake levels and soil moisture and may take years to fully reverse the loss. The agency is asking people to refrain from boating in activities that can alter the shoreline while water levels are low.

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Backpacks, pencils, and vaccines. As Minnesota families get ready for a new school year, health officials say don't forget the vaccine checklist. The Minnesota Department of Health's Jayne Griffith says now is the time to make sure children are caught up.

JAYNE GRIFFITH: As we start thinking about back to school, that's another key time for parents to really think about making sure that their kids are up to date on vaccines.

XAN HOLSTON: She says fall is when respiratory illnesses begin spreading more easily because kids are back together.

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A proposed Right to Repair measure is back on the ballot for Saint Paul's November election, but at least for now, a Ramsey County judge ordered the city to put the question before voters. If approved, renters could make certain repairs themselves and deduct the cost from their rent when a landlord doesn't act in time. The city council voted to block the ballot question after the city attorney warned it conflicts with state law. Organizer Cole Hanson says the proposal is aimed at basic repairs.

COLE HANSON: We're not talking about putting in new additions to your apartment. We're talking about replacing the float valve. We're talking about replacing a window screen.

XAN HOLSTON: The state supreme court denied the city's emergency request to block the order. The city can still appeal.

Duluth is trying to stop more single-family homes from being converted into short-term vacation rentals. A new city council proposal would ban new whole-home, non-owner-occupied short-term rentals, including those listed on sites like Airbnb and Vrbo. The city put a one-year freeze on that type of license last fall. The pause expires in November. City officials say short-term rentals put pressure on the residential housing market.

DULUTH CITY COUNCIL: We're trying to protect our housing stock, and our most vulnerable are those single-family homes. The proposal would still allow owner-occupied home shares and existing licensed vacation rentals.

XAN HOLSTON: A vote on the ordinance language could come later this month.

And finally, up north enthusiasts rejoice. The U.S. Forest Service will have reopened 1,500 campsites in the Boundary Waters. That's about 75% of the wilderness area. Some areas remain closed for safety reasons. For North Star Stories, I'm Xan Holston.

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VICTOR PALOMINO: Minnesota is home to one of the largest Somali communities in the country. In recent years, high-profile fraud cases involving some Somali-run organizations have drawn intense local and national attention.

BRITT AAMODT: Many Somali Minnesotans say the coverage has moved beyond holding individuals accountable and has contributed to harmful stereotypes about the broader community. Reporter Jamad Jama asked community members what those perceptions mean to them.

SABRINA: I went to a graduation party, and at the graduation party, a couple came down. It was like an apartment complex party room. They came down and they said, "Ooh, nice setup!" And then they said, "I bet you used our tax dollars." Yeah, we're having a grad party, but then it turned really negative fast.

JAMAD JAMA: That's Sabrina, a Somali Minnesotan and a recent University of Minnesota graduate, describing an encounter she had recently. She says it's part of a larger issue that Somali people are being stereotyped and, in some cases, discriminated against.

SABRINA: Every community does have good and bad but painting us all with one brush has been really negative. Of course, there are some bad players when it comes to the fraud, and I'm not excusing that. But to say a whole community is not hardworking and lazy, it just takes away from the actual community and what they've built since they've been here.

JAMAD JAMA: Sabrina's experience happened at a private graduation party, but a similar encounter this summer was much more public. In June, two Somali sisters looking at homes in Shakopee were confronted by a neighboring couple.

SABRINA: The people of Minnesota have always been really welcome, always kind. Minnesota Nice is really a thing here. So having that shift of this new negative microscope put on Somalis has been really sad to see.

JAMAD JAMA: For Sabrina, the negative change in perception ignores the realities of many Somali American families.

SABRINA: Somalis have contributed a lot to Minnesota and the community. I've grown up with people who've taken a lot of different paths in life: nurses, doctors, engineers.

JAMAD JAMA: These incidents come after growing national attention on Minnesota's Somali community following the Feeding Our Future fraud investigation involving certain Somali-run businesses, including daycare centers. A viral video by right-wing influencer Nick Shirley also pushed this issue further into the spotlight, where he visited different Somali-run businesses, accusing them of fraud.

NICK SHIRLEY: Potentially, the largest fraud scandal in U.S. history is taking place in Minnesota, as literally billions of dollars have been funneled through Somali-run fraudulent businesses. So much fraud.

