Despite all of the benefits of diversity, conflicts can often arise from people’s differences. Several of these conflicts have recently come to light within and around South, but now is the time for solutions. The Southerner surveyed 300 South students to see what they felt were the largest conflicts within our school, and most importantly, what could be done to fix them. Below are two of the most commonly identified problems as well as students’ ideas for how to solve them. Students also identified the isolation of the All Nations program as a major problem at South. See the front page for more coverage of this issue.
Discrimination against Somali students
South’s Somali population has recently been portrayed by local media in two negative manners, both as the instigators of February 14th’s violent actions and as the victims of this violence. The violence from what has been called a “melee” or “brawl” was shocking, and from it has come a conversation about our Somali population.
32% of students who were surveyed felt that discrimination against Somali students was a large problem at South, and for some, it is an everyday struggle.
Junior Abdi Ahmed and senior Maryan Garane, however, are two Somali students who feel the problem is something a little different. “I feel like if we interacted, what happened on [February 14th] wouldn’t have happened,” said Garane. “What happened is actually an ignorance, not a racial issue, it was ignorance.”
Garane explained that she felt that the Somali population is segregated within South, which could be the cause of this ignorance.
“I would like to see my Somali people be friends with other people that aren’t Somali,” she said. “I would like to see my people be more open with other races, just how I would love to see white people be the same way.”
Ahmed agrees that Somali students are often isolated within South’s social groups; however, he feels that this in itself eliminates the possibility of ignorance being the problem.”You can’t be ignorant of Somali culture if you don’t know Somali culture,” explained Ahmed.
“I feel like you gotta get out of your own zone, talk to other cultures, get to know other people,” said Ahmed. “Everyone is comfortable with their own group, and they don’t take the time to talk to other groups, or start up conversations. It’s not something we notice, because we’re comfortable with it.”
Both Ahmed and Garane feel that the solution to this problem must come from the students, and could be as simple as talking to someone new.
“It might be hard because you don’t know the person, but if you take the initiative to go meet someone…you’ll be really surprised by how many [friends] you get to meet,” said Garane. “It’s up to you basically, it’s not like anyone is telling you to do this. At the end of the day it’s going to be your choice, you have to make your own decision to do it,” said Ahmed, before ending with a warning.
“If you stay with your own group of people, there’s gonna be that negative aspect of not talking to other people, because you’re going to have that ignorance. And then it’s going to escalate to something big.”
Garane also believes that the process of eliminating this problem is up to individuals, and encourages all students to create a goal on how they can personally expel discrimination or ignorance from their own lives. Of her own goal, Garane said, “before I graduate [I want] to make at least ten new friends that I would never have talked to.”
General racial tensions among South students
Looking at the demographics of South High, our community is a remarkably diverse one. According to the Minneapolis Public Schools, our current student body is 6.7% Native American, 30.2% African American, 5.4% Asian American, 14.7% Hispanic American, 42.8% white and 0.2% Pacific Islander.
What these statistics don’t show is the conflict and tension among racial groups, a phenomenon that 53% of surveyed students noted as a problem at South.
Junior James Faillettaz has observed social segregation based on race, a discouraging trend that he believes can lead to more problems and conflict.
“I notice that…in the lunchroom and on the balcony. It’s cliqued by race and I think that’s an issue because as races get more separated, they don’t get each other’s cultures as much and it’s easier for conflict to start,” he said.
“At South I think things are segregated, because every race has its own little place where they are. We’re separated and we discriminate against each other a lot,” junior Zakaria Ahmed noted.
Ahmed added that while this issue isn’t necessarily always visible, it occurs nonetheless. ‘I haven’t seen people being really racist with each other, but I’ve seen people joking around. Words hurt and people really take it to the heart. I think they’re hurt inside and they don’t want to talk about it.”
Sophomore Maya Anderson said that she has noticed that there has been friction between students, especially in class discussions about race.
“I think we’re all on edge. I know I’m on edge because you have to watch what you say,” she said. “We want South to be a really safe environment. If we can’t get on a level that we’re all cool with each other, I don’t think that can happen.”
