Last evening the City of Edina held a community meeting involving city, county, state, and federal law enforcement leaders to address the recent violence occurring among many Somali youths.
The violence
During the meeting, the Edina police chief listed a number of recent shooting incidents involving Somali youth, including the Our Lady of Grace church basketball court shooting, a shooting on Hwy 100 in St. Louis Park, and a shooting this past Friday that caused the evacuation of the Eden Prairie High School homecoming football game.
Sadly, within hours of that meeting, two additional shootings involving Somali youth occurred at a gas station in Eden Prairie and in a residential neighborhood in Bloomington where nearly 100 rounds were fired.
These incidents come on the heels of several metro wide incidents involving shootings at graduation ceremonies this past spring and a significant effort by law enforcement to prevent violence involving Somali youth at the Minnesota State Fair.
The incidents are being described by law enforcement leaders as part of growing conflict between various Somali youth clicks or “gangs.” The conflict isn’t traditional gang conflict over controlling drug distribution territory, but rather over disrespect and personal “beefs” between groups of Somali youth residing in different parts of the metro area. Reportedly, the conflict at the Eden Prairie football game involved a St. Paul click which travelled to the game to confront a click from Hopkins.
Fortunately for all of us – the public, the Somali youth, elected officials and law enforcement, there have been relatively few injuries. But given the locations of the shootings – in neighborhoods, on freeways, at crowded football games – and the high number of rounds being fired, it’s just a matter of time before someone not only gets killed, but a completely innocent person gets killed. If our elected officials and public safety leaders think things are unpleasant now, they will become exponentially worse if an innocent child or parent is killed.
Time for action
Time is of the essence. An aggressive, proactive law enforcement response is needed immediately, while other long term social solutions are identified and implemented. Our law enforcement leaders need to establish a regional task force, today, that identifies a number of players involved in this violence and uses whatever legal means available to remove them from the street – existing warrants, probation and conditional release violations, pending accusations of violence, even expired driver licenses – anything and everything within legal bounds to remove them from the street. Those carrying out the violence are way too bold right now, and law enforcement needs to collectively turn up the heat, so they are afraid to be on the street.
One of the leaders calling for this approach is Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher – see his press conference from this morning. Another is the Eden Prairie Mayor, Ron Case. Other leaders, such as BCA Superintendent Drew Evans, have been working diligently behind the scenes to coordinate a regional response to the violence. Let me stress, law enforcement isn’t the problem here, but the time has come for them to come out swinging.
What has been particularly refreshing with Sheriff Fletcher’s message is that he has refused to be silenced on calling out where this violence is emanating from – a small number of Somali youths estimated to total 300. Sheriff Fletcher has also been bold in saying that Somali parents need to up their game and be more resolute in monitoring what their children are doing when out of the house. He is one of the few who has been willing to say that, and he needs to be supported and not condemned for doing so.
Deflection
Some of the messages that have come from elected leaders and Somalis, include:
- The violence is “gun violence”
- It is “dangerous” to label what’s happening as “Somali violence”
- More youth programing and other “resources” are needed
Each of these narratives have some truth to them, but overall, they serve to deflect blame and responsibility from those carrying out the violence – youth from within the Somali community. And when some “Somali leaders” reference needing “resources” to stem the violence, it becomes really distasteful, really quickly in light of the billions in fraud that has been perpetrated against Minnesota taxpayers.
While I feel strongly about the need to speak openly about a problem, I can also understand that if I were a law-abiding Somali parent who had raised my kids to be respectful and productive members of society, I would not appreciate being generalized with the relatively small number of Somalis causing the violence.
But those law abiding, responsible Somalis need to acknowledge the violence is coming from within their community and join the larger community in forcefully condemning it. They also need to steel themselves for the law enforcement response that is coming. Somalis must remain supportive of law enforcement as the heat gets turned up on those carrying out the violence. I fear we will quickly hear condemnation from “community leaders” who will characterize the response as being racist and over-reaching. That wont help anyone.
The takeaway
Community listening sessions, youth programs, and long-term social solutions have a place. But if an innocent child or parent is shot while these long-term solutions are debated, the lid will come off the Twin Cities, and efforts to integrate Somalis into our larger Minnesota community will be blunted.
Members of violent clicks, no matter their identities, should be the least comfortable people in Minnesota. Instead, as of today, they laugh as the police respond to the ever-growing number of shootings only to collect dozens of spent casings. That must change.