Yes, Willmar is a shining example of doing immigration right.
It also happens to be one of the few places where immigrants landed that had extreme need for low wage employees. A very critical and unique circumstance.
It also had a Somali congregation that forcibly ejected a radical Imam. The congregation as a whole issued a fatwah rejecting shariah. Members of the community offered asylum to a few girls who were slated to become child brides. The Somali population tracked down, beat, and then dropped off two young men that raped a woman in an effort to force her to marry one of them. The three cases of attempted honor killing were stopped by neighbors.
So what is the take away?
Despite the liberal claims the “flyover” states are not locked in the fiction of 1950s “Leave it to Beaver” utopia, they just recognize that the Democratic dystopian big city hell holes of free “stuff” don’t work.
Willmar works for the exact same reason that the “flyover states” work. Everybody earns their way thru life. The new immigrants melt into the community and change to fit America. They don’t demand that America change to fit them.
Willmar does have the right answers. New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Washington City do not.
5
My only problem is, why do you always have to sacrifice the natives in the process? I just saw a couple of cute farm kids, in their boots and jeans, with their ball caps, which are usually seed caps, put out by the seed companies, in the store. They were adorable. They must have been boyfriend and girlfriend, or my own age has gotten away from me, but they were both gorgeous kids, covered in mud, and they were after something to fix something. Yes, Muslim women in beautiful headscarves are beautiful too, but so are baseball caps!
1
Mr Friedman neglected to mention how far Willmar is from Lake Wobegon.
9
The President would be VERY welcome here in Willmar. For the most part Willmar is fairly conservative as is most of west central Minnesota. He would have a lot of support here! I truly get tired of the non truth that the President is a racist but anyone that disagrees with liberal views tends to get this title. Mr. President if you are reading this i personally know hundreds that would love for you to visit our community!
8
Mr. Friedman, this is not a good thing. Your aunt and uncle built a steel company. The Somali immigrants built Somalia. Let's come back in 30 years and see how this town does.
10
Bottom line - 48% support a dangerous inbecile in the white house!
Trump will never come to the progressive communities in america who he knows abhor him.
All he cares about are me -mine -more!
12
Tom Friedman always like to cherry picks & he is mostly dreaming. Only President Obama followed him and look at how they had became out of touch. Sometime talking & dreaming don't just enough. Be real & feel how majority are struggling every day.
7
Many people in the country and in the Congress think Representative Omar from Minnesota seems to be in the Congress in order to trash Israel and Jews. Not the person most esteemed by her Congressional colleagues for sure.
And a rather scolding Congressional resolution was passed overwhelming in the House in response to her performance in the House.
We can only hope that elected Representatives from that area of Minnesota have a happier more productive relationship with their Congressional colleagues in the future.
6
What I call “complex adaptive coalitions.” Okay, whatevs, Mr. Friedman. Your point is well taken, on the whole, but once again you are list in murky jargon...
2
I agree, diversity is the lifeblood of Wilmar. Somali boys are living the American dream. What about Somali girls? Sports are about the most empowering and integrating things kids can do—have a look at Wilmar's boys' teams, and Wilmar's girls' teams. Boys are making friends, enjoying sports, maybe even earning a scholarship. Zero Somali girls in sports. Why?
12
There simply aren't enough white Scandinavians to fill the jobs in Willmar. The article says the solution is to import non whites to do the jobs. In a rational world, where people choose to not commit genetic and cultural suicide, the obvious solution would be to encourage and incentivize white people to have more children to fill the jobs. The self loathing radical Left never consider this solution. Why is that? Ask any normal white person who is proud of their heritage, who wish to preserve their culture, Privately, ask ay normal white person if they think this devolved demographic change is desirable or improves their well being? In fact, Willmar has become somalia.. unspeakably hideous, unlivable, foreign, alien, uninhabitable by white people. Can we say it? Willmar is destroyed. Wilmar no longer exists. Or you can desperately pretend otherwise. Willmar is a tragic example of unchecked immigration, misguided, disastrous social engineering. Mourn the death of Willmar. Very sad, indeed.
10
I would like to produce an essay on Iran.
I can't.
So we're in the land of imagination.
Imagine a world without constant threat...
We want this for them. If Iran makes threats to the US and or Israel, we'll end them.
Questions?
1
This is how immigration and integration into America is supposed to work. People come in, work hard, have children, and slowly the family becomes American while continuing to practice customs that they enjoyed in their countries of origin. Prejudice is unwarranted in most cases. However, the current administration seems bent on preventing all immigration, stigmatizing all immigrants (especially those from "bad" countries), and inciting violence against anyone who looks or acts differently.
The attitudes about immigrants come from the top. We elected a president who is not interested in what immigrants do for America. He is more interested in what American can do for him.
5/15/2019 8:12pm
13
It would be revealing if the people of Willmar were asked if they could go back to 2016 would they vote for someone other than Trump.
1
Mr. Freidman,
Trump has no interest in coming to Willmar...or anywhere that would demonstrate to his base that immigrants can integrate, co-exist, contribute and succeed - or in other words, be valuable.
His whole pitch to his base is to demonize those that are already here, and to prevent more from coming.
The reality doesn't matter.
8
Great article. And Willmar has always been a great town. But my friends in my generation, Baby Boomers, children of dentists, radio station owners, hog farmers, left Willmar for the big City. The next generation of residents will continue to keep Willmar a great town. 21,000 is a nice size town to live in!
2
I live in a tiny (pop. 423) Wisconsin town about 2 1/2 hours from Minneapolis. While smaller than Willmar, this town could potentially save itself from a bleak - or nonexistent - future by adopting the mindset of the leaders and residents of Willmar. But the past is deeply entrenched here. Few aspire to anything different from what their parents and grandparents knew: Hunt, fish, graduate from the local high school, hunt, fish, get a job at the local mill, (or better yet, qualify for disability!), hunt, fish, have a few kids and take them hunting and fishing. Remain ignorant of what is going on in the world and how it impacts you. Close your mind and heart to anyone who is different - never mind those of a different color. It's an endless cycle. The median age in this and many small towns is about 50. At some point in the not so distant future, small towns will be overrun with elderly, sick, poor people with no one to care for them but the younger people whose idea of the "good life" is to hunt, fish, and collect disability checks. (And yes, I'm getting out.)
13
Thanks for sharing this story a cause to celebrate our rich heritage of diversity. Renew faith in basic principles.
4
It sounds great and I am all for it. But all the elites and East and West coast Liberals are not going to move there and start a business. And sure the new people who come here for a job will glad move here for more than the 1.00 per hour wage they were making in the country they left. Let us hope they embrace our country and way of life and do not try to impose their way of life.
9
So with regard to Iran, the US has to take a new position.
But we're not going to take abuse! The current religious leaders have to go. We'll welcome new religious leaders if they don't believe in the extinguishment of Israel. If Iran wants a theocracy, it can have one, but not at our expense!
To continually threaten the US and its allies is an act of war. We're acting in that vein.
It is time for the leadership of Iran to change. One way or another, it will be changed!
I've come to the realization that the key to saving these small towns is openness. Unfortunately, we don't often think of small town America as being open and accepting. But, we all learn and, hopefully, evolve. Willmar is just one example. Garden City, Kansas, is another. To learn more about the story of Garden City, take some time to view the documentary, Strangers in Town, produced by Steve Lerner.
In summary,STRANGERS IN TOWN tells the story of how global migration unexpectedly transformed and enriched Garden City, Kansas. It brought great challenges to the community, including demands for housing, social services, education, and infrastructure. For the current students at Garden City High School, the town’s remarkable diversity is all they’ve ever known. STRANGERS IN TOWN gives new meaning to the city’s motto: “the world grows here,” and provides an inspiring view of human possibility in the face of change.
3
“Until Trump’s victory there, Herbert Hoover was the last Republican to earn a majority of the votes in Itasca Country."
One of the problems with progressive (democrat) politics is the lack of explanation for how programs finance themselves. For some reason Republicans can convince people that tax cuts pay for themselves but when Liz Warren takes on the opioid crisis she says she will pay for it (and everything else) with a "tax on the super rich".
You'd think it would be easy to explain to people that taking a person off skid row and giving him a job - that will perforce pay social security, income tax, and add to GNP - is self financing. The same logic applies to immigrants who are viewed with suspicion, perhaps because of the color of their skin, in Minnesota.
Republicans are happy to comfort bigots in their bigotry; it's up to progressives to prove and demonstrate convincingly that their 'programs' not only pay for themselves but add to the economy what longstanding, traditional communities cannot and, as such, are supporting the bigots who would have it the reverse.
10
Thank you.
We need to see what is going right and factors that make good things happen.
There are many good ideas and people with good intents. The key is how to harness the best in people. I like reading the MIT technology reports and Economist articles about new ideas and technologies. We have a lot of the answers, now if we can get using them.
2
i have cancer and i am 70. i'm also moving to a religious community so lots of stuff is going on now. i sold my house, engaged a lawyer (she was recommended), etc. Today a man came here to appraise the place pending the purchase and sale agreement. He and I talked and he was really cool. Yes, we are quite different in many ways but so what? People are people wherever they might come from. It makes no difference what they hale from or what their sexual orientation might be or whether they are male or female or whatever. We all have hearts, don't we?! I'm looking forward to my move and meeting lots and lots of new people...
7
I think that Mr. Friedman misses some of the negative sides of the picture. I am a lawyer working out of New London, about 15 miles northeast of Willmar and was t lawyer for the Willmar 8 bank strikers. Willmar has indeed become a diverse community, but is not always a welcoming one. Go to the Kandiyohi County Courthouse on any business day and about half of the defendants facing criminal charges will be Hispanic or Somali. , even though those groups constitute, at most, 15% of the population. Willmar has more law enforcement officers per person than any other community in the state. The local school board just barely avoided a desegregation order because the racial balance in its schools was so lopsided. Willmar is better now than it was 30 years ago when it was effectively controlled by a small Lutheran oligarchy. But it is hardly the paradise Friedman relates, either.
22
First of all, why are you still addressing questions and suggestions to Trump?
Next forget your melting pots towns: I went to a mall in NJ this weekend for the first time in years (I hate malls) and the parking lot and mall were packed, I could hardly walk. My guess is that less than 10% of the shoppers were born in the US. It was a very exciting and invigorating thing to experience. If Trump empties the country of immigrants, the malls will close within a week.
4
it may well be true that socialization begins in public schools, and that somewhere kids of differing backgrounds learn to get along there , one way or another. perhaps not so much in smaller cities in the North, but throughout the South and in wealthier parts of the coasts and in bigger cities everywhere, most families with the means opt out of public school and send their kids to private school, sometimes religious, with other kids like themselves, at least economically. you see how well this worked out when President Trump's parents sent him upstate to a military academy for spoiled rich boys instead of the few blocks to public Jamaica High School. and he has been a paragon of understanding and inclusivity ever since.
6
A broader perspective—Willmar had no whites or immigrants 200 years ago.
9
Trump won Willmar by 26 points.
7
If you want to see an old Rust Belt town transformed by a similar sense of community, please check out Utica, NY. I visited the city for a report on the American melting pot a while ago. It's a deeply inspiring model for progress. A quarter of its 62,000 people are refugees from dozens of countries around the world and their work is widely credited with revolutionizing the city’s economy over the last twenty years. I also talked to Mayor Rob Palmieri. He is one exciting, articulate spokesman for the policies that turned the city around. The few days I spent there helped me understand how powerful a vibrant, diverse community can be.
8
The title of this editorial implies an assumption the Trump might learn something by visiting Willmar. Sorry, that just won't fly. He stopped learning, or even wanting to learn, a long time ago. His modus operandi is to try to cut down anything he disagrees with. Inviting him to Willmar is inviting him to point out any weaknesses the town might have (or make them up if there aren't any), and then to praise places that practice exclusion. Engaging with him has only one result... encourage him to do more of what he does. Some people never learn.
7
This is inspirational; it made my day. Thank you Mr. Friedman!
2
A U.S. city like Willmar that is nearly half Latino is not as non-diverse as a border city like El Paso, which is about 90 percent Hispanic, but it is getting there. Hispanics have surpassed German Americans as the nation's largest ancestry group. They far outnumber Irish American, English Americans, Italian Americans, Polish Americans, French Americans, etc.
5
@William Caseyou're comparing individual countries to all countries of Hispanic origin. Better comparison is Hispanic to Western European.
3
@TMart
Spanish is a Wester European language. Hispanic Americans are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries. There are a language group.They outnumber Americans who are immigrants or descendants of immigrants from countries that speak other Western European languages, including German, Irish Gaelic, English, French, Scottish, Welsh, Greek, Portages, Swedish, etc.
1
Thank you for the light of optimism today, Tom. You, and Willmar, give us hope - and strategies for achieving a great America, in every city and town.
5
So I should I should celebrate the replacement of my people, and my culture? How is this going to lead to long term diversity?
11
@euroamerican Yes, you should. Embrace change.
1
Thank you for your encouraging description of Willmar, and for a nuts and bolts prescription of how to move small towns and therefore America forward, it was refreshing! The current regime has no idea, in fact, all they can claim is anti-ideas!
To help us get there please talk to "thoughtful" folks on the other side like your colleague David Brooks! Although he seems to bristle with egalitarian effusiveness, he has absolutely no idea how to get from A to B. Unyielding support the failing, reactionary GOP, and the "Free Market Salvation for All" trope is not cutting it! Not in the least!
Take him to lunch...at Somali Star,
Please!
6
I needed that story today. There is still room for hope.
7
Assimilation in and of itself is not necessarily a "good" or a "bad" thing. It is a complex undertaking that needs to be nurtured rather than coerced. There will always be some resistance to it and rather than decrying that fact all parties involved in the process should accept that as a starting point and then take turns trying to see what sorts of accomodations need to be made on all sides for the process to work well. And even then some communities will move further along than others, and that in itself does not make one community "good" or the other "bad'. Regardless of the outcomes we should all be willing to learn what has worked, what hasn't and more important, try to understand why. I am guessing Tom Friedman would likely agree.
3
Mr. Friedman you need to spend more time in Minnesota. Accents like those in Fargo. while hilarious, never existed IRL. It was a caricature my friend.
3
@Dream Weaver um, they must certainly do. Go North of the cities about 10 minutes and keep driving. That Fargo accent will get stronger every 50 miles or so. I can hardly understand my own relatives up North. Uffdah!
7
Does President Trump come when he's called? Melting pot or not?
1
Willmar is the place we have fought for in wars near and far for more than 250 years.
May we always stand for Willmar.
6
In some ways, Thomas Friedman sounds like he is supporting population transfers, which is a violation of the Geneva Convention.
10
Nice article. I grew up in a town pop. 400 about 50 miles north of Willmar. Until I left for college, I assumed all places in the US were similar to Minnesota - safe, seasons, clean water, black dirt, good schools. Not so - Minnesota is special. But it was very white then. Glad to see change can be positive and Willmar so welcoming. The big mystery now is still why not also Native Americans and Blacks? In Minnesota it's still a rare thing to see an american black person outside of Minneapolis. Will this change too?
6
Why ruin a perfectly good place like Willmar by sending Trump there?
10
@Peter Because he would be welcomed with open arms seeing as how the county Willmar is in voted for the President overwhelmingly!
3
I wish Mr. Friedman would go on Fox News and tell this story, for the most part this is the main news station listened to in the mid-west beside there local news stations.
5
absolutely wonderful column. Great job to the people of Willmar. I think there are more communities like this than we know of. In my neck of the woods (Virginia) there are a lot of really healthy economically small towns. Vibrant. others not so much. Need to figure out why some work and others don't.
2
Did anyone in Wilmar or for that matter the rest of the United States agree to have rapid demographic change with new immigrants who have different values and beliefs than the majority. The Somali community in Minnesota has been a hotbed of Islamic radicalism and no group in America has had more people join ISIS than Somalis. Kudos to those cited who are helping their neighbors to assimilate and find work. The issue is that we can't continue to have this onslaught without having a say at what is being done to our communities by an influx of immigrants.
16
@Iconoclast Texan What would your "Say" be? Would you put forth something better that what is there now? Would you tamp down the resistance to change or embrace it. Would your answers to Friedman's three questions help the town prosper or would you rail against the Global forces it faces with the same results of emptying the ocean with a teaspoon?
Part of what is wrong with a majority of people in this Country today is that they were lied too when taught the history of the World. They were falsely led to believe that there was only one correct path for history to evolve, when in fact global history is a collection of vast many stories that "typical" americans were never taught. People of the earth have always mixed and lived amongst and with one another. This isn't so much change as it is reversion to type.
4
"The Frozen Chosen"...love it, speaking as a member of that clan.
1
@Cheeseman Forever
Your views are obvious and true, but unwelcome in the NYTs.
The American People, the people of every Western Nation, have a right to say what their nation's immigration policies should be.
The facts are that a huge percentage of third world people say they want to immigrate to a Western Nation. There will be a billion more people in Africa soon.
It is simply impossible to maintain a nation's heritage and culture without also maintaining it's ethnic make up.
Sweden was populated by Swedes about 8000 years ago. Yet, the Leftist elites of Sweden inform the Swedish People that they will be a minority in their own nation soon.
Meanwhile, Sweden has been inundated with crime, and has become the rape capital of Europe, and one of the top rape statistics in the world.
The Dalai Lama has stated in an interview that Europe should be for the Europeans, and people should say in their own nations and make them better.
5
Tom, you should tell the entire story , and you have left out one important fact. Most of these "immigrants" probably got here to Minnesota by applying for and receiving visa's or citizenship legally. Trump and like most Americans have issues with the illegal aliens. Which Willmar does have a problem with.
Willmar's crime rate is higher than 88% of all other towns & cities in Minnesota. And based on FBI crime data...Willmar is not considered one of the safest communities to live in our state.
23
This might be the only opinion piece I read today. It was good for blood pressure and a breaking heart. The headlines this morning—Bolton’s planning a war with Iran, Trump’s increasing incompetence and xenophobic adherence to the Bible of the Alt-right and Bannon’s dreams of destruction, abortion bans in Alabama, climate change and Dems in-fighting and dithering—felt like a true parade of horribles. In Mr. Friedman’s article I saw MY competent and good America again. Thank you!!
6
This is a wonderful story but it seems to me that the screaming cult that worships the white house occupant is not interested in anything other than hate of the other.
4
I love what you are saying about Wilmar. Sounds like a lovely place to live. However, calling mom and dad the "frozen chosen" made me laugh so hard I almost fell off the couch.
1
How right you are, Tom. When most of us refer to “fly over country”, unless they are quite ignorant (perhaps this is the case), what is meant is where you would NOT want to be compared to much in the NE and West coasts. There is amazing diversity in the parts of America where you would least expect it. Immigrants of many ethnicities have established and revitalized communities in Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Nebraska, etc.
With the xenophobia that is being fueled by this disgusting psychopath in the WH, many remain in the shadows for fear of “not me” retribution for some uncommitted crime. What an unsettling and abhorrent comment to have to make about life in this country - but it’s here and we must stop it.
Having Trump visit this community would do nothing. He is totally without conscience or human understanding. Who else would throw paper towels to victims of a natural disaster and consider that a meaningful or compassionate move? Who else would blame destruction from fires or hurricanes on those who were devastated by them?
Trying to reason or evoke empathy from a narcissistic sociopath is a waste of time. We need to simple get rid of him and anyone who endorses him. We need to return to sanity and endorse the best of humanity, not xenophobia, hatred, prejudice and ignorance.
6
Why the headline?
The story speaks for itself.
Must everything be cast as political? It's exhausting.
4
How little you know the town you claim to visit so often. Willmar's heritage is overwhelmingly German, not Scandahoovian.
8
So everything's rosy in Willmar and nobody is living on the sidewalk. Yet.
5
I also grew up not far from Willmar some sixty years ago, and the Willmar High School always beat the Eden Valley basketball team as it tried to play up during tournament time. Now THAT was a small town.
It gives me great happiness to see Willmar taking on the future in an important and open-minded way. I now live in SC, where the economy is hot but the racism is hotter, and the wealthy just keep on getting wealthier.
Perhaps I should go home.
7
I have lived in Brussels, Belgium and have seen another version of muslim immigration.
The result of decades of Wahhabi influence on Islam (e.g. the biggest Mosque in Brussels was run by Saudi funded imams) has linked the religion with a mandatory culture and lifestyle, effectively blocking the rise of a Western version of Islam.
Unfortunately this means misogyny does not fade out in muslim families, even after 3 generations.
Look up the documentary "Sofie Peeters - Femme de la rue" to have an idea of what it's like to walk through the center of Brussels (25% muslim population) as a young woman in a dress.
