St. Cloud, Minnesota citizens are entitled to an
open discussion about their changing city, by Ann Corcoran
5/20/18
Ten
years ago this month, RRW published its first of what would be many posts on
St. Cloud, Minnesota, a small city targeted by Lutheran Social Services of MN
and the US State Department for the resettlement of mostly Somali refugees.
Council member Jeff Johnson surrounded
in October 2017
https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/local/2018/05/18/st-cloud-city-council-member-jeff-johnson-refugee-resettlement-program/602537002/
When
blog partner Judy wrote this post about the mistreatment of a service dog by Somali
students it was the first time I had ever heard of St. Cloud, Minnesota.
In
those ten years we have published dozens of posts on the demographic change
there and the controversy it has created.
Our
experience has been that the St.
Cloud Times has been biased against anyone who wants to
have a discussion about the change, but this story by reporter Jenny Berg is surprisingly
balanced! What happened? Not
just the ‘insensitive’ numbers guy: Jeff Johnson keeps refugee conversation
going
It
is a long story, but really worth reading. I was particularly
interested in one theme expressed throughout: Concerned
citizens have a right to expect transparency from government officials at all
levels. In fact, it is that very lack of transparency that gave
rise to this blog!
There
would be no Refugee
Resettlement Watch beginning in July 2007 if there had
been an open and honest discussion in Hagerstown, Maryland that year and if
the Hagerstown Herald Mail had investigated and
explained the details of how the small city in a red county had been chosen for
resettlement and how the process would work going forward.
See what I wanted to know in 2007! I’m still working on getting those
answers for every American town and city! You have a right to the answers
(without having your character slimmed!).
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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