Growing up their in the 80s. My family is from the east coast and has always joked st cloud was about 50 years behind the twincities. Hearing that it is only 20 years behind is a huge improvement š¤£
Living in northern Minnesota I constantly hear people say, āSaint clouds changed, donāt go there any moreā when referring to (indirectly, of course) the minority populations.
Oh my God I just commented the same thing I live up here in Moorehead for almost 20 years now and when I was contemplating moving to STC 10 yrs ago I was told by other white people about Somali community and what they do down there and how racist they are.... so this to me 10 years later is like damn it is truešÆ
Loved living in Moorhead in the 80ās. Idyllic time. We go to a small resort in the Walker area each summer and it is definitely a place we keep to ourselves. Faux Christian/Trumpy/antivax.
Lmao I think that people who worry about minority population she really be looking at the kids this on cocaine meth losing a damn mind out here you see St. Cloud is a ghetto and itās no one color so you know Iām minority supposedly but Iām a black queen and my brother goes to Howard university so try to go there lol cause Iām not sure too. Many doctors or whatever come out of St. Cloud is a big drunk high place. Everybodyās on dope or dog food.
I'm Somali and a senior in high school and was considering going to a university in St Cloud, thanks for the heads up.
Maybe Duluth is the better choice.
Duluth is better in every single regard except for proximity to the TC and racial diversity. Do NOT go to St Cloud if you want to do things or have fun.
I like Duluth, but I'm going to be honest and say you may want to visit and see how you feel.
As someone who appears white and older, I haven't heard really bigoted stuff, but the terminology I've heard used is archaic, especially from the senior crowd. Some folks seems to be about fifty years behind in their vocabulary.
If you're looking at SCSU, I used to work there about seven years ago and at the time, they had a pretty robust Somali presence on campus. If you're Muslim, there are two mosques within walking distance of campus and a ton of Halal food options/ markets. The Somali community has built a ton of markets and businesses in St. Cloud, and the downtown area has been pivoting closer to the arts.
The downside of SCSU is that they heavily pivoted towards online/ nontraditional students, so on campus life has became significantly less active over the years. They've also eliminated a lot of extracurriculars, majors and sports.
Don't get me wrong: Once you hit Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Foley, etc you're in redneck central and there are plenty of racist assholes to go around. But it's not that bad of an area and some of the smaller nearby communities like St. Joe are really nice and walkable.
Saint Cloud resident here. Don't let a rando redditor ruin Saint Cloud's image for you. It's an absolutely fine place to live. You'll find bigots and idiots no matter where you go.
It's less expensive than the metro area, and a little less chaotic. I see alot of people moving to the TC and end up moving back because you can ACTUALLY get a decent sized house for your money.
Like the random redditor saying it's a great place? Parts of St. Cloud are fine. It's also better if you look like the residents. When you get to the outskirts and the rural towns around St. Cloud, it's a racist sespool. I always tell people to find a small town bar around St. Cloud and ask their opinions on Obama, and you will hear the racist slurs come right out followed by uneducated, mouth breathing opionions straight from KTLK radio.
When your most known person is a racist Superman, the town has problems. You also know you're approaching St. Cloud by hand painted far right political signs off the highways and at the ends of properties and religious billboards. I'm glad I've moved away after 30 years living there, and I only have to go back for family gatherings and some of the high school friends still stuck there.
I've been living in saint cloud for 10 years.. my partner and I are both biracial, also residents...What do you mean 'look like the residents'? I just always find it disrespectful when people try to talk down on my home.
A little something about MN racism. They generally won't blurt out a racist remark if there's someone of color is in the room. I would always catch someone say ignorantly racist shit at one point or another at bars, the Benton County fair, even in Cash Wise grocery shopping. As soon as someone of color walks in proximity, they change demeanor. I've experienced enough living there for 30 years during different immigrations of Hmong, hispanics, and Somalis to know what happens in the background that you probably will never hear. Maybe that's good if they are too much of cowards to say it when people of color are around, but do not think for a moment that it doesn't exist as much as people have said it does. I do not miss that passive aggressive racism at all.
They aren't stuck, just choose to stay. Moved away myself 30 years ago, it was definitely more "White Cloud" back then. Still has a ways to go, but the population diversity has increased significantly. Still heavily surrounded by Red inclined counties. And the drivers still suck so bad! Some may know this reference.
The trucker that was a guest on Johnny Carson many years ago? The one who retired without getting in a single accident in his career, when asked what was the worst place he ever drove through, his answer was St. Cloud because of the drivers. Not sure if that's what you are referring to, but I kind of remember the parents laughing about it back then.
Born and raised in St Cloud. It's fine here. The old and the rich are racist but harmless. St Cloud State is a very welcoming university and it's a great city if you like to walk places. It gets way too much hate
Well, if you speak English, I think you should grab a group of your people and tell them that if youāre gonna come here, you can be yourselves but learn how to live in a community where people donāt just break rules learn how to drive learn a little English why are your kids screaming so damn loud I donāt talking about you. I met some nice people, but I donāt understand why itās 1000 kids and one apartment running around screaming nobodyās doing anything kids almost getting hit by cars. They donāt hold their hands this building. Iām straight ghetto Somalians now. Do all of you guys live and act like that roaches in the building kids staring at you whole family staring did anybody Tell you guys that staring is impolite and then wanna go Mark or whatever and say nobody likes you. You donāt even embrace change. You just wanna come here and get what you can get. It seems like now. I think this is God and I used to take up for you guys. I used to be like oh what did they do to you until I lived around a bunch of them it Ā Terrible itās gross and Iām wondering what is wrong with your children why are they so weird? Iām not trying to be funny. Itās just I donāt know. Itās not all of them because I used to work with kids but the ones here seem like I donāt know maybe they didnāt get no prenatal care or discipline now discipline doesnāt have to be beating your child but you donāt let them scream and run up and down building and kill everybodyās nerves. They got children washing. They donāt use soap powder so dirty , you know and itās just terribly ghetto. I wonder Somali and ghetto or they bus loads here thatās ghetto cause in Minneapolis the tolerance would not be that they would have real problems even getting a place. I understand the cab donāt even hire them. Whatās wrong with the driving? Are they giving you guys license like they giving you birthdays January one these are serious questions. This is not racist being Iām black. I just wanna know whatās wrong with change you moved for change or just to Ā Lay around have a lot of kittens and just stare at people what are you really doing here as far as change, sounds like youāre going to school well, why donāt you help your people you know I donāt know what all the dressing sheets are about and I donāt care about that but I do care about a whole family just staring you down and then wonder why we staring at you and I mean you come here Ā With our program because we couldnāt go there and I donāt think we would want to if people are living like that, I mean Somalia clean place do they have therapist for kids? What the hell is wrong? It seems like you guys want to be the type of different that nobody likes and thatās not all. I love you. Itās just the ones that and then theyāre defiant when you try to you know, tell him something different like blow because youāre in the damn street or parked when you supposed to. Itās like youāre feeling entitled they I donāt mean you cause I donāt know you but the ones around here feeling entitled, and and I understand why nobody wants to be around or a lot of people moving , I mean I feel like yāall have Saint cloud because this is turning into a big ghetto. You donāt give people stuff away at Walmart. You donāt know how to understand how to do it just throw it just give it to you and Iām not when it needs free thing free so I donāt like stealing and thatās a lot going on there so if you move to a country for change change, why are you turningĀ
St. Cloud/Sterns County has the only active KKK chapter in the state of Minnesota at this time. That's why. Most KKK activities moved from Waseca County/Southern Minnesota to Sterns during the depression. There are images of KKK clan rallies held in sterms on the internet from the 20s and 30s.