I hope my critical opinion will not be censored, again.
20
I grew up in Minnesota and moved to Arkansas when I married into it. The cultural change was shocking and still is when I go home and then return here. We are in our 60’s, 3 years from retirement and can’t wait to leave. I miss the Minnesota nice and how inclusive they are. In our years in Arkansas the state has gone so backwards from the 80’s it’s like living in another world. Education is the biggest difference, here in Arkansas it is not valued as a means for progress, the thinking sometimes goes like “you think your better than us with that college degree”, it was good enough for my grandpappy so good enough for my kids, we don’t need no stinking education, working at the factories. We will always be 49th (thank god for Mississippi) in every quality of life metric because they don’t value education, they have slave wage mentality, and just don’t a better life because then you are uppity. Ugh it is so frustrating, when my children graduated I told them to leave and never return.
9
Great article , poor title , Donald Trump cares only about Donald Trump, maybe for some who cook for him.
4
Trump is incapable of learning anything that conflicts with the prejudices of his political base.
6
@David The President overwhelmingly won the county Willmar is in! Maybe you should be worried about your prejudices,it works both ways.
2
Interesting opinion. Willmar, MN is not unlike Storm Lake, Iowa.
84 percent of all students are non-caucasian and 24 languages are spoken in the public schools. Flyover country is pegged as a white oasis which is incorrect in many areas.
6
Great article, it gives one hope. Unfortunately the face of Somali refugees is Rep. Omar who spends her time promoting anti-semitism. This article shows that they can do better. I hope they will.
5
It is good to see LEGAL immigrants doing well in their new home country.
4
This article doesn't tell you the truth.
The article stastes that the population is 21,000
The population was 17,000 in 1990 and mostly white.
That's a growth of 4,000.
If half the poppulation now is half than that would mean there are at most 10.500 white people there.
Assuming that some of these white people were not there in 1990, there has been a huge decrease of white people living in Willmar who lived there in 1990.
What hjappenned was that most of the white people who wanted to live in a white community left leaving people who were OK living with people who are not white.
This could happen in a town as small as Willmar.
It probably can not happen in places where the population is much larger and therefore should not be a template for those places as it won't work.
4
It is not President Trump who needs to come to Willmar, but every vote-suppressing white legislator in America. I stress that group because it is at the state and local level that we need to focus our political attention. It is at the state and local level that we need to wrest power from the white nationalist agenda that has taken over the GOP. It is that fear-of-other based ignorance (that within the GOP has metastasized into malevolence) that must be reduced and defeated by hopeful stories of inclusion like this one.
4
I think most Americans are good and not racists. The problem is that many have not been exposed to other cultures and only believe what they see on Fox News and Breitbart.
Only around 50% of Americans have passports and have not had the privilege of traveling the world, due to financial concerns or lack of desire. The more you travel the world and learn about other people, the more you learn that we all want the same thing....safety and happiness for our families.
They'd see that the caravan that Fox News got them worked up about was about leaving potential death for great opportunities in America, opportunities that many Americans take for granted. The South Americans had no control over where they were born and are not here to kill everyone.
They'd learn that most immigrants, illegal or not, just want to work hard and lead a decent life. Instead, Fox News highlights the murder by 5-10 illegal immigrants, which is a minuscule amount compared to what Americans ourselves commit.
4
I'm not sure this argument can be taken seriously. Kandiyohi County, of which Willmar is the county seat, voted for Trump over Clinton in 2016 by 59 to 34 percent. In 2018 Kandiyohi County barely went for Senator Klobuchar over an extreme right-wing opponent, by 4 percentage points. If these people are so enlightened, why do they vote for racists and hatemongers?
5
Willmar is precisely what our founding fathers wanted for the new United States. A place where your skin color, your religion, or your sex had no impact on the definition of you being a citizen of the United States. If our country is to survive as envisioned by the people who created this nation, then we all have to live in Willmar, regards of what state, county, or city we are actually residing. The example of Willmar is what makes America great; America has always been great because of the ability of people to come together and be Americans.
This is Thomas at his strength. Writing positively about real world issues at the local level. No economist does it better. Come on Tom, you are on a roll, this topic is book worthy.
3
I was excited about this article until I read, "a majority of whites send their kids to private schools." Let's see where that gap goes.
4
@Janet It should have not been phrased this way, we have two very large Christian schools[one in a tiny town nearby] here and a large number homeschool. These are the only private schools i know of around here.
2
This article is how Trump got elected, by suggesting difficult problems have easy solutions.
Mr. Friedman, it’s great different cultures play nice in Willmar, a small town you know in your home state. Maybe it’s a model for other US communities, maybe not. Of course this is a nation of immigrants, and of course we should invest in making room for more immigrants.
But we can’t become the preferred refuge for all the world’s miserable. There are too many of them, and many bring some of their problems with them (poverty, illness, young children). We can help a small fraction, and we have to choose.
‘Melting pot’ implies assimilation. Frankly, I loathe large, visible crosses, yarmulkes, hijabs and other conspicuous signs of unique group membership that seem like classier version of gang tattoos, better because they can come off, although I’ll defend to the death, as they say, people’s right to wear them and my and others’ right to criticize them for so doing. I don’t care that some ‘god’ demanded these symbols. You want to proclaim yourself different from most others and shove it in their face? You can do it, in the US, but you do a disservice to the community and you shouldn’t.
Observant Muslims, for one example, are far more different from the US mainstream than Irish immigrants were from the original English settlers, and that took many decades to work out, until JFK became President. Expect years of hard work from all sides, and we should be able to make this work.
6
A U.S. city that is nearly half Latino is not diverse. Latin Americans, or Hispanic Americans, have been America’s second largest ancestry group for more than a decade. Latinos make up 18.1 percent of the U.S. population. At 50 percent, they are grossly over-represented in Willmar, Minnesota. It means that dozens of other ethnic and ancestral groups are grossly under represented.
With a population that is nearly 50 percent Hispanic, Willmar isn't as non-diverse as border cities like El Paso, which is almost 90 percent Hispanic, but it is geitting there.
4
Such a great story to dispel the fears of a diverse society - this is the only way forward if we want to make it a peaceful place for coming generations.
3
We need more stories like this, and here's another good one: Redding, California, largest city in our "great red north." A microcosm of all our rural ills, ground zero for climate disruptions (massive fires) and a troubled past with the Native American population. The confluence of pressures has been so intense city leaders have recently welcomed new ways of thinking and being into their community, led in part by a team comprised of the president of the Chamber of Commerce (and former mayor and decorated marine), the current left-leaning mayor, and a former CIA analyst who now runs her own non-profit focused on community building.
It's an impressive story, one that starts with the former mayor and marine, Mike Dahl.
This article is so heartening. This is how it should look for all communities across America.
I grew up in a rural all-white farming community in Oregon, and recently spent a bit of time back in my home town area. I was disheartened to see how much more divide there is among the migrant workers and the whites. The neighbouring town has fallen into complete disarray, this is the town where the migrant workers mostly live as they are not necessarily welcomed in my hometown.
The sense of "us" and "them" is still deeply rooted, and it breaks my heart to see the divide. So reading this article shows how a couple people with vision and the idea of inclusion can create a really positive and productive community of acceptance of all peoples and all backgrounds. It doesn't mean some of the old prejudices don't still surface now and then, I'm sure, but when people learn that we are all human and we are all the same regardless of skin colour or background, the world will be a much, much better place.
Willimar is leading the way. Bravo to this community!
4
Trump come to Willmar? Why? Such a trip will only remind him of everything that he is fighting against and will use Willmar’s example to rally his base to the threat to white supremacy. The city officials and even the citizens will be targeted by him and his rabid followers.
Please leave the peaceful town alone!
3
Wonderful and heart warming piece! Kudos to Friedman and to the wonderful people of Wilmar. However, I wonder about the reasons for these hard working people to come to Minnesota for a safe, productive, and happy place to live. Not everyone in the world can come to Wilmar, MN or any place in USA. Wilmar must come to everywhere in the world. What can we do to make that happen?
1
Thank you, Thomas Friedman!
And there are the 70,000 Muslim refugee immigrants from Bosnia who have re-vitalized St. Louis's decaying housing and business community. This is who the United States of Amercia is and has been since its founding as a nation
1
A good article that demonstrates how Lord Cheetoh Voldemort can huff and puff all he wants but he can't blow the house down. I'm in Canada and it's easy to say America has lost its marbles, but in reality good people all over your fine country are ignoring LCV and his ilk and are going about saving democracy from the dark ages. This too shall pass. Keep the good news stories coming. And for the love of St. Peter, spare the good people of Willmar a visit from LCV. They deserve better
1
Man I thought this article was about Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit......if you want to see diversity...go there...to visit that is: but being a patient there is not all bad either.
Thanks for your beautiful piece on Willmar, Minnesota, Dr. Tom. Willmar is a truly American Mid-West melting-pot. But why invite President Trump to visit Willmar? He doesn't know from melting pot, democratic values or kindness. This president is a liar, a bigot and a racist running for a second presidential term next year. Donald Trump would have zip, zero, nada in common with the good people of Willmar, your family's hometown.
2
Good to hear that some American towns are doing what our European towns are doing. Opening up to change doesn’t come easily but it’s the only way to understanding that we are all Earth citizens.
2
Dear Thomas,
Not everybody is all that impressed with the Congresswoman Minnesota sent to Congress last January, in terms of her liberal American values in a broad sense and absence of antisemitism, which is of course a particularly malicious form of bigotry.
3
What?? NO!! You do not want Trump anywhere NEAR Willmar, or anywhere else outside of Russia.
Trump is never going to "get it." You and the people of Willmar must live your lives in spite of Trump and his trumpanzees. Good thing they will now be flocking to Alabama so they can NOT have abortions.
President Trump, please stay away from Saint Louis Park, MN.
2
Americans welcome LEGAL immigrants, but do not want ILLEGAL immigrants. They recognize that the US cannot afford (or choose not) to support our own citizens: the poor, the ill, elderly, disabled, veterans, et al., and that they and other US taxpayers cannot possibly support the hundreds of millions of foreigners who would like to come here.
US laws allow foreigners to seek entry and citizenship. Those who do not follow these laws are in this country illegally and should be detained and deported; this is policy in other countries, too.
The cruelty lies not in limiting legal immigration, or detaining and deporting illegal immigrants, or forcing those who wish to enter the US to wait for processing. What is cruel, unethical and probably illegal is encouraging parents to bring their children on the dangerous trek to US borders and teaching the parents how to game the system to enter the US by falsely claiming asylum, persecution, etc. Indeed, many believe bringing children on such perilous journeys constitutes child abuse.
No other nation has open borders, nor should the US.
7
‘(Although a lot of whites send their kids to private schools)’. This small aside points to a large problem with the idea that public schools play the key role in ‘Willmarizing’ the country. Christian private schools so the kids don’t have to build relationships with ‘non-believers’; affluent secular private schools so the kids get a leg up on a successful career that reflects well on their parents. Willmar, I think, will remain an exception unless strong public support of public schools returns.
1
Thomas Friedman !!! God bless you for bringing a story of light, hope and love to a readership ( I speak for myself) so parched to know we're still human.
In terms of jobs, how many of the Hispanic Immigrants
were paid a Union Wage and worked 40 hours a week
at the Turkey Processing Plant ?
How many were paid less than minimum wage and told
to work as many hours as their employers demanded ?
When they first came to Willmar ?
What is the extra cost of educating all the Immigrants in the
Public Schools ?
Why were immigrants prone to violence allowed to take
over a trailer park that the police were afraid to even enter,
what of the longtime residents there who could not afford
to move away...
It is not as simple as you make it Mr. Friedman.
8
It is a delight that Tom Friedman has re-discovered Minnesota.
Having lived in Omaha NE for 3 1/2 years, and visited Minn several times, I was always impressed with the fact that in Minn entrepreneurship is an expectation by residents of other residents. That business tolerance feeds other tolerance. As they say in So Boston, those people are wicked smart.
Friedman's piece did not seem to notice, the gargantuan amount of entrepreneurship happening all around. him.
And Minn resident's do NOT speak with an accent like that used in FARGO. FARGO residents have a unique speaking style - BUT THEY ARE IN NORTH DAKOTA = NOT MINN.
Minn is a delightful place. Otherwise how could so many people from an extremely hot point of origination - Somalia- choose to live in such an enormously cold spot in winter. In mid-winter a 20F temperature in Minn is treated as if it is a heat wave.
Thanks for an interesting piece.
2
Great article, and a great example of leadership by example that should inspire us all and expose the manipulative toxicity Republican elites are using to divide and subjugate Americans, including their base.
1
No one including Trump is against legal immigration, it's the illegal thing that's the issue.
3
Anybody recognize the irony of Blue Cross and Blue Shield partly funding the center, when the democrats want to shutter private insurance companies and replace it withMedicare for All?
This is the same town that brought us the Willmar 8 - 8 women who went out on strike for equal opportunity and equal pay from their bank employer in 1977. This is a community that knows about social justice.
2
Forgive my skepticism, but this is the same old rehash that this snake oil salesman has been peddling for decades: a whitewashed vision of a globalized society that does not exist, even in a microcosm. One should think after reading Mr. Friedman’s latest, that a small town in Minnesota is a near Utopia where everyone gets along and all sing kumbaya. No, Mr. Friedman, a whitewashing will not do when a building’s foundations are cracked.
12
Willmar is NOT representative of the United State
"Many were of Swedish and Norwegian origins; residents of Scandinavian heritage are still a majority."
It is an island of Nordic culture in the US
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willmar,_Minnesota
Mr. Sanders ran on the Nordic model. He was rejected
"We are not Denmark"
1
When I see a woman wearing a head scarf it makes me think there is still a lot more assimilation needed.
8
Thank you Thomas for this reassuring article that America is continuing to advance civilization. After reading and commenting this morning on Thomas Edsall's editorial on where Trump fits into American political history, I was discouraged that we are so persistently looking back at the destructive collapse of anachronistic aspects of life, rather than forward to the collective potentials. I'm grateful you mentioned the Baha'i Faith, which foretells this period of human history as transitional, moving from the collapse of an adolescent individually driven society to a collective inclusive maturity. On the ground, where seeming miracles are growing, you've shown us that eyes are indeed on the prize. Thank you.
2
What a terrific piece, a sense of what could and should be in America. It brought tears.
1
Excellent column. It's a good reminder that, despite our present moment of rising xenophobia and brazen racism, America often does multi-culturalism better than anywhere in the world.
In addition to towns such as Willmar, there are plenty of large middle-American cities - such as Houston and Dallas where much of my family lives - where suburbia is a place where people from all over the world live side by side in harmony. Enclaves previously associated with white flight are now teeming with all sorts - Latinos, African Americans, South and East Asians, etc. And it works.
This isn't to say we don't have huge problems to address. And this isn't to say that there haven't been some scary events recently that show that in many ways we are backsliding at a rapid pace. But there are communities all over this country - from globalized metropolises to middle-sized cities to small towns - where the American experiment (whether it's multicultural or a melting pot) is working and working well.
2
I agree with all of the comments here about how refreshing and inspiring it is, but there is a critical element that is only tangentially referred to: The strong economy in Willmar.
This is implicit in the first question: “Is your town hungry for workers to fill open jobs?” To even be able to ask this question, you need to have open jobs to fill. Willmar has “almost zero unemployment”. Instead, if we are talking about a town with high rate of unemployment (the plant closed, the mine shut down), and no prospects of employment on the horizon, no newcomers are going to be welcome – regardless of who they are or the color of their skin. This is not to diminish the xenophobia and racism that is still too prevalent in many communities, but the simple truth is that it is a lot easier to welcome new people if the economic pie is expanding than if it is shrinking.
An interesting follow-up would be: What can we do about towns in Mr. Friedman’s column that are “collapsing from the top down, ravaged by opioids, high unemployment among less-educated white males and a soaring suicide rate”?
To be clear, not looking for another article describing the problem -- I've read dozens of those. But I would be interested in Mr. Friedman’s opinion on solving the intractable problems with towns that have been battered by internationalization, automation, and a crippling lack of economic opportunity. How do community leaders form "complex adaptive coalitions" when there are no jobs?
6
I'm on the board of Pioneerland Library System and I remember how pleased the board was when it was announced we'd hired our first Somali/American librarian. This is just how America is supposed to work, glitches, rough spots, and all.
3
10 years ago I worked at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. One of my best post doctoral students was a kid born in Minnesota to parents who had fled Bangladesh and settled in Rochester, Minnesota. I can tell you that this post doc was a Minnesotan through and through, having frown up in Rochester. From his strong Minnesota accent to love of winter sports. Why would we be surprised? Every immigrant group comes in with their distinct cultures and language and the kids become Americans. This is the genius of this place. We are only paying attention to these immigrant groups because they happen to be brown or black. The amazing results will be the same!
5
The only thing I have heard President Donald Trump enforce and support is that non residents of The United States who wish to remain here do this legally! They must go through due process! It is a travesty when what The United States was built on and what made made this the greatest nation in the world is disregarded and laws set forth in becoming a citizen of The United States are ignored. Many have worked very hard to achieve this and have done so! We always must be willing to give a helping hand, but never a free hand out. In others words give the ability to plant rather then just the food! I do not see President Donald Trump opposing this in any fashion!
2
I wanted to be encouraged by this article but there were so many actions unique to this town that aren’t scalable to be effective that I ended up discouraged. All the languages at the school? How do you teach to that? Article glosses over it. I’m glad it’s working for them but I can’t see a model or roadmap here for use on a larger scale.
7
I applaud Mr. Friedman's fine reporting and it's difficult not to be inspired by his optimism. However, there is to my mind a potentially troubling aspect to one of the means by which the community and certain community leaders seem to be fostering a certain groups integration. I am referring to the enlistment of the local Imams and the seeming importance placed on the building of mosques.
Is there no perceived need for the emerging and equally prominent latino community to have nice churches and politically involved priests? And what of the Karens and their religious leaders and places of worship - are they not important?
And so, let us rejoice over this good news from the the town of Willmar and may their good citizens and government continue to invest in their schools and community centers and their business sector and that this remains the focus of all its communities and community members.
3
Karens? And their religious leaders?
Perhaps you mean other citizens/legal residents who are a part of the diverse population of this county?
1
@Philip I'm sorry, but this is not reporting. It is opinion.
1
I am concerned that Willmar seems to be approaching, or may already have passed, the so-called tipping point in diversity. If 96% of the children in the public pre-school program are non-white (similar to NYC stats), many whites likely perceive a need for flight to other towns and/or private schools as has been the case in so many large cities.
It would have been informative to know the current demographic distribution of Willmar’s residents. Are there any whites left in town? In the public schools?
6
As a current Willmar resident, business person father and grandfather I could not be prouder of our community and its people.
Thank you Tom for the article.
Just this morning I was at a field day for our seven year old grandson, watching events including a rope pulling contest.
It was marvelous looking at the wonderful mosaic of children, colors and clothing. What a difference from when I grew up in Willmar when we did not have diversity.
I am very grateful that our grandchildren will go out into the world aware that it is made up of people of different colors and customs, all people who give strength to communities and nations.
We love to travel and to see in our community the world is very much a blessing.
Thank you again Tom from a person who has enjoyed and appreciate you writing and thoughts for years.
9
@Larry Rice i was watching that rope pulling contest as i only live a 1/2 block away, looked like everyone was enjoying themselves!
If my memory serves well, I was invited to speak to students in Willmar in 1977 while I was an international student studying in an ESL (English as a Second Language) program at Hamline University in St. Paul. It was a wonderful experience and I found a wonderful community then, and I am glad to read Tom's, my fellow Minnesotan, article. Although I left Minnesota years ago, it was too cold for me, I consider myself a Minnesotan at heart and still remember the many good people I met there. It was a place that welcomed me to America as an immigrant. Thank you!
5
My husband and I were in Willmar several decades ago on business. Lunch at the country club included openly racist statements from white business leaders. I grew up in Minnesota and was shocked at this. I didn't hear such statements growing up. I am glad Willmar has changed so significantly. It proves openness and diversity are good for business.
3
I'd like to see more stories like this in the NYT and other media. Show what's possible, what is happening in real life and in real time in communities across the nation, not just in the coastal bubbles. The more we highlight and focus on the divisions, the more divisive it gets. Reporting on functioning communities seems like a way to engage more readers to actively participate as citizens.
6
It is refreshing in a time when almost every headline is about something awful, to hear that somewhere, a town has people of multiple colors and creeds, and is doing just fine, thank you very much.
