By: fluentinsarcasm on 11/19/09
I would like to say that those who are continuing to overreact should step back from the situation, take a second look, and respond with a calm and collected mindset. Thank you.

By: ksanh68 on 11/19/09
When opinions masquerade as facts and people are too unmotivated and uninterested in researching what they hear to learn if it is in fact the truth, we all pay the price.

By: alittlebitofsugar on 11/19/09
Nice article and editorial from OPP. It was a sad day Ksanh68. To hear my child tell me that the major topic at school today was all the racism and hatred being posted on this site earlier today. While the hate mongers sleep, prowl the streets, or do whatever they do this time of night a new day looms. Hopefully it will be a better one than today. OUR children (regardless of their heritage) deserve it.

By: TRUTH on 11/19/09
I never thought I lived to see the day when a whole community is attacked because they are guilty by association.

By: concernedhsstudent on 11/20/09
Glossing over the actual day to day goings on at the high school isn't going to help bring an understanding of what is actually going on to the community. We also need to make sure that a good cross section of religious and racial leaders attend these types of meetings if more are needed.

This isn't one sided, you need to look at both sides and understand where each is coming from before a rational decision is made. Furthermore, proper actions that have been taken most likely haven't deterred the select few airheads that are causing these issues from committing these acts (violence) again. Once a person has something set in their mind that they want/are going to do, those thoughts will most likely be acted on even if there are cops and teachers roaming hallways.

Also, I would like to say that I am very disappointed, as a student at OHS, that many members of the community responded to the recent OPP articles in the manner that they did. Remember: When something is being done about a negative situation in a negative aspect, all you will get is negative results.

By: Bindy on 11/20/09
As a graduate of OHS and parent of child attending OHS I have to wonder is there a separation of church and state? I understand that the Somalians religion require them to pray at certain times of day and wear certain types of clothing. I'm not an expert on this, just my understanding. If it is a fact that there is a separate room for prayer is this room open for all students? If not then why? Why can't students wear hats in school? Is it that big of a deal? I'm not sure if any of the issues are really worth it. So really if your a parent of a OHS student and your really upset about the "issues" are you thinking rationally? I do feel that the school needs to follow the separation of church and state. This is just my opinion.

By: concernedhsstudent on 11/20/09
To my knowledge, there is no room set aside for any religious sect in OHS. There might be teachers who allow students to worship during the day, but that's it. IF a student approached a teacher and said, "Hey, I'm not having the best day ever. Do you mind if I do some soul searching in the back because your room is quiet?" that the teacher would probably allow it.

By: Thinkreasonably on 11/20/09
1. The teacher should have set guidelines in assigning the opinion paper - no slander - teaching the students that a good opinion paper should be supported with facts and written with dignity. Then the class discussion should decide if the opinions were supported. i.e. "On such and such a day I saw 3 students wear hats." True or False "The administration allowed this to occur." True or False. A good opinion paper requires research to support that opinion. Hence, the writer should have interviewed administration and even the students who wore the hats to find out the facts. After their research they would write whether they agree or disagree with the matter. During class discussion, students should be taught to respect all opinions and to agree to disagree as they critique the paper.
2. If the opinion paper was based on fact and was not slanderous, the student should not have been dismissed from school. Although school assignments are not protected by free speech, the writer's opinion paper should not be censored for political correctness. The paper could have been followed up with a debate assignment, allowing those who opposed the opinions to state their reason for disagreement.
3. All religions at OHS should be respected equally. If one religion is given class time to pray, all students should have a break in the class day to pray or reflect.
4. Meals should be based on nutrition, not religion - whether it be the refraining of pork for Muslims or Friday meat for Catholics. Every student has the option to bring a sandwich from home. Menus are published ahead of time.
5. Like it or not - whether the immigration was or was not handled correctly, the 'new' Owatonna is culturally diverse. The Somalians have come from a war torn country where an eye for an eye is the culture. We can't even comprehend what it must be like to have lived in such an environment and then been transplanted to a small town in the middle of a different continent. However, many of the Somalian students were born in America and should have learned a different way of handling conflicts by now. More needs to be done in the Somalian leadership to teach conflict resolution.
6. For those of you not part of the Somalian culture, what is your excuse? Do not stoop to that level! Be an example. Show forth love.
7. A mediation between all cultures should take place with representations from various cultures as well as community leaders and young people needs to occur and be broadcast on cable.
8. Special privileges for any group of people - whether the privilegs are based on religion, race, or culture - is not constitutional. Everyone is created equal and nobody should receive government partiality in any form - whether the form is financial or educational or judicial. Such behavior is considered socialism, not capitalism.
9. I am sad to see unprecedented crime and conflict in Owatonna.
9. Anyone, no matter what country they are from, if they are not citizens and do not abide by the laws of our land, and break the law by stealing, fighting, or threatening American citizens should be expelled from this country.
10. All citizens breaking laws should be equally and fairly brought to justics and punished accordingly.
11. Everyone, do what is right and reasonable!

By: oli on 11/20/09
Johnson said he extended an invitation to leaders from the Somali community, though they learned of the invitation at the last minute, and the individuals invited were unable to attend.-- Wouldn't you think this is something that someone from the Somali leaders community would be able to attend?

By: kadrmas21 on 11/20/09
Hmm, I do not know about all this. It seems the Owatonna High School administration is already back-peddling and is not really serious about any of this stuff. They are just using it for crowd control I think. As for the posts on the other page, for the most part they were not racist or even really hateful. Where people were concerned was that this appeared to be an attack because a student expressed politically incorrect views and refused to take back his remarks.