JAMAD JAMA: One of these businesses, Quality Learning Center, is now closed after requesting a closure of their license. However, one of the businesses, ABC Learning Center, later stated that they were fully legitimate and had been vetted by state officials. In March, Congress's House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a hearing examining the fraud that took place.

JAMES COMER: Today, the House Oversight Committee is holding its first hearing on the massive fraud in Minnesota's social services program. Fraudsters like these take millions to enrich themselves while providing nothing, overstating or outright faking the services. This is why we're here today. We must expose this theft of taxpayer dollars and hold everybody accountable who let it happen.

JAMAD JAMA: The meeting went on to include testifiers from the Minnesota House of Representatives, including State Representative Kristin Robbins, who represents the Northwestern Twin Cities area.

REP KRISTIN ROBBINS: As chair of the fraud prevention committee in Minnesota, I've been working to uncover the massive fraud under Tim Walz, propose solutions, and hold state agencies accountable. The Tim Walz administration has utterly failed to protect Minnesota taxpayers and vulnerable citizens, ignoring years of credible reports and retaliating against those who spoke up, often by claiming they were racist or Islamophobic.

JAMAD JAMA: These cases sparked conversations about fraud, oversight, and protecting taxpayer dollars. But some say the impact of these cases has gone beyond the courtroom and into the lives of uninvolved Somali Americans. Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher was criticized for his recent comments on a live-streamed video about gang violence in the Somali community.

SHERIFF BOB FLETCHER: So we're going to talk to several Somali experts on the growth of Somali gang crime. It's just a small number of kids, but they are causing a lot of trouble.

JAMAD JAMA: After the backlash, Sheriff Fletcher held a community meeting in Arden Hills, which had about 200 attendees to raise concerns about what he described as a growing problem in the community. For community advocates, these conversations feel deeper than just politics.

YUSRA MOHAMED: My name is Yusra Mohamed. My background is a bit multifaceted. I've been doing a lot of civic engagement, policy work, business advising, and lobbying, and all of that was always centered around community. Between now, working with cultural corridors here across the Twin Cities.

JAMAD JAMA: Yusra says the recent negative spotlight on immigrant communities is frustrating but nothing new.

YUSRA MOHAMED: It's very disheartening, and I have seen many different communities, whether it's the Hmong community or you know the Arab American community, after 9/11, or the Black American community, you know, go through these disparities.

JAMAD JAMA: Yusra hopes that the hatred will move into the rearview mirror, while Minnesotans focus on the positive impact Somali Americans have had.

YUSRA MOHAMED: It's been very like disheartening, but it's also kind of there's a silver lining of like unity where immigrant communities and neighbors have really come together to make sure that they condemn all of this hateful rhetoric.

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JAMAD JAMA: For North Star Stories, I'm Jamad Jama.

VICTOR PALOMINO: After the break, we tune in to KZYS, St. Cloud's own Somali-language community radio station. This is North Star Stories: Voices from Where We Live.

BRITT AAMODT: Produced by AMPERS, Minnesota's Community Radio Stations, with support from the State of Minnesota. We'll be right back.

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[NSS Promo: "North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, Minnesota's Community Radio Stations. Check out our other programs at AMPERS dot ORG: Minnesota Native News brings you weekly coverage of the state's Native American communities. MN90 - Minnesota History in 90 Seconds - transports you to historical moments in our state through short, engaging stories. Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine is a weekly podcast featuring conversations between Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo, and Native community members. Hear more at AMPERS dot ORG."]

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VICTOR PALOMINO: You are listening to North Star Stories. I'm Victor Palomino.

BRITT AAMODT: And I'm Britt Aamodt. St. Cloud is home to a unique radio station: KZYS-LP 105.1 FM, a low-power station serving the Somali-speaking community. For more than 6 years, the station has broadcast Somali-language music, news, cultural programming, and special interviews.

VICTOR PALOMINO: To learn more about the station and the community it serves, we're joined by Ahmed Abdi, a journalist and station manager at KZYS. Thanks for joining us.

AHMED ABDI: You're welcome. Thank you for inviting me your show.

VICTOR PALOMINO: You're more than welcome. To start, let's tell our listeners about KZYS. How did the station begin, and what is the mission?

