By Frank Erickson
The Somali population Minnesota does not even come close to 1 % of the states”' entire population, so how can so few people create so many negative front page stories in the Star Tribune?
Is the Star Tribune aware that they are handling our local Somali community in a racist manner, treating the whole the whole Somali community as if it is a terrorist organization? Sensationalizing one “terror” story after another, all this to sell newspapers to the 95% white majority in our state. And in doing this, our daily newspaper is endangering and destabilizing the Somali community, backing them into a corner.
Even if a Minnesotan was connected to the massacre in Kenya”¦that would be one individual connected to it, not the entire Somali community. A community cannot commit crimes, only individuals can. The way the tribune handles it, the whole Somali community is put on trial. To expect the entire Somali community to answer for an individual”'s behavior is profiling and being racist.
Yet local Somalis will bow down to racial profiling and as a community will come forward, hold a press conference to “denounce” the violence in Kenya, even though they had nothing to do with it”¦their response is a response driven by racism.
I saw no sense of urgency from the local white community during the summer of 2012, to hold a press conference, to separate them from, and “denounce” the mass-killing of members of the Sikh community in Wisconsin by a white male. Yet every time there is a “terror” situation, local Somalis are expected to start their denouncing of it.
White terrorists are always acting alone. East African terrorists are always representing their family, town, community, religion, skin color, or country. They never get to represent just themselves as white terrorists do.
The September 29th, 2013 Sunday Star Tribune had another “exclusive” “terror” story about out Somali Community.
This front page story had a large photo of two young Somali men, who had no connection to the Kenya massacre, yet the Tribune put a photo of the Kenya mall massacre right below the photo of these two men. The Tribune figured out a way to connect them, they work hard at this at the Tribune, it”'s good for business.
“We” obsess and concern ourselves with a very small threat of a terrorist attack, because it may have us in the crosshairs. Why does the Tribune even bother with stuff like “Al-Shabab is a Threat in Minnesota” after the U.S. government killed over 100,000 people in Iraq from a “war” of nothingness?