The Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC) condemns President Trump’s remarks referring to Minnesota’s Somali community as “garbage.”
That is dehumanization – and when such language comes from elected leaders, ideas that should remain at the extreme margins of society are pulled into the civic mainstream.
Minnesota’s Somali community – like all communities – is diverse, complex, and not a monolith. Treating any group as one undifferentiated mass is itself a form of dehumanization.
As Jews, we carry the memory of what happens when people are spoken about as less than human. Our history is scarred by moments when Jews were depicted as filth, vermin, or disease. In our present, Zionists and Jews are dehumanized in public discourse. These echoes cannot be ignored.
Jewish tradition insists that every person is created b’tzelem Elohim – in the image of God. The rabbis teach that to degrade a single human being is to diminish what is sacred in us all.
Dehumanization is not merely offensive; it is dangerous. Across history and in our own time, treating human beings as “garbage” clears the psychological path toward violence. Before people are harmed, they are dehumanized.
The appalling fraud schemes in Minnesota demand serious solutions (including the ongoing investigations and prosecutions) but invoking those challenges to justify broad attacks on an entire community does nothing to solve the problem. It only deepens division and heightens the risk of lawless disorder.
We affirm the words of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who said this rhetoric “violates the moral fabric of what we stand by in this country as Americans.” We agree.
Minnesotans of every background must push such rhetoric back to the margins – and hold leaders accountable when they normalize it.
JCRC will continue advocating for a public square rooted in decency, truth, and shared responsibility.
DFL Jewish Community Outreach Organization
Yesterday, our bigoted President of the United States called Representative Ilhan Omar and our Minnesota Somali community “garbage.” The DFL Jewish Community Outreach Organization (JCOO) condemns the President’s language in the strongest terms. No people are garbage or vermin. The President should learn a lesson from history – dehumanizing language leads directly to more discrimination or worse – physical violence. JCOO stands in solidarity with the good people of our Somali community and rejects hate in all its forms.
Jewish Community Action
To our Somali neighbors: we see you, we cherish you, and we stand with you. Your safety, your dignity, and your place in this community matter deeply to us.
Our children play together. We work together. We celebrate together, and we show up for each other when our communities are under attack. We are family, and we keep each other safe.
You are our friends, our colleagues, our neighbors, our caregivers, our educators, our rideshare drivers and business partners. Minnesota is a stronger place because of the resiliency of the Somali people and our shared commitment to a better future.
Right now, we must all meet this moment with compassion, courage, and unity. When any group in our community is unfairly targeted and harassed, we have a responsibility to show up for one another. As Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman said at a press conference last week, “Minnesota is made of all of us together, and we are not sending anyone away. We refuse to be divided because we are neighbors who stand together in love.”