AHMED ABDI: There's a large number of immigrants in this community from East Africa. When we're talking about East Africa, we're talking about like Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia. As you know, Somalis live in those three different countries, although the main country is Somalia. So, majority of the people they do speak Somali language. So, the news in Somali language is very needed because there is a lot of people that don't speak English language fluently. And but this radio come to in 2000, I believe six. There was a FM radio was available in Saint Cloud area, and then the organization did apply and did get that 105.1 radio. Then I started as a program producer and also as a reporter in the radio back then. And then since then I have been working in a different level. So it's an FM. Usually people can listen IN St. Cloud, Sartell, subscribe it in this area all the way. You know, I think it's 15 mile zoning, but it's very important radio because there is a large immigrant community that live here, and also the people can listen online.

VICTOR PALOMINO: And how would you describe the programming? What kind of programs you have?

AHMED ABDI: Before we used to get pre-air their news section into local. So people can listen to the news around the world and in also in the United States from Voice of America. Since that's not there, we create local content. I and others we interview local politicians and we record it. Sometimes those programs in English or in Somali. If it's in English, we translate into the Somali language. If it is Somali language, we air it. So it's very, I mean, tough, you know, to create content in in a small radio. But I, in in also the community, that's in a lot of stress and a lot of pressure in different ways. So now we have a music program, Somali music. We have a local, I mean, programs that we interview. We do get other contents from online. That's you know, it's okay to air it in local in local radio.

VICTOR PALOMINO: I was curious about what are the questions that you hear from the community, and what are your listeners want to know? So let's start with that. Like, what are what kind of some of the topics of the news that you get inside the Somali community that we probably the community at large don't know?

AHMED ABDI: Yeah, you know, so the Somali community now there is a lot of things going on, and there is a lot of confusion, a lot of stress in the community. So they do want to know whether it's about the politics. I mean, what's happening? Whether to understand them in local elections, and they need actually people that can advocate for them because there is a lot of negative that's going on in the community. So that's what they need to find answering. Other than that, I mean, you know, they want to know what's happening locally, like schools, jobs available in the community, how they can get around in summertime. So we do our best. I mean, but as a radio, but we are not there where we want to be in a news channel that can relate to the information to the both communities, English speakers and Somali speakers.

VICTOR PALOMINO: I can see that you ended up being kind of like a space for civic education and space for just community engagements. I've been I've been part of Spanish language stations, very similar that what you're describing. Like people may have more information of what's going on in their countries or outside where they live than the things that happen to them in in in their corners, in their in their neighborhoods, in in their communities. So, like you're saying, like who's your representative? Who do you who you're supposed to both? When, where, and all those different things that most people take for granted. You know that when you move here as an immigrant, there's so many, so many different layers of understanding. What it means to be here and participate as an educated and engaged person in the community. So that's when community radio comes, and especially when you hear it in your own language. You know that's the most important thing. Hear it in your own language. You don't need to translate it. And on that, how do you think the people is responding to what you were mentioning, like the news coverage of general media when they talk about the Somali community?

AHMED ABDI: Before I answer that question, I want to go back to what you say. I know that either Spanish speakers of other people who speak in another language, they are not getting even news, the good quality news, you know, or maybe the news is there, the information is there, but they are not getting in a language that they can understand. And that's the problem, you know. A lot of media, either in Minnesota or other part of the United States, they don't translate their news, and so the number of the people who are getting the correct information are very limited. Also, what bothers me as a Somali is that the people who are dependent on social media, or who are just getting the information about where they come from through that in Internet is more than people who they don't have the information. Like for example, you see some one individual or mother who is just watching in a TikTok. Someone is talking in a from different country or back home rather than getting information in their city. And I know as someone who lived in St. Cloud, the local radios, local newspapers-they are bombarding all the news and information, or businesses, or advertisements, or you know all kind of different stuff to English speakers. But there is not that information is not going to the other people, and that it can affect the people's their education, their businesses, their understanding of the community, getting around the community. So the information is there, but it's not getting to the information of this community. I know that. As you asking me for that question, what the media has been saying into the community? Like my mother or my sisters, I have a six of my family member. I think two of us understands English very language very well. My brother works in a production industry. He doesn't care much about the politics, and but my sister and my mother they don't understand. So I think it's good sometimes not to understand this negative, negative false information that's going in the community. It's in in English language. So that in terms of that is good, but I think also the Somali community are very strong. They are very. We have been a lot as a community in Somalia, and we understand there is a racism and there is a discrimination. It has been happening. This has been happening even way before targeting to this community. It's not something that has started. But you know, the younger generation-they are very frustrated, and they don't know how to respond. They seen-I mean, their community were targeted. I mean, but the young generation-they don't know how to respond.