To be honest, when folks regardless if it the Somali's or liberal whites that are angry about the racial coverage, I really feel that this fight goes way beyond race. This was basically a minority groups attempt at trying to silence someone else's idea's because they did not like them. That is what this was really about. It is just incredible to me that anyone would think that the posts on the other page were hateful or racist. I did not see any that were except for a handful of people who hate all Somali's anyway. However most posts were not like that.

They were merely pointing out how it is interesting that the leftists were complaining about race being mentioned (interesting how suddenly they are uncomfortable with race being mentioned as in most any other regard that is all they pay attention to is a person's race, hence why they support affirmative action) when it appears that in part, that was a basis for the attack. However as I have said, I think it goes way beyond race. The Somali students did not like being portrayed in a negative light (albeit a truthful light) and they lashed out because despite principal Don Johnson's false claims, the rules do not apply to the Somali's in the school and they know it. They knew they could do this and get away with it because after all, they are just the poor, oppressed people being bullied by the evil, racist White Christian Man.

This was a deliberate attack by a group of students to silence another student because they did not like his views. I am sorry, if you do not like someone else's views, you disagree with them and move on or you have a mature argument. What you do not do is beat them up and then claim it is acceptable behavior. I could not believe how many leftists were trying to explain away this behavior. There is no justification for the Somali students behavior in this. None.

Actually, I can also guarantee the leftists, if the roles were reversed and 20 to 30 white kids beat up a group of three or four Somali's this would be front page news. No doubt about it. The liberals would be talking about how all the whites should be charged with hate crimes, how they should all be expelled from school, etc. It would not even be a question that that would happen.

By: Mike on 11/20/09
It's when we have decided we KNOW what "all" people of any group are like or believe and assume they will all react to a given situation that we need to check our bigotry.

By: concernedhsstudent on 11/20/09
Don't lump sum people into a category. This ongoing problem is, at max, due to maybe thirty knuckleheads collectively Caucasion and Somali.

By: WhatWouldJesusDo on 11/20/09
I think much of the outrage was in regards that there were two standards, and if that is the case, that's wrong. I just want all our children treated equally.

And there is never an excuse for violence.
Speech is not a crime, violence is a crime. There has to be some recognition of that.

By: concernedhsstudent on 11/20/09
Slander and liable are crimes. Those are the two laws that hinder your free speech. Slander is spoken words and liable is writing. The two boys in question that wrote the papers are at fault and if someone wanted to sue them for liable written speech, they could argue a very strong case against them. Those are some facts I have learned in the recent days addressing these issues at hand.

By: B30 on 11/20/09
We (Bloggers) have now blamed the white student, the somalis, the parents, the administration, the teachers, the community. Anybody else we'd like to burn at the stake? Maybe coaches, city council, babies or businesses?

O I know whose fault it is.

Its the turkeys, they must have did it because of Thanksgiving.

As ridiculous as this may sound, its no more ridiculous than most of the posts that were made over the past couple of days.

By: Stellabella on 11/20/09
Wow. No wonder there are racial tensions at this school, based on the commentary by so-called 'adults'.

Bigotry was expressed by that letter-writer. And since the school apparently failed to teach students the difference between free speech and bigotry, things escalated. After seeing these comments, the entire white community should be ashamed. ASHAMED.

Any white person who demeans a minority is wrong. PERIOD. Anyone who thinks a Somali has special privileges is unbelievably stupid. Having to put down others because of their ethnicity or color of their skin is weak, cruel, ignorant, and lazy.

Oh, BTW, I'm also totally and completely sick of white 'Christians' whining that anyone objecting to their hate speech is 'discriminating' against them. Hate is not a family value, and racism isn't free speech.

Shame on you people. You are proving the stereotype of the sick, stupid, ignorant, intellectually, and morally lazy whites who think that just because their skin is light they are automatically better. Any white person who puts down a darker-skinned person is an absolute loser. You people have had every single advantage in every single area from the very beginning of this country.

By: owatonnaguy on 11/20/09
I blame the waterpark. All you bloggers were right. We should have never built that!

By: EAG on 11/20/09

You either missed something or are having difficulty with your reading skills. Both sides to blame, but for different things, some criminal some perhaps not so much.

I think the letter may have been inflammatory and disparaging but have just 2nd or 3rd hand knowledge as to its contents so I don't feel like I can make a reasonable assumption. But if I assume it is and that parts of the story where he made some suggestion of wanting to fight in some text messages is true, then I don't CONDONE the Somalian kids response but realize it is no different than the other fights that happen throughout every school year. Someone makes smart remarks over and over and eventually the recipient can take it no more.

That being said, violence is not the answer. In my mind, where the racism shows up is in the reaction. People have gone ballistic over something that happens every year and rarely gets mentioned. And i've heard and seen first hand how the reaction/comments of adults ties directly to his/her sons/daughters thoughts and beliefs.

Don't kid yourself race is a factor, it's in much of the response this time.



LMAO owatonnaguy. Right on.

By: concernedhsstudent on 11/20/09
Stellabella I totally agree with you.

By: Grickle on 11/20/09
kadrmas21 " I could not believe how many leftists were trying to explain away this behavior. There is no justification for the Somali students behavior in this. None. " Sounds like you don't other peoples' views, maybe you should move on. See it's not that easy is it?

By: ksanh68 on 11/20/09
"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country."

— Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

By: commoncitizen on 11/20/09
It is amazing what a day can make. Over the past few days I was beginning to think I was living in the 50s where women were barefoot and pregnant and blacks knew their place - at the bottom. When we stand on top of the mountain we tend to forget the struggles and suppression we went through to get there. One hundred years ago Rockefeller was hiring thugs to prevent workers from striking for better wages. So should the people striking be put in jail for non-violent civil disobedience.
There is no excuse for violence, white or black.
Before you condemn a class as a whole, walk a mile in their shoes. If you can't or don't walk to walk in the other man's shoes, then I would recommend reading "Black Like Me". The book and the movie came out in the early 60's. Reading the book will probably not overcome any open or suppressed bigotries that were instilled in all of us, but at least it should help provide a perspective from the other side of the fence. Might help Owatonna catch up with the rest of integrated America.
Opinions are like rectums, everybody has one. It is how we use our opinions that are important. Even an opinion should be supported by fact, otherwise it is just more rumor milling. If I stated that anyone of you were lazy, you would probably be upset. If, when I state that you are lazy, I could substantiate my comments, you might still be upset, but would have little or no recourse to rebut my opinion. So it should have been with the paper. Could the young man substantiate his opinion. If so, then no punishment was merited. If not, then we as a society have a responsibility to teach this young man, and other young adults, that there are repercussions for doing something that does not support not just the laws, but the intent of the laws, protecting society as a whole.
Owatonna is a fine community to live in. We have problems, like every other community. Our greatness is reflected on how we handle sitiuations - both positive and negative. WE can't change any yesterdays decisions or actions, all we can do is go forward. Lets work through this one in positive manner.

Thoughts from a fellow moderate-conservative WASP.

By: Grickle on 11/20/09
Great post Airborne!

By: BigBen7 on 11/20/09
stellabella--first, i am white. second, i am a Christian. do not accuse Christians as being the ones producing the hate here. people who are truly Christians don't see people for the color of their skin, but for the fact that they are a creation of God. are there some who are racist, sure, but when you lump on group all together and blame them for all of the hate, you are doing what you are preaching against. also, do not accuse all whites of trying to hold back people of other races. it's just not true. also, if you think that whites are the only racist people in this town or that school, please think again. it goes both ways.

second, it is not the schools job to teach the difference between free speech and bigotry. that needs to happen at home. you contradict yourself when you say hate isn't a family value, yet schools need to teach about bigotry. maybe we need to look at the home first. too many families want the school to provide the discipline and teaching that they are too lazy or afraid to do at home. sometimes, we don't want to face the facts and realize that if we didn't have so many messed up homes and if we had a few more parents that didn't want to just be their child's friend, but acted like parents, maybe we wouldn't have such a messed up bunch of kids.

finally, as i stated yesterday, this is not a free speech issue. schools have the right based on supreme court rulings to limit the speech of the students in their buildings.

By: tonnatownie on 11/20/09
I agree with big ben... this starts at home in both cases.
The child who wrote the paper was obviously expressing his opinion in words rather than actions and we all wish he could have had his issues handled by the administration. Hopefully he had expressed his thoughts with his parents and after all of this we wish he would have gone to the administration and something would have been handled by them.

On the other hand the somali boys decided to retailate with actions. Maybe we need to work with our youth (of ALL races!) and teach them how to express themselves non-violently. To think before they speak and consider the thoughts of others and also that violence is never the answer.

I think the main issue is that Owatonna has been stuck in its "perfect, quiet little bubble" where nothing "ever" goes wrong and this is a major shakeup.

By: ET on 11/20/09
As my son and his friends who are seniors/students at OHS have said to me, "All we want is equal justice" he told me, and I agree, it's the adults who are turning this into a "racist" war. They all agreed, and there is alot of them, that the principal started this, he did not do his job. Let's leave it at that. I truly hope that all of you who sit at your computers, show up at the School Board Meeting to discuss that the real issue is how this was handled by a person who is in charge at OHS. If he would of done is job, I truly believe this would not have escalted to where it is at now. Please, Parents,Adults, Keep Your Cool! All our students want is EQUALITY! I commend our students for not going BALLISTIC at the occurance which generated everyone getting so upset. They have been telling parents and school officals of their concerns and nothing has been done. These students have every right to be upset. While we were discussing this issue, all these students could say to me was "You parents just don't get it, we've been bringing these issues up and nothing is being done" We need to focus on the person who could of prevented this.

By: kadrmas21 on 11/20/09
Wow, some of you folks need to check your opinions at the door. Grickle I said leftists. Mind you I did not say liberal, I said leftist, big difference. A liberal is a person that while I may disagree with their views (last I checked I have a right to disagree with their views just like they do mine) they can at least form a coherent argument. A leftist is a person that basically likes to blame everyone they disagree with for everything evil in the world. Righties are the same way. I am blaming the left in this particular instance because they are the ones blaming 'bigotry' for what happened at OHS when that appears to not be true.

What it boils down to is ones opinion of 'bigotry'. To me, criticizing the school because they give certain special rights to Somali students that they do not give to white students, that is not bigotry. To me, bigotry would be calling Somali's a bunch of low life n words. That is bigotry.

As for Stella, that thing you said is the most ridiculous thing I have heard so far here. You went beyond even Mike and EAG, you not only apologized for what these Somali students did, you said it is the white people's fault! Incredible. So not only do you assume that the kid is a bigot you assume that his parents and grandparents and other relatives are too since according to you he must have 'learned it' somewhere. Learned what? He is not even a bigot, or at least the paper he wrote was not bigoted. He stated an opinion did not use any racial slurs, it did not say an entire group of people was bad, it did not advocate violence, so how is that bigotry? This has yet to be explained to me.

