This is embarrassingly wrong, but not surprising given the source. What has happened in Minnesota is one of the biggest taxpayer fraud scandals in history. The Feeding Our Future case involved approximately $250 million stolen, with around 78 indictments in that scheme alone (and related fraud probes pushing totals higher). These schemes are overwhelmingly tied to the Somali community in Minnesota. Most of the indicted individuals in the Feeding Our Future case are from that community—and not just random people, but often community leaders or figures. That obviously doesn’t implicate everyone in that community, but there is nothing wrong with noting that fact; in fact, it’s actually important to do so. Why? Because it is central to understanding what happened in Minnesota. A big part of the reason this fraud went on for so long and so much was stolen was that the fraudsters specifically cited their Somali heritage and used their connections to shut down investigations by claiming discrimination. A lot of people don’t realize this, but the Minnesota Department of Education actually identified likely fraud as early as 2019 (pre-pandemic). But when they tried to stop payments or tighten oversight, the fraudsters claimed discrimination. They even filed a lawsuit in 2020, and court actions (including a judge’s rulings on processing delays and payments) effectively forced the MDE to resume or continue payments at times. All because they pretended—as @joshrogin does here—that this was really about them being Somali, instead of the fact that they were committing massive fraud.