GET STORIES IN YOUR INBOX
Sahan Journal brings you reliable and authentic news about our newest Minnesotans. Get the week’s must-read stories delivered to your inbox every Sunday.
RACE
A Tibetan scarf, a Khmer video, exploding the ‘model minority’ myth: how Minnesota’s Asian communities are reckoning George Floyd’s death
Tibetan, Cambodian, Hmong, and Japanese Americans all have their own struggles for justice. But they say Black Lives Matter is their cause, too.
EXTREMISM
An attack on an imam fractured his shoulder and terrified the Muslim community in Bloomington.
The imam’s family found his shoes, glasses and hat after two assailants broke his shoulder. The attack is one of several incidents targeting the mosque.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Minnesota is helping malls that serve immigrant communities survive the COVID-19 downturn. How much aid will their tenants see?
Struggling merchants wonder whether state grants will benefit them.
SUPPORT OUR JOURNALISM
With the support of readers like you, we provide thoughtfully researched articles for a more informed and connected community. This is your chance to support credible, community-based, public-service journalism. Please join us!
LATEST NEWS
‘Mexicans don’t want to call the police,’ alleged burglars say. The result in one Minnesota suburb? Twenty apartment break-ins targeting immigrants.
Immigrants often hesitate to report when they’re victims of crimes, fearing questions about their immigration status. A crime spree in Brooklyn Park shows the consequences—and how police can win back trust.
Governor Tim Walz visits Somali mall in Minneapolis and declares commitment to help businesses. Some ask if commitment is enough.
“It is important for the governor to show they’re not forgetting us”: East African business owners call for help amid an economic crisis.
Is Cup Foods reopening too soon after George Floyd’s killing? Or is it time to get back to business?
Protesters say the community hasn’t had enough time to heal. Cup Foods owners say the focus should be on punishing those who killed him.
‘Umbrella Man’ blocked a Cambodian photojournalist’s camera. By chance, he still got footage.
Dymanh Chhoun has filmed plenty of Minneapolis protests. This time, he was eye-to-eye with an alleged white supremacist.
Two Somali sisters stopped to photograph a wild turkey in Minnesota. Instead, a white man filmed them and allegedly threatened violence.
Somali woman says facing discrimination is “nothing new.” But getting harassed and allegedly attacked for birdwatching on a suburban street?
A goat, a knife, a sacrifice: Some Muslims in Minnesota celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday with ritual slaughter.
You could celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday with lamb from the halal butcher. Or you could drive to a farm in Minnesota, borrow a sharp knife and perform the ritual slaughter yourself.
A Somali health advocate’s crusade against skin lightening, a vestige of colonialism, becomes a federal public health issue
Amira Adawe, executive director of the BeautyWell Project, has been working on the issue for a decade. She said getting the federal government involved is a giant step toward curbing use of the products.
We crammed Governor Tim Walz’s entire COVID-19 back-to-school plan into one cheat sheet. (The test comes this fall.)
Walz’s education announcement was full of detail and data–but no clear direction for parents. Here’s everything you need to know for your family.
A Muslim woman told anyone who would listen about her run-in with white supremacists in Minnesota. One of them? Allegedly ‘Umbrella Man.’
You know who wasn’t surprised to learn “Umbrella Man” allegedly belongs to the Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood? The Muslim woman his biker gang harassed last month on Main Street.
Coughing, chest pains? Immigration detainees say they still can’t get a COVID-19 test in one Minnesota jail.
“They said if I kept being sick, I’d be locked up all the time”: Minnesota has the capacity to give 20,000 coronavirus tests a day. But immigrants detained at one ICE jail say they can’t get tested.
‘I can’t teach if I’m dead’: Minnesota teachers of color say distance learning is best option for fall
Many immigrant families came to the United States for an education. But they say safety is more important.
In their own words: Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District voters have opinions about the race between Ilhan Omar and Antone Melton-Meaux
Ilhan Omar and Antone Melton-Meaux have raised $6 million to dump on one of the knottiest primary races in state history. We’re sharing the opinions of their most prominent supporters for free.
Everything you need to know about Minnesota’s new coronavirus face mask rule
Yes, you could be fined for not wearing a mask. Yes, you still can eat at a restaurant. No, it doesn’t apply to kids ages 5 and under.
‘The cash is piling up’: Hawala money transfers provide a financial lifeline for thousands of families. What stopped the money flow from Minnesota to Somalia?
COVID-19 has disrupted the international money-wiring system called hawalas. And U.S. banks won’t do business with them. The result, one Minnesota hawala operator says: His customers often can’t send money to families around the world.
Minnesota’s health department wants to reveal your positive COVID-19 test results to first responders—including immigration officials. What could go wrong?
An April order from Governor Tim Walz allows contact tracers to share coronavirus information with emergency responders. Immigration activists want the rule changed to protect privacy.
MORE STORIES
Minnesota governor orders people to wear masks in restaurants, stores and most indoor spaces.
Governor Tim Walz’s order will require Minnesotans to wear masks in restaurants, stores and other public indoor gathering spaces, starting Saturday.
Hungry kids, empty fridge? You may be missing out on free boxes of healthy food and benefits for Minnesota residents during the COVID-19 crisis.
Public schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul have passed out 7 million meals, many as weekly take-home food packages, while the state distributes $325 per child. No immigration questions asked.
The hunger crisis hits Minnesota—and it’s about to get much worse.
We haven’t seen the mile-long lines at Minnesota food shelves. But the COVID-19 jobs meltdown has driven twice as many visitors to some Twin Cities food shelves. And with federal unemployment benefits ending, the worst lies ahead.
Hmong women sold their embroidery in refugee camps for $1 apiece. The culture they documented is beyond value.
How did 700 pieces of Hmong paj ntaub, or “flowery cloth,” end up in a senior center in Madison, Wisconsin? Ask the cultural archivists who rescued them, and turned them into a new book.
‘I want people to know that the Oromo people are here’: A killing in Ethiopia ignites a youth revolution in Minnesota.
Young protesters, who call themselves qeerroo, speak out about what they want from the government in Addis Ababa (and St. Paul), and what they learned from George Floyd.
Ellison appoints longtime advocate for racial equity to top spot in attorney general’s office
Luz Maria Frías says she will help ensure Minnesotans can live with “dignity and respect.”
They come to Minnesota seeking safety from terrorist groups and gang violence. New Trump asylum rule calls those threats ‘frivolous.’
Trump administration proposes another way to dismantle the asylum process. Many Minnesota applicants could be sent back to face violence.
ICE to international students: Remember that rule change we proposed? Never mind.
Faced with lawsuits–including pushback from 40 Minnesota schools–Immigration and Customs Enforcement backs away from campus plan that could have led to disruptions, deportations.
The cost of practicing journalism for an Ethiopian reporter? A jail cell, a caravan across the Sahara, a raft on the Mediterranean — and exile in Minnesota.
Henok A. Degfu started working on newspapers as a 13-year-old in Addis Ababa. Today, he’s built an audience of millions, covering politics in Ethiopia from an office 8,000 miles away in St. Paul. But the government he escaped 15 years ago hasn’t stopped chasing him around the world.
Minnesota-based TV network burglarized in midst of Oromo protests
St. Anthony-based OBN International says it will suspend operations “indefinitely.”