Coming together after a tragedy – Saint Cloud

I’m Justin Lewandowski. I was born and raised in Saint Cloud. I am also a former student of Saint Cloud State, and I’m a community organizer. What happened in Crossroads, in my community, this weekend is a tragedy. I’m hurting and so is the rest of my TakeAction team. We wish the ten victims of the attack and their families healing and strength. We’re well aware of the amount of pain this nonsensical violence has put into our communities — the victims, their families, and all of the residents of Saint Cloud.

In this time of sadness and pain, I wish nothing more than for my hometown, my community, to come together to heal from this tragedy. I want us to form deeper connections with each other so that we may be able to better understand each other and in turn, better see each other’s full humanity.

I know that one of the best ways to do just that is through our stories and listening to one another. Here are two community members’ reflections. I share them with you so that we can come together and heal. So that we can better support the people directly impacted by this act of violence and their families. And so that we can overcome the fear and hate being spewed by many right now, and instead, courageously, act out of love.

Sarah Drake, Single Mother, Community Leader, and TakeAction Supporter

“I’m a single mother passionate about learning about others and being a bridge builder. On Sunday morning I visited a Somali Muslim owned business so they knew they had an ally in the wake of this tragedy. My daughter and I discuss the issues facing our community regularly and as a result, she was leading conversations with students at school. By letting people see my actions, they started to talk about their fears and good experience with their neighbors.”

Sabrin, Community Leader, TakeAction Volunteer

“Emotions are contagious, so spread positivity. A community is like marriage, through sickness and in health, to have a healthy community requires that we be strong together, speak to each other, and to move in one breath and beat. We need to come together right now, or we won’t heal. We can’t be afraid. Let us hold hands through our roughest times.”

We know that there are many people who are using this tragedy to fuel people’s fear and promote division between us, especially against our Somali, Muslim community. It’s hard to write this, but this is also true. We write it because we believe that to really heal from this and grow, we have to be honest about what we’re facing. There are people who are using this as an opportunity to say that the actions of a lone man who enacted the violence this weekend represent entire communities and that’s simply not true. We refuse to allow fear and division to define the future of Saint Cloud. This type of blind hate is not new, it’s not original and it’s not us. 

Sarah, Sabrin and I want to live in a Saint Cloud where the inherent worth and dignity of every person is recognized without exception, we we embrace our diversity — neighbors who’ve lived here for generations, neighbors who’ve recently immigrated, young and old, people of color and white folks, people of all different faiths. And a Saint Cloud where all can thrive.

Let’s come together in this moment of tragedy to heal and to build the relationships with each other that we need to make this Saint Cloud possible.

In light and strength,

Justin Lewandowski, Sarah, Sabrin, Dan and the rest of the TakeAction team