Star Tribune Headline Draws Criticism

by Lisa Ann Pierce, WAMM

On Saturday, October 13, the Star Tribune released the early edition of its Sunday newspaper bearing the headline, "Somalis may have funded terror group: Minnesota donors apparently thought Al-Itihaad was a charity." Many in the community responded with outrage at the irresponsibility of the headline, which they felt endangered local Somali people to hate crimes.

WAMM activist Anne Winkler-Morey was among the outraged. She called the Star Tribune asking them to retract the headline and issue an apology. She also called on others to call the newspaper and many of them issued the same charge to the Star Tribune.

The Star Tribune did change the headline for the Sunday release of the newspaper. In its final edition, the headline read, "Terror group may have received local funds: Some Minnesota Somalis thought Al-Itihaad was a charity."
The Pioneer Press reported that the Somali community has recounted several incidents of attacks on Somalis following the release of the early Sunday edition of the Star Tribune on Saturday, October 13. One Somali woman reported being grabbed by a man who called her "the wife of bin Laden" (Pioneer Press, October 16, 2001).

Ali Ali, a 65-year-old Somali man from Minneapolis, may have been attacked as he waited for a bus on Sunday, October 14. Ali's son, Abdi Warsame, told the Pioneer Press, "I strongly believe the (assault) was because of the article." Ali died at Hennepin County Medical Center on Monday, October 22. The Minneapolis police are investigating the cause of Ali's death, which may have been an assault or a hit-and-run accident with a car (Pioneer Press, October 25 and 29, 2001).