President Trump on Monday reshared a Truth Social video of a kindergarten graduation at Gateway STEM Academy in St. Paul, where many of the young girls wore hijabs. The move set off a wave of outrage from Minnesota leaders and civil rights groups, who warned that spotlighting the clip in front of a national audience risks stoking anti-Muslim sentiment and putting the children in the video in harm's way.
The clip, first posted in June by the account "End Wokeness" and later picked up by the president, shows roughly two dozen kids in caps and gowns, according to The New Republic. The footage is from Gateway STEM Academy, a K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, according to the school's website.
Leaders Condemn the Post
Gov. Tim Walz blasted the repost as a direct swipe at children, saying, "The President of the United States is attacking a group of kindergarteners because of the clothes they wore to school," according to FOX 9. The national Council on American-Islamic Relations and its Minnesota chapter argued that the amplification "gives bigots a green light" and warned that using the president's platform to highlight the clip "puts lives at risk," in a press release via CAIR.
Context: A Pattern of Targeting Minnesota's Somali Community
Advocates linked the episode to what they describe as a broader pattern of attacks on Minnesota's Somali community. Last December the president referred to Somali immigrants in the state as "garbage," a remark that drew national attention, according to reporting by AP. Critics note that the latest clip surfaced amid heated national debate over immigration and high-profile federal inquiries that have already trained a spotlight on Twin Cities communities.
Online response to the Truth Social post quickly turned ugly in places, with commenters recycling anti-Muslim and xenophobic rhetoric that civil rights groups say underscores the danger of elevating the video in the first place, as reported by The Daily Beast. Gateway STEM Academy did not immediately respond to media requests for comment, the outlet noted.
Local officials and advocates, while trying to keep the temperature down, called for stepped-up protections around the school and urged political figures across the spectrum to steer clear of rhetoric that singles out children. CAIR and CAIR-MN, in their press release, asked people of conscience to reject further escalation and emphasized community safety efforts around the families and students shown in the video.
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