Somali Students Are Minnesota Students. Their Safety and Belonging Cannot Wait.

In July, a group of Somali kindergarteners in St. Paul celebrated their graduation. Wearing little blue caps and gowns, the children sang together, marking a milestone with their classmates, teachers, and families.

Then President Donald Trump shared a video of their celebration on social media, amplifying commentary targeting the young girls for wearing hijabs.

A moment that should have been about children’s joy and accomplishments instead became a target of national political hostility.

Abdisalam Adam, principal of another St. Paul school serving many Somali families, told Sahan Journal that the president’s attacks and growing anti-Somali rhetoric were leading students to “question their Americanness.”

According to the Minnesota Department of Education, more than 27,500 students in Minnesota public schools reported Somali as their primary home language during the 2024–25 school year. And that doesn’t include every student of Somali heritage, including those whose primary home language is English.

No child—or anyone, for that matter—should have to question whether they belong in their own home, their own school, or their own state.

The election is over. But the harm caused by the political targeting of Somali Minnesotans extends far beyond an election cycle.

Minnesota’s leaders have a responsibility to address that harm, not simply move on as though its consequences ended with the campaign.

Minnesota already has civil rights laws protecting students from discrimination based on race, religion, and national origin, along with requirements for schools to prevent and respond to bullying.

Those protections matter, especially when children and families are being targeted by people in positions of power. But condemning hateful rhetoric isn’t enough if families and communities are left to navigate its consequences on their own.

Minnesota’s elected officials and education leaders have a responsibility to make sure those protections are meaningful in students’ everyday lives: confronting anti-Somali racism and Islamophobia, responding to discrimination and harassment, and ensuring our schools are places where children feel safe, valued, and supported.

The Stories Adults Tell Have Consequences for Young People

Over the past year, Somali Minnesotans have faced repeated attacks from national and state political figures, fear and disruption during federal immigration enforcement operations, and renewed harmful political and media rhetoric about “Somali gangs” following shootings involving young people.

These events are different, but they share a troubling consequence: Somali identity is repeatedly being invoked in public debates about criminality, danger, and who belongs in Minnesota—and in the United States.

And these narratives don’t remain confined to political speeches, campaign ads, or news headlines.

They can shape how communities are perceived, how public institutions respond, and how people treat one another. For children, these messages can follow them into classrooms, friendships, and the places where they should feel safest and most free to be themselves.

Research helps explain why this is so consequential.

In a 2023 study of Muslim refugee youth, researchers found that stereotypes portraying young people as dangerous or violent translated into experiences of bullying and discrimination at school. Students described feeling negatively about their schools and surrounding communities, while also expressing a desire to demonstrate that they were “good citizens.”

A 2025 study following 220 Muslim American adolescents over three years found that media consumption was associated with changes in how young people understood and valued their Muslim identities. Some forms of English-language news consumption were associated with lower feelings of esteem about their Muslim identity, while culturally affirming media were associated with more positive feelings and stronger identification.

Closer to home, researchers Roun Said and Tabitha Grier-Reed at the University of Minnesota studied how Somali American young adults navigated their Somali and American identities, including experiences of exclusion, belonging, and the ways they actively affirmed who they were.

And a 2026 review of 77 studies on school racial climate and belonging found that discrimination was associated with a weaker sense of school belonging, while positive relationships, cultural affirmation, and inclusive environments were associated with a stronger sense of belonging.

These studies don’t tell us exactly how Somali students across Minnesota are experiencing this moment. Their experiences are not all the same, and we cannot presume to speak for them.

But together, the research points to something important: The messages young people encounter about who they are and where they belong matter. And schools can either reinforce those messages of exclusion or help create environments where students feel respected, valued, and supported.

Young people should not have to spend those formative years defending their humanity or proving they belong.

Safety Means More Than Protection From Physical Harm

Somali parents and community leaders are confronting real concerns about gun violence. Families have lost loved ones. Young people have been injured. Parents are worried about their children’s safety and futures.

They are also worried about racial profiling and political rhetoric that casts suspicion on an entire community, especially their children.

These are not competing concerns.

As community organizer Yusra Mohamud told MPR News, legitimate concerns about violence should not become permission to generalize about Somali people.

Imam Hassan Jama has similarly called for greater investments in mental health services, youth development, and economic opportunities, not more profiling.

Somali families are already caring for their children, nurturing their identities, building community, and advocating for their safety. They should not also have to carry the burden of protecting their children from racial targeting by powerful adults and public institutions.

We also know that fear and instability can disrupt learning. A 2026 University of Minnesota survey found that more than 80% of responding school leaders reported negative effects on students’ ability to learn during Operation Metro Surge.

The survey examined impacts across Minnesota schools, not Somali students specifically. But it documented how federal immigration enforcement affected students’ learning and well-being.

The effects of racial targeting deserve that same attention.

Protecting young people means more than keeping them safe from physical harm. It means making sure they can walk into their classrooms without fear of being judged, targeted, or discriminated against because of their culture, faith, language, or identity.

And it means having the freedom to be a young Minnesotan—to learn, make friends, celebrate accomplishments, make mistakes, and imagine your future without carrying the weight of other people’s racism and suspicion.

Belonging Requires More Than Words. It Requires Action.

Belonging isn’t simply something we ask students to feel. It’s something schools and communities help make possible through their everyday actions, relationships, and practices.

For educators and school leaders, that means confronting anti-Somali racism and Islamophobia, responding to discrimination and harassment, and challenging harmful narratives. It means ensuring Somali students see their cultures, histories, languages, faiths, and contributions reflected with dignity in what they learn and experience at school.

It also means listening to students and families, connecting those experiencing fear or uncertainty with trusted adults and culturally responsive support, and involving them in decisions that affect their safety and well-being.

For Minnesota’s elected officials and education policymakers, it means backing these commitments with investments, clear expectations, and accountability.

Every school district should have meaningful ways for students and families to raise concerns and help shape decisions affecting them. State education leaders should examine whether district policies, practices, and investments are actually creating environments where students experience safety, belonging, and opportunities to succeed.

This also means supporting the priorities Somali community leaders have identified, including community-led violence prevention, youth development, mental health services, and trusted mentors.

Most of all, Somali young people must have a meaningful voice in shaping the schools and communities where they grow up. Their experiences, perspectives, joy, and aspirations deserve to be heard and celebrated, not reduced to the political narratives being constructed around them.

Somali Students Are Minnesota Students.

At MnEEP, we know racial equity in education goes beyond metrics of academic achievement and access to opportunity. It’s about creating schools and communities where young people are safe, their identities are valued, and they have the support and freedom to thrive as their full selves.

Somali young people deserve safety from gun violence and racial targeting. And they deserve care, joy, opportunity, and the freedom to imagine futures of their own making.

They do not have to prove their Americanness. They do not have to earn their humanity. And they should never have to diminish who they are to feel accepted in the place they call home.

Somali students are Minnesota students. Their belonging is already theirs.

Our responsibility is to ensure our schools, communities, and public institutions protect their rights, honor their identities, and give them every opportunity to thrive.

Putting care and belonging into action

MnEEP’s Creating Safe & Supportive Schools for Immigrant and English Learner Students Toolkit offers educators and school leaders practical guidance for protecting student rights, responding to discrimination and harmful rhetoric, supporting families, and creating culturally affirming learning environments.