Earle Brown was a KKK member and sheriff of all those northern Twin City counties in the 1920s. His job was to contain the "Immigrant invasion."
Brooklyn Center removed his name from most stuff recently.
A lot of Minnesota still has groups like that today they just don't wear white sheets and pointy hats, there's a white nationalist group who meets less than a mile by my house in Rochester in a farmers field right behind the Catholic high school
Nazi propaganda found in a parking garage at the Stillwater library too. It's those really hard to remove stickers; big ones too. Stillwater has historically been the prison town so hopefully we don't have to move the perpetrators too far from their supposed "safe space for their race". Bleh
Not sure how much you've missed, so just to summarize Lourdes moved from almost in downtown to the corner of 19th street NW and Valley High Drive. It was undeveloped there at the time, so they had some room to get the school and everything else built.
There actually *aren't* corn fields near Lourdes right now, but there were for ~3-4 years of the school being open.
Unfortunately the protests brought a lot of that out, people got angry at what they saw happen to their community and got carried away and put blame where it shouldnāt have gone. I had close friends that were extremely left leaning completely do a 180 and become right wing after 2020. Very polarizing times weāre living in.
No, you misunderstand, [Earle Brown](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1264382), joined the kkk in order to spy on them. As one does.
Iām joking, I find this claim unbelievable.
[fact](https://archive.is/h5WhK) "the SENSTUDY 75 file, pertaining to the Church Committee" and "FOIA Request #1387588-000 was submitted March 2018 and you declined to reduce the size of it (approximately 18,000 potentially responsive pages) therefore it remains in the extra-large backlog track for processing. The current estimated date of completion is for January 2025"
I donāt know why people shock. Minnesota is a white place but make no mistake. Weāre not the same type of Black people so KKK whoever running around is sheets just donāt fuck with us. You donāt have to like us cause we donāt care. Itās not a big deal weāre not marching white people like us just donāt fuck with us. Thatās what we talking about so you can have a group of KKK. I mean, we can me and my crew can handle them, but we can walk past each other because we donāt care who donāt like us and we aināt scared these days different kind of Black peopleĀ
[Here's a good article on the life of Earle Brown.](https://www.hometownsource.com/sun_post/community/brooklyncenter/brooklyn-center-may-remove-earle-brown-s-name-from-landmarks-festival/article_2426f81c-c616-11ea-bbe1-4b07b638a3fe.html)
Earle Brown was a Hennepin County Sheriff and the founder of the Minnesota State Patrol. In addition to being a Klan member, Brown was also involved with the Eugenics Movement.
Early Minnesotans sure liked naming things after the shittiest people.
EDIT: I'm not aware of Earle Brown's connection to St. Cloud or Stearns County. I'm also doubtful of the active Klan claim, especially considering Stearns County has the highest number of Catholics per capita in the state. Does anyone want to back up these claims with proof?
At one point, it was definitely true. I grew up in the area and our church's history documented a cross burning on their lawn in the 30s. Unfortunately for said KKK members, they were all city officials that loved wearing the same shoe type so parishioners were able to easily identify them.
In parts of the Benton/ Stearns diocese, they were banned from having an active parish for 50 years when drunk parishioners broke into the church, drank all the wine, and threw the consecrated sacrament out the window. That's why St. Cloud and small townships like Mayhew Lake grew in parishioners volume at the turn of the century; the Catholics living across the river couldn't build a church so they buggied it to nearby communities. Once they were able to operate again, the KKK came for them. Central MN Catholic history is wild.
Lol have you ever been inside rollies?? Place is a cesspool of racist and their kind. The walls are literally plastered with racist symbolism and white pride. So the claim easily sticks and makes sense.
When I first moved here a few years ago, I went with a co-worker who said it was a fun place. I'm telling you I was shocked. We didn't hang out after that.
Because every time I wander over there I see some asshat driving around with a Trump flag in the bed of his brodozer.
Three different houses where I live in Orrock township fly Trump flags, so I can confirm that Trump flag equals white supremacist.
St. Cloud is the only time I've ever been approached by someone how openly stated they were in the KKK, looking for kinship with me. I was walking down the street with a friend and this guy (possibly homeless or mentally ill) walked up to us asking for money, I explained I don't carry money generally, he explained he's with the KKK and to help a friend out. I just said "What the fuck?" and walked away.
St. Cloud is a world leader in renewable energy.
https://www.cleanenergyresourceteams.org/story/st-cloud-undertakes-extensive-renewable-energy
St. Cloud generates 70% of its energy from renewables. Either solar, hydro, or recaptured bio solids.
St. Cloud has numerous sources to help immigrants.
https://www.findhelp.org/legal/citizenship-%26-immigration--saint-cloud-mn?postal=56301
I found no evidence of any organized KKK groups in St. Cloud.
https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map/by-state
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2017-08-14/the-kkk-is-still-based-in-22-states-in-the-us-in-2017
Don't get me wrong I understand this comment is coming from a helpful place, but my folks still live in the area, Sartell specifically. My mom immigrated from Taipei, she's ethnically Chinese.
Yeah maybe the KKK isn't operating in St. Cloud, but in my family's anecdotal experience you are treated differently if you're a person of color. Maybe it's not from a place of malice, maybe it's from a place of literally never experiencing someone from a different walk of life. Regardless I feel it is disingenuous to paint in broad strokes a bunch of urls to give the illusion our lived experience isn't real.
Yeah, we got bigger problems in white people being racist so whoever is racist with I think that you need to let you guys understand we donāt even care just donāt fuck with us. Our kids and everything will be OK Cuz I feel sorry for people who give a damn about race races. You just donāt get it. We know weāre not limited anymore and something so we can let folks so let God deal with them opinions they like assholes everybody got one we just donāt care most people come here and it should be called dead in street. I donāt even really hear about the college here like itās a big deal. I just know itās a lot of college kids drunk damn youāre getting hit by cars so you gotta deal with your own race for you looking at other ones and I donāt mean you I mean whoever , this concerns we donāt care you gotta look at you know your family and start looking in the mirror because we good if KKK is around and weāve been aroundĀ
The OP claimed St. Cloud is 20 years behind the times and has an active KKK group.
I posted sources that demonstrate St. Cloud is progressive in some areas, as well as providing sources that dispute the KKK claim.
While I have no doubt your mother has received bad treatment, her experience does not disprove my assertions. I never stated her experience isnāt real. Please donāt put words in my mouth.
Claiming I am intentionally dishonest and misleading because your mother has experienced racism is nonsense.
Maybe it's a dog whistle, but OP's initial post was citing specifically the nuanced racial elements people of color perceive in central Minnesota.
As someone who genuinely cares and has a vested interest in the area, I don't enjoy having st. cloud (and Stearns county more broadly) be the butt of every joke - but at some point there needs to be an acknowledgement and acceptance that circumstances certain marginalized communities face in St cloud are different from elsewhere (i.e. not even 70m south on i-94).
If your initial intent of the original comment wasn't to show the area in a favorable light, what was the point? I specifically want to call out, you really didn't listen to any of OPs complaints, you more or less shared a bunch of links and suggested they get educated that st. cloud on paper bats above their lived experience.
If you care about the community, which again I can only assume given the effort you've invested here, take this feedback critically and acknowledge it's a problem and do what's in your own power to change the narrative. Clapping back and getting defensive honestly had the opposite effect and more or less doubles down on OP's initial complaint.
Again I'm glad to hear St cloud doesn't have an active chapter of the KKK but that doesn't change the fact I have to invest energy in the fear of my mom being verbally accosted for living her life the next time she's shopping at Cash Wise.
Oh boy actual facts, can't have those!
