On Thursday’s broadcast of FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul’s “FOX 9 All Day,” Bloomington, MN Police Chief Booker Hodges said that “We’re dealing with Somali American gangs right now.” People shouldn’t judge the “vast majority” who are law-abiding by the few, and “people are worried about calling something racist more than they are fixing the problem, and it’s just ridiculous to me.”
Hodges stated, “I pride myself on telling the truth. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. We’re dealing with Somali American gangs right now. Throughout my life, we’ve dealt with Hmong American gangs, African American gangs, Italian gangs. We’ve dealt with different groups throughout history in this country who are, unfortunately, being involved in gang activity. Now, by no means does this mean that every member of the Somali community — Somali American community is involved in these activities, because they’re not. The vast majority of Somalis, just like the rest of us — Somali Americans, go to work every single day, busting their butt, trying to make a living. And when you are really involved in the community like I am, and I’ve been like this before I put this uniform on, I see these people, every day, working, busting their butt to make their American Dream.”
He continued, “So this — to say it’s racist, it’s like, no, we’re not — I’m not going to go down that road. And others can choose to do that. But, ultimately, if you don’t identify a problem, there’s no way you’re going to fix it. And it’s just, people are worried about calling something racist more than they are fixing the problem, and it’s just ridiculous to me.”
Hodges concluded that we shouldn’t be “pegging people and dumping them into groups based on a few people.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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