Islam and Minnesota: Can we hear some straight talk for a change?

[Valin]

MPLS (Red) Star Tribune:

The terror threat isn't exactly theoretical, so why are state leaders mollycoddling the community where it's most likely to brew?

Scott W. Johnson

December 23, 2015

 

On what seems like a daily basis, Minnesotans are lectured against the evils of “Islamophobia.” In October, Gov. Mark Dayton weirdly instructed “white, B-plus, Minnesota-born citizens” to suppress their qualms about immigrant resettlement in Minnesota, according to the St. Cloud Times. If they can’t, they should “find another state,” he added.

 

Andrew Luger, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, took to the pages of the Star Tribune (“Minnesota must meet Islamophobia head-on,” Nov. 3) to inveigh against “the current wave of Islamophobia” and has stayed on the attack. A group of local leaders and Muslim leaders recently gathered in a Minneapolis mosque to decry “Islamophobia” following recent terrorist attacks.

 

Even Hillary Clinton piled on during her recent visit to the University of Minnesota to unveil her program to bolster homeland security; she decried “anti-Muslim rhetoric.”

 

“Islamophobia” is a concept fervently promoted since 2000 by the Organization of the Islamic Conference. It seeks to stigmatize expressions of disapproval of Islam as irrational manifestations of fear and prejudice. Implicitly, it raises the question of whether any fear of Islam is necessarily crazy. It also raises the question of whether some fear of Islam might be rational, but it instructs us to keep any unapproved answer to ourselves. It seeks to make us afraid to talk about perfectly reasonable fears.

 

Since the early 1990s, Minnesota has been flooded by waves of Somali Muslim refugees and immigrants. The number remains in doubt; official sources place it at something like 35,000. Unofficial estimates put it at more than 100,000. Whatever the number, it is large and growing.

 

(Snip)

 

 

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More Here At

“Islamophobia” in one state

Scott Johnson

Dec. 28 2015

[nickydog]

In which part of Mpls. do they live, @Valin?

[Valin]

In which part of Mpls. do they live, @Valin?

 

Mainly S. MPLS/ West Bank.

[Valin]

“Islamophobia” in one state (3)
Scott Johnson
December 30, 2015

The Star Tribune continues with another round of letters to the editor taking issue with my column “Islam in Minnesota: Can we have some straight talk for a change?” Here is today’s round of letters:

ISLAMOPHOBIA

 

Why should ‘straight talk’ be all Muslim, all the time?

 

To the commentary writer asking if he was crazy for wanting some straight talk about Islam and Minnesota, I would say no, not crazy, but certainly misguided (“Can we hear some straight talk for a change?” Dec. 28). It is not clear what specific measures would constitute straight talk, but it seems pretty clear that the innocent-until-proven-guilty principle would not apply to Muslims. Perhaps the writer is simply funneling his inner Trump: The solution to keeping America safe is to build walls and make sure all Muslims are on the outside.

 

No one should dispute the obligation of law enforcement authorities to focus on the Twin Cities’ Somali community, given that several Somali-Americans left the country to become terrorists. But what is especially troubling about the desire for straight talk is a disinterest in straight talk about non-Muslim acts of violence and terrorism in and outside of Minnesota such as anti-abortion activist bombings and shootings, mass shootings, and homegrown anti-government terrorists. Rather, straight talk about violence and terrorism seems to be limited to all Muslims, all the time. Can straight talk about internment camps be far behind?

 

Michael Harwell, Forest Lake

 

(Snip)

[Valin]

Islamophobia in one state
Scott Johnson
Apr. 14 2016

On what seems like a daily basis, Minnesotans are lectured against the evils of “Islamophobia.” In October, Gov. Mark Dayton weirdly instructed “white, B-plus, Minnesota-born citizens” to suppress their qualms about immigrant resettlement in Minnesota, according to the St. Cloud Times. If they can’t, they should “find another state,” he added.

 

Andrew Luger, the United States Attorney for Minnesota is a paragon of political correctness who has inveighed against “the current wave of Islamophobia” and has stayed on the attack. Yesterday Luger and others gathered at the prestigious Minneapolis law firm Dorsey & Whitney to decry Islamophobia. Walter Mondale is of counsel at the firm and was a featured speaker at the event. The Star Tribune reports on the proceedings in “Minneapolis legal community, Somali-Americans latest to unite to confront Islamophobia.”

 

The Twin Cities have received more than 100,000 Somali Muslims in the past 20 years or so. Their presence is notable, yet signs of bigotry against them are virtually nil.