5
He (Mayor Calvin) comes across as a big good ol’ boy, who leans conservative, but underneath is a steely resolve to do whatever it takes to transform Willmar for the 21st century.
It should say AND rather than BUT.
While I stand under the "liberal" banner, I grew up in MN and grew up with a lot of politically conservative friends and relatives who always wanted the best for their communities.
I do think that brand of conservatism is become more rare these days but it does exist. And we need to acknowledge that.
6
A U.S. city that is nearly half Latino is not diverse. Latin Americans, or Hispanic Americans, have been America’s second largest ancestry group for more than a decade. But at 50 percent, they are grossly over-represented in Willmar, Minnesota.
In July 2018, the Census Bureau reported Hispanics make up 18.1 percent of the U.S. population. They have now surpassed German Americans, who make up about 14.7 percent of the population, to become the nation’s largest ancestral group. They far outnumber other Americans who ancestors spoke some language other than Spanish, including Irish Americans, British Americans, Italian Americans, Polish Americans, French Americans, etc.
The Census Bureau also ranks resident by country of origin. An American city that is truly diverse would be about:
14.7 percent German American
12.3 percent African American,
10.9 percent Mexican American,
10.6 percent Irish American
7.8 percent English American
7.2 percent American
5.5 percent Italian American
3.0 percent Polish American
2.6 percent French American
1.7 Scottish,
1.6 percent Native American
and dozens of other smaller groups.
(The “American” category is a melting of Americans whose ancestry is so mixed they don’t associate themselves as part of a particular ancestry group.)
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045218
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/largest-ethnic-groups-and-nationalities-in-the-united-states.html
3
I lived in Morris, MN forever ago, moved to N.St. Paul. and disliked MN until I left after college and could appreciate the Scandinavian-derived sense of community and, yes, socialism at its best. I love this article. It gives me hope for our country.
5
This is such a wonderful article. Thank you, Thomas Friedman, for his observations. I grew up in a small city in Minnesota. It was completely white (mostly German), and when we moved there, we were considered exotic outsiders--even though we were white. The small city where I grew up--and left--now has many Somali immigrants/refugees. I celebrate that. We need to get to know each other, and we need to respect each other.
3
I cried some happy tears after this article. It shows how good the spread of humanity can be. It’s delightful to see it happening here in the US as I have recently seen in my Canadian, prairie birth-town of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan with it’s newly minted citizens who have arrived from Syria. In Canada, I grew up with kids who were refugees or immigrants from Vietnam, Tanzania, China, India, Mexico, England and it’s been a delight knowing they became friends I have shared life with. I have been to their weddings and seen their children go to college. Thanks to them, I saw the world as an open place and one that I have participated in.
6
Thanks for an inspiring story. Also look at places like Perry, Iowa and Storm Lake, Iowa. Despite the mood and intent of the current White House resident, there is goodness and hospitality in America.
2
Thanks for a positive review of small town life in the heartland of America. It is so refreshing to hear about a town that is brave enough to attract immigrants, educate and help them find work, and give them a possibility of participating in the American dream. Minnesota is a beautiful state with all of its lakes and ponds and wonderful camp grounds.
Willmar is everything that Trump is not. No need to invite a delusional sociopath to a place that actually cares for its citizens.
5
Thank you for this Mr. Friedman! After reading much of the news of the day...crisis after crisis, all completely avoidable, all the work of Donald J. Trump and his GOP accomplices, I find a ray of light, a breath of fresh air, an example of the American ideal. Embracing our diversity & coming together to face not only our problems but each other, as human beings with similar desires and needs, is the way forward. The only way forward.
4
Minnesota's rural communities can be resources for inclusion with good leadership as Friedman's Willmar article illustrates. The key is found in the same rules which enabled the early European immigrants to Minnesota to succeed.
Those towns which resist adopting the attitudes and behaviours which build healthy communities will lose population and businesses. St. Cloud is both a regional center and a center of higher education which has potential for growth unless it continues its isolationism and fear of "others". Mr. Friedman is understating the issues in St. Cloud with calling them "struggles with inclusion".
It is always interesting when an Opinion columnist writes of his hometown or home state. Do their experiences or attachments to people and places give them insight or blinders?
1
So this town is doing well under Trump's economic and tax policies, isn't that good?
2
Maybe it’s despite Trump’s economic and tax policies.
10
@Evitzee
This started long before Trump and no he adds no value to anything he touches, quite the opposite actually, everything he touches rots. Willmar would do best to never let him step foot in their town.
2
@tjcenter we overwhelmingly voted for him so why wouldnt we love a visit from him?
This is happening here in Iowa as well. I'm an immigration lawyer here in Iowa, and have been doing this since the early 1990's. The towns that discovered immigrants are the towns that are moving ahead.
I recommend that Tom visit Storm Lake in northwest Iowa (if he hasn't already). Storm Lake figured this out around 2 decades ago -- and it shows. The town is positive and welcoming. Here in Des Moines, the same is happening.
Fear of immigrants, or of Muslims, is a barrier to moving forward. I have been to many parts of the world, and have uniformly found people to be open and welcoming, no matter the nationality or religion.
America is the Great Experiment, not only in the different races and religions living and working together -- but also in democracy and freedom. We are being tested -- as we have always been. I am hopeful that we can pass this test, as we have done with those in the past, for our own sake and for those who look to America for leadership and inspiration.
7
40-year-old information. But it's good to put it out there every once in a while so those who've been -- ironically -- so cloistered that they have not heard about many cultures finding ways to build community, can be exposed to it today. -- From rural California.
3
Trump has been consistent in his determination to keep ILLEGAL immigrants from entering our country. It would be extremely foolish to just open our borders to anyone. We cannot solve the world's poverty by allowing all poor people to enter (3.3 x 10^8 people in this country, over 4 x 10^9 poor in the world...more than ten times our total). OVERPOPULATION is the primary reason we have to control immigration. In this country we have about 7.4 acres/person. In India they have about 0.3 acres per person...want to live in India?
We have zero obligation to overpopulate and ruin our country, just because other countries have done it to themselves. A statistical fact: The poor and uneducated reproduce at a much higher rate than those who are educated and financially sound. The imbalance between those who need help and those who can provide it is getting worse...why exacerbate the situation in our own country?
19
But this article implies that economies thrive when diversity is welcomed and wither when it is not. Also, when those in poverty become more prosperous and life expectancy for their children increases, the birth rate decreases. We are not in danger of becoming India, not by a long shot.
2
@Raz
So, at the end of the day it's exactly what what Warren Buffet said: The most critical factor in his financial success was that he was BORN IN THE UNITED STATES.
So was I. I suspect you may have been as well. Those born in Somalia or Honduras or El Salvador? Not so much.
The thing is if you are not pure blood Native American then your ancestors came from somewhere else and encountered the same obstacles; education, language skills, bigotry and outright racism. But they were lucky too. They made it here and overcame those obstacles and laid the foundation that enable the chance for you and me to become a 'success'. Now it's the next generations turn.
Zero obligation? I say it's the key to our survival.
3
@Raz
Agreed. Now join your anti-illegal immigration stance with an anti-have-lots-of-kids stance. The problem is the same type of people--evangelical Trump fans--who hate illegal immigrants think children are a blessing, and the more the better.
Mr. Friedman, I would love to visit some small American city that was largely Scandinavian. Just as a point of reference, in 2000 my employer (150k emps in 42 countries) surveyed several hundred people in the building where I worked and found 40 languages spoken. In one building!
4
Love these inspirational Humanitarian stories (even as the White House is trying to goad Iran to war). American democracy, the experiment, maybe flailing but perhaps the fable American generosity may overcome the short sightedness of our current lethal environment. I hope so.
3
This sounds great! I wish my town would recruit more residents who can't speak English or graduate high school at age 22.
12
Today it's an America where immigrants, unlike those of the great immigration waves of the early 20th century, can no longer be identified as a population aspiring to assimilate into a national identity. Too often they settle into communities structured on an insular pattern where their interactions with the majority population and divergent immigrant ethnicities and religions are kept to necessity. It's a dynamic seen in other states such as Michigan, Detroit, its metropolitan area and adjacent cities. I myself come from an earlier population of immigrants who strove to learn the American way, it's culture, it's values, to become fluent in its language all while retaining our own heritage. It's a tough challenge that new immigrants and our country now faces. Enriching the nation through diversity without having all the multiplicity devolve into a self-isolating tribalism.
7
Did you read this article? My ancestors were German, and they spoke German in the home and the women never learned English. That was the first generation. Subsequent generations don't speak German at all. That's always been the way immigration has gone in this country. It takes time, which apparently no one wants to grant anymore.
3
@Rose
So how long do they have to complete your assimilation test? is there a timetable of what expectations are? My grandparents spoke Norwegian in the household, another attended the Dutch Reform Church where sermon was given in Dutch. We still honor our Norwegian and Dutch heritage every summer and hang the flag of these countries. Are we considered assimilated enough to also be called Americans? Are these cultures self-isolating because “real Americans” are making it difficult instead of welcoming. Maybe, just maybe, it’s a two way street and instead of staying on your side of the street you try driving down their side of the street (or walk a mile in their moccasins) ya, know like we did with native Americans, except that assimilation didn’t turn out to well for them when the white man stole their land. Check your privilege.
2
I live about 45 miles from Willmar, and agree with everything this article says -- with one huge exception. This is yet another article that ignores the crucial distinction between legal and illegal immigration. Most conservatives -- including President Trump -- are fine with people of all races and religions immigrating to the United States as long as they do it legally, and obey our laws once they get here. As long as progressives dishonestly ignore the difference between legal and illegal immigrants, we'll get more fundamentally flawed articles like this one.
16
Agree that we should figure out how to reduce or eliminate illegal immigration, but the distinction becomes moot when you cut legal immigration to practically zero.
@Joshua
You would be making a great point—except for that pesky thing called the truth. The Trump administration is working tirelessly to restrict legal immigration.
3
You might want to check again on President Trump liking legal immigration.
1
I serve on a school board in the western suburbs of Minneapolis and our community has been equally embracing of immigrants into our district, which makes me proud to live where I live. It takes a community's involvement, not just the schools. I have heard stories similar to Willmar's from other outstate school board members -- Faribault and Worthington come to mind. While the influx of immigrants creates challenges, the richness that those immigrants create far outweigh the challenges.
5
I’m sure there are these “sweet” spots scattered throughout America and the world. My town I believe was one of these sweet spots a few decades ago, but overtime is soured and spoiled. Once anything is planted and begins to thrive, it generally branches out and spreads eventually overtaking was fed it and supported it. Thereby destroying the ideal conditions unless measures are taken to prevent these adverse affects. With our new found information and connections, these sweet spots will be devoured at expedited speeds. Love to read a follow up article in a decade.
8
@Pilot
Hopefully racism is rooted out by then. The worst desease there is...
It's like that across many of the Rust Belt states too. There was just a story in the NYT about Utica, NY mentioning Buffalo and Erie, PA as well. These towns were crushed by globalization and have been struggling to rebuild. Growing up in Erie in the 1970's it was white working class with a small black population. That's it. Today there is a significant number of families from Africa and other countries. Who would have thought. It's helping. So maybe there ARE areas of the country where too many immigrants are a concern. What bothers me is the one size fits all anti-immigration stance. Some area may not need or want more people but other areas do need and want. It seems very unfair that they should get to dictate the fate of the entire country.
7
It took me to move to Florida to realize what MN has. Ethics, kindness, education and possibility. May the move to higher levels of corporation be in their sites.
12
LOVE the high school's ritual of changing the pins on the map each year. Certainly, all the work and creativity of the town's leaders have made such inclusiveness possible, but the symbolism of this annual event also has power. Wonderful and inspiring!
8
Two years ago I returned to Wilmar after a 30-year absence and was amazed by the new diversity and prosperity. I had stopped to shop auickly at the mall and, where ours are now empty, this one was busy with families of all races. It was a life-sustaining feeling.
12
I taught in the Willmar Schools for 36 years. This article is about as fair as it could be. Sure, there were problems in the schools and the town in general, but people did come together to work them out. The trailer park Mr. Friedman mentions was a sore spot rife with violence and budding gangs. The park was closed, demolished,and the land was repurposed. Many towns people were aghast. "The Hispanics are going to move into my neighborhood!" But the move was a stroke of genius. That was the turning point, the beginning of togetherness and community. Whoever engineered that decision did the right thing.
One more thing. Willmar, like Kandiyohi County and most of rural Minnesota is solidly "red" in political terms. Even though I wish I could say my "liberal" values were a driving force in this change, they are not. The real force is People Working Together to bring change. And if that happened in Willmar, and it did, it can happen anywhere.
33
A positive, inspiring column with a misguided "President Trump, Come to Willmar" headline. Many of Donald Trump's problems flow from his profound ignorance. His racism is not one of them.
Trump grew up in Queens NY and has lived most of his adult life in Manhattan. Lack of exposure to diversity and it's potential to drive success is not his problem. Lack of detectable empathy is.
"This Minnesota town is a modern, successful American melting pot" . Yes it is. Which makes it a target, not a positive example for Trump and many in his administration. Stephen Miller would be alarmed, not impressed.
The best thing we can do for places like Willmar, besides emulating them, is to give them the political cover to continue to succeed. That means going to the polls and voting out Trump and the Build the Wall / Voter Suppression wing of the GOP. And yes, it's a very big wing.
536
@LT
"That means going to the polls and voting out Trump and the Build the Wall / Voter Suppression wing of the GOP. And yes, it's a very big wing."
Unfortunately, it seems to be the entire republican party.
And we must vote them out.
34
@LTDonald Trump grew up in an upper class all white neighborhood in Queens in the 1950's, not Jackson Heights today. He lived at the top of a Manhattan tower in his dictator chic penthouse for over two decades. When asked about the subway he talked about riding it as a youth, the last time he used it. He has been stepping from his tower to a limousine to the 21 Club or to the airport to his private jet. He hasn't mingled with the diversity of everyday New Yorkers in decades.
18
@LT this county voted for Trump as did 80 percent of this countries counties. This is a conservative rural community that would welcome the President with open arms!
4
An article addressed to changing Trump’s thinking on this issue (or any other) is futile. Donald Trump uses his position on all issues for political expediency (or personal gain), only. It’s not a function of what he believes about the substantive merits of a position, whatsoever.
If we want to address the Trump threat, it’s best to recognize it. That requires a singular cynicism, not conventional argumentation.
What about affecting the attitudes of Trump’s base, rather than Trump himself? If Trump’s base changed its thinking, he would change his positions. His base, however, is generally not reading the Times. The small part that might be is likely not open to new thinking, if it feels allegiance to Trump after the last two years.
The focus needs to be on moving Trump out of office. One way or another. Friedman’s article is edifying and uplifting. But it will not effect change.
6
@GS What about that Russian collusion thingy that was front page fodder for two years? We shouldn't give up on that.
"And that depends on healthy public schools, because “the only shared experience we have any longer in America is through public education. " I couldn't agree more! And that's exactly why I am opposed to splitting kids up into specialized, magnet, even religious schools. An unpopular opinion, I'm sure, but public schools are the primary way for kids to learn about inclusion and tolerance.
14
I could not agree more! Our public schools are what made America a successful country. We need to ensure every American has the education to reach their full potential. That alone will help heal the fracture in our nation.
6
@ShoreGirl NJ You're not far from NYC, why not visit schools where teachers are threatened on a daily basis. Witness metal detectors. Ask why trouble making kids are not suspended.
3
The last person that Willmar should want visiting is Trump. He is incapable of learning anything positive from the experience and will make every attempt to undermine the harmony that has been achieved there.
The challenge for the Willmars of the country is withstanding and survive the relentless efforts by Trump to pit them against each other for his personal political benefit.
156
@Dan88
Wilmar was not the name that the brown Native American pioneers gave this town.
Minnesota is very hostile to the Dakota.
2
@Blackmamba Not seeing how this reply is related to my original comment. Are you saying that somehow prior hostility shown to "brown Native Americans pioneers" is a rationale for Trump visiting Willmar in its current state in 2019? And, if so, why? Sounds like you are making a point you should have made directly to the author in a separate thread.
2
He. Does. Not. Care.
There are no lessons for him to learn. He is a virus in his solitary focus on increasing his own wealth and power and prestige. His lies are not misunderstanding or ignorance, they are strategies. Forget him. Focus on those who might still be saved from his corruption.
13
@Chris N. Chris makes the essential point. Debating policy is quaint and irrelevant with Trump. Let’s understand him accurately and focus on regaining political power, not changing minds.
1
What this article boils down to is the fact that people want better opportunities and lives for their families. Fear of other cultures can easily be stirred up by examples of a few bad eggs. Most just want safety and opportunity. Thank you Minnesota and Wilmar. I love living in this state. It’s dog gone cold outside but the warmth of the people make up for those harsh winter days. Good for us.
7
Friedman is so right about the power of leadership, and leaders who love their communities more than they love their own power. People like mayor Marv Calvin and school principal Paul Schmitz are an inspiration to me. They are the best of the United States, and so are the citizens who follow their lead. In small communities, we can bank the coals of Democracy and wait out the storm. I have to believe there are millions of us, quietly preserving the heart of our great experiment.
7
I grew up about 20 miles from Willmar. It was down the road apiece and our "closest big town. I am happy to hear that it has become such a diverse community. I don't think I had met anyone of a different color until I moved to Minneapolis. It's a great town, with wonderful people. Bless you Willmar! You prove to the world that we can all live together no matter our differences. I have faith in you, and I miss living in rural Minnesota. I don't miss picking pickles, detassling corn, or picking mustard out of soybeans! Thank God I am too old for all that!!
186
@Cheryl Grussing.I also grew up about 20 miles west of Willmar. It was down the road apiece and our "closest big town". Wilmar was always the 'big town' where you could buy pizza, look at your toes throughout an Xray machine at the local shoe store and watch for all the great looking girls. High standards without a huge ego. My kind of place. Fram! Fram! Kristmenn, Krossmenn.
7
Mark Twain said "“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” Sometimes it is not necessary to travel to achieve Twain's wisdom; one only needs to embrace fellow human beings seeking "... life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." We are all for the better either way.
6
The problem, Mr. Friedman, is that King Minus does not want to see people getting along. He would not be the least bit interested in a successful diversity of all peoples. In fact, he would probably do everything within his power to sow discord.
6
There is much the same diversity and learning going on in St Cloud - even more. It is a long way from the “white cloud” label still applied by those who don’t know. Come to St Cloud too Mr Friedman.
2
Multi-racial and multi-ethnic progress is a great thing. Multi-culturalism is not.
It always amazes me that progressive people who are continually pushing for greater freedom and equality in our society can look at a photo of a woman in a burka, and their only reaction is to get all misty-eyed about diversity.
Many of these immigrants do not want to assimilate. When they are a small minority, we can pat ourselves on the back for our tolerance. When their numbers grow, things change. Just ask Europe.
9
Freidman, instead of visiting a part of the country which is relatively underpopulated, why don't you make your next trip to a US city where over 16% of the population lives below the poverty level; where the school district struggles to graduate 45% of its students; and where the manufacturing base has been hallowed out over the past 30 years. Then ask the legal US residents in that 16% group how they like competing with illegal immigrants( who are more than willing to work for less than a market wage)for the scarce entry level jobs. We face enough challenges in lifting all of our legal US residents out of poverty; why are the Dems so intent on adding to the problem with open borders? Answer:1. It adds to their voting base; 2. It justifies the government social programs they so embrace; 3. It provides the coastal elites with an endless source of feel-good stories like these and cheap domestic labor. It's almost as though they're afflicted with a form of munchausen by proxy, i.e., they perpetuate a disorder so they can care for it. 'Sad.
12
@pete, most of the business who hire illegal immigrants to work the jobs americans mostly won't do, are managed by Republicans. That's why the reagan amnesty act was a bust: the promised border enforcement never came to be because corporate america (GOP) wanted to transform industries from respectable jobs to dangerous and low-paying ones. I-- a proud liberal-- have never hired an illegal to do anything and I live in CA where there are plenty to spare. Gardener-- American. Former house cleaners: American. Recently painted room: American. Employees in a small business I owned: American. So please get off your high horse about "coastal elites" and try to think of this as one big United states.
1
@pete Oh Pete. I live in an agricultural community on the left coast. If it weren't for the Latino farm workers, documented and undocumented, our local economy would collapse, and everyone knows it. The white kids who picked strawberries and rogued spinach are two generations gone. Stealing jobs? With my own eyes I see brown-skinned people busting their humps every day, doing what immigrants have always done: Doing the hard, unpleasant work that locals no longer deign to do. There are no sad white people looking wistfully on at their stolen jobs. We drive by and say a prayer of gratitude that it's not us out there stooped over in the sun.
