Severe storms are rolling through central Minnesota including the Twin Cities

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

A number of local Somali and Muslim organizations are taking umbrage with a training session called "Understanding the People of Somalia, Their History, Their Culture and Their Lives in America."

Despite the program's innocuous title, the groups say the Thursday seminar -- whose targeted audience includes peace officers -- appears to have an "anti-Muslim and anti-Somali bias." The organizations, including the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, have 

emailed law enforcement agencies warning them about their concerns.

The event is not the brainchild of Somalis, but that of 

Bob Fletcher, Ramsey County's controversial former sheriff

. Fletcher, now a watch commander for St. Paul police, recently founded the Center for Somalia History Studies. He

 he wants people to wait for the event to take place before they pass judgment.

His critics don't like the fact that Fletcher mentions religion at all when he describes al-Shabab, the Somali group with links to al-Qaida, 

as an "Islamic extremist terrorism organization."

The letter writers protest: "The Muslim community rejects this biased labeling of a religion practiced by over 1.4 billion people worldwide."

Clearly, Muslim Americans are grappling with how to talk about extremism, preferring to disassociate Islam from terrorists who they believe have hijacked their faith. Is it wrong to call a terrorist a "hard-line Islamist" or a "Muslim extremist" if he is committing atrocities in the name of his religion? There are some Muslims who even object to the word "radicalization" because it implies that the problem is rooted in the religion.

But that's not the only reason Fletcher's new initiative is drawing criticism. He's brought on two well-known but divisive Somali-American activists to help lead the program -- Omar Jamal and Abdirizak Bihi. In the letter CAIR, mosques, and other groups have emailed to law enforcement agencies, Muslim leaders say the "the presenters' credentials are highly questionable."

Fletcher is charging people $150 per person to take part in 

Concerns about the two men's credibility ave been chronicled 

No matter your thoughts on Jamal, Bihi, or Fletcher, it should be known that they're not the only ones who are willing to educate the rest of us about Somali culture.

Several young leaders who have stepped up to lead community conversations on issues of radicalization and the generation gap were featured in my story today. 

Minnesota News

The Cities Blog

Laura Yuen

Author

Bob Fletcher's new endeavor -- educating Minnesotans about Somalia and its people -- is drawing ire from local Somalis and Muslims.

Muslim groups to Bob Fletcher: There’s no “Islam” in terrorism

Go Deeper.

Like this?