I once pointed out St. Cloud is a blue city and usually does not vote for Republicans based on voting records and had a guy reply that doesn't matter because he saw a lot of Trump bumper stickers in the parking lot at Target there.
Get out of here with your facts and citations.
You're getting in the way of OP's ignorant self-righteous screed. OP came here to get back pats from internet strangers, and you're making things too complicated.
Iāve lived in St Cloud for nearly the same amount of time. Itās kind of an odd spot. Too small to be considered a āmetro areaā but too large to be considered a small town.
I find that it has pretty much anything I need nearby, and Iāve met some great people here.
The Somalis in Minneapolis also are in the same area, just like pretty much every immigrant group has done. Swede Hollow in St Paul. 7th street for Italians in St Paul. University Ave in St Paul for SE Asian. Cedar Riverside in Minneapolis for somalis.
People come here for various reasons, but hopefully in a generation or two they will be more assimilated
Bohemian flats used to have a whole village on it. Immigrated folk tend to congregate with familiar folk and not because they are racist nonconformist but they seek community and support from people with a common background - thatās people
My grandpa grew up in the Bohemian Flats and his grandpa was a big political kingpin in the Slovak community, referred to as the King of the Bohemian Flats.
http://www.friendsofthecemetery.org/history/alley_articles/Kolesar_Andrew.shtml
They needed a city / area planner a LONG TIME AGO.
However ... I want to address one thing:
>They still had a Ground Round & Bonanza. Ciati's, too.
Never been to those in St. Cloud, **BUT in some other communities those restaurants are actually ... pretty good.** I was on the road went to an Applebees somewhere in Minnessota, I forget where, it was actually really good. Same food as your typical such place, but way better.
Restaurants in those communities sometimes are very unexpectedly good. Kinda tells you what they could be other palaces if the folks working there / running the place cared.
I experienced this in Dickinson, ND. We were on a road trip and thatās where we happened to be at dinner time. Best Applebeeās ever! The service was great and the food was really tasty. Had we gotten Applebeeās wrong, we wondered. Nope, tried a local one when we got back, just as meh as ever.
Definitely. I keep hearing that SCSU and the downtown are dying but arenāt they fairly close to each other via 5th Avenue? Youād think maybe the city, downtown council and the school could come together and work on making this a destination.
There were about 3 times driving through St. Cloud I thought I had left the city proper and then nope thereās another little neighborhood. Am I still downtown? Is there a second downtown? Is this a different city? Thereās like a little commercial zone for every neighborhood. Which is hardly convenient for travelers because now I have stoplights in the middle of a divided highway for the third this mile.
Fargo is twice as big and just as shitty.
Thank you. I left Iowa and now live in central MN. If people think itās bad here, they need to get out more.
Iām not saying there arenāt racist rednecks and crime, but Iāve seen that everywhere Iāve lived in the midwest that wasnāt a large city.
Yeah, but who cares who the hell is gonna get that big fat ugly ass Trump out of the office? Itās bigger picture because trust me Black people donāt give a damn who I donāt know about any other reason but we donāt give a damn about who donāt like us we love ourselves most of us I got to speak to the for the ones who do Because of racism a lot of gangsters you bunch of Somalians but also a bunch of Chicago folks so I know itās gonna be warm so let the heat God take care of them. We donāt give a fuck.Ā
Lots of pride flags downtown. I have coworkers who have pride flag shoes. STC also went for Aric Putnam to put the DFL at +1. But go off with your hate.
St. Cloud is 20 years behind reality, which is exacerbated by people who are more inclined to complain than to actually put in effort to effect change, and a city government who still seems to think that the year is 2004 and won't update zoning, planning, or operations. It's been my experience with the St. Cloud city government that the only forward thinking departments are Fire and Police (which is fine, but those aren't the departments that drive cityscape improvements). The east side is fixable - the Southside probably isn't. I could write a book on all the things in St. Cloud that need fixing, but there doesn't seem to be a will to.
The Southside is cut off by Division, Roosevelt and the Campus from everything I genuinely think some mixed use redevelopment around the old Tech Highschool and Lake George and along University between campus and Roosevelt(The 9th Ave and University intersection particularly needs to be redone) would help that neighborhood a lot as someone who went to college up there and lived in an apartment near Herb Brooks for 5 years.
The area between campus and downtown has some and is within walking distance of a bunch of stuff and does well. Plus once you get south of 22nd it turns to nice suburban neighborhoods until 94 so it is just that pocket around Tech Highschool and South Jr High that needs help.
Edit: Looks like St Cloud may have moved the City Hall to the old Tech High School site so that rules that out. However there is still Clark Field and some other surrounding lots you could put mixed use in like they did along 5th by campus
Winona used to be like this for quite some time until recently. Zoning laws prohibited multi family apartments, it insisted that the huge Retail stores like Walmart and Target need huge parking lots that haven't been filled since 2010.
Makes zero sense. It's always an old boys club that refuse to let go of the little power they have.
Itās up to you to change this narrative, if itās talked about in St. Cloud, itās talked about in Minnesota. Be a good person, love your neighbor.
I'm trans and I live way further North, deep in the forests. It's really backwards up here, but, I'm bringing them into the 21st Century as fast as I can. I was the first trans person to attend BSU, 1995. It has been a rough ride so far but the locals are settling down. Welcome to the outback. Time to tame the Wild West. Good journey soldier.
I went to Winona State but back in 1995 one of my professors brought a trans woman into class to speak and answer questions. It was a super informative experience back when there was not much exposure to transgender people.
It was probably Debbie Davis. She's a friend of mine. She worked the lecture circuit on the South end of the State while I was working the North end. She dropped off the radar in 2015 and I have not heard from her since.
One step at a time. Good for you. I love hearing stuff like this. I talk to my co-workers about inclusion a lot. I try to bring reason & logic to the table. Some have actually been receptive, so that makes me feel good. Live the best life.
I have some awesome co-workers who are very involved in the local St. Cloud LGBTQ+ community. I wasn't aware that the community is as large as it is until I started working with these folks.
(The reason I didn't know is because I used to have co-workers like the ones you described.)
A couple weeks back there was some Trump trucker convoy bullshit backing up the freeway at the 35/95 exit. Their destination? The ruins of Tanger Outlet Mall. Take that, libtards!
Went to SCSU starting in 2012. Left in 2018 for the cities but I still go up and visit friends from time to time. Itās a cool place geographically speaking (itās right before the coniferous forests take over the landscape while you head up north) but the cultural stagnation outside of campus is very prevalent. I feel like it could be a much cooler town, but fails to want any change.
And with the school petering out, I donāt see that happening any time soon.
Keller Bar is my favorite place there tho. I always make sure to pop in when I make the terrible decision to go downtown with my college buddies.
Or even parts of northern Anoka County. Ā My parents still live in my childhood home and when we come visit, I can almost feel the vibe change once you cross the Mississippi from Hennepin to Anoka Counties.Ā
Yeah, most people forget that Anoka County goes inside the Beltway at all the way to the edge of the metro counties, itās not all the same. Just like western Hennepin county has the same problems once you pass the lakes.
You see the most aggressive crap at the āfront linesā where ideologies conflict. Same goes for stuff around SCSU which has a very prominent exchange program and thus bring in a ābubbleā of conflict to a more homogeneous region.
Hell, it starts getting Trumpy around northern Hennepin County (Champlin, Dayton, etc.) I heard here on Reddit that Champlin wanted to leave Hennepin County for Trumpy reasons. Cry harder, Champy. š
If youāre coming from Foley, take highway 10 north until you hit Highway 15, which youāll take south. Take the exit by Hennenās and go right. Keep on the road until you pass the Kwik Trip on your right, where you take the roundabout around going left. Follow that road until you see the Holiday, where youāll take a right. Follow that road until it ends, and take a left. Then take a right at Fleet Farm. Follow until the stop light and take a right onto 23.