1
@karen Thanks Karen, I partially agree with you. Throughout my life, I've been tempted to hire illegals and I too have resisted. However, I know plenty of Democrats and Republicans on both coasts, the South and Midwest who have succumbed i.e., for cheaper domestic help, home repairs, child care etc. because the illegals will work for less. In sum, the hiring of illegals is the dirty little secret indulgence of members from both parties in all parts of the country. Particularly for purposes of raising the economic fortunes of the 40 million or so US legal residents who now live the poverty level, illegals need to be taken out of the labor supply equation. Otherwise, we're just perpetuating the economic underclass.
3
In a mock 2016 Presidential vote at Wilmar High, Trump actually won the popular vote with 207 votes to Clinton at 179. Go figure.
4
Hahaha. What did you think you’d find? The only thing enlightening about this is how Tom Friedman “discovered” what was going on in America. When he and the NYT actually travel west of the Hudson they see reality. And the only thing this has to do with Trump is the economy - which is doing well - and may do even better with less “trade” with China. There is a big difference between immigrants “yearning to be free” and illegal immigrants.
6
@Wildebeest
Yup, there's a big difference. One was able to get papers and the other wasn't.
Who *isn't* yearning to breath free? Other than papers and maybe some superficial cultural forms, in most cases there's no difference between those that have them and those that don't.
1
I hope Betsy DeVos reads this, but it probably wouldn't do any good. She loves to see everyone self-segregating in government funded religious and charter schools.
2
Friedman's uplifting story of Willmar underscores one of the most important stories in the United States today--that immigrants are needed, welcome, and a positive contribution to the communities in which they live. Second generation immigrants like those in Willmar's high school are going to become productive citizens.
This flies in the face of the hateful, deceptive rhetoric coming out of the White House, and from the white supremacist loudmouths like Rep. Steve King of Western Iowa, whose racist remarks Trump refuses to condemn. King's Western Iowa has many towns like Willmar--they are not too far apart geographically or socially--but King and his ilk shut their eyes, stop their ears and continue to refuse to accept the positive reality reflected in this piece.
3
Give it time, the bombers come with the second generation.
4
Who doesn’t believe in, and welcome immigrants? I just don’t believe in selling out the natives, like some do, and I personally like baseball caps!
3
Precisely why those campaigning for any office should neglect NO place
Get out if the media bubble!
Thank you Thomas Friedman
2
The NYT and other media outlets would be doing this country a service by reporting more frequently and in this depth about those portions of America that are working to bring people together rather than tear them apart.
4
White European Americans can hide, luxuriate and wallow in their physically identifiable historically 'superior' powerful privileged majority supremacist churches, mosques, synagogues, ethnic affiliations, closets, golf courses, schools and resorts.
While black African Americans were and are a physically identifiable' inferior' historically victimized discriminated marginalized enslaved separate and unequal minority.
No Americans have ever worked harder and longer for less return than African Americans.
While brown Native American pioneers have had more of their lives, lands and natural resources stolen than any other Americans while stereotyped as ' savages' and mocked with anti-Native American canards and tropes.
In Tom Friedman's Minnesota tall 'tales' telling Little Crow's Dakota men, women and children are as invisible as Philando Castile, Roy Wilkins and Ilhan Omar's African American men, women and children.
1
If Trump came to Willmar his conclusion would be the opposite of what Friedman wishes. A successful melting pot is exactly what Trump doesn't want, success is the problem; instead, Trump is interested in racial purity. How could Friedman be so naive.
"President Trump, Come to Willmar" Great article, bad advice. Fortunately, Trump cannot read, otherwise he would find some way to sanction this little section of the American dream and/or sick his fascist, immigration police upon its residents.
1
With so many immigrants, America has something no other country has - a unique connection, a positive influence and leverage through immigrants back to their native lands. We're in the best position to influence for good and mutual benefit. That can't happen with countries than ban immigrants, makes them unwelcome or violates their human rights as we're doing now - flushing this most unique and powerful asset down the trumpian golden toilet of failure.
I still remember my little sister at 5 years old, I was 6, meeting the first African woman she'd ever seen (wife of a diplomat). She remarked how beautiful her very dark black skin was. She was absolutely right! She was also a very nice lady. And that stuck in my young brain, recalling it too often growing up as a Scandinavian born lily white kid trying to figure out why many white people mistreated and demeaned people of dark skin - many my best friends.
Now I'm proud of my Danish brother who married a beautiful Ugandan woman a few weeks ago. The ceremony in Uganda I participated in was amazing. It was the most UN-trumpian event ever - with two polar opposite cultures coming together in love and respect. Not just tolerating each other but relishing in each another's culture. TAKE THAT SUPREMACIST FOOLS!
It's distressing to be back in America, led by toilet-mouth-trump, overflowing with racism, hatred and division that can't be flushed away fast enough. Trump seeks an 1850's America to re-litigate the Civil War his ilk lost.
3
don't let him near the place ce, he would try and destroy it unless he could profit off of it as is.
1
You give our president too much credit Mr. Friedman, he is not interested in harmony or inclusion. .
1
The US: dumping ground for the world's excess population. Let's cram as many people as we possibly can in our borders just like no other country in the history of the wold does. Gonna love the future shortages and higher prices. The crowded classrooms. The added costs of teaching foreign students. The added costs of sick and emotionally disturbed 'refugees'. The gang members fleeing their country of origin because of gangs. The poor families, with too many children, who see out society as a giant piggy-bank. Entire societies that destroyed their own lands here to live off of ours. Only when Americans are as poor and desperate as the third world will this madness end- after we have destroyed our own future and ruined the chances our children should have. Morality is, apparently, hurting your own children to help lying foreigners, and religious lunatics, make more money.
8
It is an accurate statement that Trump almost won my home state of Minnesota. But subsequently I think we have swung back to center left as the Democratic candidates in the 2018 election did quite well. Minnesota is a purple state where progress has been hindered of late due to a Republican Senate that represents a wealthy suburb or two and all of the white dominant areas of rural Minnesota. Sadly, they would not be as sanguine as Mr. Friedman about the value of diversity and inclusion. I like to think the relative success of Trump in the 2016 election in Minnesota was an anomaly and this column brings me hope. But progress could be quickly erased if we on the left are not vigilant and active.
1
My grandparents lived in a farmhouse near Worthington MN that is now a Buddhist Temple. It's exciting to see a larger-than-life Buddha sitting in the same spot where we celebrated Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. That's good karma.
2
We all need to visit Wilmar. There are lessons we all can learn.
57
@Rose Rennekamp
Who is ' we'?
Dakota?
1
This is a great article, really feel good, like what the US could be. Unfortunately, that is all it is - what the human race could be.
As I enter my 70's it is clear to me that these examples, far and few between - that's why they are such great stories - of what humans could be, the rarity of these examples just reinforces the hopelessness of the human situation.
There always has been and always will be genuine, real examples of human goodness. The kind of situations that makes one think, see, we could do this; we as a society can be inclusive, unselfish, altruistic world citizens helping our communities and thereby the human race and the planet itself.
But there is something wrong with humans. There is some reason why the majority of us will not listen to our better angels; will not look at a town like Willmar and think, not only is this a better way but it is doable. We can do this.
We even had a president in the not too distant past that tried to get us to move in this direction. We rejected him just as we reject Willmar.
Nice thought but it's not for us. We're humans. We've got better things to do than care about someone else. The planet is being destroyed by some mysterious force (that also lines our pockets) so we need to grab what we can now before someone else gets it.
4
Thanks for pointing out that there are small, conservative towns in America that are welcoming to immigrants and doing well. I do suspect this is a Minnesota thing- Lake Wobegon is fairly unique in the US. Let's hope this spreads.
1
I lived in Willmar in the late 1970’s. I worked at the hospital full-time, at the radio station on weekends, and I was one of the volunteer firefighters. This article was a fresh read; I had no idea the author had Minnesota roots, never mind a small town called Willmar. The challenges they face as they diversify, clearly articulated in the piece, will continue to be tough, time-consuming, and quite worth it.
4
Willmar should be very careful how they vote in 2020. Trump supporters are in no way open to immigrants, legal or not. I would say this is a very very special town that needs to be emulated by other small towns, but sadly this is an exception and not the norm in this political climate
3
Wonderful article. Inspiring.
One fact needs underlining. Leadership is very important but the availability of jobs is critical. Over and over we hear that, "immigrants are stealing our jobs." This has been a persistent theme in American history. Latinos, Chinese, Irish, African Americans, have all faced the accusation that they were / are taking jobs from "real Americans." Real Americans being defined as white people, preferably Christian.
In Willmar, there are plenty of jobs, and that helps enormously in reducing racial and religious conflict. It's a lot easier to love your neighbor if you don't think he's a threat to your ability to earn a living.
Besides providing income for individuals and families, those jobs generate funds to finance efforts to smooth the way for integration.
A federal jobs guarantee as a backstop where private employment is sparse is part of the Green New Deal. More jobs will help make more Willmars.
3
Thank you so much for writing this hopeful and inspiring piece. I was born in Willmar, raised in South Dakota, attended college and graduate school in OR and MI, and have lived, studied and worked in Argentina, Costa Rica, Zimbabwe, England, France and Switzerland. Now I’m back in MN living in the Twin Cities. This country gave me the education and skills to become a productive global citizen and I’m grateful. What we do best in this country is both create civic-minded individuals who believe in this country’s ideals, and welcome and integrate global citizens into our democratic social fabric; this is what has made us unique and strong. This piece makes me proud to be an American and a Minnesotan! You’ve illuminated for readers the future of our country as seen in the microcosm of Willmar. Change is hard but necessary to our survival, and with all of the challenges come many unexpected gifts. Thanks for writing this excellent and fascinating piece.
5
Great things are happening in Willmar but the article is missing an important element. Are the local taxpayers essentially subsidizing the strategy of the Jennie-O plant to minimize labor costs and investment in working conditions? The article makes clear the local schools are accommodating student who speak dozens of languages but limited English. Some of these students stay in high school until they are 21. The article mentions other special programs. These all cost money and are paid for by local taxpayers. The person with multiple kids in school making around minimum wage at the Jennie-O plant is not contributing much to this. It sounds like the owners of Jennie-O are getting rich whole the local taxpayers pick up the tab for the company’s low wage strategy.
Perhaps a better solution for the whole community would be for Jennie-O to pay a living wage and improve working conditions so they could attract workers other than the most deparate.
8
Since you don’t know any details your speculating fosters negativity and bigotry. This is a town that is figuring out how to remain a community and suppositions from outsiders, particularly ones that imply somehow that individuals working in a chicken plant don’t contribute as much as other citizens, speaks of bias.
What strikes me most in this is that people seem resigned to have leaders without authority.
Yes, this is necessary, but are we washing away the constitution with it? You can't lead with authority unless you deserve it. Obama threw away a chance when he refused to hold the banks accountable. He wouldn't jail the bankers, and he should have done so.
We do need good leaders with authority again. The authority of the constitution.
Growing up in Minnesota, I knew this was a very diverse place, and I really liked that about the place. I liked the fact that this 'flyover' country was so cosmopolitan. People here don't care where others are from. We accept them and we talk to them.
I think that Trump is trying, but he's challenged. A lot of good characters are written off by his approach. If this country stands for what it claims to, it should be mounting a formidable challenge in the next election. We're sick of trial by CNN.
Just run for office and do it well!
@DudeNumber42 - "People here don't care where others are from. We accept them and we talk to them."
This born and raised resident of Flyover Land (western Wisconsin) cares where others are from.
I find it interesting, learn from them and try to get a sense of why they are here and what makes them tick.
Accept them, talk to them, yes. Welcome them to America and help them be good Americans (as we also should be).
The ancestors of those Lutheran Scandinavians in Willmar (and in Iowa where I grew up German farmers or now Wisconsin where I live, Germans and Norwegians) started off as new immigrants from distant lands, something we have celebrated (Little House on the Prairie, Willa Cather, etc). Now there are immigrant groups from diverse new-distant-lands. It re-invigorates what America means.
2
How can you write on this subject without, at least, referring to Robert Putnam's research which found that this kind integration undermines community health and well-being. Keep in mind, that Putnam's a Harvard guy who isn't thrilled by his findings. Those finding are not particularly pleasant, but to ignore them is foolish.
7
That is an incomplete and inaccurate summary of Putnam’s research. More specifically, in his continuing research on communities in the early 1990s, he determined that in the short term, people in communities “hunker down” as their community becomes more ethnically diverse. However over time they grow closer and grow together. This conclusion was not something he didn’t like or was disappointed with, but he was disappointed with the reality that people didn’t adapt more quickly. Short term: more isolationist; long term: better end result.
A good point to bring up, but cite sources and characterize them correctly so as to elevate the discussion for all involved.
Here is a link to an interview with Putnam discussing the topic:
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12802663
Great article, but the title, "President Trump, Come to Willmar" just doesn't get it. More apt would be "What President Trump Dreads."
That the USA is an immigrant success story is not new, though the mother tongues and colors of the immigrants continues to change.
Trump, out of his own bias and what he perceives as his base's, wants to promote a country that is made up of white people from European countries with a Christian appearance. To these xenophobes the photographs accompanying this column show exactly what's wrong with what is happening to the country. Trump, to build broader support for this view of what will "Make America Great Again" he needs examples of non-European immigrants, who are murderers, rapists, thieves and who "steal" services.
I think that Mr. Friedman knows this and should have included direct criticism of Trump's lie about immigrants and policies and not suggest that Trump is ignorant of the truth.
1
It's the churches and the mosques. In the United States, when people are religiously practicing, they are community practicing. When they are not religiously practicing, they become less communitarian.
3
A beautiful story ; and true.....so hopeful and one we all
thirst for …..
This story of hope for a renaissance of the melting pot we
thought we are losing should be a documentary; and shown
in every high school classroom all over the USA..
Make this article by Tom Friedman a must be seen on PBS
Thank You Tom Friedman....More Articles Like This.....
Please.
2
It's difficult to think about the harmony that Is Willmar without conjuring up the disharmony that is Donald Trump. It's nice to know that places like Willmar exist, but it's a terrible reminder of the discourse sewed by our president
While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, he secretly knows that they can be led around like a bulls with nose rings - only instead of bull rings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants.
If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of us all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
3
Good morning Tom. You know what jumped out at me with your story? The town of Willmar! About 5 years ago, I produced a promotional video for my friend Paul Barbaro who owned a furniture store called Slumberland Furniture. It was January and it was freezing. Being a Phoenix boy, I just couldn’t understand why anyone in their Right or Left mind would ever want to live here. After reading your article, I now understand! It’s community. Real growing communities are Color Blind!
If all we do is watch programs like Fox and MSNBC, or listen to Talk Radio, we’re really not seeing what America is all about! America is a melting pot that unfortunately is no longer melting! Is it really going to take a small town like Willmar to “light” the way to a much better life for all of us? I don’t know, but it’s far better than the alternative all of us are living today.
Community used to be a very warm security blanket when I was growing up in New Jersey in the late 30’s. You won’t believe this, but I don’t remember ever locking our doors. We felt safe walking to school or church. I was a Presbyterian by faith, but spent more time in the local Synagogues and other Churches with my friends because of that sense of community.
At 80 years old, most of us don’t know our neighborhood or neighbors. Most of our world is centered on our computers, smart phones and TV’s. That’s what community has become.
Maybe we should all visit Willmar?
3
What’s totally un-controversial: respect for people of all races and all religions, in the presidency of Trump is up for political negotiation. Totally crazy and inherently stupid.
1
There's hope for us a country after all.
These stories of small rural Midwest communities basically "recruiting" for workers among immigrants make me wonder why they don't recruit among existing communities of American citizens who are in desperate need of work? Inner-city citizens? Rural Appalachia citizens? How would Willmar react if it found itself at the receiving end of a new Great Migration of poor black families from Minneapolis or poor white families from southern Ohio all fleeing crime, drugs, and relentless unemployment? The story of the warm embrace offered to immigrants in Willmar is very 'feel good' as others have said but don't American citizens deserve the same chance for a new start and a better future?
5
@Nell Larkin. The US citizens presumably have access to all the information the immigrants do, but they don’t choose to take up the challenge. I doubt Willmar is paying for anybody’s transport to go there. Citizens could have the jobs if they wanted.
Since I live in Linköping, Sweden, where as a result of being a Red Cross volunteer for at least 18 years, I have many notebooks with the signatures of 100s of Somalis, mostly high school students, I love that picture. Looks like some smaller Swedish town.
Thanks to the above, I often have written here, especially when the New Yorker had the Bernie Sanders baseball cap cartoon with Make America Sweden, that phrase exactly. My ikon has what may be Bernie's license plate, since that is his motto.
Today, I do the reverse. Perhaps somebody here should read this article and wonder why Linköping SE does not have a restaurant owned by a Somali, or why I cannot name a Swedish Somali as highly placed as Hamse Warfa.
I had a Somali Bantu friend, Abdi, in Winooski, VT, who created a whole complex of stores there but they fell to total gentrification of that street. Nothing to match that here.
Last but not least I note that my Swedish newspaper DN, visited Ilhan Omar's home town in MN to report that even 3d generation Swedes there were not fully assimilated, still preserving a Swedish reticence to say more than hellow when Ilhan rang the doorbell.
Generalization: Looks like Somalis do OK in towns with a sizable so-called "white, Lutheran, Scandinavian" population.
But teaching the Somali alphabet? Created in 1973 it uses the familiar latin letters I use here.
Thanks Thomas Friedman.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
2
Excellent article and very well said. Our multiculturalism here in Hilliard is leading to a thriving, vibrant, growing community. You can try to resist change but it will get you nowhere. When I return to my home in southern Virginia I see young men at Walmart openly wearing guns. Here I see happy young women wearing hijab, which do you find more disturbing?
1
I went to undergrad at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. Three of my section mates, and my roommate Ross, were from Willmar. Ross was a kind, thought young man who was the son of a Jennie-O Foods administrator. These are exactly the types of pragmatic people who are making Minnesota work its multicultural vision. Pragmatism, that Scandinavian trait that got them through long winters intact, may be the key to the U.S. getting over its immigration phobia. Down here in Dixie this notion is only evident when all of the farmers are asking "Where did all of my workers go?" The answer: "You ran them off!"
Uff da, y'all.
1
The title almost turned me away from this piece. Trying to convert Trump and his choir of Trumpists is a fool’s errand. But it’s good to read about the reality in this town.
1
What a much needed hopeful story. Maybe the town motto should be:
“Where there’s a Willmar, there’s a way!”
Fascinating story, an example for every American community. But, as you note, Itasca County has a long Democratic history. Do you actually believe Willmar could tale place in Alabama, Mississippi, West Virginia or Louisiana? Trump "almost won" Minnesota. He received 63% of the vote in Alabama, 68% in West Virginia and nearly 60% in the other two states. Several other states overwhelmingly voted for him. Pervasive racist, sexist, LGBTQ phobic and religiously intolerant views in many parts of America would preclude cities similar to Willmar.
2
I know you choose your words carefully and I read most of your columns. I tend to agree with you on most topics. This is a very interesting and worthwhile article. The main point seems to be "This is how stereotypes are broken." and I agree completely. However, you used a phrase to describe the mayor that I am curious about. You wrote: "He comes across as a big good ol’ boy..." What exactly do you mean, by that choice of words in describing the mayor in this way? Is there a better way of describing your first impression? If you used, "He comes across as a friendly, gregarious man...." instead of what you wrote, would that be more descriptive and accurate? I've never met him so I don't know what he's like, so I'll have to trust your description, even though I find it ambiguous and inconsistent with the overall theme of the column.
“President Trump, Come to Willmar
This Minnesota town is a modern, successful American melting pot.”
So is Queens. It astounds me at times, how he seemed to miss that.
I grew up in Brooklyn, and would play on the playground with kids whose older sisters wore hijabs over their Mickey Mouse shirt. I remember being intrigued, because one such sister would push her siblings much higher on the swings than my mom would.
Of course NYC has racists, just like anywhere, but it seems like it would be harder to view an entire group as dangerous when you have so much evidence of them just being, well, people.
1
I've been to Wilmar, and Friedman is right about it. But I don't know whom this article is written for. Friedman is a smart person: he simply cannot believe that Trump is capable of an awakening.