Oh yes Stella, it is only whites that are complaining when they are discriminated against. Seriously, shut the he double hockey sticks up. Interesting how you sit there and gripe and moan about how it is just the white Christians that are the problem. Yes Stella, how do you think affirmative action got started? It was because MINORITY groups were complaining whenever something did not go their way.

Interesting though you do not care about this, but then when a White Christian complains about a legitimate issue, suddenly you get all bent out of shape and lash out. Yes, I suppose white kids deserve to get beat up for writing a politically incorrect paper since after all, only whites suffer from the mental/emotional illness that is bigotry right?

By: kadrmas21 on 11/20/09
That is just incredible to me. Interesting how the Somali students that basically gang beat this guy, no one cares about it, no one calls them bigots or says they were in the wrong. Oh no, cannot say that, that would not be politically correct to say that!

Again, if someone is calling me a hater, it is not true. I actually think a majority of Somalians are good folks trying to make a better life here. I do not have an issue with them overall. However like any other race (I also do not think all white people are good people either, this blog, as I can assume a majority of the posters here are white, is a case in point) I have concerns when a group of members of one race beat up on another for reasons that have anything to do with race. That is unacceptable to use violence in a situation like that when there was nothing provoking the violence.

Again, what bothers me most is the double standard. I just think you folks that are calling the White Christians 'hateful' and 'stupid' and telling all of us we should move on, I think you all would be singing a very different tune if a bunch of white kids beat up a Somali kid and put a Somali kid in the hospital. In fact I know you would be singing a different tune.

By: CarpenterFan6 on 11/20/09
I like to try and be eternally optimistic, but that's been increasingly difficult over the past couple days. It makes me sad how quick many posters, not necessariy within this article, have been to judge the Owatonna Somali community based on the very poor judgement of a select group. This is not about "us" versus "them". It's about learning to thrive together in a community and appropriately hashing out problems in a way that moves us forward.

I believe that many Somalians practice the Islam religion, which holds that they must pray multiple times per day. Why are we attacking this practice if it isn't harming you or I?

Our city is becoming more diverse: Hispanics, Hmong, Somalians, etc. living among Caucasians? Yup. And we'll all be alright.

By: Newbie on 11/20/09
Set an example for your children to live by, may cooler heads prevail. Wishing OHS and the police department good luck in bringing these events to resolution for all of our sakes.

By: alittlebitofsugar on 11/20/09
kadrmas 21, you keep making references to the letter. Have you personally "READ" the letter?
I will also share a second hand piece of knowledge that I firmly believe is true since my child heard it first hand. The fight was instigated by the weekend calls/text NOT the letter. It was the rub it in your face, you can't do anything about it machismo that re-lit the fuse.

ET, so the school administration is supposed to know about a weekend communication/instigation message before the Monday morning fight? Get real.

By: atlascollapsed on 11/20/09
Since we made the Strib can Omar Jamal and the SJAC be far behind?

Glad to see the forum has calmed down considerably. Hopefully I'm not speaking too soon. Just curious if the inflamatory class assignments have been found and linked to so I can judge for myself how bad they are?

By: kadrmas21 on 11/20/09
Carpenterfan, you appear to have missed the point. This is not about attacking the Somali community or their religion or whatever. At least that is not the point I am trying to make but I cannot speak for anyone else. However, personally, I do not care that Somalian's for the most part are Muslim. I do not care if they pray or not. The beef I have is that Christians are not allowed to do that in our public schools. I can guarantee you if a devout Catholic wanted to pray during the noon hour the administration would be all over them.

Basically, it is not even really what the Somali's do that ticks me off. What ticks me off is the double standard. That is not okay is it? Why is it I have the feeling if minority's are hurt by something or do not like something than it is not okay. But yet if it is something that whites are hurt by or do not like we just need to shut up and tolerate it?

Again, it is this mindset, this double standard that irks me. It is almost like, whites deserved to be crapped on for what other people did in the past. That is bogus. What is really sad is how many people buy into the believe that whites deserved to be punished for what certain members of past generations did.

By: kadrmas21 on 11/20/09
Whoa, where did I say the administration was supposed to know it? I never said that. Go and look through my posts. You will be hard pressed to find it because I never said it. What I did say though is that regardless of the text messages, the school administration already knew this was a heated issue because of that paper. If he (the white kid) was sending text messages to Somali's adding fuel to the fire, than yeah, that is bad but he did not deserve to be beat over it to the extent he got put in the hospital. I mean, are you honestly trying to justify this behavior?

By: ET on 11/20/09
Hey NewHome, I like your comments, even if I don't agree with them all, for the most part I do, how's my spelling?

By: ET on 11/20/09
This whole thing is out of control, hey, a little bit of sugar, please re-read what I posted, I don't believe in "slamming" anyones opinion. Again, it's all about EQUALITY. That's all our students wanted. One individual should have abided by the rules in the handbook.

By: ET on 11/20/09
The person responsible to enforcing the handbook policies is the principal. Period.

By: alittlebitofsugar on 11/20/09
A devout Catholic or any other Christian can pray whenever they want to at school.The OHS students are in advisement right now, and one of them may actually be praying that they have a good day today. A personal prayer does not have to be verbal.

The church and state separation is so that I CANNOT force my religion on you, and you CANNOT force your religion on me. It's so teacher/school led prayers don't force non-believers into saying words to something they don't believe in. Allowing Muslim students to leave at certain times to maintain a tenet of their religion is not the same thing.