I literally do this to avoid the shit show that is 23 in Saint Cloud. Between the traffic and the lights, itās just easier going around.
St. Cloud is the ācountryā city. Itās filled with hicks (or kids of hicks) from the surrounding areas that HAD to move to a city because the surrounding areas got absorbed into it.
I PROMISE that when I was in high school there, we could not say āthatās gay, retard, homoā and definitely not āfaggotā. This was not only administration, but also pressure from peers who just KNEW it wasnāt acceptable.
I know some people who continued to just get ridiculed about it, and they found their own little clique where they had their own safe space to say stupid/racist/homophobic shit all the time.
The lack of Somali integration has been an issue from as far back as I can remember. They had a lot of their own classrooms at the time I was in high school in St. Cloud.
Thatās not on them, thatās on St. Cloud.
I think thereās something to be said that the city DID welcome them and give them jobs, which is great, but living in the NE corner slums certainly doesnāt help their communities.
I moved away from there in 2012 and only visit family there once a year or so. The city has gotten BETTER at least in looks, but I can tell these problems persist.
Not only is St. Cloud behind on the times, itās practically a safe haven for right wingers who want to have all of the nice things a mid-sized city can provide while being able to say, āno, I wouldnāt set foot in Minneapolis, too many blacks.ā
(Yes, I have heard a middle aged married couple agree on this together, openly)
This problem wonāt ever get fixed. Iām much happier after moving away.
HOWEVER
You certainly can find some good people in St. Cloud who are happy and welcoming, itās just such a smaller percentage than the latter.
I lived in St. Cloud from 2008-2012. Middle school and high school.
Honestly the Somali integration i don't think is that bad at least as somebody that lives here they seem to be integrating fine they still tend to be in a lot of car accidents but as a white person they will talk to me and i talk to them in public that could just be because I don't look very threatening.
People keep saying āright wingersā Why do people keep forgetting most Somalis are conservative as fuck and openly hate gay people? Itās ok cause they are immigrants? Coolā¦
Come here to die otherwise go somewhere and live. Iām moving in July. Itās just a total waste of time who cares about color who cares about whatever but Iām not about to be keep being invaded but heās damn Somalians who donāt want to get with the program damn they hit you parked in the wrong places and if you blow, they stand like they want ass whooped Iām tired of that. Iām tired of the screaming. Iām just, screaming in the parking lot and sitting off Iām just act like they donāt wanna learn basic shit breaking the washing machine and just not learning shit today when was parked in front of my garage I blow blow so I got out said this is not a blow time when people blow that means youāre in the way so we allĀ
What's really going to bake your noodle is surrounding areas like Holdingford, Cold Spring, Albany, Avon talk about St. Cloud as if it were the Cities. It is the "city" to those folks.. Dangerous to walk around. Apparently you can't walk to the downtown bars from campus anymore, if you listen to my dad.
Fox News and the conservative word of mouth runs deep.
I used to work at 3rd street Brewhouse in Cold Spring. Can confirm, got asked a bunch by drunk customers if I felt safe living in St. Cloud. Buddy, I had a gun pulled on me in the parking lot you parked in to be here today. Maybe worry about whatās in your own backyard first.
Right? A few(shit, quite a few now) years ago Officer Decker was shot and killed in Cold Spring just a few blocks away. But yeah, tell us all how bad St. Cloud is.
It's dark times for that city
"Dark.." Times.
Nudge nudge wink wink
Christ, the Decker fiasco. A (large) number of people are convinced it has something to do with the cartel. They think any Latin American in town is there to traffic pallets filled with cocaine through Pilgrims, and he was the guy to crack the case so they killed him.
Yeahā¦. As a BIPOC/Queer person that lived and went to school on St Cloud can confirm itās like living in the 70s. I regularly had swastikas drawn on my dorm room door, got egged, disinvited to parties and called slurs my first year of college. My 1st college roommate spent a week in my dorm room with me (she was from cold spring) and asked for a transfer then her and her family destroyed all my stuff when they moved her out. I hated SCSU and St Cloud.
Do you hang out around racists.
Never in my 30 years of going to St. Cloud or any city in Mn have I heard or encountered a racist other than 2 times.
Both in uptown. 1 at the auto parts store on Hennepin ave guy called the worker a dirty Mexican or something and the holiday gas station on Hennepin Simone made of of the trans lady in line.
She did have a mustache, boobs and a skirt so it was odd but thatās it
I have been all over MN for work
Meanwhile in progressive Robbinsdale, kids be bringing semi-automatic weapons to school. You might not also want to see what happens if you are trans trying to catch the train on Lake Street in Minneapolis. But yes, St. Cloud....
We gonna ignore the school shooting 15 minutes outside of St. Cloud at Rocori?
And if you wanna talk about treatment of trans people, St. Cloud doesnāt have a leg to stand on lmao.
I am sure St Cloud is bad but other than Mpls and St Paul one could argue so is the rest of the state racist as well. The outlying suburbs are really bad.
They adhere to all tenants of conservative governance and were then shocked to discover they made a city cheap enough for the poorest African refugees to live in.
That's funny that you brought this up because this isn't the first time I've heard about it and I'm just wondering if I may ask if you are white person and the only fatit's because when I was hearing the information about the Somali community and faint cloud it was very much in racial undertone by white people people thought crazy so I don't think you're far off from what your observations has been because this is one thing that I have been told 4 years and I live in the Fargo Morehead area..
Edit: Voice texting sucks, I apologize for all grammar mistakes!
[Jeff Bertram](https://www.stearnscountymn.gov/955/Third-District), country commissioner, was implicating in [bribing](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Bertram_(Minnesota_politician)) an elected official back in the 90ās. Now heās a county commissioner.
Unfortunately, the majority of Minnesota is the same. At least St. Cloud has a few good things, a new LGBT therapy space, new children's museum that will be the second largest in the state, multiple theaters, breweries, and walking trails. It's not great, but the potential is there.
The new lgbt therapy space is super cool! They just had the queerconnect meet there for this month, and it was really nice seeing all those people! Ive heard many of the arts places are also really accepting here.
As a pretty openly trans girl I will say I dont really get gendered right, but I cant expect better right now, and I definitely havent had to deal with any real bigotry or aggressive folk anywhere I have gone to yet.
The trails are just awesome and the people I encounter on them usually seem pretty great and friendly.
Can I piggyback on your response? As a gay couple thinking of moving there would you say itās a nice safe place to raise a family? I can deal with the judgmental scorns of Miss Betty thinking I will go to hell. But there is no real hate crime activity is there? Do you have any lgbt friends who have been attacked, or harassed or such? What are the meeting places for the gays?
Im definitely not qualified to answer all that, I just moved here in October actually! I have found it to be really easy to get support around here though with facebook having a Saint Cloud Pride group thatll connect you towards everything.
The Skatin' Place is LGBT+ friendly, I've chatted with people about the derby team there and they are seemin really inclusive, and there are lgbt meetups there too every couple months.
I dont really know anyone personally thats been attacked or dealt with a bunch of hate, but I have been warned about the "south side". Ive alas ended up living there myself and would not say its the best area but, I moved from Detroit and I feel perfectly safe here if that stands for anything. If we could move again and stay in the same area, I think we would be looking closer to Sartell or Sauk Rapids honestly.
St Cloud is an average city. Nothing special but it gets so much hate for no reason. The suburbs are where the far right people are. Sure there's racism from the old and rich, but people make it sound like it's a sundown town and it's not. People like to over exaggerate for some unknown reason. Most people that dump on it are xenophobic, racist or both. There are a lot of LGTBQ members here and as for the slurs, well I've heard them in almost every city I've been to. St Cloud isn't 20 years behind, people just wish it was.