Mr. Friedman, on occasion, it would be refreshing if you did not show your prejudices against Trump so blatantly. Why do you think the President needs to see that these legal immigrants and their successful assimilation into a small town would somehow not be understood or even celebrated by the president? What the president and the vast majority of US citizens object to is illegal immigration, uncontrolled borders and huge numbers of people entering our country claiming asylum falsely. That is not racist, not bigoted, it has to do with maintaining the sovereignty of our country. Conflating legal and illegal immigration is the key flaw in your reasoning.
2
Exhausted and numb from all the hatred and divisiveness being peddled by Donald Trump, stories like this are a salve for the soul.
Thanks, Tom, for giving us ongoing examples from your reporting on how things COULD be with a bit more caring in the world.
2
Acceptance-- not tolerance, there's a difference-- should be the norm in a country where apart from the Native nations, no one is a native.
So, immigration hysteria, treating others as less than human because they don't have the self-same religion or even physiognomy, is a disease, it is a view of the world that is nihilistic.
People forget, respect and regard, come before anything else in human interaction.
Two sentences are the key here:
"...why every town in America needs to get caught trying to make diversity work — or it will wither. It’s that simple."
Mayor's comment:
“If that doesn’t wake you up about the community we have to build, you have to be sleeping pretty hard,” said Calvin."
Washington, Oregon, California and New York, are prime examples of diversity, where everyone is distinct in themselves, but committed as a whole to be part of a community.
The rest of middle America would need to follow similar examples, otherwise... hate and violence are more like wildfires: easy to start, difficult to contain.
The thing is Trump's election, the now burgeoning hatred towards immigrants as a whole, ethnicity groups like blacks, Latinos, and then religious groups like Muslems, and Jews, and recent rise of Alt-Right is a "Denial-ist movement".
If you deny the ground reality... well, then... as Mayor Calvin said, you must be "sleeping pretty hard."
1
Beautiful story. If only more people could think like this.
LEADERSHIP. What we have now is fear-mongering, anger stoking, close-minded, white supremacist non-leadership, starting with Trump.
We will probably go to war with Iran, to distract everyone during the election (they will wait) claiming a national emergency. Trump will stress how bad it is and how he is "winning" and FOX will pump everyone with 24/7 lies and propaganda and he will likely win again.
Public education is a must. Home schooling throughout the USA hasn't helped us go forward and the demise of educational standards in public schools is a real poison. Betsy DeVos is just making schools like the one in this article impossible to exist.
I'm sure Lady Liberty smiles when her torch beams at Willmar. Thanks, Tom. Made my morning.
I’ve never thought the term “melting pot” was either accurate or desirable. Wilmar is a wonderful American “stew.” Everyone retains their uniqueness yet benefits by being in the same “pot” with people of different races, creeds, colors and faiths.
What you are describing is multiculturalism. Celebrated and expected in Canada, it is somewhat different from what we expect in the US.
2
There is nowhere Trump can go that can help him. He is a miserable person, who attempts to conceal his misery in wealth. He is married to an immigrant, for God’s sake.
He is a prisoner, like many American males, who continue to struggle for financial independence made nearly impossible by an illogical tax code that finances great wealth for the few. We actually have military strewn across the world to protect the assets of corporations, while our middle and working class pay for it.
The average American male is asked to do this, but to ever make mention of the pragmatic tax rates of the fifties and sixties is blasphemy. To do so is to be a sissy, a socialist, a loser. So, that angry American male needs to find a scapegoat for causing the struggle.
1
Great story and article, more please!
1
Great article. Thank you!
First Trump came for the women
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a woman.
Then Trump came for the people with disabilities
And I did not speak out
Because I did not have a disability.
Then Trump came for the African Americans
And I did not speak out
Because I was not African American.
Then Trump came for the Mexicans
And I did not speak out
Because I was not Mexican.
Then Trump came for the Muslims
And I did not speak out
Because I was not Muslim.
Then Trump came for the gay, bi, and trans people
And I did not speak out
Because I was not gay, bi or trans.*
Then Trump came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew.
Then Trump came for the journalists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a journalist.
Then Trump came for the judges
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a judge.
And now Trump is coming for the Constitution of the United States
And if I do not speak out, what am I?
5
@J L S you left out when Trump Colluded with Putin. I bet you spoke out everyday.
Beautiful! Come to Hazleton, PA Tom. It's just as amazing!
1
It sounds like the America our ancestors arrived in when they fled oppression in their birth countries.
The dream still exists in some places and the country is better for it. Employment and affordable housing. That’s where it starts and, hopefully, it gets better from there. And freedom from fear dissipates when the neighbors are open minded.
Willmar. Who woulda thought?
Mr. Friedman, A rhetorical question. Do you really think this president is interested in learning anything and therefore having to admit that he was mistaken ?
2
Diversity came late to Willmar---in Virginia, MN the diversity was there from the earliest days. I grew up in the 1930's and '40's with immigrants from all over the world (though Europe mostly).
2
Affordable housing and plenty of jobs. Anyone anywhere in the USA who is able and wants a job and decent place to live should get on a bus and head to Minnesota
@AVIEL This area of Minnesota loves and supports Israel!
Hats off to the Willmar School System. They are some very wise and compassionate people. To me, this is the American public school system at its best.
Of course, hats off to the students too!
"Go Willmar".
1
Sounds like Orlando Florida my home town. People who are open are prospering. Those who are not are falling behind.
Yes, but what about the registered Democratic turnout in Wilmar? Did every registered Democrat go out and vote for Hilary? Trump almost won Minnesota, and he'll be looking to actually do it in 2020. Are they in their moderation, as incensed about Trump as they should?
1
@Richard McLaughlin We love the President here in Willmar!
It should noted that the birthrate in America is at an all time low---unless we embrace immigration--we like countries in Europe and especially Japan are in a demographic death spiral. What made America great was its commitment to diversity...
1
As a native Willmarite one thing in your article is correct, President Trump should come to Willmar. We need him to stop the insanity here just as we do on the coasts. Your article fails to reflect an incredible amount of truth & reality, there is no melting pot here.
2
After reading the headline, "President Trump, Come to Willmar", it was nice to read the column and find that it focused on so many other people. I don't think it would make any difference if Trump visited Willmar, but I'd like to see Willmar invite everyone else in America.
"President Trump, Come to Willmar
This Minnesota town is a modern, successful American melting pot."
It wouldn't matter if President Trump went to Willmar or any other "modern, successful melting pot." Lets not forget that he grew up and spent his entire life in New York City, a modern successful melting pot. He was born and raised in Queens County, the most diverse county in the United States. Nothing about those places taught him anything.
He doesn't learn. He doesn't grow. New ideas can't be demonstrated to him. He sees everything through a lens of paranoia, fear, hate, and cruelty.
After watching him on the national stage since his leadership of the "birther" movement, no one, least of all Tom Friedman, should be laboring under the naive, and, at this point, slightly silly illusion that Trump is anything other than a bigot who has a cynical and racialized view of everything.
Willmar, like Queens, like New York City, is a living demonstration that Trump's understanding of the world isn't just flawed, isn't just wrong, but an insult to the American idea and the American character, and needs to be opposed at every turn.
1
Re "'Where else in this country do you have Christians and Muslims and atheists, wealthy and poor kids, from all over the world, sharing in the great American experiment?,'" spoken by Willmar High School principal Paul Schmitz.
I very much appreciate the specific inclusion of atheists in his comment. Maybe, just maybe, this country can continue to progress, despite ravanchist theocrats south of the Mason-Dixon line.
1
When I moved to MN in the 90s, standard greeting for new residents was “what church do you go to?” That mentality still persists in a large part of the population that thinks MN is or should be Scandinavian Christian. Personally I welcome the diversity.
1
@MNDoc We still ask that, we as Christians see the melting pot that is Willmar a big missionary field.
Has there ever been an influx of any immigrants who HAVEN’T improved the food?
Irish excepted. The stuff my grandmother, from County Cork, made was indigestible...
This is a good story. It's too bad the headline writer put that ridiculous invitation to Trump.
Aside from the fact that Trump isn't mentioned at all in this column, why would Willmar or any other similar town bother inviting the president? He knows on which side his bread is buttered, and that's the side of fear of The Other to keep the electorate divided.
Everything the man touches is tainted. Don't taint another perfectly good column unnecessarily.
The simple reality is that Trump and his most rabid supporters could care less about a success story such as this. Their definition of success includes only white people who are Christian zealots (i.e., anti-gay, anti-choice). This is a nice column that gives some hope that, national politics aside, perhaps Trumpism and all of its attendants evils can be overcome at the state and local levels.
I love Mr. Friedman's hopefulness in this article. Southwest Kansas has the same integration successes and failures in the larger towns of Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal due to meat packing and other large industries. Recently, three men were indicted for planning to blow up a Somali community in Garden City. It is a continuous challenge for the communities to integrate. If the white community can turn off Fox News and welcome immigrants as people, then America might have a chance to move forward successfully. If Americans continue to get fooled by the hate that protrudes online and on Fox, then we will not grow well together.
The last thing Trump wants is to highlight a successful melting pot story. His entire campaign is predicated on creating fear of exactly that. And of course late term abortions.
BTW how many abortions did he pay for when he spent the seventies and eighties fighting his "own personal Vietnam" of unprotected sex.
1
I appreciated the article, and the notion of America working the way we all think it should. Even the letters from trumpistas declaring themselves and their dear leader the most billy successes, and the ones saying how much better things are in the old northeast are basically irritants, nothing more. I do have to say, I agree with Friedman that one gets tired of media and “personalities” so grossly overstating their prejudiced view of anything other than Manhattan and Beverley Hills.
Go to the Houston galleria mall if you want to see a melting pot BUT this one is filled with very successful/affluent Africans and Indians. Very international vibe going on with the younger crowd too!
1
How many people have they killed so far?
2
This is a beautiful article. However, the headline, which is premised on the notion that Trump would stop spewing anti-immigrant bile on the basis of mere facts, seems hopelessly naive.
How inspiring. This is what needs to fill our newspapers, not Trump junk. I happen to love nearly everything you write, Mr. Friedman. Wisdom.
I found the photo accompanying Friedman's column to be quite unsettling. Why does Willmar look like a ghost town except for the lone Muslim woman crossing the street? Willmar is hardly a ringing endorsement of Utopia if its streets and stores are completely deserted.
1
It’s Minnesota. By Almost any measure, it’s a force. Indeed “where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”
Wilmar sounds like the kind of place I might like to retire to.
"45 percent of students are of East African descent, 35 percent Latino and 16 percent Caucasian (although a lot of whites send their kids to private schools)."
Sounds like the NYC public school system.
2
This points out the untruth about the midwest consciousness. Trump, and some media, paint a monolithic portrait that is as much myth as it is misleading. The US will never regain the energy and risk taking of the past by relying on aging white men who wish only for Ozzy & Harriet. Great piece TF.
1
Friedman is right about the parody of the middle of the country as merely flyover country; it's a bit too cliche. However, there's a huge cultural difference between the middle north (like Minnesota) and the middle south (like, say, Arkansas). One has the potential to be welcoming, inclusive, progressive, modern, and adaptable to the real world, and the other is retrograde, insular, mired in an almost medieval way of thinking, and is unprepared for the real world. One red; one blue.
What you see from Trump and his cult are the death throes of this thinking; it gets angrier and more outraged as it dies, albeit a slow death.
1
"Minnesota has given its electoral votes to the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 1976. That's 11 straight. That's the longest blue streak in the country." - Minnesota Post, Nov 26, 2018
1
We do not like the thought of Trump coming to Minnesota. We have too many people like him in the state as it is.
The sad truth though is that Trump would never go to a place like Wilmar. It's success disproves all the gibberish, distortions and outright lies he spouts about immigrants. It is not a community he wants his base to see -- or that his base would embrace.
135
@mjan That is not true at all.
@mjan A lot of his 'base' lives here in Willmar. Kandiyohi county overwhelmingly voted for Trump. This area is fairly conservative.
Culture matters. Diversity in the US can be a wonderful thing, but only if persons of different cultures do in fact become part of a melting pot of Americans committed to democracy, individual liberty and the values enshrined in the Declaration and the Constitution. It would be naive not to consider the harsh lesson that many Europeans have recently learned, where large numbers of immigrants from non-western cultures enter but are not assimilated. Our immigration policy should be thoughtful, not naive.
6
This is exactly what we did 100 and more years ago with the waves of immigrants from Europe. Their integration into American society was far from smooth and their welcome was often rude, but we needed their labor so we figured it out. We wouldn't be the country we are if not for them. We can learn from some of those lessons today as we help new generations become Americans.
2
@RW You left out that they fully assimilated.
1
Willmar sound like Storm Lake, Iowa that welcomes immigrants from all over the world and the community is thriving. Art Cullen, the editor of the Storm Lake Times and Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial writing, has written a book about Storm Lake, its history, on welcoming immigrants and how environmental and agricultural changes are impacting the area in which the town is located.
Willmar sounds more like Lake Wobegon than Lake Wobegon did, with its population of souls "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." It is a shame that Garrison Keillor and his classic "A Prairie Home Companion" is no longer a morning staple. But then, no one much listens to the radio anymore.
Things have changed much in Minnesota since I left Grand Rapids (Itasca County) in 1981. Recession had hit the Iron Range big time, and houses could be bought for as little as $5,000 in the small towns along Hwy 169 that only a few years earlier sold for 5 times that and more. In many of those towns, unemployment checks were the main source of income.
1
Thomas, I thoroughly enjoyed this piece and did wonder where that metal map of the world came from. How appropriate.
The only element of your writing that I take issue with is your shout out to "President Trump, Come to Willmar."
President Trump will never come to Willmar because
1) Willmar does not need a Trump Tower
2) Willmar is a far to optimistic and diverse community.
3) Willmar is the antithesis of Trump's rhetoric of MAWA (Make America White Again).
Other than that, loved your essay.
5
Why would we invite Trump to such a nice town?
2
I grew up in rural Minnesota in the 70s in a small town not too different from Willmar. My mother was an immigrant from Japan. The only other immigrant at the time was a lovely Korean women. Both of them war brides. We were welcomed into the community.
There were many churchgoing people who followed the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have then do unto you. I cringe wondering why more Christians no longer practice this.
Arigato, Mr. Friedman, for giving me more reason to love Minnesota.
286
@YukariSakamoto
Do you know who lived in Minnesota before you and the Europeans arrived?
Do you know any Dakota?
They were nearly exterminated by white European ' Christians'.
But they live as second class citizens in a first world nation in third world poverty.
3
@Blackmamba yes on million dollar casino reservations.
Willmar is an example of what other Minnesota cities are experiencing, as well. Latinos have been in my south-central Minnesota city for over 80 years. Somali for almost a quarter century. A friend of mine who is the VP of HR at a large glass fabrication company told me recently that without the 450 Somali and other immigrants working in their facilities, the work would not get done. As far as I am concerned, what has made this phenomenon successful is the lack of political intrusion. It is not surprising what can happen when human beings decide to treat other human beings civilly and respectfully even if the 'other' are ethnically, culturally, and religiously different. Perfect? No, because it never was. Acceptable? Yes.
181
@Kiwi Kid
The VP could not find Americans to do the work ?
1
@John Brown "told me recently that without the 450 Somali and other immigrants working in their facilities, the work would not get done. "
There is your answer.
1
My caucasian son was a minority at his elementary school in Kent, Wa, about 25 min south of Seattle. Somalian, India, Pacific Islanders, Ukrainian, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Black, Mexican, Bosnian. And we all were neighbors, had play dates together, celebrated our children's birthdays together, mingled as our kids played at the playground together. It also didn't matter that he has two mommies.
I marveled that he was minority white, and for him to be given even more exposure and experience to know different is not threatening, or scary, or wrong.
247
@lar. Sounds like the city of Federal Way, AKA Felony Way. Perhaps the NYT would consider a piece on this place, a highly diverse, sizable bedroom community that is wracked with behavior/lifestyle problems that seem to have little to do with racism.
1
@lar
Where were the people.from the First Nations like the Nez Perce and Shoshone?
North America was not a land without people for people without land.
What's not to like about any person who comes to love the ideals that America stands for?
What's not to like about industrious, hard-working people?
What's not to like about wanting to raise a family in safe environs and have the joys of children and grandparents?
What's not to like about people who have goodness in them and want to prosper within a set of democratically constructed laws?
What's not to like about anyone from anywhere adopting the civic religion of American, a fealty for the Constitution and adherence to the human rights enshrined therein?
What's not to like about Americans whether born here or not, who come to love and appreciate her with patriotic ferver?
What's not to like?
281
@Paul King
You forgot the happy change made in the local cuisine!
14
@Paul King
What's not to like? For Republican politicians, that's easy. These folks tend to vote Democratic.
10
@Paul King
There is a lot not to like if you are brown Native American pioneers aka Dakota still living very poorly and invisible in Minnesota.
No people in the Americas had more of their lives, lands and natural resources stolen than the First People who were mistaken for Indians slurred with canards and tropes that deemed them savages. They were not Vikings. They did not live in America.
How many local, state and federal elected officials in Minnesota have been Dakota?
How many have been white European Judeo- Christians?
2
I'm a senior raised on a farm in west central Minnesota. I left MN in my twenties. Many decades have passed since I was in Willmar. This article made my day. I knew immigrants were moving into MN, but your writing was a concrete eye opener, and provides hope for the heart, and for our country. Thank you Tom.
275
A story about diversity, inclusion and hope. And about the people behind the scenes who work tirelessly to make it all happen. The best kind of story. One that shows us that the sun still shines on the human spirit.
Many immigrants flee horrors, coming to America for a new beginning. We must endeavor to sustain their dreams, as best we can. In the words of Anne Frank: "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."
213
@Blue Moon: "And about the people behind the scenes who work tirelessly to make it all happen."
Absolutely. And thank you! I was fortunate to work for World Relief in the early nineties assisting predominantly Vietnamese families ... some of my greatest memories. It was hard, rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable work for wonderful people whose lives were literally and figuratively torn apart by war and war's consequences.
'Unless you've been there, you would have no clue.' - to paraphrase.
5
@Positively
We need more of you in this world. So desperately.
1
CORRECTED Version:
This article was the first of my morning and it's wonderfully refreshing and inspiring. One hopes there's a way to replicate the cultural DNA of Willmar and spread it across the land.
Willmar clearly demonstrates that diversity and inclusion are the foundation of the continuing success of our unique American participatory democracy.
Thanks to all the people of Willmar for being great Americans!
2
A great piece and a great analysis of the changes that communities need to adapt to in order to flourish, in my opinion not just in the US. What the folks at Willmar manage to do really is unique and I would love to see this approach and these insights spread and reach our small country on the other side of the globe.
2
I have visited friends in Willmar several times over the past decade, and have been increasingly impressed with the civic pride there. The people are friendly and welcoming, and after getting a tour of the high school I was very envious of the facilities as compared to the schools in my county which appear to be in a state of serious neglect by comparison. They are doing something right in Willmar.
338
@Dan
On December 26, 1862 38 brave honorable patriotic freedom fighting Dakota warriors were hung at Mankato, Minnesota by order of President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln commuted the death sentences 264 of their fellow warriors to life in prison. Along with Dakota old men, women and children they were sent on a death march to an internment camp where many would die of disease, exposure and cold.
The Dakota had risen up in order to obtain their divine natural certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and happiness. After peacefully enduring callous cruel corrupt exploitation by white European American Judeo-Christians.
It was and still is the biggest mass execution in American history. And what happened to the Dakota in Minnesota has been overshadowed by what happened to their Lakota kin at Wounded Knee South Dakota.
I have both black African and brown Dakota family in Minnesota.
My Dakota family is doing much worse than my African family in Minnesota. And my black African American kin are doing much worse than folks who look like Tom Friedman and Donald Trump.
3
An uplifting and inspiring article depicting a real and realistic american town .
Let’s hope this message will spread around and help many more communities.
6
Thank you for an uplifting column.
When you look at the national headlines you can sometimes think all is lost. But on the ground many things are changing for the better. Liberals are winning, as they have been winning for the last 600 years.
3
Thank you, a great piece, and a must read. The America we have always known is a dynamic country, a country based on an idea not an ethnicity, always becoming, never there yet.
7
Kudos again to Tom for a wonderful and simply worded but revealing article on the challenges we face in middle America. The problems span fear, economic decline, an imbalance between jobs and workers, exclusion of foreigners and "others", cultural stereotypes, racism, addiction, and leaders with courage and empathy.
Your "three questions" lay out a practical solution.
The article lucidly presents a picture of one town that, with its neighbors, had at one time faced blight. Yet because of its own home-grown forward-thinking courageous leaders, Willmar was able to propel itself into the 21st century -- and in the process show its left-behind neighbors that diversity is needed. Because diversity embraces our diverse human race.