By: kadrmas21 on 11/20/09
It isn't? Nice spin job but it does not fly sugar.

By: oli on 11/20/09
Could someone please explain why the Star Tribune's report on this sounds like it's the "white" boys fault??

By: atlascollapsed on 11/20/09
As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools. ~ Attributed to too many to list.

By: owatonnahuskies on 11/20/09
Isn't it interesting who the volunteers were that showed up at the meeting - Wyldlife, Younglife, local pastors. The school doesn't want prayer and christian influence in the schools (citing separation of church/state) until there are times like these. And then (not surprising) it isn't the Somalis that show up - they are too busy/had previous plans. Really? Amazing that all these "white" volunteers could carve out time. Many of the volunteers are probably also "parents of the white children" who have "exacerbated the problem" by showing up at the school to find out what's happening, who want answers . . . it is the parents of the white children in the school that are there when the school needs them, when the children need them. Think of that next time Dr. Johnson, when you critize the "parents of the white children" for being active and attentive and involved.

By: Thuljunior on 11/20/09
Atlas-
do we really need to read the paper? What I mean is does the school or the police have any responsibility to release the paper to the public?

I fear that if the contents of the paper are released then yesterday's forum will repeat itself with everyone taking words and phrases out of context. At some point we have to trust the police department and the school administration to do their jobs.

By: alittlebitofsugar on 11/20/09
ET, I AM calling you out on your opinion because you are alleging that the principal knew it was coming and did nothing about it. In the three articles that I have read on the subject (2 OPP, 1 Star Tribune) I think their responses have been well thought out and measured.

By: CarpenterFan6 on 11/20/09
Kadrmas...I'd rather not argue with anybody. I posted my opinion. If you don't see people attacking the Somali community in the previous article's forum, then perhaps you are the one missing the point.

This is not about a double standard. That thinking is what led to the altercation in the first place. And, yes, I see faults on both "sides" of this ordeal.

By: fairandbalanced on 11/20/09
I agree 1000% with FEIDO! Tell it like it is...it is what it IS!!

By: charliebrown on 11/20/09
who is to blame? The student writes an opinion paper assigned by a teacher. He turns it in to be graded. The teacher has an opportunity at that point to do two several things, a) tell the student it is not appropriate and grade it so, b) ask him to write a different paper, c) discipline him for the poor paper d) post it on the blog for all to read.

The teacher posted the letter on the blog, they could of avoided this whole mess by not posting.

By: BigBen7 on 11/20/09
I find it interesting that many want to blame the administration. I don't believe the administration threw any punches or wrote any papers. What do you want them to do--segregate all of the different races so that they can't interact? hold an assembly and talk about it? those looking to shift the blame away from those directly involved need to look at the situation objectively. if parents taught their children better at home on how to deal with stuff, this wouldn't happen. blame needs to be placed on parents and kids, not school administration and teachers. are there issues with the admin. and teachers--possibly. did that cause 20-40 kids to attack 4 kids over a paper and some text messages--NO! put blame where it is deserved, rather than where it makes us feel comfortable.

By: alittlebitofsugar on 11/20/09
charliebrown, Are you 100% sure that the teacher posted it to the blog, or are you making an assumption?

By: BigBen7 on 11/20/09
the star tribune article said the student posted it to the blog.

By: ttenn123 on 11/20/09
Albert Schweitzer:
Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.

Martin Luther King, Jr.:
We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.

Yes, I used the words of other men. The fact I'm in this forum, engaging in this dialogue, says to me they are more qualified then I to put prospective on this.
Tired of the anger! For the kids’ sake, lead by example.

By: Whereiscommonsense on 11/20/09
Far too often any new person immigrating to our country, towns and states fail to be taught one very important rule...

You are a guest welcomed into our society here in the U.S.A. and YOU, the immigrant, must learn to assimilate into our society by abiding by our pre-existing laws, language being english, our employment and job laws and codes of conduct, our taxation system, etc.

I personally do not understand "why" any immigrant coming to the U.S.A. feels that the U.S.A. needs to assimilate to them!

Learn our customs, our traditions, our values and belief systems, our language, our laws and then...assimilate into our society and contribute, make a concerted effort to contribute versus simply coming to the U.S.A. and the first and last stop made is at the local welfare office and taking advantage of the fine taxpaying citizens of all nationalities already here.

This really all boils down to a lack of any respect being shown to our existing society by any immigrant lashing out verbally or physically against existing and contributing members within our society.

I wonder how well it would go over if any citizen of the U.S.A. went to live permanently in another foreign country and we came into a new land and tried to overrun and in essence, overtake another country by trying to force that country to change the way we "think" it should be...I know if you get a job here in the U.S.A. and try to implement your own personal "agenda and or guidelines" you will be re-focused on how the company is run and if you don't like things there and can't abide by their rules and policies...then perhaps that company and job isn't for you and you should look elsewhere to make your life...this same ideal and logic is what I present to ANYONE unhappy here in the U.S.A. being...if you don't like things here, how things are done and you can't find it in yourself to abide by our laws, customs, society, english language, etc. then perhaps the U.S.A. is not the country for you and you need to find someplace else to make your life and God hopefully, someplace where you will make an honest effort to contribute instead of taking advantage of costly welfare assistance doled out to you just for the asking...quit playing whatever "race" card you hide behind and grow up, mature and assimilate into our society and if you can't...then please leave quietly and leave well enough alone here, we've existed here for a long time just fine before you and will for a long time after you if you can't get with the pre-exisiting program that's been in place here in the U.S.A. for well over 233 years and counting!!

