Posted on 01/01/2010 4:57:12 AM PST by reaganaut1
Racial tension has been building at Owatonna High School this week after a fight broke out Monday between white and Somali students, prompting heightened police presence, backpack searches and widespread parental worries.
Owatonna Police Chief Shaun LaDue said between six and 15 officers have been assigned this week to the school, which usually uses one liaison officer.
Principal Don Johnson said the problems began when two white students wrote papers in recent weeks that were "inflammatory and very disrespectful." One student handed out copies of his paper to friends, while the other posted his on a class blog. Both were suspended from the school of 1,600 students -- about 100 of whom are Somali.
Johnson said that before the second student returned to school Monday, the student sent text messages over the weekend to white and Somali students that were "unapologetic and in your face." He then walked into a common area Monday where more than 20 Somali students were gathered and sat down. An altercation erupted that sent one of the white students to the hospital for observation.
"When two or three [Somali] students went over there to take things into their own hands, they had a gallery," Johnson said. "It has triggered a kind of pandemonium mainly involving parents of Caucasian students, who pictured the worse -- as if 200 students were fighting on the football field."
False text messages about the school being on lockdown after someone brought a gun "created some additional strife," the principal said. "We've operated peacefully for years and then, all of a sudden, it seems like two boys couldn't quite figure it out."
One mother said Wednesday that her ninth-grader "is scared to death to go back to school tomorrow."
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Maybe they were trying to right a wrong.
Sometimes it’s all about principle. They certainly brought attention to issue.
These are most likely the same idiots who voted en masse for Walter Mondale during the Great Reagan Landslide of 1984.
Here in Columbus, too. We've got the second largest Somali crew after Minneapolis, and we've picked up more than a few of yours from Lewiston.
You guys are lucky. We have 30,000 in Columbus.
Remember when we were allowed to disagree?
DU would appreciate your comment.
I doubt the troglodytes at DU would appreciate my comment; rather, I think they'd be shocked by my censoriousness.
When a school system produces students as illiterate as the HS Senior whose incondite essay was quoted, that system's problem lies deeper that just an inability or unwillingness to effectively discipline the Somali immigrant students.
The kid was absolutely spot on in his statement (as a resident of Columbus, with 30,000 of those animals here, I can relate.)
I'm not attacking the kid. I'm attacking the school system. I'm suggesting that the problem lies with their shortcomings. That this kid writes as poorly as he does reflects more the crappiness of the school district than the inability of the student.
I agree with you, and would add the parent(s) to the list.
The Vietnamese seem to do quite well here.
The Laotions are another story. Criminal gangs abound.
Although I feel for these white kids in Minnesota it always amuses me as a southerner to watch Yankees get aghast at racial tension they helped foster as though it’s like a new thing.
Those of us outside Whitelandia know better and have for a lifetime now and I’m 52.
You’re arguing with a poster who always takes any minority side.
has he called you a bigot yet?
I first encounted Somalis in large numbers not here in NY, but when I was living in Seattle a few years back. Say what you will about the Hmong (another large group of Refs prevalent in Seattle and the upper Midwest), but at least they have a concept of what a toilet is, not turning a town/neighborhood into one.
BTW: The Laotians you speak of are most likely Hmong.
Big gang activity with them here in Nashville and Murfreesboro....drugs mostly....used to be H, now mostly weed and of course Hillbilly marching powder..meth.
and stolen cars and parts...huge in that
Vietnamese are quite different it seems...very achievement oriented. One an engineer is very close to my famliy...from Pass Christian...she was a baby when they left as boat people. Her daddy was a Mekong RVN local honcho. She is real ethnic Viet, not Chinese Viet.
What is really funny is how big both groups get in just one generation. I know Laotian men now who are 6 foot and 200 pounds.
Thanks for the link. I couldn’t help but notice the “People Depend on Newspapers” addy included in the very wordy article.
Sure wonder why the “inflammatory” article the student wrote and posted on his blog wasn’t included. Seems that folks aren’t allowed to make up their own minds about how bad it was.
......But did Minnesota really elect Franken?....
The answer is yes. He is serving in the Senate.
The fact the people have lst control is not relevant. They can do nothing about it
According to a teacher I know in Chicago who was part of the bilingual education program, the Somali Bantu are the least able to assimilate of all the refugee groups over the past few decades probably because they are the most culturally and technologically backward. She said the level of fighting and trouble in school was really high for them. There was one apartment building where a tenant had his ceiling collapse because the Somalian Bantus in the apartment above had carted in a bunch of dirt to cover the floor to plant things and the water had gone through the floor.
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