Somalis, under the political spotlight over immigration and a fraud investigation in Minnesota , objected Dec. 11 in Green Bay to a self-proclaimed racist’s comments against Somali customers at a Cinnabon in Ashwaubenon and the view of Somali immigrants as “garbage” by President Donald Trump .

Such beliefs around their identity were longstanding and hurtful, said a group of the state’s most prominent Muslim and Somali leaders compelled to defend their community members during a news conference at Green Bay’s City Hall.

For Said Hassan, the Somali American executive director of the refugee nonprofit COMSA , the Cinnabon incident was personal; the family on the receiving end of the racist comments in Ashwaubenon were his next-door neighbors, he said.

“This is outside of what we

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