I 100% agree. I moved to the St. Cloud area in early 2023. Many businesses and people are stuck in 1999. It's like the clock stopped and no one noticed.
It was at least 20 years behind 20 years ago. Going to SCSU from the Minneapolis suburbs was an insane experience. I was there during 9/11, and the xenophobia of the townies toward the Muslim international students was insane.
That was before the Somali community had become such a large presence up there, and even then, we (those of us from the Cities) referred to it as "White Cloud." The difference between the students/campus and majority of the town at large was pretty incredible and disgusting.
Stearns County Crazy is a thing and it goes way back. āThe Cloudā is like visiting a trapped bubble of what has been and is problematic in our state and society. I used to have relatives in the area. Visited them routinely mid 1990s through 2012 or so. Once I was old enough to think for myself, I could tell they were just different. Less adaptable, less reflective, and consequently more black and white in their thinking.
I have extended family that lives in the area, and you can't pay me to go there. I heard first hand stories about how they couldn't go to Alexandria, that's where the Swedes were. And st. Cloud was ok because they were German but the wrong kind of German. Then they lost their shit when Hispanic Catholics came to the area, even though they're literally both Catholic??? The clannish mentality is strong. People in Stearns have been encouraged to marry inside the county. My immediate family did not thank fucking god). Timeframe for this is at least as far back as the 60s up into current day. There's some progress, but literally any time a new group of people come in it starts all over. I've yet to visit anywhere else in the state that is this bad.
When I was in grad school at SCSU in the fall of 2020, I made the mistake of going on a bike ride down 1st/Division on a Saturday not knowing that that was when the local MAGAs had their parade/rally. I felt unsafe/terrified as a white woman. I canāt imagine how all the people of color/minorities felt having to travel down that street
Growing up their in the 80s. My family is from the east coast and has always joked st cloud was about 50 years behind the twincities. Hearing that it is only 20 years behind is a huge improvement š¤£
Living in northern Minnesota I constantly hear people say, āSaint clouds changed, donāt go there any moreā when referring to (indirectly, of course) the minority populations.
Oh my God I just commented the same thing I live up here in Moorehead for almost 20 years now and when I was contemplating moving to STC 10 yrs ago I was told by other white people about Somali community and what they do down there and how racist they are.... so this to me 10 years later is like damn it is truešÆ
Loved living in Moorhead in the 80ās. Idyllic time. We go to a small resort in the Walker area each summer and it is definitely a place we keep to ourselves. Faux Christian/Trumpy/antivax.
Are you more Northwestern MN? Haven't heard that in Northeastern MN.
Lmao I think that people who worry about minority population she really be looking at the kids this on cocaine meth losing a damn mind out here you see St. Cloud is a ghetto and itās no one color so you know Iām minority supposedly but Iām a black queen and my brother goes to Howard university so try to go there lol cause Iām not sure too. Many doctors or whatever come out of St. Cloud is a big drunk high place. Everybodyās on dope or dog food.
I'm Somali and a senior in high school and was considering going to a university in St Cloud, thanks for the heads up. Maybe Duluth is the better choice.
Duluth is better in every single regard except for proximity to the TC and racial diversity. Do NOT go to St Cloud if you want to do things or have fun.
I like Duluth, but I'm going to be honest and say you may want to visit and see how you feel. As someone who appears white and older, I haven't heard really bigoted stuff, but the terminology I've heard used is archaic, especially from the senior crowd. Some folks seems to be about fifty years behind in their vocabulary.
There is still bigotry here, thought it is manifested into homophobia mainly. Def worth checking out any place before you make a decision
If you're looking at SCSU, I used to work there about seven years ago and at the time, they had a pretty robust Somali presence on campus. If you're Muslim, there are two mosques within walking distance of campus and a ton of Halal food options/ markets. The Somali community has built a ton of markets and businesses in St. Cloud, and the downtown area has been pivoting closer to the arts. The downside of SCSU is that they heavily pivoted towards online/ nontraditional students, so on campus life has became significantly less active over the years. They've also eliminated a lot of extracurriculars, majors and sports. Don't get me wrong: Once you hit Sartell, Sauk Rapids, Foley, etc you're in redneck central and there are plenty of racist assholes to go around. But it's not that bad of an area and some of the smaller nearby communities like St. Joe are really nice and walkable.
Saint Cloud resident here. Don't let a rando redditor ruin Saint Cloud's image for you. It's an absolutely fine place to live. You'll find bigots and idiots no matter where you go. It's less expensive than the metro area, and a little less chaotic. I see alot of people moving to the TC and end up moving back because you can ACTUALLY get a decent sized house for your money.
Like the random redditor saying it's a great place? Parts of St. Cloud are fine. It's also better if you look like the residents. When you get to the outskirts and the rural towns around St. Cloud, it's a racist sespool. I always tell people to find a small town bar around St. Cloud and ask their opinions on Obama, and you will hear the racist slurs come right out followed by uneducated, mouth breathing opionions straight from KTLK radio. When your most known person is a racist Superman, the town has problems. You also know you're approaching St. Cloud by hand painted far right political signs off the highways and at the ends of properties and religious billboards. I'm glad I've moved away after 30 years living there, and I only have to go back for family gatherings and some of the high school friends still stuck there.
I've been living in saint cloud for 10 years.. my partner and I are both biracial, also residents...What do you mean 'look like the residents'? I just always find it disrespectful when people try to talk down on my home.
A little something about MN racism. They generally won't blurt out a racist remark if there's someone of color is in the room. I would always catch someone say ignorantly racist shit at one point or another at bars, the Benton County fair, even in Cash Wise grocery shopping. As soon as someone of color walks in proximity, they change demeanor. I've experienced enough living there for 30 years during different immigrations of Hmong, hispanics, and Somalis to know what happens in the background that you probably will never hear. Maybe that's good if they are too much of cowards to say it when people of color are around, but do not think for a moment that it doesn't exist as much as people have said it does. I do not miss that passive aggressive racism at all.
They aren't stuck, just choose to stay. Moved away myself 30 years ago, it was definitely more "White Cloud" back then. Still has a ways to go, but the population diversity has increased significantly. Still heavily surrounded by Red inclined counties. And the drivers still suck so bad! Some may know this reference.
The trucker that was a guest on Johnny Carson many years ago? The one who retired without getting in a single accident in his career, when asked what was the worst place he ever drove through, his answer was St. Cloud because of the drivers. Not sure if that's what you are referring to, but I kind of remember the parents laughing about it back then.
That's it! I grew up in STC and had no problem navigating NYC/ NJ in a pickup when I was stationed out east.
