Hope & Fear in Minnesota’s Heartland: Searching for refuge in St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD — Farhiya Iman grew up on the move, looking for an escape from conflict half a world away. She eventually sought refuge — and made a home  — in the heartland of Minnesota.

That journey — which started more than 20 years ago — was not easy. Wars in Congo and Somalia forced her to become a refugee and flee to Uganda. Eventually, her family arrived in America in 2001 and in St. Cloud in 2003.

Sixteen years later — now a married, 30-year-old parent and business owner with a master's degree in social work — Farhiya is pondering whether to flee her home again. 

While there is no war in St. Cloud, she is increasingly worried about raising her children in a community where bullying, harassment and nativist attitudes are openly displayed toward an influx of refugees from Somalia and other East African countries.

"I don’t want to ever come across someone telling my daughter that she doesn’t belong here. And that’s what I’m afraid of,” Farhiya told the Times this summer as part of four-part series examining the addressing a bitter divide about St. Cloud's growing Somali refugee population.

Part II preview:Growing optimism with every conversation

The tensions have galvanized activists, churches and community groups like #UniteCloud to push for a more welcoming city. But others have gone forward with a more hard-line approach, including a group of activists asserting explicitly anti-Muslim rhetoric.

More:Here's how to get involved, learn more

And recent articles in the New York Times and The Economist put a national spotlight on the city, elevating the longstanding conflict about St. Cloud's changing demographics and an emotionally laden debate about the city's future. 

Read more about Farhiya's dilemma and St. Cloud's tensions in Part I of "Hope & Fear in Minnesota’s Heartland: Searching for refuge in St. Cloud."