On Somali Day at the Minnesota State Capitol, community leaders vow resilience

Somali American leaders and lawmakers say they're fighting back against negative rhetoric as they look to reshape the narrative about their community.

SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The third annual Somali Day at the Minnesota State Capitol took on a different tone Monday, with community leaders vowing resilience after months of turmoil from Operation Metro Surge. The Somali Day rally lasted more than two hours in the Capitol Rotunda, featuring speeches from all five Somali-American state legislators currently serving at the capitol as well as many other politicians and public officials.Abdisalam Mumin, a local attorney in Minnesota, acknowledged that the past several months have been very difficult for Somali Americans in Minnesota."It's been very rough, with the combination of Metro Surge and the combination of negative rhetoric coming from the highest office in the nation," Mumin said. "I think the Somali American community has suffered quite a few blows."In early December, President Trump called Somalis "garbage" during a cabinet meeting, drawing widespread condemnation from Somali American leaders in Minnesota and many elected Democrats. That month, the Trump administration also began its surge of federal immigration agents into the state during the largest operation in history, citing fraud as the basis -- despite the fact that most Somali American defendants in high-profile fraud cases have been U.S. citizens or otherwise carried legal status.Mumin said he believes the narrative around fraud, shaped by media coverage and public attention on the issue, has led to unfair stereotypes."There is definitely an overgeneralization going on, simply because of certain people's actions, others are having to pay for it. That overgeneralization is becoming harmful to the community, and at some point, there needs to be a drawback to the hate and discrimination that this specific demographic is getting," Mumin said. "Informing the public is good, but when that information is being perceived in a certain way, I believe that needs to be addressed."DFL State Senator Zaynab Mohamed, one of Minnesota's five Somali-American legislators, said at the Somali Day rally that President Trump "tried to turn an entire American community against us.""The Somali people have been through a lot, a war, famine, fled from danger and life in refugee camps," Mohamed said. "We survived all of that to be here today and there's nothing this president and this government can do to us that we cannot survive. Nothing. Somalis are fighting back every single day."A Republican colleague, State Sen. Jim Abeler of Anoka, also spoke at the Somali Day rally on Monday. He is one of the few Minnesota Republicans who have publicly criticized President Trump's comments calling Somalis "garbage.""Where you're defending and where people are saying terrible things about an entire community because of literally a few people who made really bad choices," Abeler said. "It doesn't reflect upon anybody here. I don't know any Somalis who are the least bit supportive in defending any of their criminals. Anyway, I'm sorry, not that I have any power to apologize, but, you didn't deserve it. The Somalis I know are amazing people."