Response to President Trump’s threats against Somali Americans

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Benrie Burnham made the following statement in response to President Trump’s inflammatory social media post advocating violence against Minnesota’s Somali Americans:

“Minnesota’s Labor Movement stands in solidarity with our state’s Somali Americans, including thousands of union members, who are being unfairly targeted as a community.

“Donald Trump is desperate. He’s trying to incite violence and sow division a little more than three weeks before election day because he knows working people across the country have had enough of high prices, increasingly unaffordable healthcare, and rampant corruption in his administration. He tried to divide us this past winter when he brought violence and chaos to our homes, but Minnesotans stood firm with nonviolent resistance and solidarity with our immigrant neighbors.

“Violence has no place in our democracy and we refuse to let Donald Trump or anyone else disrupt our proud tradition of free and fair elections with some of the highest voter participation in the nation.”