When Cultures Convene: Conflict, Cooperation, and Cohabitation

A History of Intercultural Tension in Minnesotan Schools

Minnesota’s history runs deep with an array of religious, cultural, and ethnic diversity, and, in the past decade, the state has faced profound demographic shifts in population. Occurring simultaneously with this shift is an increasingly charged understanding of the political and social implications of difference in the wake of the creation of a post-September 11th America. While religious and cultural diversity can create tensions in an array of public spheres, including the workplace, public spaces, and hospitals, a key playground for the tensions involved in living in a diverse world is schools. Schools are the meeting place for the next generation of Americans – they are where children, teachers, and administrators from vastly different backgrounds come together to learn, share, and grow. While talk of diversity is complicated in schools by the United States’ commitment to religious freedom and privacy as held by the First Amendment of the Constitution, schools are a unique site of difference. Unlike other places, schools deal uniquely with children, persons who can be profoundly influenced by their education and the environment in which they learn.

Over the past decade, Minnesota has seen its fair share of conflict over religious and cultural difference within the school setting. One of the most notable of these incidents is the investigation and later closing of the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TiZA) charter school in Inver Grove. The K-8 school was started in the fall of 2003 by two Minneapolis-based imams and members of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota and served around 500, mostly low-income, students. ¹  In addition to teaching Arabic, the school’s curriculum placed a heavy focus on civilizations in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. In its first years, TiZA students made far above-average gains on Minnesota state testing. However, in 2009, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against the school claiming that the school’s charter violated the Constitution by using public money to promote religion. Charles Samuelson, the executive director the ACLU, said in a statement: “They [TiZA] were running a religious school in which religion was intertwined into the curriculum. That is unconstitutional… We want a federal court precedent that says a charter school cannot do that with public funds.” ²  At the same time, Joe Nathan, a charter school advocate and a key witness in the ACLU lawsuit bemoaned the suit: “TiZA was a model, not only of excellent academics, but of promoting religious and multicultural understanding and tolerance starting at the front door.” ³ The school shut down in 2011 due to bankruptcy as a direct consequence of their losing their funding due to the ACLU case. A settlement has yet to be reached. For more information, see Nathaniel Popper’s Wall Street Journal article, “Chartering A New Course” from August 2007.

Minneapolis’s South High School faced a clash of cultures in the winter of 2013 when a cafeteria fight turned into a brawl between hundreds of students, initiated by growing tensions between Somali-American students and others. Over the course of the year, two students ripped a welcome banner in Somali off a balcony and a lunch table primarily used by East African students was removed from the lunchroom. The cafeteria brawl represents the latest incident of clashes between groups of diverse students. Farah, a junior at South, noted after the incident that “this school is not safe for Somali students,” and Guled Omar, a Somali-American senior, said he was unsure whether the violence was a result of the fact that “we’re minorities or the newest immigrant group.” ⁴  At South High, where almost half of the 1,750 students identify as people of color, creating a safe and open environment among students to address and appreciate difference is in the works. ⁵  Kate Towle, the advisor of the South High club Students Together as Allies for Racial Trust (START) and the parent of a South High student, urges increased communication and understanding: “Like any area, these skills have to be developed like math, history. … You can’t throw kids in a building and expect them to get along. It’s a challenge for all of our students to live amid such rich diversity.” ⁶  For more information, see Allie Shah’s Minneapolis Star Tribune article, “Minneapolis South High Clash Exposes Somali- and African-American Student Rift” from February 2013.

In March of 2013 at South High in Minneapolis, several hundred students walked out over complaints and grievances about the school’s All Nations program for American Indian students. Native students at the high school objected to the school’s restrictions on their ability to hold drumming and smudging (the burning of sage for purification rituals) gatherings in school. ⁷  The walkout, given the name ‘Idle No More,’ occurred after students gathered in the school’s public spaces for 90 minutes of drumming, dancing, and conversation. ⁸  Mahendra Jagnandan, an All Nations senior, said, “I’m here to support my program because it needs attention and this is the only way to get attention.” ⁹  A central message of the Idle No More gathering was to encourage students to learn actively and learn more about the unique differences and diversity among the student body. Event organizers claim they asked Principal Cecilia Sadler, Director of Indian Education Danielle Grant, and Associate Superintendent Stephen Flisk to attend the event to hear student complaints, but that none of the invited parties attended. ¹⁰

While these stories speak to widely public incidences of religious, cultural, and ethnic tensions, they are only a few examples. Also notable are the oft-occurring smaller moments of conflict over differences ­­— those moments that arise between two students in the hallway, between a teacher and a pupil, between a parent and a school administrator, on the sports field, on the stage, and on the bus. Furthermore, these moments occur in big cities in Minnesota and in small towns, as they do across our country, every day. They raise rich questions about immigrant and native populations; about curricula, funding, and public spaces within school; about the role of the government in the school setting; about parent – school – community partnerships; about the place of religious and cultural identity; and about the critical importance and centrality of student voices and experiences. While it may feel more convenient for schools to ignore difference and quell dialogue, these strategies have proven ineffective in the school environment, as demonstrated by the narratives above. Instead, schools can seize on the unique opportunities for teaching moments afforded by classrooms with diversities of experience, worldview, and perspective. Student, teacher, and administrative voices of difference can be incorporated into dialogue regarding diversity through lesson plans, arts activities, student clubs and organizations, and other school settings.