Forum aims for cultural understanding

Blaine Mayor Tom Ryan says he is disturbed by some of the calls he's been fielding recently. Some of the new residents are dangerous, callers are saying. They look different, they act different, they aren't mixing in. They might be terrorists.

For his part, Ryan says, he's met enough Muslim and East Asian residents to have formed his own opinion. "They love this country," he said. "Every one I talk to, they're so happy to be here. But there's always that suspicion that there's something behind it. ... It worries me that when we're together we're together as a group, and they're together as a group. If [both groups] never really get together, the feelings will never change."

Tonight, the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other groups are sponsoring a town hall forum to discuss the schisms between cultures that are suddenly thrust together.

The town hall forum is a result of calls made to CAIR in the aftermath of the January fire at the Blaine Dairy Store, according to Chris Schumacher, the group's chapter coordinator. The FBI continues to investigate the fire as a possible hate crime. There are no suspects. And Ryan reports that some in the city are upset by allegations that the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy charter school is receiving state aid to teach Islam.

Those incidents and the mayor's callers notwithstanding, some Muslims and Asian residents of the city say they don't feel singled-out or discriminated against.

Those residents also say they don't have time to worry about it.

Saed Wadi, owner of Saffron Restaurant and Lounge in downtown Minneapolis, lives in the Club West development in Blaine; he also is a real estate agent specializing in the area.

"Most people who moved to the community were coming from other places in Minnesota, so it's not like I moved to a house in an already established community or neighborhood," he said. "My neighbors have been very supportive; it's a very diverse community. ... I have moved a lot of Muslim families to Blaine, and I haven't heard from anybody who says our neighbors are treating us bad or we don't feel welcome."

'I don't see anything'

In fair weather, when the Rev. DelRoy Johnson looks out the window of his office at Oak Park Community Church, he often can see two neighbor boys playing on the church grounds. The boys, who are Muslim, have attended events such as the church carnival.

"I don't see anything in our congregation here, I don't see anything in our neighborhood, and I go up and down the streets," he said. "I don't see that fear here, but there's a lot of places I don't get."

Gauri Nagargoje isn't Muslim or Arab. She's a Hindu from India who, with her husband, runs Spices Abroad Indian and Asian Market on Central Avenue in Blaine. A 12-year U.S. resident, and an oncologist at Mercy Hospital, she's in the process of applying for citizenship.

She said she has sensed people's discomfort with difference.

"It doesn't matter which community you are, as long as you are a non-American," she said, comparing the long-term residents and the newer immigrants to two satellites both circling independently. "Here I think because there is not so much interaction people might not understand all these things. It's just lack of communication and lack of exposure to what the traditions are."

'Always two sides of a coin'

She recalled her own first year in the United States. Lacking American-style clothes, she continued to wear her clothes from India, not realizing how much she stuck out, until a friend pointed it out.

"There are always two sides of a coin people could understand more, but people who are new should be doing things to adjust a little more, too," she said. "You learn to strike a balance between what you like and shows your personality, but you don't stick out like a sore thumb. But that takes years, and some people might take longer than others."

Fedwa Wazwaz, a board member of the Islamic Resource Group in Fridley, doesn't live in Blaine, but she knows people who do. She agreed that getting groups together can go a long way toward building understanding, even among people who might not want their horizons broadened.

"A lot of times the way to reach them if you can't reach them personally is to reach the circle of influence around them," she said. "You try to reach their circle of influence that feeds into them, and you hope that over time there will be a change in the right direction."

Maria Elena Baca • 612-673-4409