 

(Snip)

 

You can see why the authorities might want to shut down discussion of reasonable concerns raised by Minnesota’s Somali community. They really would prefer not to talk about them. They would prefer to sweep them under a well-worn rug.

 

(Snip)

[SrWoodchuck]

“Islamophobia” in one state (3)

Scott Johnson

December 30, 2015

 

The Star Tribune continues with another round of letters to the editor taking issue with my column “Islam in Minnesota: Can we have some straight talk for a change?” Here is today’s round of letters:

 

 

 

ISLAMOPHOBIA

 

Why should ‘straight talk’ be all Muslim, all the time?

 

To the commentary writer asking if he was crazy for wanting some straight talk about Islam and Minnesota, I would say no, not crazy, but certainly misguided (“Can we hear some straight talk for a change?” Dec. 28). It is not clear what specific measures would constitute straight talk, but it seems pretty clear that the innocent-until-proven-guilty principle would not apply to Muslims. Perhaps the writer is simply funneling his inner Trump: The solution to keeping America safe is to build walls and make sure all Muslims are on the outside.

 

No one should dispute the obligation of law enforcement authorities to focus on the Twin Cities’ Somali community, given that several Somali-Americans left the country to become terrorists. But what is especially troubling about the desire for straight talk is a disinterest in straight talk about non-Muslim acts of violence and terrorism in and outside of Minnesota such as anti-abortion activist bombings and shootings, mass shootings, and homegrown anti-government terrorists. Rather, straight talk about violence and terrorism seems to be limited to all Muslims, all the time. Can straight talk about internment camps be far behind?

 

Michael Harwell, Forest Lake

 

(Snip)

 

You live there, @Valin. What are your perceptions on this topic? From my objective viewpoint, I wonder whose "walls" are there. Do they not erect real, cultural & religious walls themselves & if they are to be citizens; why do they not assimilate? I'm assuming the majority of Muslims are not involved in jihad, but unlike other cultures that attempt to adapt to American culture, it seems that they prefer to make America adapt to theirs.

[Valin]

@SrWoodchuck

 

One of the things I see is normal reaction of 1st/2nd generation immigrants. People gather into like minded groups, we saw (and still do see) the same kind of thing with the Hmongs in St Paul....(Think Little Italy in NY City) So yes there are problems, and we should expect to see problems, 2 years ago (?) there was a small riot at South High between African-American students and the Somalis students.

 

2 things

1. we've seen this sort of thing before in our history (No Irish Need Apply)

2. America does this assimilation better than pretty much anyone....and we suck.

 

Quick story. The FBI had a heck of a time getting surveillance on (say) The Triangle Social Club , because everyone in the neighborhood look out for Chin and his gang. Why, because they were Our Boys...ie they were Us not Them. And I'm talking the 1980-90's. What we're seeing today is something similar in the Somali's. And because they are so new it is even stronger than what we saw with LCN.

 

 

The problem here is our Leaders what to treat these people like precious delicate snowflakes that must be protected. We had some Somali temps when I was working for Chemrex. Trust me they are anything but precious delicate snowflakes, for better or worse.

[Valin]

Fifth “Minnesota man” pleads guilty

Scott Johnson

Apr. 16 2016

[Valin]

Islamophobia in one state (6)
Scott Johnson
Apr. 17 2016

In addition to the Twin Cities, Somali Muslim immigrants to Minnesota have settled in rural areas such as St. Cloud, Mankato and Willmar. Concern about the continuing waves of immigration from Somalia in particular is not confined to the Twin Cities. Thus Matt McKinney’s Star Tribune contribution to stifling discussion of the related issues in “Anti-Muslim speaking circuit runs through rural Minnesota.”

 

McKinney’s piece is pitiful. It presents all related concerns as manifestations of “Islamophobia.” It calls on Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of CAIR, to render his opinion as an impartial expert. McKinney quotes Hussein: “A lot of these fears are coming from that type of general fear of the ‘other,’ and not real knowledge of Islam.”

 

I would say “a lot of these fears are coming from” Somali Minnesotans’ support for foreign terrorist organizations waging jihad. The support is manifested in the charges brought against the “Minnesota men” seeking to join ISIS in 2014 and 2015. Somali community sentiment is itself apparently supportive of the “Minnesota men” if not the cause. Rather than investigate the possibly rational causes of the “fears,” McKinney simply presents the concerns as evidence of bigotry.

 

(Snip)