The story of Willmar looks promising, however there remain too many ramlliW towns (the reverse) whose fearful citizens choose to stay stuck in their nostalgia for an all-White but bigoted 1950s. Wanting a world where only White people have power and are respected (for being White!) is archaic and unrealistic - untenable.
Towns facing decline must encourage their own "leaders without authority" to speak up, be courageous, and improve their community's future. Articles like this, written using English understandable by immigrants and Whites who never went to college, can help immensely.
2
I have attended many naturalization ceremonies in Minnesota where we members of the League of Women Voters help register new citizens to vote. There are often close to 1,000 new citizens from 80 to 90 countries, and at least 90% are registered at that time.
The ceremony is awe-inspiring, no matter how many times I've experienced it. These new citizens sing the Star-Spangled Banner, take the oath of citizenship, give the Pledge of Allegiance, and watch a video of naturalization ceremonies all over the country while a woman who sounds like Aretha Franklin sings America the Beautiful. They are warmly welcomed by a federal judge and often the governor or mayor. The excitement, pride, and joy in the room is incredibly moving. Families and children dress in their finest clothes, wave their little American flags, and take lots of photos.
I encourage anyone to attend one of these ceremonies when you are feeling discouraged about our present state of affairs. You will be reminded that we are a nation of immigrants, and that is our future and our strength.
11
I grew up in a small Minnesota town with a bustling Green Giant canning plant. In the 60’s Mexican migrant workers, only men, came to work in the plant and lived in the basement of the public library. They were outsiders and we were told to stay away from them. By the 90’s, entire Mexican families had begun to relocate and stay year round, by now making up about 1/3 of the classrooms in the local grade school. Wilmar is an inspiration to small town leaders with vision, curiosity and compassion for the changing demographic of America. Community centers, engaged businesses, culturally aware policing, and encouraging public schools will make the difference in this country, with those small towns building walls around themselves on the losing end of history.
10
This is the America we need to see more often, thank you!
12
Here again, we see the beauty of human story that needs replication all around the developed and developing nations. Hope to see the 21st century technologies help in the creation of such global towns and villages where mutual respect is part of our genes.
3
It would be interesting to know if the POC are able to and do vote. That would change the complexion of the politics in this area for real. If they don't, Trump politics will prevail.
Great story and very common. 40 miles west of Willmar is a very small named Milan, very Norwegian. Due to a connection with a missionary, a large group of Micronesians moved there and have helped revive the community. Nearby is a town named Dawson. The story of the reaction to their Muslim doctor recently appeared in the Washington Post. In all these communities, people actually practice Christianity, which promotes universal love and acceptance. It should be obvious that Trump’s combination greed, anger and hate are not the values practiced in the Willmar area.
16
Oh that poor child. As a lifelong Vikings fan, my heart weeps for him. But that’s an easy way to get acceptance in America, so good for him.
But then again the whole article was about hope. Well done.
9
I've put a lot of thought into this, and my best side believes I could actually run for office in 10 years. Not now. But possibly in 10 years.
Some of us just get bored with humdrum life, and we think we can make a difference. I think my story is compelling, and that people will forgive my flaws.
10 years from now. Let's see how things go in the mean time.
This should not be a close election. If Democrats are putting any effort into this at all, the win should be easy.
ANY community (large or small) reaches a critical mass of leaders that gain control and then decide that anyone is welcome (regardless of skin color, religion or background) and that they will be treated fairly and equally. - it is that simple.
Having said that, and because of such overt racism (that has reared its head as of late with this administration and President), any community that does embrace multiculturalism and globalism sees its people that make it up, work that much harder, while taking that much more pride in belonging. That is another simple maxim.
The outside noise to all of that is constant, which is why we are seeing these types of communities grow exponentially faster than just all white communities that are stagnating.
We are seeing the fear in people that do not want change, and the fear that they will somehow be ''overrun'' with people that do not look like them, do not pray like them (if at all), do not speak, eat, or live like them, and certainly do not vote like them.
We are seeing the last throws of that backlash.
6
A hopeful and positive story about the opportunity of America and a story that could be written about the immigrant experience in very few countries. In this instance, it sounds as though Willmar has made several smart decisions and they should be commended. The challenge that remains for Willmar and our country at large is something that wasn’t touched on - civic duty. I would submit that many of the challenges our country faces today stems from the fact that our citizenry is largely focused on their “rights” and mostly ignorant of our civic duties to each other, our communities, and country. The long term success of Willmar and the US will depend on a restoration of these civic duties. Only time will tell.
6
This encouraging article indicates to me that American is willing to move forwards instead of backwards. Obviously, as Tom points out, this is not always the case, but we have to continue to try.
That is also a way of confronting the negativity being encouraged by our terrible misguided non-leader.
11
@Steve there is a reason why Minnesota has turned blue and stayed that way. Places like Montana who have a geriatric permanent leadership is why it won't move anywhere. As long as the boomer industrial complex wins out here the young people will move causing brain drain and also no one to care for our population that is racing towards the "golden years" Lack of Dr's, nurses, CNA's and stupid voters who don't understand that Medicaid is what helps pay for nursing home (Montana's fastest growing housing market) care. They don't realize they need immigrants to do these jobs. They will lose their farms to "own the libs" and tbh, it seems like a fitting end to a generation who got everything, wants everything, yet calls millennials "entitled".
1
This article was the first of my morning and it's wonderfully refreshing and inspiring. One hopes there's a way to spread the cultural DNA of Willmar and spread it across the land.
Willmar clearly demonstrated that diversity and inclusion are the foundation of the continuing success of our unique American participatory democracy.
Thanks to all the people of Willmar for being great Americans!
13
"President Trump, Come to Willmar"
Willmar sounds like a nice place, but it sits in the 7th Congressional District of Minnesota and in 2016, 62% of its citizens voted for Trump with Clinton only getting 31%.
Kandiyohi County, of which Willmar is the county seat, has has gone from Democratic to Republican in recent years. In national elections since 1996 the county has supported the Republican candidate.
So, what we really have to learn from Willmar is that the rural world it inhabits is representative of the urban/rural split that explains much of the polarization in this country.
And yes, Trump would likely be welcomed there.
16
@GerardMit
It's called the "Great Paradox". Like Louisiana this Minn town will still vote for the Big Con Trump (in La it's the petroleum pollution companies) that hurts them the most. Here in Ohio, the Farming community faces devastating losses over Trump's actions and yet they still believe all his lies that he and he alone will Make America Great Again. The Great Paradox will probably vote Trump back into office in 2020.
1
@Gert
Another way of looking at this "paradox" is to consider the US as comprised of 11 regional cultures popularly known as the "American Nations". It's worth looking up.
As you'll see, the 2016 election fits fairly well into these various American Nations:
+ Yankeedom - mostly Clinton
+ New Netherland - solid Clinton
+Tidewater - mostly Clinton
+ Deep South - mostly Trump
+ Spanish-Caribbean - mostly Clinton
+ New France - solid Trump
+ Greater Appalachia - solid Trump
+ Midlands - split
+ Far West - mostly Trump
+ El Norte - mostly Clinton
+ Left Coast - solid Clinton
There you have it. It's a bit better way of seeing these United States as more of how it's really constituted.
What a breath of fresh air, this article is. Accepting people with different backgrounds as part of the community helps prosperity and well being. The connection between jobs and the involvement of the business sector with the high-school is a necessary model for our culture. Of course, this community had available jobs for their young people, which also holds this community as a model of what must happen for a community to become successful. Were the jobs less available, it could have created more tension between groups.
14
Any story can have a happy ending as long as you end the story at the right spot.
11
This phenomenon has been going on for some time. Places to add to this article are all over the country. Maine,Vermont, New York. California, Iowa, Kansas. New Hampshire. Hopefully Democratic candidates can help spread the story.
6
There are counterparts all over my state of Georgia. My Methodist church has immigrants from Third-World countries who may stand out due to dress and skin color but at the moment of introduction, everything changes. There are basics in our humanity that thrive on smiles, handshakes and hugs.
Professional soccer is booming in Atlanta drawing crowds that are larger than the NFL team. The stands are packed with immigrants who wear t-shirts with the logo, "Atlanta United." The suburban city of Clarkston may have the most diverse population in the U.S.
Dr. King often said it was hard to hate someone after you get to know them.
17
Thank you, Mr. Friedman, for this beautiful and inspiring story. We can only hope that the next generation of America's leaders come from places like Willmar.
21
Always enjoy your column. One question: How many of the residents have followed the legal path and are here lawfully, not unlawfully. I suspect lawfully and hence the ready acceptance. It does make a difference. Good for Willmar.
4
I live about halfway between Willmar and St. Cloud (the White Cloud in the article), so I am familiar with both. Haters around here like to use the nebulous, "they should assimiliate!" in their complaints. Traveling to both towns for healthcare and big-box retail, I am convinced "they" have assimilated just fine. Last week while she was waiting for my receipt to print, I spied the young Somali clerk checking her smart phone. I'm in a town filled with white, Christian teens who do the exact same thing.
7
Local leadership matters, but so too does a willingness at the national level to allow immigration and refugee resettlement. The Trump administration 's clampdown on refugees is not simply cruel but also extremely damaging economically for many towns and small and medium-sized cities across the country.
9
@Ben Lieberman
Our President is not clamping down on refugees.
He is, rightfully so, clamping down on people who wish to gain entry into our country, take advantage of its glorious benefits, but not do so in a legal manner.
I know that is a notion which the Left refuses to acknowledge ....but doesn't make it any less true.
Come here through legal channels.
2
@Ben Lieberman Trump only wants legal immigration. It is the Democrats who have failed to provide that path.
1
Thank you, Mr Friedman, for this hopeful essay that suggests progress is being made, while noting, realistically, that Willmar remains a work in progress. Your article notes several factors that have contributed to moving the needle: available jobs, visible community wide efforts, entrepreneurial leadership, and personal relationships that build bridges rather than walls. The reality is, of course, that our labor force needs immigrants, and rural communities can thrive when that need is embraced. Communities willing to examine their own attitude of welcome and tolerance may be more open to change and welcoming the other.
You also note something that causes concern: Mr Hamse Warfa's young son is "all about the Vikings." That's going to be a tough road, but Minnesotans from the Iron Range to the Iowa border can, and will, rally around him. Like Willmar, the Vikings are a "work in progress," and fandom here is not for the faint of heart. Best of luck to you, young man. My hopes align perfectly with yours!
8
Thank you for this story. It makes one believe there is hope for humanity.
14
Great story. Hopeful and we all need to hope
6
What strikes me most of this little town, Willmar, is that its leaders want the town to be successful and are ready to do things to make it successful. This one beacon will make it successful. I wish every town in America does the same. Sadly however, the moment some of the politicians move to the county level or state level, things become more political. Agendas come in to play. Powerful corporations want a piece of the pie in terms of tax breaks and state money to setup business. Religious groups have their own agenda and influence. The health of the county or state gets lost in this chaos and we land in a quagmire. The state of the union is not far behind!
3
Good for them. Change is hard for many people as humans are hard-wired to stick to their own kind and to be leery of the outsider. Other individuals simply feel threatened by what is unfamiliar. Still, it seems that good progress is being made. With such change it can be two steps forward and one step back for a long time. Still, as noted, we need immigrants. We need them in our workforce, but we also need their creativity and their youth. I firmly believe that a community is richer when it embraces the mosaic of peoples with which the world is populated.
12
@Anne-Marie Hislop. I have lived overseas for the last 30 years. The more experiences I have and the more I see of cultures and people in foreign lands, the more I believe that the US is pursuing a dangerous path that will lead to Balkanization and violence. Most other countries, certainly non-western ones, keep their culture. I have adapted to them in language and behavior. In all cases, my hosts have been forthcoming generous and hospitable. What I have seen in the United States is v what I have seen in United States is visitors is immigrants wanting to change wholesale the ethos of our country. People did not seek that, advocate for that, or desire that change. It was the non-reproducing (I have 8 children) intellectual class of which the writer is an ardent member that has pushed this agenda. I hope I am wrong, but it will not end well.
5
@John It seems that assimilation goes both ways. Residents of the older, dominant culture need to work to assimilate new and different residents and to be assimilated themselves into the new mixed culture that is being created. I remember Ray Suarez, speaking to a latino group, telling them that their grandchildren will not speak Spanish. Everyone coming to America finds that they too can become American.
3
So exactly how did you infer from the article that these immigrant groups were trying to make wholesale changes to the “dominant culture”? A culture, incidentally, that needs their skills and work ethic.
This should give us all hope. We are moving forward and the voices of heat and negativity cannot stop us.
There will always be those who oppose the changes that are taking place in our society. Those who accept change will be the ones in charge in the future.
As an aging boomer, I am disappointed that many of my generation are fighting the changes that have taken place during my lifetime. After all, many of us advocated for change in the 1970s, It is finally happening.
Despite the lack of leadership in Washington and the current administration, it is the people on the ground who are pushing the change. This time voters, get out and vote!
5
Thank you for writing a great story about what we can become!
18
I would be most interested in a follow-up about aging in place in Willmar. I would think/hope that the diversity there bodes well for compassion and support for older adults, especially the frail elderly dealing with long winters. Willmar is lucky to have a vibrant economy to attract younger families. (And I agree with others - leaders without authority will be a great book - I am placing a hold on it at my library.)
8
An uplifting story. A story of hope for America's future.
Besides "community" and "integration," I hope "civics" is part of the Willmar story. Civics is how we learn to understand our nation's history, appreciate and contribute to what makes our nation exceptional, navigate and overcome the challenges to our nation's unity, prosperity and security.
I look forward to learning the Somalis, Guatemalans, Burmese immigrants have become US citizens, that more have entered local government, entered state and national politics. America's ideal is that all men and women are created equal. Let's all of us strive to make that our reality.
Those who resist change have forgotten or never been taught civics. They long to live in a past which no longer exists. Not only is the past not coming back, but we should embrace our future, not the past.
18
@JABarry I agree 100%, but I doubt that the "past" that some people want to return to ever existed except on television.
7
This is an uplifting piece. But this president is not going anywhere near this town. It is the polar opposite of the America he and his base have scared themselves into believing exists. And since Trump’s core message of “America First” consists of fear and anger about immigrants and the rest of the world, the hope, collaboration and tolerance represented here won’t interest them. In fact, it would scare them.
11
This is a delightful, feel-good column by Tom Friedman, but the story of Wilmar has an important lesson for America. Diversity is the future of the nation, and you can get there intelligently like Wilmar, or you can be dragged there while foolishly resisting the unknown and missing the chance to do it right.
The xenophobic racists for whom Donald Trump is a hero are fighting a rear-guard action, and they justify their bias by claiming that integration always ends in tragedy. Places like Wilmar, Minnesota, prove them wrong.
37
@sdw, but you also have to listen to the other side of any debate. Yes, we want to get their "intelligently" but does intelligently means cutting down the forests, doubling the population in two decades, and trying to integrate half the population that come from countries that did not even have either a stop sign or a education system pass the 6th grade. We need an intelligent mix and I don't see Wilmar as the model. Nor do the residents there judging by Trump winning the county....people need to stop and think or we will see a generation of Trumps at the head of our country.
7
@DoctorRPP, “trying to integrate half the population that come from countries that did not even have either a stop sign or a education system pass the 6th grade.”
That could describe three out of four of my grandparents, and one was from the US. The other two came from rural France. None had past a sixth grade education, and came from towns I think without stop signs, and definitely from homes without electricity.
Fifty years later, their children are an Air Force Officer, a Portfolio Manager, a Physical Therapist who works with severely disabled children, and a hospital IT Supervisor.
I recognize you were talking about specifically allowing many immigrants in from less developed countries at once, and maybe at some amount of influx that would be an issue. I don’t think we are close to that amount. We have always been afraid of our immigrants - my grandparents were encouraged to not speak Breton with their children, because it would “confuse” them. But immigrants go on to help our country anyway.
15
@DoctorRPP Come to WV the least diverse state in the country. We are losing population and jobs while becoming poorer whiter more polluted and more ignorant. Many struggling red states like WV should welcome immigrants with open arms instead of shunning them. Running and hiding from the world does not work. We proved it.
2
A big challenge is that the sources of civic leadership have been hollowed out in small cities and town, due to big box businesses taking over. There used to be local banks, hardware stores, department stores, etc., with local owners. Now there are big stores and banks with regional managers who are just employees. They’re afraid to get involved with local affairs because they might lose their jobs.
27
Tom- We need a deep dive into “leaders without authority.” It’s a great book title and would make an amazing read and provide a way forward for the entire country. I watched it in action when a very few civic-minded business leaders in Worcester, MA saw the need for skilled high school grads & created Worcester Technical HS, one of the great public secondary ed stories of the 21st century. Obama gave their commencement address a few years back. I contrast it to its big sister, Boston, which, despite its vast resources, has never had a successful technical ed program because it’s “leaders without authority” are into more self-aggrandizing foolish enterprises like bringing the Olympics to Boston.
7
Thank you for this wonderful article. We need more positive stories like these today. My family live in Minneapolis and chose to send my granddaughter to a dual Spanish/English immersion public school. It has been a wonderful experience for the whole family. 50% of the students are Hispanic and the other 50% are not. Kindergarten teaching is 90% in Spanish, graduating to 50/50 Spanish/English in 5th grade. My family is currently living in Guadalajara for a year and, although my granddaughter attends the American School there, 80% of the students are Mexican. In fifth grade, she has been placed in Spanish Language class and Mexican History class with the Mexican students. Apart from the obvious language advantage, the cultural exposure both in Minneapolis and in Mexico has given her an excellent start in our increasingly multi-cultural society. I am in awe of the efforts being made in Willmar to facilitate integration on so many levels.
21
For the past few years I work on my "book" on why societies fail. I keep coming back to the idea that leadership matters. Some leaders make mistakes by focusing on gods and power. Teotihuacan fails because the temples needed to be replastered and that meant deforestation and ultimately erosion. The implosion was a more than anything due to a revolt where archaeological evidence suggests all of the elite compounds were burned. Ironically, another nearby archaeological site has a mural showing Teotihuacan burning.
The other issue is that leadership does not know how to fix problems. The scalar stress at Angkor was so great that when climate changes due to the Little Ice Age hit and destroyed the heads of the vast canal system, no one knew how to fix the problem. The problem was so big and the knowledge or capacity to fix it wasn't there.
Wow - leadership that cares about society in Willmar! I tend to think Tribal people don't fail because leadership is formed around an egalitarian society. Bali is a great example of sustainability because the water temples flatten society and everyone matters. I do love Thomas Friedman's world view shared in this small community. How to make this happen in a larger one is the issue. That takes vision.
17
I like this article so much, and only have one comment: I think the story illustrates, not that Trump should come, but that Trump doesn't matter. Leaders come and go, they rant a lot, often lie, but people, ordinary people living their lives and developing their thoughts, carry on regardless. Tolstoy understood that: clever leaders see which way things are going and run in front, pretending to lead, but the real truth is somewhere else: in the heart and souls of millions of ordinary people. And broadly, slowly, not everywhere, not all the time, we are getting better. Trump and co don't really make that much difference. They (and we) think they do, but they don't. Not really, not for long.
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@Nick Shepherd
Have been reading a lot of history lately and I beg to differ. Leaders at the top in fact can make the difference between a country moving forward and one that falls behind. We are currently in the latter category and it is urgent that a change is made.
19
@Thomas
Good point. What would America be like if Washington had not been Washington?
1
@Nick Shepherd
Leaders matter, laws matter, by those is society shaped.
3
This is a fabulous article that gives genuine hope for change in the U.S. national psyche. Let's hope Willmar's inspiring example of tolerance and inclusion spreads nationwide in time for the 2020 election.
Naturally, Trump will ratchet up the hatred, as hatred is the only fuel his political machine can run on. But I have a gut feeling Willmar is the trend and not the exception.
71
@Hamid Varzi When can I be accepted in Mecca as a Christian as the arrivals have accepted with their faith in Minnesota?
3
Willmar, Kandiyohi County is where my great-grandmother landed from Norway more than one hundred years ago! What a great (and well researched) column! Thank you. I’m wondering how to twin of Faribault is doing...
23
As always, in our rapidly changing world it's the people that make the difference. America was always a melting pot and keeping it that way is the right thing to do.
