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The Council on American-Islamic Relations Minnesota deputy executive director looked out Tuesday to those gathered inside the capital atrium on Somali American Appreciation Day. 

“We collectively are tired,” said Suleiman Adan. “We’re tired of being treated like suspects. We’re tired of political scapegoating. We’re tired of entire communities carrying blame for headlines and for elections and for talking points.” 

Organizers said the public event was to support Somali Minnesotans in the midst of anti-immigrant and Islamophobic attacks as well as the scapegoating of the Somali American community. Community members, civil rights organizations and elected officials were in attendance, they said.

Before the afternoon event, Adan told MPR News that fellow advocate organizations have witnessed injustice and want to support the Somali community.

He also said the event is more than the immigration enforcement surge or the work to undermine daycare centers.

“It’s decades of surveillance, decades of scapegoating and decades of being seen as enemy No. 1 in Minnesota,” Adan said.

ERA Minnesota co-President Kate Quinlan-Laird is from Minneapolis and said, as someone who works on equal rights and supports “everyone’s basic humanity and dignity and rights, it is profoundly important that we’re here today.”

“It’s important to be visible,” Quinlan-Laird said. “It’s important for people to make sure that people don't feel alone or ostracized, that they know that their neighbors stand with them in complete solidarity and in community.” 

Adan pointed to tech billionaire Elon Musk pushing hate about the state’s Somali community.

“Every few years, America finds another community to blame publicly,” Adan said. “The language changes, the targets change, but the same machinery stays the same. What breaks that pattern is us.”

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The public event was held to support Somali Minnesotans in the midst of anti-immigrant and Islamophobic attacks as well as the scapegoating of the Somali American community, organizers said.

A crowd sits in the Capitol rotunda holding signs that read, "We support our Somali neighbor."

Regina Medina | MPR News

A man speaks at a podium in front of signs reading "We support our Somali neighbor."

Event attendees hold signs reading "We love our Somali neighbors."

Supporters organize for Somali American Appreciation Day held at the Capitol

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