While chaos and fear are deployed as weapons trying to fracture and isolate us, we know that linking arms with one another is our strength.  The vicious attacks intended to dehumanize our Somali family, friends and neighbors are vile attempts to criminalize an entire community. The pain reverberates and is felt deeply.

Our resolve is to stand in solidarity with love and clarity as we move together through this wave of violence and division.  In the face of unspeakable tragedy, we will not exploit our resilience. History shows that our ability to meet adversity with justice, care, and accountability prevails, and we will continue to offer our love, care and support for those who are being targeted today.

We turn toward collective action and away from panic and isolation. We place into sharp focus and uplift narratives that reflect the power, brilliance, innovation, humanity, and beauty of our neighbors.  The communities we serve are an essential part of the fabric of our city, our state and our country and the reason for our cultural, economic, and social vibrancy.

‘The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them”, said Ida B. Wells. And that must be our work continuously. In Mni Sota Makoce where treaties were broken and indigenous people were forcibly removed, we see the current U. S. administration committed to reconstituting the same despicable strategies.  We can see and expose this inequality for what it is.

It is with clarity and care we honor how Somali, Latinx, new immigrant, refugee and systemically marginalized people contribute to every facet of life in MN – human service, public safety, health care, education, government, business, food systems, arts and culture. And while our humanity need not be measured by our contributions, we celebrate the vast ways our lives are improved by our interdependence.

We remain unwavering in our commitment to one another because community is the antidote, not the problem.

In Solidarity,

Pillsbury United Communities