27
Therefore, universal love is really the way of the sage-kings. It is what gives peace to the rulers and sustenance to the people. The gentleman would do well to understand and practice universal love; then he would be gracious as a ruler, loyal as a minister, affectionate as a father, filial as a son, courteous as an elder brother, and respectful as a younger brother. So, if the gentleman desires to be a gracious ruler, a loyal minister, an affectionate father, a filial son, a courteous elder brother, and a respectful younger brother, universal love must be practiced. It is the way of the sage-kings and the great blessing of the people.--Mozi, 16.15
6
My dad was born in Willmar, Minnesota, my parents met and were married there, and my three eldest siblings were born there. No matter where my family lived, Willmar was our home base. Immigrants have made the city better, just as they make our country better. (Weird coincidence: The principal of Willmar High School, quoted in this column, is Paul Schmitz, no relation.)
13
A recent (and complementary) article in The Times mourned the loss of hospitals and clinics in towns like Willmar. Besides an aging population and a failing medical system - pace Obamacare - we have a scarcity of doctors willing to work in rural locations. Imagine a world where competent foreign born physicians receive citizenship in exchange for commitment to several years of service. Sadly, in the countryside where immigrants are roundly despised, this is a pipe dream.
10
@jrsherrard
I suspect there is more to the shortage of doctors, especially primary physicians, in rural areas. The cost of medical education and training is enormous; most qualifying doctors start their professional lives with huge debt. Is it any wonder that more prefer to establish practices in population centers, especially in lucrative specialty surgery? We need financial encouragement to redress the balance.
23
@Regulareater My wife is an ER doc and Asian immigrant. Rural hospitals were actually offering her almost twice the salary to go there, but we decided to stay in the city anyhow. She was worried about the lack of support staff at rural hospitals, and having grown up in rural PA, I was worried about the racism she'd face. So, at least in our case, it wasn't the money that kept us from going into the countryside.
2
I appreciate this piece immensely. Willmar is a model for the nation.
One more overlooked group that companies might scour when trying to fill open jobs in a tight labor market: unemployed workers aged 50 , many of whom have decades of experience.
54
I really needed a hopeful article today - thank you!
29
Thank you so much for sharing a story about what really makes America great. I suspect it's been difficult for every new immigration to be accepted into our communities, I'e got old emigre blood from the French Huguenots as well as later Irish, German, and Ashkenazim Jewish blood. Just another New York mutt.
At any rate, we will accept new peoples, new languages, new cultures, and many new delicious foods! Willmar is just a town who has a community of who most of us are, immigrants.
16
@KCF
Mr Friedman has written written many pieces of the economic topics you mention. Most recently, he showed that the improvement in the jobless numbers is a simple continuation of the trend President Obama established, and that is clearly a message the disaffected need to hear. But today he wrote about immigration and how it can be seen in this town as the answer to an economic problem, as well as a human, American success. Also a message that needs to be heard.
21
Mr. Trump would be delighted by what he would see at Willmar. It is a glorious example of how LEGAL immigration can benefit a community and a country. Mr. Trump supports our legal immigration system which admits more than a million immigrants per year, more than any other country.
What Trump and most citizens oppose is ILLEGAL immigration. All too often, it brings masses of impoverished, desperate people into this country without the work skills to contribute to this country and in need of costly social services. Illegal immigration is also a conduit for organized crime, as difficult as it is for some to accept. This country will always welcome individuals from all over the world who can contribute. That's what makes our country so vital and successful. Illegal immigration is a wholly different matter.
13
@Alex Except that studies do not support your contentions. Immigrant crime is probably lower than native born and certainly not higher. Though immigrants cost a little more per capita than native-born they contribute even more to economy per capita -- so they are greater assets than native born if you want to resort to such a crass measure. People who look at costs forget that non-documented immigrants pay a lot into social security and medicare that they will never get back. Though we accept more immigrants total than other countries, we are not near the top of the list of immigrants admitted per capita or per unit land mass. The Republicans have nixed all attempts in the past decade or two to improve immigration laws -- including George W. Bush's attempts. And most Trump supporters ignore the fact that their fore-bearers got in the country before the present onerous laws and other obstacles were in place. Trump has said he wants to reduce the number of legal immigrants coming in. We need more immigrants to keep America economically healthy. And it just happens to be the moral thing to do.
45
@Alex
Except that these are the immigrants that trump is trying to keep out of the US, with his Muslim ban, and his drastic reductions in the number of any immigrants from non-European countries. Somalia is on the list of 7 countries where immigrants are prohibited from entering the US.
And in 2016, trump told a Minnesota audience:
that Minnesota had "suffered enough" at the hands of Somali immigrants, who began moving there as refugees in the early 1990s.
"Large numbers of Somali refugees [are] coming into your state without your knowledge, without your support or approval, and with some of them then joining ISIS and spreading their extremist views all over our country and all over the world."
25
This article is not about what President Trump likes or dislikes. It is not about the benefits vs. costs of illegal immigration.
This article is about how communities thrive when they accept and nurture ethnic diversity (or wither if they resist).
I lived in that area during the 1970’s. Ethnic “tensions” existed, largely jokingly, between the Norwegians and the Swedes. A generation earlier, such tensions had a little more bite. And now? They’re lumped together as part of white America. (My American-Swedish spouse still bristles, however, when she’s referred to as a WASP rather than as a Scandinavian.)
When I lived there, a member of the LCA Lutheran Church would not set foot in a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church (let alone a Catholic Church). And now? They’re lumped together as Christians. America’s story has always been a melting pot...has always been a story of taking in the stranger and making him one of us.
34
What an incredible story of resilience, compassion, teamwork and so much more. These are the stories we need to hear. They give me hope in humanity during a time when I feel surrounded by so much hate. I wish the town of Wilmar well and hope other towns emulate their success. Diversity is our strength. We are known as a melting pot, after all.
19
Of course we will never read of the downside of immigration from someone like Friedman, we will never read something about how to deal with gangs like Mara Salvatrucha (MS13). We will never read about expenses, about the economic and social circumstances of integration. We will never read about the loss of coherence in a society, that is already under an economic strain. We will never read about how close Willmar is to Weimar.
While Trump and his incompetent band of xenophobes is in denial about certain aspects of migration, liberals are in willfull denial of other aspects. Pundits in their ivory towers do not realize, that the average joe may have total different experiences and expectations with diversity, and maybe these expectations do not include fancy restaurants.
And maybe some people just get annoyed by liberals portraying themself as "pluralizing, globalizing and modernizing" and insinuating that everyone else is petty-minded and backwardly. Maybe they see essays of migration like this one here just as another attempt to pit up people against their own.
Maybe people just don't want to be lectured while their promises of freedom an opportunity are eroding. Morality play while a country is in a social decline is one reason for someone like Trump, although it should be obvious, that people like Trump are the cause for the social decline.
Good intentions are just not that simple. By trying to make them look simple they rightfully draw the ire of opposition.
25
@Mathias Weitz
I find your argument a bit skewed.
It doesn't matter if you were born in a country or immigrated and became a citizen then... what you do with your life is "your" personal responsibility.
And if you fail, don't go looking blaming who you call 'others'.
That's your rhetoric.
And I have seen this behavior as first hand witness in Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia, WV, Alabama... and oh, let's not forget Mississippi.
I will give you example of Kentucky, the poorest and socially the worst off states in US, where unfortunately I got to see things which even as a physician, I wish I hadn't.
I see an immigrant population filling up the universities and those same kids working late in the evenings at restaurants, gas stations, where ever work was... by contrast, our ICUs were FULL of young white males who are alcoholics or drug addicts... and we felt helpless to get these people back to any normalcy of life.
I lost count of drug associated deaths in ICU... and worse because every death meant, going through the case reviews with admin, senior staff.
After a while you just sat there, and said, please review all you like... but it was already too late.
And none, among us is God.
Majority Americans don't want to hear and discuss about the opioid epidemic decimating young Caucasian populations.
It IS a choice.
Don't go blaming others for your own mistakes.
3
@Mathias Weitz
Where is American society in the most rapid decline? The Democratic Party-led cities. Fine me a large Dem city on the left coast that does NOT have piles of human digestive after-product stinking up that streets.
And then there's Detroit.
Outsiders to D.C. like Trump are the solution to all this neglect.
2
@Mathias Weitz You could have written your "response" to Friedman's article without reading a word of it, based simply on your assumptions about "Pundits in their ivory towers" and your intense bias against immigrants. You didn't mention or deal with a single one of the concrete facts on the ground and personal stories in the article, all of which give the lie to your angry generalizations.
4
Someone below commented on the great stories, and it is the detail that makes this piece so heart-warming. The conservative politicians of America speak in generalities and stereotypes, but it is the specifics, like the cashier at the restaurant jumping up, giving a hug and describing Willmar as his hometown that really carry the weight of reality. Nobody is all good or all bad, and it is this description of ordinary people, from seemingly unordinary birthplaces, that catches my attention: they are trying to get by, they are dealing with every day problems. What is it about the people around them that allows them to express out loud what they need, and then find enough people to fill that need? I suspect these people have learned one simple lesson: they're not all that different underneath. The kid likes Vikings. Don't many of us?
10
"These leaders without authority check their party politics at the door and focus only on what works."
This says partisanship is dysfunctional, valuing who gets power instead of getting the job done.
We've seen a lot of that, and we are sick of it.
14
@Mark Thomason But it makes so much money for a few greedy people. It won't change unless we change the laws governing our election systems. I hope to see that happen in my lifetime.
6
@Mark Thomason
I agree that partisanship is dysfunctional. Think about the sense of it and you realize it is directed at power for those in power. It is not about "we the people" and community or nation. Addison McConnell worries about his party and fails to realize he is disabling democracy for the sake of power. When the focus is on "we the people" this country is pretty successful. Look at the WPA and CCC days and how we rose to help the nation as a collective.
4
@reffland -- Thank you. Both replies get it, but this one brings an extra point -- it has not always been this way. We've done better, and not that long ago.
This melting pot, the tolerance, the sense of civic responsibility, this is just my everyday expectation. I live in the SF bay area. Ground zero for the American melting pot for decades. I went for a walk at my local park today and no two groups I encountered spoke the same language. My kids grew up understanding that differences are to be celebrated rather than feared. In a way, it's kinda sad that Mr. Friedman finds this place so exceptional.
21
@Vicki Ralls in an effective melting pot, all those people would've been speaking English in a generation. Unfortunately, our society has forgotten that cultural assimilation is just as important as welcoming new and needed sources of labor.
2
@LawDog
I don’t care what language they speak as long as they are good neighbors.
Thanks. Difficult to be hopeful these days but this gives me hope.
9
In thinking about this article, this is what made the California of my youth work. In my 6th grade class, the teacher asked everyone who was born there to raise their hands, all 2 of us. Though not the bastion of liberalism that many think, think Orange County, it is diverse. I believe that is what has made it the economic powerhouse that it is.
20
I’m an old, white geezer well past 70. Reading this makes me have some hope that this is what America is moving toward in the 21st century. That the self-centered, xenophobic nastiness of the trump era will fade and eventually be overrun by decency and the sense of community that Tom describes in Wilmer. Hard to see that happening from where we are today, but one can hope for the sake of one’s children and grandchildren.
286
@pb I remember right after 9/11 ole Tom Brokaw asked the Tom Ridge former governot of Pa. as to what he think america will become in the future? I took from the query Brokaw posed to imply that america will be darker and that changed is inevitable.
Outstanding! Give us more!
22
So the main trumpeter for globalization has decided to re-examine small town America. I see a bad book coming.
I live in a small town in NYC called Richmond Hill and I bet we have greater diversity than Wilmar, Minnesota. Many neighborhoods in Queens would devour this small time outpost of global citizens. We have had borough wide massive ethnic redistribution, check out Flushing,Corona or South Ozone Park.
What might fascinate you about this tiny blip on the immigration scene has been happening under your very eyes for many years.
YOU have to get off your mountain and look down!
12
@Danny Seaman You completely missed the main point of the article, which was that diversity is working in the hinterlands as well as the coasts.
41
Wait! What?
Why not say and this is good to see in the heartland? There is more.
It’s not a competition with what’s in Brooklyn.
Why so negative?
16
The point was not a competition but rather that diversity can and does flourish outside where many know it. Open arms not scowls.
22
Gifted writing. Best piece I have read. The unfolding stories inspire and give me hope. The story of the Somali reunion at Hershey Park, "Willmar is my hometown" pulled at my heart as much as "Ich bin ein Berliner" did back in my day.
Thanks
29
Thank you Thomas Friedman for the great article on Willmar. I love Willmar. I had an opportunity in the early 2000s to work on a leadership program sponsored by the Blandin Foundation in MN, called Partners in Leadership. Willmar was the pilot site and I spent about a year going back and forth from the Twin Cities working with established leaders and leaders in the Latino community to design the program. There have been many changes over the years but Willmar has some strong committed leaders.
18
There is of course, good immigration and bad.
12
@Liz I believe the article is demonstrating that if a community works hard to make people feel included and valued, the immigrants will respond just as you or I would coming into a new area not knowing anything about the culture. We would want help and appreciate getting it. We would want to share our ideas and get to know our community. We would want to assimilate as best possible, understanding there will be a learning curve and aspects we would want to keep alive with our own culture.
I would like to know what you consider, "bad immigration".
10
When the first wave of Irish and Italian immigrants arrived in NYC, signs went up in store fronts below the ‘help wanted’ signs. Those additional signs said ‘no Italians’ and ‘no Irish’. What’s your definition of good versus bad immigrants? DJT wants Norwegians to immigrate to the USA but they have it way better in Norway than the typical citizen of America.
13
@Liz
Thank you.
1
Inspiring article! There’s hope. To Hamse’s kid, who doesn’t follow soccer because he loves the Minnesota Vikings: no worries! Now you’ve got the first-tier Minnesota United FC, the “Loons” Soccer Club you can (also) follow!
9
I grew up in the Midwest and live in Minnesota. The key to the health and vitality of our state, which is substantial, is our economic diversity: The multitude of industries and employers here across very different sectors. It is that diversity that supports and encourages our cultural diversity, because we do not have groups threatened and fighting over resources. Add to that a longstanding, earthy, common sense approach to politics and you get the resources and practicality that has served this state so well. Quality of life here is far better than on the coasts, whether in terms of traffic, cleanliness, or wealth disparities. We have a mix of ideologies and cultures that prevents us from becoming a bubble of faux liberalism like the Bay Area or Portland, where people talk a lot about social justice but do little to address it. Here we still have working class liberals who are in a union and support gay marriage but also go to McDonald's and go fishing. Occasionally I go to San Francisco with its poopy streets and syringe-sprinkled parks, and always look forward to getting back home where neither of those conditions are seen. Willmar is not an oddity here. It's only an oddity from a coastal perspective.
25
Please refrain from future bay area visits. We have plenty of tourist dollars, thanks.
11
@Tintin - It's amazing how so many people in the middle of the country resent and whine about what they see as disrespect from those dang coastal elites but who have no hesitation about bashing the people on the coasts as they tell as how much better they are. And as they claim to be the REAL Americans. Maybe we people on (or near) the coasts should start whining like too many mid-westerners do.
1
@karen I go only when I have to. Would more public restrooms do the trick? It seems like that would be a cause everyone could get behind, no? Why does San Francisco talk so much about social justice yet do so little to address obvious social need?
1
West Virginia is so white and so red. Even my Native WV husband says he misses the diversity of the DC area where we lived up until three years ago. Neighbor who is also a Veteran makes fun of the people who you talk to on the phone when you call a state government agencies phone number. Anything new takes getting use to and living in WV has been tough!!
12
This is like a breath of fresh air after reading too often the hate and racist crimes of this nation. I recall back in the 70's large groups of refugees from Southeast Asia, many if not most of the Buddhist tradition, landed on our California shores. Poor and lost in this new, different Western culture. But did they work and assimilate and educate themselves and their children! These Vietnamese, Laotians, and Thais, are now leaders, educators, doctors, teachers, good solid citizens contributing to society. Willmar is the continuation of an America rooted in diversity of race, ethnicity, and religion. Willmar is another strong thread in our tapestry of oneness and community. It is the only way our democracy can survive. We have gotten where we are by inclusion, and it is the only way we can sustain ourselves, thrive, and progress. We were all others once upon a time. Let us never forget that.
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@Kathy Lollock -
Thanks for your thoughts. It reminds me that with all the millions of immigrants who have landed in America, it is only the smallest of the small percentage who may have caused any problems. And perhaps being welcomed more openly, even the "bad ones" might have succeeded.
1
I will never forget that on the night before Election Day in 2016, Donald Trump went to Minnesota in a last minute attempt to stir up some xenophobic fear against Somali refugees, claiming that they were coming into the country without being properly vetted and that many were joining ISIS.
His fear-mongering worked in almost of the key battleground states—except Minnesota, which went for Hillary Clinton.
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@Big Electric Cat Barely. Next time we will take this state also. God Bless President Trump.
1
Willmar may be indeed a "modern, successful American melting pot". It's crime rates, however, are higher than the average for the rest of Minnesota.
https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/mn/willmar/crime:
MY CHANCES OF BECOMING A VICTIM OF A VIOLENT CRIME
1 IN 289 in Willmar
1 IN 420 in Minnesota
and check out the rest of the statistics. Not a battle field, but higher in all aspects than the rest of the state. Does that mean anything?
Does this vitiate Mr. Friedman's description and view of the northern Garden of Eden? I don't know, but I do know that a tad more research might have given a fuller, more complete and more honest picture.
20
How does Wilma’s compare to all MN towns similar to its population? Even with the numbers you show, it’s 2 in a 1,000 for statewide versus 3 in a 1,000.
8
@Bascom Hill My point is that this is something that Mr. Friedman should look at, even briefly. I am not after all on the NYT payroll, nor does my own personal research deal with crime rates in MN. It is not only about the integration in the high school and the available jobs and a pro-immigration mayor. There had been crime in the 1990s. The mayor said it stopped. The statistics tell a somewhat more complex story.
Mr. Friedman may not be wrong in the positive aspects; I just ask that even in an op-ed there be a more complete description, even of potential problematical aspects.
11
I’m not sure the Garden of Eden is a good exemplar for a harmonious community - you should see how the story ends before you judge.
8
You see, Tom, that if you travel the back roads, find the small towns, talk to everyday Americans - immigrants and all, hang out at the local Mexican food joint, drive to the next bigger city, check out the movie theater, enroll in a class at the local college, roast a chicken and have friends over for dinner, try yoga in the park with strangers...you know, just live authentically, you might understand our country and make friends and care about humanity and follow the laws. Even wealthy people do this stuff.
trump is not going to Willmar or any other town. He doesn't speak to people or observe people or travel to towns or learn or find out, he just rouses crowds with his condescending simple-speak. He already started a war in our country and he seems bent on another war far away. He wouldn't know how to exist in Willmar.
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This is how humans were intended to be. Governing ourselves with logic, facts, truth, balance, and compassion The Tyrants of the world cannot stand goodwill toward all. We must continue to fight them, so those with common sense of reality can continue to make humanity as decent as Wilmar.
17
Thank you for this story Tom.
13
Thanks for a "good news" story. We need them to keep up the hope and energy to fight all the bad news.
11
The sign says it all. Welcome. sounds like a great town and more people should make other towns work like this one. Bravo to all
12
Great article. This definitely jibes with my experience in the area - the communities that embrace newcomers thrive, and the ones that don't wither into dust on the prairie.
18
Sadly, Trump won’t go. This is not a story he wants to hear. He needs xenophobia to stoke his base. Without that, he’s got nothing.
20
@Rich Casagrande Being against illegal immigration is not "xenophobia." Stop drinking the Kool-Aid.
Ask yourself how all these new immigrants are able to afford expensive American healthcare. Government support? Highly likely. Ask yourself why middle class American citizens are getting crushed by skyrocketing health care insurance premiums while new immigrants get it free on the government dime? Then maybe you can break out of your far left bubble and understand the dynamic of what is really happening in America.
2
45 says America is full So not true! Even in AZ my son says he can not find find people to work for his landscaping company. My church has provided shelters for immigrates dropped at bus shelters till they can get bus tickets to go to sponsors. They arrive with nothing..esp. shoes, clothing. They are such great people..who would not bring their children for a better life. I admire them.Give me your huddled masses...
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In Saratoga Springs, NY the city's population doubles during tourist season. Immigrant labor is badly needed during this time to support the huge influx of people. But thanks to multiple purges by ICE, many year-round immigrant workers are already gone and as the city ramps up for the huge influx in population, there are no workers to be found. Big restaurants have already closed down... gone out of business due to lack of cooks and waiters who will work at lower wages. Help Wanted signs are posted everywhere now, and yet the tourist season hasn't even arrived yet. I've never seen this here before. Huge apple farms will be needing crop workers -- they will not be coming in the numbers needed. The historic race course (at 160 years old, it's the oldest sporting venue anywhere in America) needs hundreds of workers for about 2 to 3 months of the year, the restaurants (more per capita that anywhere in America) needs chefs, cooks and waiters, the hotels become desperate for more workers. Where are they going to come from?
