Dhimmisota’s Dilemma: the Double Bind of Diversity

Minnesota, also affectionately known as the limp-noodle state of complete political correctness, has run into a double bind regarding two of its designated victim groups. In typical fashion, it wrings its hands and does nothing, leaving the good guy to fend for himself.

In this story, the first so-called victim (though he doesn’t view himself as such) is a student who has to use a service dog to help him with his disability (he suffers from frequent seizures). Though animals would not normally be allowed in schools or restaurants, etc., in cases of medical or physical need, these rules are waived. And with good reason - a well-trained service dog costs thousands of dollars and is highly trained to meet the needs of its particular disabled person.

The second designated victim is a Somali immigrant student who attends the same school where the first “victim” was doing his student teaching practicum. That is, he was in training until he dropped out due to threats against his service dog made by this second designated victim.

Please note that the person making the threats is not named by the school authorities nor is he made to leave…

Here’s the story from the newspaper in St. Cloud, Minnesota:

A St. Cloud State University student in a teacher-training program at Technical High School left the school in late April because he says he feared for the safety of his service dog.

The school district calls it a misunderstanding and officials there say they hoped Tyler Hurd, a 23-year-old junior from Mahtomedi who aspires to teach special education, would continue his training in the district.

Hurd said a student threatened to kill his service dog named Emmitt. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has seizures.

The seizures, which can occur weekly, are from a childhood injury.

The dog has a pouch on his side that assists those who stop to help Hurd.

Hurd said he was unable to finish his 50 hours of field training at Tech. The university waived the remaining 10 hours, he said. He plans to do his student teaching outside a high school setting.

“We came up with a solution because I felt threatened by it,” Hurd said.

Note that the school did not remove the offending student making the threats against this dog. Instead, the university involved broke the rules regarding teacher training so Hurd would not have to go back to the Technical High School where the creep who made the threats is purportedly being educated.

One wonders what this student learned from the incident…I mean, besides the fact that he can get away with threatening people in situations which offend his quivering sensibilities.

Here is some typical Dhimmisota hand wringing pasted over with vague words about a solution - but one which exists only in the future. It won’t have any bearing on this injustice:
- - - - - - - - -

The school district and university are working to make sure a similar situation doesn’t happen.

Kate Steffens, dean of the college of education at St. Cloud State, and Tech assistant principal Lori Lockhart met Thursday.

The threat came from a Somali student who is Muslim, according to Hurd, St. Cloud State and school district officials.

The Muslim faith, which is the dominant faith of Somali immigrants, forbids the touching of dogs.

So why does this Somali kid feel he must touch the dog? This highly trained animal is certainly not going to leave his owner’s side. Besides, as one Muslim commenter said in response to the story:

I’m a Muslim, and I can believe this happened. It’s sad, it’s disgusting, but not unexpected given the way some youth are raised. Prohibitions on dogs vary by juristic school, and the simplest thing would be for the students to take the Maliki exception on the prohibition; but because they were poorly raised they prefer to literally hound the handicapped student teacher and his assistance animal out of the school. [my emphasis - D.]

What’s even sadder are foolish people who leap to the defense of these poorly raised youth - or even deny that such an event could occur. It is ironic that people who consider prayer in school forbidden for some religions can justify others making threats to force their religion on others. There is no difference to me between the Christian right and anyone else who attempts to coerce others into behaviors they find religiously acceptable.

I agree with this person, but I would go even further. If these “educators” are going to take on the task of educating Somali Muslims whilst refusing to encourage them to assimilate, then it behooves the adults to know as much about Muslim cultures and practices as possible. Otherwise, they are at the mercy of these little manipulators who can create mountains out of molehills and wreak their resentful havoc on the dominant culture.

But thinking out of the box isn’t possible for those who are bound and trussed and actually jump into the box of diversity doublethink all by themselves, closing the lid after. So they are forced through their own ignorance to believe whatever an aggrieved, manipulative adolescent tells them.

Hurd trained at Talahi Community School and Tech. He said his experience at Talahi was good. The Somali students there warmed to the dog and eventually petted him using paper to keep their hands off his fur, Hurd said.

Things didn’t go as well at Tech, Hurd said. Students there taunted his dog, and he finally felt he had to leave after he was told a student made a threat. Hurd met with Lockhart but said he did not feel comfortable continuing.

Julia Espe, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for St. Cloud school district, said the school needed to do a better job communicating.

My guess is that the Talahi Community School was for younger children. They haven’t yet reached the surly stage. So they built a work-around: pieces of paper between them and the dog.

By the way, do you notice that dogs appear frequently in photos from Iraq? Do you suppose the Americans imported them?

So far, my favorite quote is from Ms. Espe: “the school needed to do a better job communicating.”

Ms. Espe should read some organizational behavior theories to make communication a reality instead of the shill game of pretend she’s frantically working to make look genuine. As Peter Drucker said so famously, “communication is the act of the recipient.” What Ms. Espe says isn’t worth a tinker’s damn. The only thing that counts is what the two students heard.

Obviously, the handicapped student teacher heard that the kid was not going to be removed and thus his dog would continue to be at risk. So he made the university come up with an acceptable alternative. Good for him.

And the little Somali high school dictator heard very clearly that he is permitted to disrupt school routines when they offend him. Obviously, he is taking a leaf out of the book Somali cab drivers use at the Minneapolis airport - the book which is full of rules (written by the Muslim Brotherhood) about which infidels they will permit in their airport taxis.

Dhimmiapolis huffed and puffed that they would deal severely with these cab drivers, but nothing came of their words, either.

Here is the rest of this sick, sad story from the Land of the Walking Wusses:

“I think it was a misunderstanding where we didn’t really prepare either side for possible implications,” Espe said.

Espe said the school’s investigation determined the student did not make a direct threat.

“We certainly welcome (Hurd) in our district, and we hope we can get this all resolved so he feels welcome and his dog is welcome,” Espe said.

St. Cloud State places about 1,000 students in 240 schools to help prepare them for careers in education.

In St. Cloud school district, 330 are in the field-training program Hurd was in and 94 are in student teaching.

Steffens said it is important to respect different cultures and the rights of disabled students.

“I think this is part of the growth process when we become more diverse,” Steffens said.

Steffens called Hurd a good student and committed young man.

Gary Loch, who is the diversity coordinator for the district, said the situation was an unfortunate case of miscommunication.

“I’m not quite sure where the breakdown comes into play here,” Loch said.

First, the breakdown in education comes when a school bureaucracy has a “Diversity Coordinator.” With that title, why isn’t he a walking expert on the diverse customs and traditions of the Somali students he fences for?

Secondly, it is apparent to any sane person where the breakdown came: the first fracture was installing diversity at all. The second break happened when they forgot to make contingency plans for a clash of victim diversity needs.

And these are the folks in charge of education in Minnesota.

May we hear from any Minnesota homeschoolers who have been fortunate enough to escape this gulag?


For a good analysis of racism and white guilt in the U.S., see Shelby Steele here.

Hat tip: Refugee Resettlement Watch