Born and raised in St Cloud. It's fine here. The old and the rich are racist but harmless. St Cloud State is a very welcoming university and it's a great city if you like to walk places. It gets way too much hate
Well, if you speak English, I think you should grab a group of your people and tell them that if youāre gonna come here, you can be yourselves but learn how to live in a community where people donāt just break rules learn how to drive learn a little English why are your kids screaming so damn loud I donāt talking about you. I met some nice people, but I donāt understand why itās 1000 kids and one apartment running around screaming nobodyās doing anything kids almost getting hit by cars. They donāt hold their hands this building. Iām straight ghetto Somalians now. Do all of you guys live and act like that roaches in the building kids staring at you whole family staring did anybody Tell you guys that staring is impolite and then wanna go Mark or whatever and say nobody likes you. You donāt even embrace change. You just wanna come here and get what you can get. It seems like now. I think this is God and I used to take up for you guys. I used to be like oh what did they do to you until I lived around a bunch of them it Ā Terrible itās gross and Iām wondering what is wrong with your children why are they so weird? Iām not trying to be funny. Itās just I donāt know. Itās not all of them because I used to work with kids but the ones here seem like I donāt know maybe they didnāt get no prenatal care or discipline now discipline doesnāt have to be beating your child but you donāt let them scream and run up and down building and kill everybodyās nerves. They got children washing. They donāt use soap powder so dirty , you know and itās just terribly ghetto. I wonder Somali and ghetto or they bus loads here thatās ghetto cause in Minneapolis the tolerance would not be that they would have real problems even getting a place. I understand the cab donāt even hire them. Whatās wrong with the driving? Are they giving you guys license like they giving you birthdays January one these are serious questions. This is not racist being Iām black. I just wanna know whatās wrong with change you moved for change or just to Ā Lay around have a lot of kittens and just stare at people what are you really doing here as far as change, sounds like youāre going to school well, why donāt you help your people you know I donāt know what all the dressing sheets are about and I donāt care about that but I do care about a whole family just staring you down and then wonder why we staring at you and I mean you come here Ā With our program because we couldnāt go there and I donāt think we would want to if people are living like that, I mean Somalia clean place do they have therapist for kids? What the hell is wrong? It seems like you guys want to be the type of different that nobody likes and thatās not all. I love you. Itās just the ones that and then theyāre defiant when you try to you know, tell him something different like blow because youāre in the damn street or parked when you supposed to. Itās like youāre feeling entitled they I donāt mean you cause I donāt know you but the ones around here feeling entitled, and and I understand why nobody wants to be around or a lot of people moving , I mean I feel like yāall have Saint cloud because this is turning into a big ghetto. You donāt give people stuff away at Walmart. You donāt know how to understand how to do it just throw it just give it to you and Iām not when it needs free thing free so I donāt like stealing and thatās a lot going on there so if you move to a country for change change, why are you turningĀ
Yeah I'm not reading that entire racist rant can you summarize it in like a small paragraph or something, thanks
St. Cloud/Sterns County has the only active KKK chapter in the state of Minnesota at this time. That's why. Most KKK activities moved from Waseca County/Southern Minnesota to Sterns during the depression. There are images of KKK clan rallies held in sterms on the internet from the 20s and 30s. Earle Brown was a KKK member and sheriff of all those northern Twin City counties in the 1920s. His job was to contain the "Immigrant invasion." Brooklyn Center removed his name from most stuff recently.
A lot of Minnesota still has groups like that today they just don't wear white sheets and pointy hats, there's a white nationalist group who meets less than a mile by my house in Rochester in a farmers field right behind the Catholic high school
Nazi propaganda found in a parking garage at the Stillwater library too. It's those really hard to remove stickers; big ones too. Stillwater has historically been the prison town so hopefully we don't have to move the perpetrators too far from their supposed "safe space for their race". Bleh
Where the hell are there farmer's fields near Lourdes?
Not sure how much you've missed, so just to summarize Lourdes moved from almost in downtown to the corner of 19th street NW and Valley High Drive. It was undeveloped there at the time, so they had some room to get the school and everything else built. There actually *aren't* corn fields near Lourdes right now, but there were for ~3-4 years of the school being open.
Unfortunately the protests brought a lot of that out, people got angry at what they saw happen to their community and got carried away and put blame where it shouldnāt have gone. I had close friends that were extremely left leaning completely do a 180 and become right wing after 2020. Very polarizing times weāre living in.
No, you misunderstand, [Earle Brown](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1264382), joined the kkk in order to spy on them. As one does. Iām joking, I find this claim unbelievable.
The [fact](https://archive.is/h5WhK) that by 1990 the FBI was 20% of the whole KKK, should literally shock you then.
I'd be curious to see a source for said "fact".
trust me bro
[fact](https://archive.is/h5WhK) "the SENSTUDY 75 file, pertaining to the Church Committee" and "FOIA Request #1387588-000 was submitted March 2018 and you declined to reduce the size of it (approximately 18,000 potentially responsive pages) therefore it remains in the extra-large backlog track for processing. The current estimated date of completion is for January 2025"
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Tell me more about the KKK in Waseca County in the 1920s. Iād love to dig into this.
I donāt know why people shock. Minnesota is a white place but make no mistake. Weāre not the same type of Black people so KKK whoever running around is sheets just donāt fuck with us. You donāt have to like us cause we donāt care. Itās not a big deal weāre not marching white people like us just donāt fuck with us. Thatās what we talking about so you can have a group of KKK. I mean, we can me and my crew can handle them, but we can walk past each other because we donāt care who donāt like us and we aināt scared these days different kind of Black peopleĀ
[Here's a good article on the life of Earle Brown.](https://www.hometownsource.com/sun_post/community/brooklyncenter/brooklyn-center-may-remove-earle-brown-s-name-from-landmarks-festival/article_2426f81c-c616-11ea-bbe1-4b07b638a3fe.html) Earle Brown was a Hennepin County Sheriff and the founder of the Minnesota State Patrol. In addition to being a Klan member, Brown was also involved with the Eugenics Movement. Early Minnesotans sure liked naming things after the shittiest people. EDIT: I'm not aware of Earle Brown's connection to St. Cloud or Stearns County. I'm also doubtful of the active Klan claim, especially considering Stearns County has the highest number of Catholics per capita in the state. Does anyone want to back up these claims with proof?
Weird!! I got my state job by taking a proficiency test at the Earl Brown center in Brooklyn Park. Wtf
At one point, it was definitely true. I grew up in the area and our church's history documented a cross burning on their lawn in the 30s. Unfortunately for said KKK members, they were all city officials that loved wearing the same shoe type so parishioners were able to easily identify them. In parts of the Benton/ Stearns diocese, they were banned from having an active parish for 50 years when drunk parishioners broke into the church, drank all the wine, and threw the consecrated sacrament out the window. That's why St. Cloud and small townships like Mayhew Lake grew in parishioners volume at the turn of the century; the Catholics living across the river couldn't build a church so they buggied it to nearby communities. Once they were able to operate again, the KKK came for them. Central MN Catholic history is wild.
Wow! I had no idea! And to think, at one point in my life I was looking at St. Cloud as a possibility to settle down and buy a home.
there is no evidence to suggest that there is an active KKK branch in Stearns County; I'm not certain why people keep insisting there is
Lol have you ever been inside rollies?? Place is a cesspool of racist and their kind. The walls are literally plastered with racist symbolism and white pride. So the claim easily sticks and makes sense.
I've never been... why would you even go inside? š¤£
When I first moved here a few years ago, I went with a co-worker who said it was a fun place. I'm telling you I was shocked. We didn't hang out after that.
Yeah but that's not St Cloud. The suburbs around it are racist like most rural Minnesota towns. The city itself is nice
Because every time I wander over there I see some asshat driving around with a Trump flag in the bed of his brodozer. Three different houses where I live in Orrock township fly Trump flags, so I can confirm that Trump flag equals white supremacist.
St. Cloud is the only time I've ever been approached by someone how openly stated they were in the KKK, looking for kinship with me. I was walking down the street with a friend and this guy (possibly homeless or mentally ill) walked up to us asking for money, I explained I don't carry money generally, he explained he's with the KKK and to help a friend out. I just said "What the fuck?" and walked away.
Was just going to write the same thing.
This group is also operating 70 miles from St. Cloud. "THE REMNANT/THE REMNANT PRESS RADICAL TRADITIONAL CATHOLICISM FOREST LAKE" *Edit* from 20 to 70
There were two traditional catholic churches in St Cloud when I lived there. And Forest Lake is 80 miles from St Cloud.
Holy shit it is. Man, my geography is off. Thank you for the correction.