As with everything the Illegitimate One touches, what was once beautiful and flourishing turns to ruin and failure. And as I see it happening right here in Saratoga Springs, so too, I fear it's happening all across America. This nation is in big, big trouble until we get the dangerous thug out of the White House!
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@NY Times Fan, While I share your politics and passion for getting you-know-who out of the WH, I do have questions on your situation there in SS, NY. You indicate all these positions available for immigrants, which Trump is not letting in anymore. But these positions are all seasonal, some 2-3 months apparently. Where do you suppose all these workers go/how do they survive during the non-touristy months? What Tom Friedman is showing us is that successfully integrated towns can, and need to, embrace immigrants totally -- in their schools, jobs and community organizations.
21
@katea
You are right that most of these jobs in SS are seasonal. And since many of the seasonal workers are Mexican (especially the jockeys and other race track workers), I assume that some at least, return to Mexico -- but I'm not sure.
Also, there are year-round workers who are immigrants... and because they disappeared when ICE was reportedly conducting a big round up in the area, I assume they were undocumented workers. One lovely waitress at a Turkish restaurant was from the Ukraine. She spoke 4 languages, was highly intelligent, young, attractive, friendly, interesting and we looked forward to seeing her whenever we went to that restaurant. She's gone. I do not know exactly where she lived. SS is not an integrated city -- it's very White. But there are other cities not too far (Albany, Schenectady, Troy) which are more integrated. Perhaps some recent immigrants who work in SS live there. One very handsome, young waiter from Istanbul quickly married his American-born girlfriend. So he moved to Clifton Park to live with her and so no longer works at the Turkish restaurant in SS. Presumably his marriage to an American helped with his immigration status -- not sure how that works.
BTW, SS is Trump country. Being from NYC we were hardly aware of just how Republican Upstate NY is. A restaurant in nearby Glens Falls actually had a SHRINE to Trump -- photos, flowers, Trump doll and a small Hillary doll in a prison stripes! We'd never go back there.
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Compare this article to the one by David Brooks this week. Republican/Conservative thinking cannot sustain a vibrant, diverse country like ours. Nice job Mr. Friedman!
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@Susan T Brooks's column was inconsistent with this one in what way? Support your position, don't lob unfounded bombs.
Sadly, even if Trump were to visit this town, his stance would not be softened. He would never see, for instance, the covered woman pictured here as better than undesirable, and he would probably say something like that they’re all infiltrators scheming to impose Islamic law on us. Logic won’t work on someone determined to stick with his fear-mongering.
11
This soothes my heart. In fifty or one hundred years, this will be most of the USA. It’s our only choice, if we continue the grand experiment. Otherwise, let’s just split, right now. The New Trump Confederacy, and a separate Country. A country that is ready to survive, even thrive, in the 21st Century, not one that is devolving back to the 19th.
Really excellent piece. Congratulations.
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We need to read more stories like this one. Maybe, over time, "White Cloud," "Whitaho," and "Whitemont" will begin to see others as real people with the same struggles, economically and socially, that the olde white guard must overcome.
"We Shall Overcome" "All Are Welcome in This Place"
7
It's admirable that you're a progressive individual with liberal views, but pushing your views on other people vis-a-vis aggressive diversity is a mistake. You may well feel comfortable around random people who have nothing in common you genetically or socially, but not everyone does. Other people are more anxious or uncomfortable around random people and you have to respect that. I've lived in a highly diverse neighborhood for more than a decade, and that experience has made me more lonely, angry, and miserable than I was before -- there's less trust, social cohesion, and comfort in communities like that.
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@Eugene
The thing that I find so remarkable about this town is that I DO feel like I have a lot in common with my Somali neighbors... I'm an introvert with lots of social anxiety... I HATE being around random people with whom I have nothing in common. But I simply don't feel that here!
There are some wonderful stories about this community that say so very much about our connections. Several years ago, two Somali boys drowned in a local lake. Many of us felt that they were "our kids." The non-Muslim community organized a walk from a local church to the place where the boys were found. We started water safety awareness classes for all of our children, free of charge, and stepped up efforts to make sure all of our kids learn to swim.
I have never felt more "at home" in a place or so connected to the people. I don't know how that happened... but it just is. I have lived in other communities with large Somali populations (after all... there are more Somalis living in Minnesota than any other state), but living here made me realize how much we have in common.
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@Eugene
Excellent points.
1
While I don't doubt for a moment that Friedman has the best of intentions, I think having such a carefree view of diversity is actually dangerous. Diversity without any sense of unity is a recipe for war. For any country to survive in the long run, there has to be some sense of connection that binds people together. If people have no sense of connection to each other, they will form groups and start killing each other. Human nature is what it is whether we like it or not. For an example of what this looks like, look at the Middle East or the Balkans.
Race and religion are two lightning rods that often drive people to war. (Yes, this is true even when there aren't any white Christian men around.) Placing large amounts of immigrants with different races, religions, and languages in the same area without allowing any time for assimilation is dangerously naive. I wish this wasn't so, but it is.
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@John Chenango
Thank you for a little clarity on this otherwise feel good article.
4
@John Chenango - Did we read the same article! Like one or two other commenters here I was left with the sense that Friedman had the enthusiasm factor wound up a bit too high. But I still applaud it for great writing and insights and a positive message.
To your point, Friedman was abundantly clear about the needs and the efforts to address assimilation. Guess you didn't see that!
1
@John Chenango
Thanks for that reality check, the more useful because coming from a well-wisher like myself. Two other things trouble me.
One Friedman himself alludes to. He quotes the school principal’s observation that “the only shared experience we have any longer in America is through public education.”
The other is the seldom-asked question: what does America’s acquiring talent, ambition, healthy youth, etc. do to the countries it acquires those things from? Is there absolutely no “zero-sum game” about this form of exploitation?
1
You could be describing Panama City; except we actually have one of the seven Bahai temples of the world and a whole lot more people and skyscrapers than your town in Minnesota. But we ousted Trump from his hotel here and the only people who want him back are older retired US citizens; not all of them but a healthy majority of them. The US will never make progress as long as Trump is in the WH. I do not understand why you and the editorial board constantly make rhetorical appeals to him. It gives people the impression that he actually might change. Fake news!
17
Ethiopia, Congo, Russia, France, China, South Korea, Columbia, Brazil, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Libya.
Tom, it's everywhere, this melting pot of ours. The above countries are represented in the condominium I reside at in Atlanta.
Our Country was designed by our forefathers to be the melting pot of humanity for the world, and it is working well.
17
I noted one little nugget in Tom's column, that Mayor Calvin "leans conservative". It's good to know of a conservative that we liberal/progressive Democrats could make common cause with. Heaven knows, such people don't exist in DC. The mayor's credo is totally foreign to the extremists that have taken over not only the national GOP, but all except a small rump of the conservative movement at large.
It's also good to know of least one community in the northern tier of so-called flyover country that does not try to solve its problems by adopting solutions inspired by the current White House and the Old Confederacy.
22:10 EDT, 5/14
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Do you honestly believe that a visit to a town like this would somehow enlighten Trump? You won't see stories like this on Fox News, or Hannity or Tucker or any where that Trump's base lurks. Elizabeth Warren was correct when she said these outlets were "hate for profit" vehicles. Some people, sadly, prefer to hatred, anger and meanness over human decency.
13
@Steve Tunley I agree with you about most of the crew at Fox, but Chris Wallace and Shepard Smith are very good at what they do.
I love Elizabeth Warren, but there are some people who are independents that watch some aspects of Fox news, and she might be missing a chance to catch the eyes of these potential supporters.
1
An insightful and carefully considered article, but one that fails completely to understand the angst that drove far too many Americans to vote for Donald Trump. Anecdotal analysis notwithstanding, Mr. Friedman is more or less parroting the bi-coastal, utopian vision of how life should more closely reflect an episode of Star Trek. My hometown is in flyover country and while there will always be elements of racism and fear about new arrivals and immigrants, the primary driver of angst is the complete lack of an economic future for a huge portion of what was the middle class. Diversity is a plus for all societies and I'm certainly not arguing against that, I'm arguing that you're missing the point. Diversity doesn't increase wages, make rent cheaper or healthcare more affordable. Outside of a few niche career areas, wages for most Americans have not increased (in inflation-adjusted dollars) since the early 1980s. This is what I feel is driving more Americans to express racist attitudes and beliefs, and vote for our current reprobate president.....and why they may vote for him again. It's simple frustration at the reality of life in most of America; poor wages, zero job protection and astronomical healthcare costs.
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@KCF
You make some valid points, but how do we educate these people to stop voting against their own interests? Trump most certainly has not improved the lot of middle and working-class Americans in fly-over country (or anywhere else in the country, for that matter) and healthcare costs are spiraling out of control, yet these same people would rather pay outrageous prices via their checkbooks for healthcare rather than an increase in taxes, to cover Medicare for all, because #Socialism-and yet they will gladly take bailouts from the Federal Government to help their failing farms with the Chinese Tariffs (also #Socialism)....which has happened BECAUSE of their Dear Leader.
12
@KCF
An excellent post that gets well beyond the thin veneer Mr. Friedman paints. Thank you.
7
@KCF I fear you are scapegoating the wrong people. The people who deserve your ire are our elected representatives. They have been pandering to the big money interests and private contractors for campaign donations and cushy jobs if they should bet defeated. We have no business blaming immigrants for our economic woes. We have only ourselves to blame for not voting in the people that will help everyone and not just the rich.
4
Not to throw a damper on such a feel good situation, but I do think its instructive to point out that likely a lot Willmar's ability to handle the number of immigrants it does comes from the fact that there are plentiful jobs in the nearby area.
In other words, it all starts from the local economy.
In places where there are not such opportunities for employment, the local long-time populace is not as likely to look upon new residents with as much equanimity, no matter how much local leadership tries to smooth the transition. In such places, they are likely looked on more as competition than as rejuvenation.
18
@Glenn Ribotsky - Did you read the entire article? Perhaps you missed the paragraph that begins with "Inclusion happens a lot faster, though,..." as well as the one after it that begins: "While lots of Minnesota towns have demand for labor, not every one has leaders to drive change, or residents ready to go along. There is plenty of resistance in plenty of towns."
2
@Glenn Ribotsky That is why it is imperative our government agencies of refugee relocation place people appropriately.
1
I grew up in all white northern New Hampshire, but I ended up going to college in Washington DE -- a Black majority city.
It was a culture shock, but eventually I ended up spending a Thanksgiving meal with a Haitian family, and later my class mate traveled north to see snow and experience his first skiing.
So, what I learned was the skin color did not matter. What was important was a person's character.
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@John Galuszka
I agree that character is very important but how that character is influenced by their religion is an element that cannot be ignored.
In a democracy, anyone who practices a religion that seeks to disempower anyone does not belong in a free country.
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@Blanche White
I am not convinced that the religion a person claims or even believes that they follow is any guarantee of compatibility with Democracy, especially with one that emphasizes the rights of individuals. We must be vigilant against the imposition of any religion, especially with the news this evening.
6
@Blanche White If you are talking about Islam, I will advice you to do more reading. I'm Somali, Muslim, Black and Refugee/Immigrant I came to Minnesota 18yrs ago at the age of 20, left my siblings and parent in Somalia. I worked hard everyday learned english, got my college degree, supported my family back home, got married, raising my two boys, made close friends from every religion and race, no criminal record, I don't even remember the last time I got a traffic ticket,volunteered, started my small business after working for one organization for 10 years, pay my taxes, pray 5 times a day and never never disempowered anyone from their rights. true is a free country otherwise I haven't accomplished any of this. Gob bless America.
9
It's very interesting (and enlightening) to compare what insights Mr. Friedman has learned in his travels around the country versus the ones that David Brooks has learned in his travels.
Both espouse stories of hope and success built from the ground upwards, rooted in communities in which people work together for the common good.
But for some reason, Friedman's depiction feels more genuine, more grounded, more real. He describes the good work that good people have been doing not as if it's some aberration or a new revelation, but as a positive step in the bumpy work in progress.
Conversely, Brooks's homilies feel disingenuous and preachy, and sometimes downright condescending. He tells us what we all "should" be doing, with an added dose of "why" we should do it. Most annoyingly, he describes it as if he's discovered some epiphany of virtue, when in fact, he's merely just opening his eyes to the good work that good people (on the Left) have been doing all along (but he's missed because of his partisan blindness).
Thank you, Mr. Friedman, for giving us a sincere and grounded antidote to the faux revelations that Brooks dishes out on these pages.
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@Paul-A
Brooks, according to credible media reports, seems to be going through, or has gone through, some kind of mid-life crisis. He dumped his wife, found a newer, younger woman and (more or less) adopted his new partner's Christian faith ... having jettisoned the semi-secular Judaism of his previous life.
From his new perch, he does, indeed, seem to be more interested in preaching and judging — sometimes subtly, sometimes not so — than in exploring and explaining the world to his readers.
21
@Paul-A
Yes, a lovely account that reminds me why i love the Upper Midwest. Hope!
5
As if a visit anywhere showcasing diversity would change the opinion of our would-be dictator. Still thinking he can grow into the job? He's beyond redemption. He answers only to his base, and his base not hates the melting pot and anyone who can speak another language. Forget about Trump. Forget about GOP moderates. The key to extricating ourselves from this nightmare is in the ground game Democrats are building to keep the House and take the Senate. Only when Congress is securely in Democratic hands will we reclaim what's left of the American idea.
58
@AlNewman Agreed - I'm sure Mr. Friedman has good intentions with his occasional articles imploring Trump to do the ethical/moral/conscientious thing. But they are a complete waste of time. Trump has demonstrated time and again that he has no conscience, a tiny heart, and very little brains.
12
@AlNewman
"Only when Congress is securely in Democratic hands will we reclaim what's left of the American idea".
And to do that the Democrats are going to have to address the concerns of those people who rightly feel displaced.
I remember very well when so many factories were moving to Asian countries for cheap labor and our leaders said with cavalier knowing, "we're going to retrain you". "Here's a little bit for you to go take a few classes to become a service worker", they said as they cast the pennies at their feet with no real programs to try to make that succeed.
That didn't work out very well but as long as the GDP kept growing along with profit margins, then the picture they painted was rosy - just not for those caught in the backdraft.
The policies put in place that allowed these companies to move their factories had a devastating effect on millions of workers and their families. When Senator Warren speaks to policies with negative affects on the middle class, this is a big one.
So, I hope the Democrats succeed but, to do so, they need to tell these people WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU.
14
@Blanche White I could not agree with you more!
5
I'd be curious to know if the bifurcation between successful small communities like Willmar and those mired in addiction and despair is precisely the percentage of immigrants that comprise the population? Maybe being surrounded by people not like yourself is the jolt that is needed for revival. Big cities tend to be more liberal because you're constantly jostling up against strangers. Eventually, the fear - and even the mystique fade.
I'd also be interested in knowing what idea of "America" these new immigrants have formulated, aside from a place where you can make good money. They don't teach civics anymore, so much of one's concept of government just arrives by osmosis from your community. Pluralism and Liberalism are by no means identical. The Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian Empires were polyglot quilts but no one would argue they were democratic.
11
This made me smile. Thanks Tom!
21
Thomas, a pleasure to read an article about some aspect of America that is life affirming. Those are sadly in such short supply. Thank you for this, all you do as a journalist and as a most thoughtful public voice.
Allen Sabinson, Philadelphia
392
@Allen. Agreed. The perfect tonic for today.
27
@Allen
Nonsense.
Thomas loves and extols the virtues of his color aka race ethnic sectarian tribe above and beyond all others.
Go to Mankato Minnesota where 38 brave honorable patriotic brown Native Dakota freedom fighters were hung on December 26, 1862 by order of the Great Emancipator and fighter in the Black Hawk War aka President Abraham Lincoln. The Dakota had rebelled against being lied to stolen from and mistreated by white Judeo-Christian European American Minnesotans.
It was and still is the biggest mass execution in American history.
By every positive civil secular socioeconomic political educational and health metric the Dakota are living in the Third World in the richest most powerful nation on Earth.
2
"...every town in America needs to get caught trying to make diversity work...or it will whither."
Whither?
Small towns all over America have suffered from Walmart-ization, good jobs going to countries with cheaper labor rates and minimal/no environmental standards, interstates being built elsewhere, and many other factors. And they've surely withered as a result.
We need our federal government to step up to the challenge, not just small towns. Where is our FDR?
61
@Ellen
Our FDR was obstructed at every turn by mcturtle and his republican party for 8 years. Because We the People couldn't get out and vote for a Democratic Congress.
If anyone deserves an extended term because of obstruction it is not t rump; it is Obama.
4
Good column! It's nice to hear that at least one American community. by thinking progressively, has made diversity a great success story.
86
Willmar is far from progressive. I spent 16 years of my life there. It went for Trump last election. what this article shows is that despite being a fairly conservative area they have been able to prosper through inclusion.
4
As usual you miss the most important fact. Given the changes that this “diversity” has brought what is the unifying factor that makes us all Americans? Our motto is not E Pluribus Division, but E Pluribus Unum. Diversity is advantageous if there is First a unity of principles and beliefs.
20
@Matthew How is there no "unity of principles" at work here? If these immigrants came to MN for rule of law, economic opportunity and a good place to raise their families, isn't that a unity of principles and beliefs?
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@Matthew
Ummm....
The "unifying factor" that makes us "all" "Americans" is that almost all of us (except for Native Americans) originally came here from somewhere else.
And you're absolutely wrong to argue that the Founders of this country had a "unity of principles and beliefs," or that they ever thought our country needed such. They were a mix of Protestants, Catholics, Quakers, Deists, and Humanists. Some found slavery acceptable; others were Abolitionists. They argued over power of the states versus the federal government. Etc., etc.
Perhaps YOU wish that our country had some mystical "unity of principles and beliefs"; but that's just a fictitious notion.
(And besides, you probably wouldn't accept the principles and beliefs that many of us hold in our hearts, so be careful what you wish for.)
11
@Mindy
As another poster said democracy is a bumpy road. ...And we have yet to work through the many issues that linger from slavery; the imperfect acceptance of women's rights both economic and social and the list could continue.
Adding so many immigrants of so many different cultures just complicates our ability to find common ground to fix problems that have been festering for decades.
So many voices and we have so much babel that we can barely hear anything anymore. Perhaps an example of what I mean is "We didn't HEAR the Trump voters!"
4
A recent article about immigrants’ impact on upstate NY was similar. They were a badly-needed infusion of life in a stagnant area, they were law-abiding, good citizens, and they were determined to succeed.
It is also encouraging to read about the diversity of students in Willmar’s school system. Getting to know and connect with people of pluralistic backgrounds early in life takes away the fear and ignorance which drive so much prejudice. That is indeed a superior education.
300
@NM I’m betting that this early exposure to other cultures will be an asset for those students going forward... as businessmen/women, diplomats, anything.
3
We need more stories like these. People within their communities making a difference by building community on so many different fronts. Immigration has always been our strength as a nation, thank you for pointing out this, ‘work in progress’, success story.
140
This just means that interior US towns are becoming the same jumble of nations, races and languages as the NE area I was born into. That was before TV; the English was much worse.
I wonder how good the salaries are, though. I wonder how well this will hold up if the economy crashes.
5
@Liz The economy did crash. We were relatively better off than most of the country.
6
Keep buying turkey from the state of Minnesota!
1
The prime topic aside, “the frozen chosen” is a wonderful example if self-effacing humor.
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@Tomi Antonio
Love it! One of my best friends is a Jewish woman from LA whose grandparents, farmers in North Dakota, were also members of the frozen chosen.
3
Let the author move to Minnesota; I doubt he does.
13
Did you miss the beginning of the story where Tom said he had visited relatives there for many, many years?! I’d be happy to move to such an inclusive place, but I’m old, and Minnesota is cold!
54
@Jan - Tom's work has had him living in NY and other locations for years. He truly covers the world in what he does, and so goes the geography of where to live. Yet he remains a proud Minnesotan, born and raised in St. Louis Park.
86
I live in Minnesota and I’m proud to live here. What’s your beef with my state? A moderate to liberal state that welcomes refugees and immigrants, had a balanced budget, and emphasizes education, the environment, and care for the elderly and those in need.
57