By: Grickle on 11/20/09
Here is an OPP article on the secrets of Owatonna: http://www.owatonna.com/news.php?viewStory=73713

One line really strikes me concerning those who have a blanket hatred towards Somali's.

"Following World War I, the KKK met to discuss their hatred for immigrants and Catholics around the country."

Seems like my(growing up Catholic) customs were probably seen as strange and Unamerican. Sound familiar.

What makes our country great is the ability to take all of these cultures in and make them part of our own. It's been happening in waves since the country was founded. There is no easy definition of an American, we are all pieces of other cultures and we are better for it.

By: ttenn123 on 11/20/09
Commonsense: I only have 1 question. Who's "YOU"? Is he(she) German? Hispnaic? French? Somali? African? Russian? Polish? Swedish? Etc.....

By: Grickle on 11/20/09
Whereisthecommonsense:

Every group of immigrants that has come to the U.S. took time to assimilate into our society. Eventually the cultures blended the would take some of those who were here's culture, they would take some of the immigrants.

It drives me crazy that the general public thinks past immigrants just assimilated and took up the culture of "America".
Think about it, why are many towns German, why are many towns Swedish, why is N.E. MPLS mostly Polish, why is there a little Italy in NYC? It's because the past immigrants wanted their own enclaves to live under customs that they were familiar with. It took time for those customs to blend.

By: Mr_Kite on 11/20/09
I think it's time to put them all on double secret probation.

By: Dallas on 11/20/09
whereiscommonsense, if only it were as easy as you make it sound. There has never been an immigrant group who just assimilated into the American culture. Instead, they began to learn the American way and the Americans began to learn from them, and so, as they were assimilated (and it didn't happen the first generation), they changed to be more "American", however that is defined, and American changed because it learned from them. That is why America is called the Melting Pot. It is a bit of all the cultures who have come to it.

By: An_American on 11/20/09
I have read the articles and many of the comments over this incident. I want to thank the Owatonna Peoples Press for their articles. I am so thankful, my kids are grown and out of this school district. However, I am concerned about the future of my grandchildren with the direction I see this going.

We can all sit and play arm chair quarterback on what should have been done or not. But all this amounts to is debate.

We soon forget the basic fundamentals of our rights. When you have a School Board that could care less about the kids in the district, and who in my opinion feels, the only reason they are on the Board, is for self centered reasons. Remember, this Board allows the Superintendent, to let a arrogant moron like the current Principle go unleashed, you get what you ask for. Lets not forget the Chief of Police, who in my opinion acts like he is the “Gestapo”. Minneapolis did not want him, why does the City Council keep him?

Where am I going with this? We still have a right to vote. We got rid of an idiot in the White House, we need to remove the idiots in the City Council, the idiots on the School Board and put Americans in who will make changes, who respect our rights, who will treat every one fair, and who will enforce the law fairly. Until we do that, you get what you ask for.................

In closing, if the Somalians can not follow our rules, then send them back to Somalia along with the Lutheran Brotherhood who brought them over here!

God Bless the United States of America.

By: Dallas on 11/20/09
An_American, where will you ship the people who were born here and don't follow our rules?

By: ricanash on 11/20/09
The school district has turned their head to not only certain racial groups but also athletes. Not all athletes, only some of those who may be talented. The root of the problem, "Say what you mean and mean what you say." As an adult volunteering in a HS classroom, I witnessed a teacher being assaulted and threatened in fron of a classroom full of students. This person was shoved hard enough to leave a red mark on their arm. It was reported to the administration immediately, a police report was also taken. The female principal at that time, did not want to admit there were racial tensions at the HS, therefore, the police officer did not file the report. This incedent took place in May, a police report was finally filed after this person went to the Chief of police, then to the City Administrator. The report was filed in November, the report stated that the teacher had been pushed and threatened...ACIDENTALY!!!! Not only that, the Somialian girl was not given detintion or a suspension. The student handbook is written by the schools, if you are not going to follow through on a rule, don't publish it. This incident happened 7 years ago...racial tension...it's been swept under the carpet, anyone that works at the HS or attends there knows it. I'm just glad my kids have already graduate from OHS.

By: pumpkin on 11/20/09
In todays article it states "incdents that occurred over the last month". This says to me that the school administration did know what was going on long before this fight occurred on Monday. What was done?
Also, my main beef is this: Since all the immigration WE (American's) have lost. No "Christmas" NO "Pledge of Alligence". If immigration is so wonderful why do we loose privileges and the people coming here gain?
And there are some that can't see this?

By: anonymousbikerdude on 11/20/09
This is a story about a couple of kids at the OHS who got in a fight. This was a common occurrence in my day though back then it was Mexicans instead of Somalis. Regrettable as it was and is, there is no cause for the mass deportation of all Somalis (or Lutherans for that matter) or some of the other solutions suggested above. If your perception of the events that you did not witness supports your pre-existing theories one way or another, good for you! Consider that your theories may have colored your perceptions. But most importantly, note that these are the words and actions of a few individuals and they do not reflect the attitude of all OHS students, all Somali OHS students or the public at large. Let the justice system runs its course and punish the guilty individuals for what they can be shown to have done. And let us get back to important things like bashing that waterpark!

