- The influx of immigrants in the predominantly white Upper
Midwest during the past decade has communities grappling with a changing
culture.
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- Building Inclusive Communities, a two-day conference
that opens in Minneapolis today, will bring together city leaders, educators
and human-rights advocates who have struggled with the opportunity and
challenge of increasing racial diversity in Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota,
South Dakota and Minnesota.
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- When it comes to sheer numbers of immigrants, the Upper
Midwest trails far behind states such as California, New York and Texas.
But huge percentage increases among Hispanics, blacks and Asians across
the region have brought unprecedented changes in the ethnic makeup of many
communities. Occasionally, controversy has followed.
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- In Iowa, which remains nearly 96 percent white, talk
of luring more immigrants to a state with an aging workforce and a need
for more workers quickly drew widespread criticism about two years ago.
In Minnesota, immigrant advocates have clashed with state law enforcement
authorities over state laws that deny driver licenses to illegal immigrants.
-
- "The main challenge is really getting to know and
understand and respect diverse groups in communities that haven't traditionally
had a lot of cultural diversity," said Amy Phillips, who teaches social
work at Minnesota State University Moorhead. She will be a panelist at
the conference.
-
- In the Fargo-Moorhead area, she said, the infusion of
immigrants such as Bosnians, Somalis, Vietnamese and Hispanics have added
a cultural richness. But, she said, not everyone has been enthusiastic
about the new arrivals.
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- "There are always individuals who are confused by
or upset with change when it begins to happen in the community, and feel
that it maybe threatens the status quo," Phillips said. "That
can be frightening to people."
-
- Another conference panelist, Michael Yang, director of
the Immigrant and Refugee Policy Coalition in St. Paul, said that even
though Minnesota has been more welcoming to immigrants than other states,
it still could stand to be more inclusive.
-
- "The number of immigrants being attracted here is
an indication that Minnesota is going in the right direction," he
said. "Any type of change will be slow, and there'll always be tensions,
and you will always need to work toward making it a better place for people."
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- Although the state remains largely white, Yang said,
one need only visit areas with heavy immigrant concentrations -- such as
Lake Street in Minneapolis and University Avenue in St. Paul -- to see
the strong presence of Latinos, Somalis and Asians through neighborhood
ethnic shops, grocery stores and restaurants that contribute to the state's
economic health.
-
- In Wisconsin, Hedi Rudd, program coordinator for the
Madison Area Study Circles on Race, said similar businesses have popped
up among clusters of immigrants. "What we see in our community are
people in areas kind of like segregated, as far as housing and things like
that," said Rudd, who also will speak on a panel. "And I think
we want to see that shift -- we want to see people being able to feel comfortable
to go wherever they want to in the community."
-
- Along with other advocates, she said she hopes to find
ways to educate longtime Midwesterners about their new neighbors without
the kind of backlash that accompanied Iowa's push for immigration.
-
- In Minneapolis, Ellie Ulrich is busy devising creative
methods to deliver city services more effectively to the growing number
of residents who speak little or no English. She will tell conference participants
about her work as interim coordinator of Minneapolis Multicultural Services.
The agency, which is similar to a 2-year-old Hennepin County program, opened
in November to help immigrants pay their water bills, obtain permits and
apply for housing loans.
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- "The city residents are changing," she said.
"The city needed to do a better job of serving its residents."
___
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- Lourdes Medrano Leslie is at lleslie@startribune.com
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/2619287.html
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