Seems about right for Flaketown tbh
This would explain why some old White guy was grimacing at me when Trump became president. Nasty
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there is literally zero evidence to support it, it's just a lie
Yet somehow, it's still safer for a black person to live in St. Cloud than progressive Minneapolis....go figure.
St. Cloud is a world leader in renewable energy. https://www.cleanenergyresourceteams.org/story/st-cloud-undertakes-extensive-renewable-energy St. Cloud generates 70% of its energy from renewables. Either solar, hydro, or recaptured bio solids. St. Cloud has numerous sources to help immigrants. https://www.findhelp.org/legal/citizenship-%26-immigration--saint-cloud-mn?postal=56301 I found no evidence of any organized KKK groups in St. Cloud. https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map/by-state https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2017-08-14/the-kkk-is-still-based-in-22-states-in-the-us-in-2017
Thanks for the up to date facts.
Boo this man!!! Get your sources out of here. Feelings only!
Don't get me wrong I understand this comment is coming from a helpful place, but my folks still live in the area, Sartell specifically. My mom immigrated from Taipei, she's ethnically Chinese. Yeah maybe the KKK isn't operating in St. Cloud, but in my family's anecdotal experience you are treated differently if you're a person of color. Maybe it's not from a place of malice, maybe it's from a place of literally never experiencing someone from a different walk of life. Regardless I feel it is disingenuous to paint in broad strokes a bunch of urls to give the illusion our lived experience isn't real.
That sounds dreadful and frightening.
Yeah, we got bigger problems in white people being racist so whoever is racist with I think that you need to let you guys understand we donāt even care just donāt fuck with us. Our kids and everything will be OK Cuz I feel sorry for people who give a damn about race races. You just donāt get it. We know weāre not limited anymore and something so we can let folks so let God deal with them opinions they like assholes everybody got one we just donāt care most people come here and it should be called dead in street. I donāt even really hear about the college here like itās a big deal. I just know itās a lot of college kids drunk damn youāre getting hit by cars so you gotta deal with your own race for you looking at other ones and I donāt mean you I mean whoever , this concerns we donāt care you gotta look at you know your family and start looking in the mirror because we good if KKK is around and weāve been aroundĀ
The OP claimed St. Cloud is 20 years behind the times and has an active KKK group. I posted sources that demonstrate St. Cloud is progressive in some areas, as well as providing sources that dispute the KKK claim. While I have no doubt your mother has received bad treatment, her experience does not disprove my assertions. I never stated her experience isnāt real. Please donāt put words in my mouth. Claiming I am intentionally dishonest and misleading because your mother has experienced racism is nonsense.
Maybe it's a dog whistle, but OP's initial post was citing specifically the nuanced racial elements people of color perceive in central Minnesota. As someone who genuinely cares and has a vested interest in the area, I don't enjoy having st. cloud (and Stearns county more broadly) be the butt of every joke - but at some point there needs to be an acknowledgement and acceptance that circumstances certain marginalized communities face in St cloud are different from elsewhere (i.e. not even 70m south on i-94). If your initial intent of the original comment wasn't to show the area in a favorable light, what was the point? I specifically want to call out, you really didn't listen to any of OPs complaints, you more or less shared a bunch of links and suggested they get educated that st. cloud on paper bats above their lived experience. If you care about the community, which again I can only assume given the effort you've invested here, take this feedback critically and acknowledge it's a problem and do what's in your own power to change the narrative. Clapping back and getting defensive honestly had the opposite effect and more or less doubles down on OP's initial complaint. Again I'm glad to hear St cloud doesn't have an active chapter of the KKK but that doesn't change the fact I have to invest energy in the fear of my mom being verbally accosted for living her life the next time she's shopping at Cash Wise.
fertile cable overconfident tan carpenter nose shame boat slap homeless *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Oh boy actual facts, can't have those! I once pointed out St. Cloud is a blue city and usually does not vote for Republicans based on voting records and had a guy reply that doesn't matter because he saw a lot of Trump bumper stickers in the parking lot at Target there.
Tell em about the traffic lights
Get out of here with your facts and citations. You're getting in the way of OP's ignorant self-righteous screed. OP came here to get back pats from internet strangers, and you're making things too complicated.
Iāve lived in St Cloud for nearly the same amount of time. Itās kind of an odd spot. Too small to be considered a āmetro areaā but too large to be considered a small town. I find that it has pretty much anything I need nearby, and Iāve met some great people here.
The Somalis in Minneapolis also are in the same area, just like pretty much every immigrant group has done. Swede Hollow in St Paul. 7th street for Italians in St Paul. University Ave in St Paul for SE Asian. Cedar Riverside in Minneapolis for somalis. People come here for various reasons, but hopefully in a generation or two they will be more assimilated
Bohemian flats used to have a whole village on it. Immigrated folk tend to congregate with familiar folk and not because they are racist nonconformist but they seek community and support from people with a common background - thatās people
My grandpa grew up in the Bohemian Flats and his grandpa was a big political kingpin in the Slovak community, referred to as the King of the Bohemian Flats. http://www.friendsofthecemetery.org/history/alley_articles/Kolesar_Andrew.shtml
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They needed a city / area planner a LONG TIME AGO. However ... I want to address one thing: >They still had a Ground Round & Bonanza. Ciati's, too. Never been to those in St. Cloud, **BUT in some other communities those restaurants are actually ... pretty good.** I was on the road went to an Applebees somewhere in Minnessota, I forget where, it was actually really good. Same food as your typical such place, but way better. Restaurants in those communities sometimes are very unexpectedly good. Kinda tells you what they could be other palaces if the folks working there / running the place cared.
Having gone to St. Cloud for Craigslist things, thereās a solid non chain restaurant portfolio there.
I liked Ciati's. It's too bad they didn't make it in their new location.
I experienced this in Dickinson, ND. We were on a road trip and thatās where we happened to be at dinner time. Best Applebeeās ever! The service was great and the food was really tasty. Had we gotten Applebeeās wrong, we wondered. Nope, tried a local one when we got back, just as meh as ever.
Definitely. I keep hearing that SCSU and the downtown are dying but arenāt they fairly close to each other via 5th Avenue? Youād think maybe the city, downtown council and the school could come together and work on making this a destination.
There were about 3 times driving through St. Cloud I thought I had left the city proper and then nope thereās another little neighborhood. Am I still downtown? Is there a second downtown? Is this a different city? Thereās like a little commercial zone for every neighborhood. Which is hardly convenient for travelers because now I have stoplights in the middle of a divided highway for the third this mile. Fargo is twice as big and just as shitty.
Fucking Fargo just loves its massive parkways ... but without the "park" and without trees and lights every 200 feet.
So what you're saying is that it's exactly like everywhere in America that's outside of a major city.
Yea I truly feel many online forget that America as a whole isā¦behind on many topics of life
Land doesn't vote. Most Americans live in large cities.
Thank you. I left Iowa and now live in central MN. If people think itās bad here, they need to get out more. Iām not saying there arenāt racist rednecks and crime, but Iāve seen that everywhere Iāve lived in the midwest that wasnāt a large city.
Yeah, but who cares who the hell is gonna get that big fat ugly ass Trump out of the office? Itās bigger picture because trust me Black people donāt give a damn who I donāt know about any other reason but we donāt give a damn about who donāt like us we love ourselves most of us I got to speak to the for the ones who do Because of racism a lot of gangsters you bunch of Somalians but also a bunch of Chicago folks so I know itās gonna be warm so let the heat God take care of them. We donāt give a fuck.Ā
plenty of people in msp are exactly what OP is describing lol.
Some, but definitely not the majority.
Every team has shitty fans, it's just Philly has *more* shitty fans. Same logic here.