By: ET on 11/20/09
This is totally getting out of hand, as my sons pointed out to me again, all they want is EQUALITY why are soooo many of you loosing perspective? Hey Sugar, yes, the principal was aware of the student being threatened. Enough. I truly hope that WE can ALL come to our senses, go to the School Board meeting, address your concerns, not behind a computer but in person. I may be mistaken..I have allowed myself to, perhaps, be influenced by many of you, why did Mr. Johnson make the choice he made? I do not know. However, to me, this mishandled situation totally boggles my mind. So many students that I have spoken to, some already graduated, blame Mr. Johnson. I commend the OHS students who are having to deal with this issue and continue to go to school. I am proud of OHS! There are alot of wonderful students there, and all they want is for this to end. Again, they think adults made it a racial problem, not them. They just want EQUALITY. Because most of us JUST want "JUSTICE FOR ALL"

By: alittlebitofsugar on 11/20/09
ET Some of your points are well taken. Go to the school board meeting and have your voice heard. Some are your points are from the extraterrestial. You obviously have a grudge against Dr. Johnson. As Joe Friday would say "Just the Facts".

Dallas, your point was succinct and a TKO.

By: BigBen7 on 11/20/09
just remember, equal is not always fair. we claim we want equality until it is something that our child does and has "never been in trouble before" so he/she doesn't deserve the same punishment as the other children. or how about the student who brings a plastic knife to school to eat with at lunch; they get treated the same as a person who brings a real knife to school just for fun. if we are being equal, both get treated as having brought a weapon to school. if we want equality, it shouldn't matter; everyone gets punished or rewarded the same no matter how often they get in trouble or have run-ins with administration. with equality, you cannot take into account anything other than the rule and only the rule, not the person's history or circumstances that are taking place at home or with family.

By: charliebrown on 11/20/09
Charlie says, I "thought" i read in the paper the teacher posted the paper on the blog. Is this a school blog or a personal blog? If it is a school blog why can kids post what they want?

By: An_American on 11/20/09
ET. Well said. I can not agree with you more, however, you capitalized two words, EQUALITY and JUSTICE FOR ALL. Well three, but I understood why you did (JUST).

There is no doubt in my mind the kids want equality and most of us just want justice for all. I have been to School Board Meetings and have challenged the School Board in person. Their actions are louder then their words. My point is this, kids can not vote, adults can and should. We will not have equality or justice for all until those who are making the decision are removed.

God Bless America

By: ET on 11/20/09
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change those I can, and the wisdom to know the difference"
Elizabeth

By: Dallas on 11/20/09
anonymousbiderdude, you are right on. Most of us did not see the incident and a lot of this is just riding high on emotions and preconceived theories. High school kids will always fight. They always have. Everyone needs to sit back and relax for a while. I wonder if this has been blown way out of proportion?

By: donghua on 11/20/09
Whatever happened to teachers standing out in the halls between classes to prevent such things? When has any inappropriate behavior ever been tolerated---this goes in either direction---? Now go back a few years, and replace the word "Somalian" with "Catholic" or "Italian", or "Irish". Jews don't eat pork either. That's why there's choices in the lunch room, and I believe students can bring their own lunch. Regardless of blame, an incident happened. Now what do we do from here? Kristalnacht? I hope not. Dialogue? I hope so. A bridge across the divide? I can only pray.

By: atlascollapsed on 11/20/09
Can we trade Tim Walz for Mr. Bechtel?

By: coach17b on 11/20/09
I have been involved in this community for many years as a coach. Seems to me that if you are just going by the name abdi or hasan you get to join our club with no questions asked as to how you will fund it. I know how its the WHITE folk Yes WHITE folk paying for it all. Doing ALL the fun raising and paying ALL the dues. Now if its that way in out little liberal town Im sure their on our backs for more to live where they do and eat how they do. With the money from YES WHITE folk mainly. This is what fuels the tensions. When you see them all congragating at starbucks in suits and wonder wow How did they pay for that!

By: Dallas on 11/20/09
Sounds like everyone needs to go home and take a hot bath.........

By: An_American on 11/20/09
TRUTH go to the umemployment office and see how many other than Somlaians are unemployeed because Virocon laid them off.

By: charliebrown on 11/20/09
truth-how many Somalians live in Owatonna and how many work at Viracon-what is the percentage of those working. Just curious...if you are going to throw that out as a reference point to your argument, please give some data.

Thanks

By: An_American on 11/20/09
Truth, dont forget the home of the liberals and Lutheran Brotherhood.................

By: TRUTH on 11/20/09
to: charliebrown There are about 30 somali families ling in Owattona and there are more than 70 somalis working at Viracon

By: TRUTH on 11/20/09
Owattonna is a conservative Republican Town... So Stop saying it is a liberal Town Please.

By: coach17b on 11/20/09
Why is it wrong to just state the facts. Go look in the leger books of various clubs,activities or P & R and see who pays and who doesnt. FACTS. If you work so much why not pay or at least ask what you can do for the community. Any organized events that you have to help the elderly or homeless or clean the city or work at food shelf you know, VOLUNTEER activities like I have my children do and I do also.

By: atlascollapsed on 11/20/09
As long as everyone is worried about the criminal activities of others, I highly recomend a trip to:

http://ci.owatonna.mn.us/owatonna-most-wanted

Check out the links to all the outstanding warrants in our fair city. In the spirit of Americas Most Wanted we can all check out our neighbors, friends and employees and see what they've been up to.(And be tattle tales too boot)

By: BigBen7 on 11/20/09
i looked at the link that ac provided. what it shows me is that there are a lot more non-somali folks committing crimes than somali folks. before we get our undies in a bundle, maybe we need to check our facts. thanks ac.

