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You Know You’re from St. Cloud if….

Heather is a friend of #unitecloud. After reading bigoted comments on a St. Cloud based Facebook group page, she wrote about her reaction. #unitecloud thanks the administrator of the Facebook page for taking the post down and blocking the members of the group that said nasty things about our Somali neighbors. By taking the bigoted remarks down, you stood up for civility in Central MN and for that, we say THANK YOU!

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12187810_970955606300171_5892655982787018923_n (1)There is no mythical creature more terrifying than hateful, bigoted people and the way they treat others.

I read a post on the “You Know You’re From St. Cloud if you remember” group page (on Facebook) and most of my hope for humanity was lost (there were a few people calling them out as the racists they are and speaking positively, so there is still a shred of hope left).

It was a snapshot of the bigger picture: a country divided. It also explains why Donald Trump is so popular as several people sung his praises on the feed (which still baffles my mind, but this is why). I think racism has always been there, but it was forced into hiding for a while. Now people like Donald Trump have made it acceptable to preach hate and the racists are coming out of the woodwork in droves to support him and spew hate against everyone who isn’t white and in the middle class. It’s like we took a time machine back to 1965. It makes me sick and also very grateful I hightailed it out of St. Cloud when I did.
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It started with (FYI: Comments were copied verbatim):

“Does anyone remember when there were no Somalia here and kids could play outside all day”

The comments were infuriating…here is a sample:

* You haven’t shot the bastards yet?

* Caught one of the little MFers with the Louisville last week.

* Like Donald Trump says – let’s help out the people here in America first before we bring more refugees in this country and cause more chaos then we already have. Our vets are treated poorly our country is in 19 and a half trillion dollars in debt which America is bankrupt so we don’t have the money to keep bringing these sons-of-b****** into this country when there is no money

* I went to Roosevelt and North Junior High…. we had one black kid in our School…. no this town has less whites in it and the crime is unbelievable… You do not walk down by the college area after bar hours you will get mugged two people got mugged couple days ago at gunpoint

* Do your history on the Confederate flag… the only issue with the Confederate flag is that some guy went and shot up the church with the Confederate flag and now it’s an issue… It was on the Dukes of Hazzard for many years and nobody ever complained or anything people make it an issue..

* I don’t care what color you are or where you come from. If you are rude & nasty, I’ll call it like I see it. It just so happens that the rude & nasty people always seem to be Somali.

* My sister is renting an apartment in waite park when she first moved there is was mostly white now it’s mostly Somalian. Her hallways stink really bad and the complex has had multiple complaints about it and do nothing.

* (Good response to the above statement): Not everyone’s culture came equipped with microwaves and Easy Mac. The smell is from spices. It’s what some people cook with.

Good Lord people…can’t we all just get along?

No one is better or worse than anyone else, we are all different and diversity is what our country has been about since day one. If everyone could hear the stories of refugees and people from other parts of the world with an open mind, you would find compassion for a fellow human who has suffered. We all share that fundamental truth…we all suffer, we all cry the same tears, we all bleed the same blood, we all want the best for our families, we all want to ensure that our basic needs are met, we all want to be free from persecution and violence…we are more alike than different. One love, every living thing is connected.

It’s your choice to make every minute of every day: Fear or Love. Choose wisely.

Getting off my soapbox now…