VICTOR PALOMINO: What do you wish people outside the Somali community better understand about your community here in Minnesota?

AHMED ABDI: Ask Somali people if you don't know nothing about them. You know, don't ask mean, white individuals about Somali people. The people who are negative stuff are people who had, don't have any clue, and it's true nobody has a clue about Somali people, because in communities in America, people are technically separated. You know, so if you don't know anything about them, ask them. Even I myself, I think a lot of times how we can create any programs or something like a news segment where they people can call us and they can ask question and we can respond to them and answer for them. So, but also the other people, they need to stand it up and say, you know, if someone does something wrong, you know, you can accuse that person and charge them their crimes, but you cannot use the Somali name because it is belongs to the whole group that has nothing to do with that, you know, specific crime.

VICTOR PALOMINO: Ahmed, thank you so much for your time.

AHMED ABDI: Okay, thank you.

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BRITT AAMODT: Somalis are one of the world's largest diaspora communities, with communities across Africa, Europe, North America, and beyond. In Minneapolis, the Somali Museum of Minnesota is preserving and sharing Somali history, culture, and heritage.

VICTOR PALOMINO: To learn more, we're joined by Osman Ali, founder and director of the Somali Museum of Minnesota. Thank you for joining us.

OSMAN ALI: Thank you.

VICTOR PALOMINO: Can you explain to our listeners what is the Somali Museum and why it was created?

OSMAN ALI: I am from a family of five generation living in diaspora. Because of that, once you are living out of your original country, your roots, I was interested to learn something about my culture. So after 37 years, I traveled for my first trip to Somalia in 2009. Once I visited Somalia, I found that those who was living back home, they forget everything about their culture because of the civil war. They no longer are weaving or carving or doing all the arts and the creative things, the organic things that they were using for their daily life. So on that case, I thought about if those back home in this situation were about those in diaspora, and I start to collect all the unique artifacts that I thought one day it might be eliminated from the whole country. And I take a long journey to create this museum. And right now I have more than 1500 unique artifacts and historical things that I collect from all around the places.

VICTOR PALOMINO: You have like a special exhibition that people will see and understand more about the Somali culture.

OSMAN ALI: "Where Are We at Right Now?" It's three sections. One section is called Minnesota, and once you come, you're gonna see why the Somali community came to Minnesota. We have the first arrival. We have the education. We have the politicians. We have the religion section. We have the art section. We have different sections, and we boasted different people there. The third section is the nomadic, the one you asking what the people can see. There is traditional hats and all the traditional nomadic stuff that people they never seen it before and they learn from it.

VICTOR PALOMINO: How do you see the Somali community in Minnesota today?

OSMAN ALI: I see the Somali community is the largest Somali immigrant in the United States living in Minnesota. The older people they are having their culture, keeping their religion, and they are living as if they are living back home. And the youth will know the youth who born and raised here. The population of that youth, they are more than maybe from 50 to 60,000 youth today living in Minnesota. And the elders trying to keep these youth in a positive way that they can help their people, they can help the state of Minnesota, and to be a Somali American that they feel Minnesota is their home, and they believe that they belong to this state and they belong to America as well as before they are, you know, Somalis originally, but they are Somali Americans.

VICTOR PALOMINO: Well, Osman, thank you so much for sharing this with us.

OSMAN ALI: Okay, thank you so much.

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BRITT AAMODT: And finally, fall migration is about to begin at one of Minnesota's most famous birding destinations. Sax-Zim Bog, about 50 minutes northwest of Duluth, in St. Louis County isn't actually one bog. It's a more than 300-square-mile patchwork of bogs, forests, farms and meadows.

VICTOR PALOMINO: Friends of Sax-Zim says more than 4,200 species have now been documented there, including its celebrity resident the great gray owl. Migration begins mid-August and runs, or flies, through November. Explore Minnesota lists field trips and nature programs this weekend through the fall.

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BRITT AAMODT: This is it for today's program. If you missed any part of today's newscast, you can find this and past episodes at AMPERS.org or listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also get North Star Stories Daily on our website or check your favorite station's schedule.

VICTOR PALOMINO: Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week with more stories and voices from the North Star State.

OUTRO: North Star Stories is produced by AMPERS, Minnesota's Community Radio Stations, with support from the state of Minnesota. Online at ampers.org.