Fifty years ago, who could have imagined that American public life would become so entangled with so many things Somali. Let’s call it Somal-alia.
Just last week a small public school district in the wildly leftist state of Vermont created an outsized furor by hoisting a Somali flag in support of Somalis.
No problem, superintendent Wilmer Chavarria said, because the American flag was hoisted higher. Chavarria is a naturalized Nicaraguan immigrant and “married” homosexual who, according to Education Week, “is no stranger to high profile controversy”:
His district of nearly 800 students in Vermont’s most diverse city made headlines in February when it became the first in the state to pass a “sanctuary school” policy that aims to protect students and families from immigration enforcement at schools.
Then, in April, Chavarria spoke out against the state education department’s request that districts sign a U.S. Department of Education certification that they weren’t using “illegal DEI practices”—a part of the Trump administration’s efforts to stamp out DEI at schools and colleges.
The Daily BS reports that Chavarria’s flag-hoisting was a political act:
According to Chavarria, the ceremony was a direct response to President Donald Trump’s recent comments calling Somali immigrants “garbage” and saying he didn’t want them in the U.S.
Many Americans wish President Trump were more tactful and nuanced in some of his public statements, but many Americans also know he wasn’t saying every individual Somali is “garbage.”
His statement was in the context of the shocking revelation that Minnesota Somalis have stolen a billion dollars of taxpayer money. Such systemic theft is garbage behavior committed by people with garbage ethics who many Americans wish had never come to America.
The story of the Somali flag became a nationwide tempest after the district posted a proud announcement on Facebook, saying, “We are raising the Somali flag this week in honor of our Somali youth and families in Winooski and Vermont.”
But the flag-hoisting wasn’t enough for leftist activist Chavarria who claimed:
[President Trump’s] remarks “rattled” local Somali families, he said, prompting the district to roll out not only the flag, but a full week of events including a civil-rights workshop and Somali food celebration.
What specifically does Chavarria mean by “rattled”? What happened to those unnamed “rattled” Somali families? Exactly how many people communicated their rattlement to Chavarria?
Moreover, is it the job of publicly funded schools to hoist flags and host food celebrations of every demographic that feels “rattled”?
If bullying or threats against students are reported to administrations, a school has the right and obligation to address such reports by seeking proof and disciplining when appropriate.
But school administrators have neither the charge nor responsibility to efface some vague feelings of rattlement by a particular demographic. It is not Chavarria’s responsibility to eradicate rattlement, and if it were, there should be a community consensus on how to achieve that end. Hoisting flags of other countries is more likely to foment division than it is to unify or end rattlement.
Maybe Chavarria could have explained to the rattled in his community that President Trump was not referring to all Somalis but rather to those who have brazenly cheated Americans out of their hard-earned money.
But leftist administrators like Chavarria are brimming over with hubris, so every potentially teachable moment is hijacked for activism. Just as they now believe it’s their right and obligation to assume control of the social and emotional lives of other people’s children, they believe it’s their right and obligation to ensure Americans think about other cultures exactly as leftists do.
There are many good things in life to be pursued: goals to work toward, changes to be made, virtues to be cultivated. But not all good pursuits fall within the purview of government-paid educators. It is not the job of leftist public school teachers and administrators to use their jobs to pursue their all-encompassing visions.
Their jobs should be narrowly circumscribed: teach students algebra, geometry, calculus, biology, chemistry, physics, reading, writing, world languages, geography, and history. That should be sufficient unto the day.
Chavarria seems cut from the same cloth as Brian Howell, one of the many lefty professors at former evangelical flagship Wheaton College. On Dec. 3, 2025, Howell posted this on Facebook:
To my Somali friends and neighbors:
I am so glad you’re in the United States. You contribute beauty and peace to this nation. You model community and care. In your churches, mosques, community organizations and living rooms you gather with strength of purpose to build up this country.
Thank you for standing together in face of hatred and abuse. I stand with you. [red heart emoji]
Does Howell know that all his Somali friends and neighbors contribute beauty and peace to this nation? Does he know that they all model community and care? Does he know that they all gather to build up this country? Or is he perpetuating ignorant generalizations for political purposes?
Maybe Howell has forgotten that from 2007-2014, Somali terror cells were hiding in American neighborhoods, predominantly in Minnesota. They were someone’s neighbors, but in their mosques and living rooms they were not gathering to build up this country. They were hatching plans to kill Americans.
What about those who stole a billion dollars from hardworking Americans? So far, 86 people have been charged with welfare fraud in Minnesota, most of whom are of Somali descent. Presumably, more than 86 people profited from this garbage scheme. And what about the America-hating Somali member of Congress who likely engaged in immigration fraud to get here and whose net worth has risen from $65,000 in 2020 to an eye-popping $30 million today?
According to the New York Post,
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) reported a net worth of up to $30 million in her latest financial disclosure — a document filed just months after the congresswoman dismissed claims she was a millionaire. …
The disclosure, filed in May, shows the far-left “Squad” lawmaker and her [third] husband, Tim Mynett, experienced a roughly 3,500% increase in net worth last year, compared to 2023. …
The financial gains came from Mynett’s two businesses, a Santa Rosa, Calif.-based winery and a venture capital firm headquartered in Washington, DC.
Omar valued the winery’s assets at between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000 in her latest disclosure. By comparison, the winery, eStCru LLC, was only worth between $15,000 and $50,000 in Omar’s previous financial disclosure.
More dramatic was the explosion in growth experienced by Mynett’s venture capital firm, Rose Lake Capital LLC.
Rose Lake Capital’s assets were valued at between $5,000,000 and $25,000,000 by the end of 2024. The company had less than $1,000 in assets the previous year.
Notably, income from the venture capital firm is listed as “none” in 2024 but between $15,000 and $50,000 the previous year.
In Feb. 2025—just three months before she filed her financial disclosure—mendacious Omar told Business Insider,
Since getting elected, there has been a coordinated right-wing disinformation campaign claiming all sorts of wild things, including the ridiculous claim I am worth millions of dollars which is categorically false.
Yeah, categorically false—that’s the ticket.
If, as the doctrine of multiculturalism that sprang up in the 1980s taught, all cultures have distinctives that society is obliged to value, then it makes sense that all cultures also possess distinctives that should be rejected. Leftists have concluded that criticizing American culture is de rigueur, but criticizing Muslim cultures is a telltale sign of racism.