St Cloud, Minnesota: Action Rally Planned on Saturday August 1st

A rally will be held in St Cloud, MN, on Saturday at 12:00pm to counter anti-immigrant, anti-minority speech that can incite hatred and bigotry in St Cloud community.


A statement by Jane Conrad of East Central Labor Council, one of the main organizers of the rally, read, “A rally was planned to counter anti-immigrant speaker Ron Branstner who was speaking at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) at 9 18th Ave N in St Cloud on July 28th. Two hours after I let the police know about our action and after the police talked with management at the VFW the speaker was canceled. So I canceled the rally. However, I did find out that the VFW did allow the event to go forward with a different anti-immigrant speaker from Willmar, Bob Enos. It's a sad day when the VFW, who are members are people who fought and died for our Constitution, supported a speaker who advocates taking away those liberties from a minority. To counter this we are planning a rally this Saturday August 1st. Please join us a peaceful, collective, community action. We are all in this together. Please forward this on to your members and any other groups that will align with us.”

Ahmed Ali Said, a Somali American leader and a former St Cloud City Council candidate said, “We support our veterans. We support our troops. But we’re against outside players spreading racism and bigotry against minority communities or any other community in the wider St Cloud community. The majority of the St Cloud community support mutual respect and love for all and they will support the rally.”
When: Saturday August 1st at 12:00pm
Where: St Cloud Court House
725 Courthouse Square

For more information, contact
Jane Conrad, organizer
Tel: 320-267-0899
E-mail: jane_conrad [at] outlook.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jane.conrad.374?fref=ts

Ahmed Ali Said, co-organizer, a Somali American community leader and activist
Tel: 320-469-0405
E-mail: ahmedsaid9094 [at] outlook.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Ahmed-Ali-Said/100005590428932