A friend sent along an invitation to a private event listed on Facebook for Understanding the Impact of Refugee Resettlement hosted by Bill Dian, who lives in Brainerd:
Ron Branstner was a volunteer with a US/Mexican border group formerly known as the Minuteman. Having ties to Minnesota, Ron joined forces with local groups to understand refugee resettlement. Ron believs in education of Constitutional Law as our founders intended, while promoting the bill of rights.
There will be a freewill offering to help cover costs.
The event will take place Tuesday, January 5, 2016, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the Journey North Church in Baxter. According to Lead Pastor Mark Bjorlo, the space has been rented for the event.
Among those planning to attend? Central Minnesota Tea Party organizer Nancy Chmielewski Judd and Crow Wing County Republican County Chair Doug Kern, last seen in our November 20 post, County GOP chair fears Freedom From Religion Foundation isn't bothering Muslims enough.
Back story on Branstner
As we noted in yesterday's post, Refugees & reactions: three newspapers respond, the St. Cloud Times' fact checked a number of the claims Branstner and other make about refugees and refugee resettlement programs. Those detailed examinations can be viewed via this Google search.
Bluestem looked at Branstner's jump from anti-immigrant speaker to refugee resettlement basher in CA Minuteman & Islamophobic rabblerouser totally down with Trump's anti-Muslim bigotry. We began looking at his views nearly ten years ago when he rode the crest of anti-immigrant sentiment, appearing at forums in the Austin area and Minneapolis, as well as examining his involvement in former senator Dick Day's laughable run to the border.
As late as last summer, Branstner focused on immigration, as his appearance in Willmar attests in the West Central Tribune article, Immigration forum sparks some heated discussion (a friend with a video of the event recently reviewed the footage and notes that the rabblerouser doesn't talk about refugees).
With the national discussion shifting to refugee resettlement this year, Branstner has hitched his star to that bandwagon.
An odd event for a Converge Worldwide-planted church
Bluestem would have been surprised if the congregation were a host to Brantsner, given the church's own heritage. An April 2015 article in the Brainerd Dispatch, A new journey: Area church comes into its own, notes:
To Bjorlo, what churches can accomplish is endless. He and wife Elizabeth moved to Brainerd in 2003 to start The Journey North as a "church plant," or daughter church, of Grace Fellowship in Brooklyn Park and Elim Baptist Church in Anoka. These churches are part of Converge Worldwide, a movement of around 1,300 churches born from the Swedish Baptist tradition with a mission to "multiply transformational churches."
Google "Converge Worldwide" and refugees, and the Converge Worldwide works on international missions helping refugees, as well as assisting refugees who have resettled in the United States. Parent church Grace Fellowship in Brooklyn Park runs a robust Grace Refugees Global Mission Team offering everything from ESL lessons to community garden plots.
The Journey North Community Church is described by friends in the area as a friendly and welcoming place, a description bolstered by its website and the Dispatch article. It's not the culprit here.
Indeed, we hope the event takes place and that someone tapes Branstner's remarks for analysis. As John Milton once argued, the cure for misguided speech isn't censorship, but more speech and critical thinking.
Screengrab: The Facebook event.
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