However, students are optimistic that we, as a student body, can solve this problem. According to Ahmed, it’s an issue that won’t be resolved until students are the ones pushing for change.
“[Students are] the center of this whole thing, not the adults, but we need to solve this problem together and get everybody involved,” said Ahmed
Anderson agreed, adding that the impact of adult involvement in this process is limited. In her opinion, real and lasting change won’t happen until students take initiative.
“I don’t want to say the adults are useless in situations like this, but they kind of are,” she observed. “I think they want us to advocate for ourselves because if they do it for us, then we’re not going to get to that point.”
Ahmed acknowledged that general racial tensions among students are not easily solved. It will take the efforts of every member of the South High community to create a peaceful and cooperative environment.
“I think we just have to get really creative and find the mutual thing all these cultures and races want. We have to think about everyone, not just about certain groups, because everyone has feelings and rights, and deserves to be respected,” he stated.
Ahmed added that if you’re willing to expand your social circle and expose yourself to different cultures, it’s possible to see the enormous benefits of being a part of a diverse community like that of South.
“Meet people outside of your comfort zone, and people that you regularly hang out with, it’s going to open doors for you. You’re going to get this whole new perspective of other races and cultures that you may have never seen.”
In conclusion, Diversity can provide valuable life experience if you take advantage of the opportunities it presents
Recently, South High has been highlighted for racial tensions and a segregated student body. Within a diverse community, these separations are bound to happen. Even with these tensions, many people feel it is necessary and beneficial to have diverse communities where people can have a safe place to interact and learn from each other.
On February 20, a dinner was held at South by the student group s.t.a.r.t (students together as allies for racial trust) to open up conversations about race. Senior and s.t.a.r.t member Amira Elhuraibi had the idea for this event.
“I just wanted only the students to have a voice for once and tell their side,” said Elhuraibi about her goals for the dinner, which she found to be a success.
Elhuraibi has noticed that even though South is diverse, students generally don’t want to interact with racial groups other than their own. This is something she hopes to see change in the future.
When freshman Hibo Ali first came to South, she was caught off guard when she noticed that students separated themselves into racial groups. Recently, Ali saw another side to South’s racially diverse community. “After I went to the s.t.a.r.t dinner, I realized that there are people who accept race differences,” shared Ali.
Before coming to South, Ali attended Heritage Middle School, where many of the students, including Ali, were Somali. “Everyone thought the same way,” expressed Ali about her middle school classmates. Ali made the decision to come to South because she “wanted to see a different perspective on life.”
Ali feels that she has already benefitted from her decision to attend South. “My group of friends is very diverse, so I see how other people grew up,” shared Ali. “I benefit because I learn.”
Social Studies teacher Richard Nohel also sees the educational benefits to a diverse school. “As a teacher, it makes it a lot easier to teach, because you have built in all these different perspectives,” said Nohel. He notes that in a diverse learning environment, it is impossible for students to deny that people have different perspectives based on their unique experiences and backgrounds.
“We value those things,” expressed Nohel. “It’s a lot healthier to be in an environment like that in terms of what it’s like out in the world.”
Before teaching at South, Nohel taught in the Anoka-Hennepin school district. The middle school he taught at had 1,500 students. “There were about five non-white students in the whole building,” added Nohel.
“Students here care a lot more about learning,” said Nohel of South High compared to the Anoka-Hennepin middle school. “They care a lot more about the community and the quality of life we have here.”
He added that students at South try to problem solve and find out what they can do to make our community better. Students here want to “preserve the positive things we have in the city and really look towards the future,” said Nohel.
Elhuraibi believes that students at South have an opportunity to gain from diversity, but in order to do that they must take advantage of it and try to learn from other people.
“I hope we get classes that would teach us about other peoples culture and history,” expressed Elhuraibi, “because we usually just learn about a few, not all. That’s why people don’t understand or judge people, because they don’t understand.”
According to Nohel, places like South are valuable because they reflect the outside world. “If you look at nature, nature is so diverse and we are human beings, we’re a part of nature on some level,” explained Nohel, “so diversity is to be embraced and it just makes our lives richer and fuller and less stressful.”