Not long ago, we posted Muslim students attending Willmar Senior High: "we’ve got a really great community here," based on West Central Tribune Linda Vanderwerf's article Muslims in Willmar say life here has remained peaceful, free of harassment.
Apparently the haters of this nation can't appreciate the facts, the paper notes in an editorial today, Our fair city of Willmar is doing just fine, thank you:
Policing the misinformation spread via social media is an impossible task. Much of it leaves us simply shaking our heads.
That being said, there are some things so ugly, misinformed, ignorant and just plain hateful toward another religion, it is time to speak up with an intelligent response.
A hateful, misinformed piece circulating on Facebook, email and other social media paints a picture of diversity in Willmar that is distorted at best, and bigoted at worst.
The uninformed statement clearly is gossip — defined as casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true. Frankly, it borders on hate speech, which in this case is defined as attacking a community on the basis of religion.
From what we have tracked down, an elderly woman, formerly from a west central Minnesota town who now lives in Oklahoma, was one of the first individuals to share this item Thursday on Facebook. Then it was shared via Facebook by another woman from another west central Minnesota county. Since then this bigoted story has continued to spread via Facebook, email and other social media.
The original post claims to be sourced to a third person who had just met “a great couple from Willmar” at some Tucson, Arizona, event.
The purported couple — named as the source of this story — claims that Willmar “is going to be totally taken over by Muslims.”
Now a number of individuals — many former Willmar residents — have contacted various West Central Tribune staffers and public leaders this week asking if this “scary Willmar Muslim story” was true. We commend those individuals for trying to find out whether this malicious gossip was true. Kudos to them for not believing as gospel something unsourced as well as bigoted circulating via social media.
What makes something like this alleged story so insidious is there are nuggets of truth, twisted and presented as something negative. It reminds one of the Nazi propaganda against Jews in Germany in the 1930s.
The propaganda piece says an old elementary school has been turned into a mosque.
First, why is this a problem? Willmar has long been proud of its many worship sites within the community. Is this any different than a former Willmar storefront building being used as a place of worship?
Second, while it is true that a building that once was a school is now serving as a mosque, that’s a vast oversimplification of the facts. The building had not been a school for years, had been sold into private ownership and used as a location of business. And when that business closed, the building was vacant and available for sale. A local Islamic society purchased the building to provide a worship place for its members. . . .
Much of the current criticism of Muslim immigrants in west central Minnesota and America is based upon fear, ignorance and, for some, just plain bigotry.
So please, just leave Willmar out of your bigoted and untrue stories.
Our fair city of Willmar is changing but it is doing just fine, thank you.
Read the entire piece at the West Central Tribune. We admire the paper's unapologetic support of all the residents of Willmar this is as it should be.
The post
Here's the Facebook post by Linda Marie Isaacs ·
Willmar is near our home town and a frequent town to go to for medical care and shopping. This is scary!
This came from a friend in MN - So sad about what has happened to this town.
Dan and I just finished working a show in Tucson and we met a great couple from Wilmar. He is a teacher and she used to work for Tastefully Simple now works for a nonprofit org in Wilmar. What they told us I thought was pretty interesting and wanted to share with you.
They said that Wilmar is soon going to be totally taken over by Muslims.
The Sunni /Muslims were brought in by the govt to reside in that town. She said that in her present job she is responsible for giving out the incentives to the Muslims. She pays them 1800 a month from the govt. for 6 months to help them relocate. She said they come in, pound their fist on her desk and demand their money. They say you owe us this money. She is quitting her job because they are so abusive to her.
He said The Muslims have purchased the old elementary school and have turned it in to a Mosque. They also purchased an abandoned store front right in the center of town where they have a large map of Minnesota in the window with a large insignia representing their country superimposed on the entire state of Minnesota.
He said it has been a total nightmare trying to assimilate them into the schools. They demand free breakfast and lunch. They won’t tell you their age so you have no idea how old they are. The kids are very aggressive and mean and are not blending in at all with the overall student body. They are leery to discipline them because they have to deal with their attorneys etc.
They have been trying to sell their beautiful home on a lake there and can’t because their realtor told them, all of the housing values have dropped significantly and no one wants to buy there because of this situation. They said everyone that can, wants to move out of that town. Actually they said, “running out of the town”.
He said it is a total mess. So it goes for sleepy little Wilmar. Amanda your folks may find this interesting since I think they came from around there?
Thought this was a very interesting story which may help you all think twice when you go to vote.
I wish you could have heard their story. Very interesting and disturbing.
He felt that Germany will no longer be Germany in less than one year due to the infiltration of that country by people who have no intention to assimilate to the German’s culture.
The paper is right: leave us out of this. The young Somali women at the top of this post deserve respect, not this claptrap--along with all of us in West Central Minnesota.
Photo: Via the West Central Tribune: "Willmar Senior High School senior Muna Abdulahi, left, and junior Fatuma Baraki, both Muslims, believe they are accepted as individuals at school. (RAND MIDDLETON | TRIBUNE)"
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