Many thanks to Zach Kayser, Van Dinh-Kuno and David Pearson, pastor of First Lutheran Church in Brainerd, for bringing us the story of Van Dinh-Kuno's family's finding of refuge from Vietnam in Brainerd in 1975.
I believe the welcoming behavior of the members of First Lutheran Church made all the difference in enabling this family to acclimate to a different culture and become productive Americans.
The difference in their experience and that of Muslims coming to this country to escape a civil war is enormous. Today any Muslim refugee has to face the rejection of American citizens due to fears surrounding 9/11.
Those who have studied perpetrators of school shootings know that a good number of those student-shooters felt excluded from the "popular group" for various reasons. I am sure the same is true of Somali youth who came here to escape civil war in Somalia. They found they were not welcome in America. Then when they are approached by terrorists from Somalia and offered the opportunity to be part of a tight-knit group fighting for a cause, the excluded Somali youth could find that very attractive. Those refugees from Syria have to go somewhere. If they find themselves unwelcome in our culture, they are more likely going to be targeted by the terrorists as new recruits.
Thank you Pastor David Pearson for reminding us to treat people as Christ taught us. We in this country should have learned the lesson that racism has taught us. Excluding people for reason of race, religion, nationality or economic status is going to cause more problems in the end.
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Pat Rickaby
Brainerd