By: TRUTH on 11/20/09
There are more white people committing crimes in this Town.Check the facts

http://ci.owatonna.mn.us/owatonna-most-wanted

By: fairandbalanced on 11/20/09
BB7, it could be because the somali folks are not being charged in court due to the threat of discrimination accusations from them so the non-somali folks are outnumbering them.....

By: algorithm on 11/20/09
it will be COMPLETE bull is those somallian kids don't get charged with assault...

no double standards here...a crime is a crime!!

By: alittlebitofsugar on 11/20/09
RealityGuy, it's not stating the facts that identify the racists, it's typically found in the opinions.

By: TRUTH on 11/20/09
THEY WONT BE CHARGED WITH NOTHING BECAUSE THEY WERE PROVOKED.

By: JonathanM on 11/20/09
@kadrmas21

"What it boils down to is ones opinion of 'bigotry'. To me, criticizing the school because they give certain special rights to Somali students that they do not give to white students, that is not bigotry. To me, bigotry would be calling Somali's a bunch of low life n words. That is bigotry."

Good post, there seems to be an awful lot of confusion these days in our society as to what constitutes racism. Just watch the national news and the reactions we've seen over and over throughout the the past year to criticism of the president being equated by people, including President Carter, as racism.

By: algorithm on 11/20/09
peacekeeper...they went and found the student that wrote it and ganged up on him...and was put in the hospital...

it wouldn't matter what color of skin whomever had...a crime is a crime...

Truth...provoking isn't a crime...assault is...pretty simple....

By: Dallas on 11/20/09
Maybe the administration and the kids who were fighting just need to sit down together with a beer.......

By: algorithm on 11/20/09
truth...how am i speading hate...by stating when an assault occurs, which equals a crime...it shouldn't go unpunished??

looks whose calling who names...truth your the racist one...you just proved it by calling me white trash...you need to look in the mirror pal...

By: ThePeaceKeeper on 11/20/09
I agree with Dallas.
Algorithm...they may have found the kid and ganged up on him but the situation might not have been adressed otherwise so where is the equality for the somali communtity there?

By: ThePeaceKeeper on 11/20/09
I agree also with Truth. and this forum is fine so common joe...just leave it cause its called the freedom of speech. quit giving suggestions and go get a job.

By: BigBen7 on 11/20/09
fairandbalanced--i doubt that is the case since many of the names appear to be hispanic. if they were worried about discrimination, those names wouldn't be there.

the fact is that there is ignorance on both sides of this as evidenced by many of the posts on here.

the truth is that none of us know what the police or the school has or has not done because of privacy laws. they are not required to tell us, the students, or other parents what discipline they have enforced on students. to speculate about what has or has not happened is useless because we don't know.

By: Common-Joe on 11/20/09
This forum SICKENS me and I will no longer be a part of it.

Keep the Peace.

I gotta get back to work.

By: ss_observing on 11/20/09
In response to the Most Wanted list - in order to make the list you must first be charged, then found guilty. Possibly you see more Hispanics and Whites on the list because Somali's are neither charged, nor found guilty. EXACTLY the point of the opinion paper. Preferential treatment, or, behavior that is ignored, or, why bother charging them if nothing ever comes of it. Just something to consider......

By: valkyrie on 11/20/09
algorithm, I agree with you that assault needs to be treated according to the law. If law enforcement finds that a group of students instigated an assault, it should absolutely be punished, end stop.

But there is a separate issue here: independent of whether he/they was assaulted, the student(s) who wrote and disseminated these opinion papers were judged to have broken school rules, and were treated accordingly. What these events really bring home to me is that we all--school officials, parents, community members, students--need to do a better job of articulating why the policies these students found troubling exist.

Which is to say, I can understand the frustration of a student who perceives that a policy allows other students to do something that he himself is not permitted to do. In the case of student dress codes, it should be explained why a headscarf for a Somali Muslim woman, for example, carries a bit more weight than a Vikings hat. He needs to understand that this policy is in place because of the free-exercise clause. He does not have a constitutional right to wear a Vikings hat.

But instead, by failing to explain the reasons and justifications for these difference-accommodating policies, we have allowed these disaffected feelings to germinate and sprout. By failing to address difference, we don't give these kids the vocabulary and background to assess the policies that govern their lives, and we get this kind of hurt. That's a real disservice.

And TRUTH, it's not just the KKK and "rednecks" who have racial prejudices. Let's not scapegoat, and instead think of what all of us can do to make students' learning environments as safe and productive as possible.

By: BigBen7 on 11/20/09
factscheck--should i judge you based on all of the murder and crime in minneapolis? the views represented on this site are a minority of all of those who live in owatonna. using your broad stroke of judgment, you must be a criminal yourself since minneapolis has one of the highest crime rates in mn.

By: onlooker56 on 11/20/09
The reality is that this is a problem that has been going on for years. Students will tell you that there has been a double standard at OHS for a long time. That being said if this is swept under the rug after a week or so and nobody is accountable for their actions what are we really teaching our youth?

By: EAG on 11/20/09
Well said valkyrie! Spot on!

By: Jeepster87 on 11/20/09
As a graduated senior of that school, I know what goes on, and its typical of what happen, talk about it dont take action.

By: Geneva_Queen on 11/21/09
I think it's time for Owatonna to attend the next school board meeting and demand answers.

The next ISD761 School Board meeting is Monday, November 23, at 6:30PM in the District office.

Lets be there, and be heard!!