McNeil, who is originally from Antigo, Wisconsin, arrived in Barron in 1983 when he was hired to teach first grade. After teaching first grade for 11 years he moved on to teach third grade for the next 20. He taught for a total of 36 years before retiring in 2011 and joining the Barron School Board.

As demographics across the country continue to become more diverse, McNeil believes the Somali immigration into the small town of Barron is a preview of what will happen across the country.

“This is the way the world is going to look in 20 years; like Barron. It’s not going to be what color you are or religion you are,” said McNeil.  “It’s who you are and how you treat other people.”

As the Somalis began to move into Barron, a blatantly obvious language and culture barrier made their transition into the community even more difficult. “Barron is a very conservative community, so this was culture shock by both sides, I would say,” said McNeil. “A lot of misunderstanding.” Fights ensued in the high school gymnasium and Somalis were heckled walking down city streets.

The Somalis also settled into a collection of apartments that are isolated from the rest of the town. The apartments appeared to be in poor condition; screen windows were tattered with holes, bugs scurried across the walls, and an abandoned bed mattress sat outside the doorway entry to a unit. Nevertheless, it appeared the Somalis were perfectly content with their housing.

The manager of these buildings is Tom Kite. He often does construction and maintenance work on the buildings. Wearing light blue jeans, with an orange long sleeved shirt, Kite explained that things didn’t go well when the Somali’s first arrived in town. “There was tremendous tension. For many white people here, this was there first time they’ve seen a black person.”

What educators such as McNeil hoped would improve community relations were the younger Somali children integrating into the Barron school district with their families. “As those kids grow up with the regular white residents of Barron, you’ll see improvement and that has taken place,” says McNeil.  “I walk in that school, and I see kids of all color, white kids, Chinese, Asian, and everybody’s working together everybody’s playing together.”

That improvement has come in the form of a soccer program initiated by the school administrator, a successful ESL program, and hopefully in the future, a Somali liaison who can serve on the Barron school board and represent the Somali community. There are currently no Somalis on the school board.  “That community needs representation so that we understand each other better,” said McNeil.

Despite these programs that signal progress being made between the Somalis and the Barron community, there are still many who can’t get pass the Somalis’ culture and skin color. Gerry Lisi, Chairperson of the Barron Democratic Party says the Somalis are very socially conservative and believes Republicans would get along with the Somali immigrants if they could simply get past the differences of their outward appearance.

“It is surprising to me that the Barron County Republican Party has not established a close and mutually beneficial relationship with a community of people that encourages strong, large two-parent families; insists on weekly church attendance; discourages drinking and smoking; and holds conservative views on homosexuality and abortion.  So much for Republican family values,” said Lisi.  “We Democrats are glad to ally ourselves with these fine folks and enjoy seeing them establish families here.” 

The Barron Republican Party declined to comment for this story.

The post A Town Adjusts to its New Neighbors appeared first on Welcome to Barron.

Born in Plymouth Wisconsin, Freimund felt the call in his life to be a minister when he was 20-years-old. He spent the next 20 years of his life in ministry before leaving Plymouth and settling in Barron, Wisconsin. When the Somalis began to arrive, he didn’t think it was accident.

“I believe God bought the Somali here, he hates vanilla ice cream every day of the week,” Freimund said, referring to the majority white population in Barron and lack of diversity. “Without the Somali here, Barron would be boring.”  

Sitting with Freimund at the table were three of the immigrants he believed God bought to him. Warsme, Abdi, and Daud. Warsme wore a plaid sweater jacket with blue jeans. Daud and Abdi both wore black thin jackets and blue jeans. All three of the Somali immigrants had been in Barron for six years. Although they still struggle to speak English, they’re able to comprehend short phrases. None of them had a negative word to say about the town of Barron.

“Out of 100 percent maybe 5 percent are not nice,” said Warsme referring to how their treated by the Barron community.  “We working together, helping together; a lot of people very good.”  Warsme continued, saying, “We don’t want problems here.”  

Passing the citizenship test is extremely important to Warsme. He has children in South Africa and wants to eventually bring them to America in order for them to become citizens. However before that happens, he needs to become a citizen himself. He sends between $800-1,000 to his family every month.

Freimund believes it’s his duty to help immigrants like Warsme any way he can. He views himself as an ambassador to the community and often has many religious conversations with the Somali immigrants.

“I’m not here to convert them,” Freimund said. “I’m here to talk about God; if they become Christians, they become Christians; that’s not my decision, I can’t save them.” 

The citizenship class wrapped up, and the conversation moved to the Somali Tea room, which is just a block from the library. Best described as the Somali version of a typical American bar, the Somali tea room is a place where men can come to relax with their friends, watch soccer—which is always on—play board games, and, of course, drink piping hot tea.

Although Freimund said he is often the only white guy in the tea room, he’s always been treated with the upmost compassion by the Somali immigrants. The Somalis refuse to allow payment for tea.

“If Jesus Christ drove his Pontiac through Barron, if he had to stop anywhere he would come to the Somali tea room,” said Freimund, making a point of the friendliness the Somalis continue to display to him and strangers alike.

Freimund feels one of the reasons the Somali are so content in Barron is that compared to the countries they fled violence from, Barron is perfect. “They’re happy they’re here and happy it’s boring.”

The post How a Former Minister helps the Somali Community appeared first on Welcome to Barron.