IMAGES FROM TRIP. Teacher candidate Donna Marty created the collage and Virginia Allery took the photograph.

Twenty-one teacher candidates and faculty from Turtle Mountain Community College  (TMCC, Belcourt, ND) and Cikana Cankdeska Community College (CCCC, Fort Totten, ND) traveled by train from North Dakota to Minneapolis, MN, for an immersion experience as part of their Human Relations and Multicultural Education. The group met with local Native people and Somali people in Minneapolis to learn how these cultures cope with the struggles related to cultural identity.

For many of the participants this was their first encounter with the Somali culture and with the unique experiences of Native people living in a large metropolitan area. The trip was coordinated by the Center for Global Education at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. The meeting began with a pipe ceremony serving as a compass for this collective journey into other cultures.

The group visited Franklin Avenue which the Native people have reclaimed from drug pushers, liquor stores, and street walkers. They’ve built new buildings for businesses, and they plan to build a community of thriving businesses and to provide comprehensive health care for the 27,000 Native people in the Minneapolis area.

The Native American Community Development Institute and the Native American Community Clinic are committed to their vision of creating community. At the American Indian Center, an artist leader and an advocate for the homeless (who himself had been homeless for a number of years) spoke to the group.

At the First Nations Recovery Center, the Minnesota Indian Women Resource Center, and the Sandland Adult Sober House speakers described living on the streets and the unique struggles of women on their journeys to independence.

The group watched Hmong Women perform at Theater Mu in a play entitled, “Under the Porcelain Mask: Asian American Women Speak Out.” The play showed their struggles and how they dealt with the clash of stereotypes and their uphill battle to be seen and valued as people with a rich and beautiful culture.

At the Somali Community Center, a community leader gave an orientation to his culture. He explained protocol between genders and the significance of certain gestures and dress. He provided an extensive overview of the historical trauma of his people who escaped from a civil war currently ravaging their country.

The next stop was at a mosque where the Imams (religious leaders) interrupted their meditation to greet the visitors. Their holy place was simple and plain, but the spirit and the richness of their religious practices were felt more than directly addressed. They explained about Allah—all seeing and knowing—and about the importance of prayer, which is done five times a day.

Prior to visiting the Somali Mall, the group was greeted by African Chamber of Commerce members who shared their vision of entrepreneurship and business marketing. The Somali religious beliefs prohibit them from usury (borrowing money that charges interest), exemplifying a clash of cultural values that impacts their livelihood. They explained their strategies for working with banks to negotiate a compromise that would work for them and satisfy the American capitalistic institutions.

The Somali Mall had barbershops, a community recreational center, another mosque, and about 150 stores selling Somali-style clothing, including long skirts, scarves, and handbags of every shape and size.

Two young Somali poets shared rich, evocative writing. They rapped their words to the staccato of African rhythms to help us feel their abiding angst at having been forced from a country they love and relatives they may never see again.

The group learned that beliefs and values are the foundation for reclaiming and/or maintaining a cultural identity and that the most important thing is the creation of community. They learned that there are everyday heroes who struggle against all forms of oppression and discrimination. The individuals learned that each perceives other cultures through his or her own lenses.

The teachers learned they have to be willing to step out of their comfort zones to expand and enrich their lives so they can share this richness with future students.

Virginia P. Allery (Turtle Mountain Chippewa), Ph.D. has sixteen years of teaching experience in higher education with expertise in teacher education, cultural studies, and American Indian Studies. Her professional goals are to promote culturally responsive teaching, best teaching practices, and systemic change.