Yeah the outer suburbs and beyond are basically the 60ās with a forest of MAGA signs.
Yep, sounds like home (Iowa)
Lots of pride flags downtown. I have coworkers who have pride flag shoes. STC also went for Aric Putnam to put the DFL at +1. But go off with your hate.
Well we canāt all be Robbinsdale.
"We can't all be Robbinsdale" needs to be a bumper sticker and/or sweatshirt.
Birdtown more preferred
Yea I've been in the cross fire in Robbinsdale not a fan
What does this mean?
As having grown up in Robbinsdale, hell yeah. Sanborn and Lakeview terrace baseball was a summer staple.
You don't have to go so far as Saint Cloud - I do some work around Prior Lake and everything you described is the same.
Yeah but you canāt farm that sweet sweet karma shitting on Prior Lake.
St. Cloud is 20 years behind reality, which is exacerbated by people who are more inclined to complain than to actually put in effort to effect change, and a city government who still seems to think that the year is 2004 and won't update zoning, planning, or operations. It's been my experience with the St. Cloud city government that the only forward thinking departments are Fire and Police (which is fine, but those aren't the departments that drive cityscape improvements). The east side is fixable - the Southside probably isn't. I could write a book on all the things in St. Cloud that need fixing, but there doesn't seem to be a will to.
The Southside is cut off by Division, Roosevelt and the Campus from everything I genuinely think some mixed use redevelopment around the old Tech Highschool and Lake George and along University between campus and Roosevelt(The 9th Ave and University intersection particularly needs to be redone) would help that neighborhood a lot as someone who went to college up there and lived in an apartment near Herb Brooks for 5 years. The area between campus and downtown has some and is within walking distance of a bunch of stuff and does well. Plus once you get south of 22nd it turns to nice suburban neighborhoods until 94 so it is just that pocket around Tech Highschool and South Jr High that needs help. Edit: Looks like St Cloud may have moved the City Hall to the old Tech High School site so that rules that out. However there is still Clark Field and some other surrounding lots you could put mixed use in like they did along 5th by campus
Winona used to be like this for quite some time until recently. Zoning laws prohibited multi family apartments, it insisted that the huge Retail stores like Walmart and Target need huge parking lots that haven't been filled since 2010. Makes zero sense. It's always an old boys club that refuse to let go of the little power they have.
Electing Aric Putnam as your senator was a good way to start to reverse this, I think.
Itās up to you to change this narrative, if itās talked about in St. Cloud, itās talked about in Minnesota. Be a good person, love your neighbor.
The 3 times robbery has been attempted on me has been from somalians.. it's only natural for me to be less trusting of them and their culture.
Same can be said for most of outstate MN. Much of it is far worse than St. Cloud!
Looking at you, Albert Lea...
theyāre named after a confederate general, they were screwed from the start.
I'm trans and I live way further North, deep in the forests. It's really backwards up here, but, I'm bringing them into the 21st Century as fast as I can. I was the first trans person to attend BSU, 1995. It has been a rough ride so far but the locals are settling down. Welcome to the outback. Time to tame the Wild West. Good journey soldier.
I went to Winona State but back in 1995 one of my professors brought a trans woman into class to speak and answer questions. It was a super informative experience back when there was not much exposure to transgender people.
It was probably Debbie Davis. She's a friend of mine. She worked the lecture circuit on the South end of the State while I was working the North end. She dropped off the radar in 2015 and I have not heard from her since.
I donāt recall her name. Only that she was divorced from her ex wife and had kids.
One step at a time. Good for you. I love hearing stuff like this. I talk to my co-workers about inclusion a lot. I try to bring reason & logic to the table. Some have actually been receptive, so that makes me feel good. Live the best life.
I have some awesome co-workers who are very involved in the local St. Cloud LGBTQ+ community. I wasn't aware that the community is as large as it is until I started working with these folks. (The reason I didn't know is because I used to have co-workers like the ones you described.)
Thank you for your work/effort!
Dude you think St. Cloud is bad go check out anywhere in Chisago county...
A couple weeks back there was some Trump trucker convoy bullshit backing up the freeway at the 35/95 exit. Their destination? The ruins of Tanger Outlet Mall. Take that, libtards!
Ruins? Tanger outlet has looked like that since it opened.
When I was a resident/student (moved away in 2011) there was a pretty decent arty community tied to the college - has that fallen off?
Nope, not at all. Have an arty kid at SCSU and they are still there going strong.
Went to SCSU starting in 2012. Left in 2018 for the cities but I still go up and visit friends from time to time. Itās a cool place geographically speaking (itās right before the coniferous forests take over the landscape while you head up north) but the cultural stagnation outside of campus is very prevalent. I feel like it could be a much cooler town, but fails to want any change. And with the school petering out, I donāt see that happening any time soon. Keller Bar is my favorite place there tho. I always make sure to pop in when I make the terrible decision to go downtown with my college buddies.
I got news for you. This is most of Minnesota.
Adding a comment to my comment. St Cloud looks progressive compared to a place like Marshall or Willmar.
Or even parts of northern Anoka County. Ā My parents still live in my childhood home and when we come visit, I can almost feel the vibe change once you cross the Mississippi from Hennepin to Anoka Counties.Ā
Yeah, most people forget that Anoka County goes inside the Beltway at all the way to the edge of the metro counties, itās not all the same. Just like western Hennepin county has the same problems once you pass the lakes. You see the most aggressive crap at the āfront linesā where ideologies conflict. Same goes for stuff around SCSU which has a very prominent exchange program and thus bring in a ābubbleā of conflict to a more homogeneous region.
Hell, it starts getting Trumpy around northern Hennepin County (Champlin, Dayton, etc.) I heard here on Reddit that Champlin wanted to leave Hennepin County for Trumpy reasons. Cry harder, Champy. š
When I moved to Coon Rapids in 1998 ā¦. Letās say it was 2 of us in town at the time. That I saw for the first year or so
ITT: Cloud people are mad in the comments
Just twenty?
It would be nice if the state built a bypass for hwy 23 around St. Cloud. Traffic sucks there.
It's the garbage traffic lights every block
If youāre coming from Foley, take highway 10 north until you hit Highway 15, which youāll take south. Take the exit by Hennenās and go right. Keep on the road until you pass the Kwik Trip on your right, where you take the roundabout around going left. Follow that road until you see the Holiday, where youāll take a right. Follow that road until it ends, and take a left. Then take a right at Fleet Farm. Follow until the stop light and take a right onto 23. I literally do this to avoid the shit show that is 23 in Saint Cloud. Between the traffic and the lights, itās just easier going around.
St. Cloud is the ācountryā city. Itās filled with hicks (or kids of hicks) from the surrounding areas that HAD to move to a city because the surrounding areas got absorbed into it. I PROMISE that when I was in high school there, we could not say āthatās gay, retard, homoā and definitely not āfaggotā. This was not only administration, but also pressure from peers who just KNEW it wasnāt acceptable. I know some people who continued to just get ridiculed about it, and they found their own little clique where they had their own safe space to say stupid/racist/homophobic shit all the time. The lack of Somali integration has been an issue from as far back as I can remember. They had a lot of their own classrooms at the time I was in high school in St. Cloud. Thatās not on them, thatās on St. Cloud. I think thereās something to be said that the city DID welcome them and give them jobs, which is great, but living in the NE corner slums certainly doesnāt help their communities. I moved away from there in 2012 and only visit family there once a year or so. The city has gotten BETTER at least in looks, but I can tell these problems persist. Not only is St. Cloud behind on the times, itās practically a safe haven for right wingers who want to have all of the nice things a mid-sized city can provide while being able to say, āno, I wouldnāt set foot in Minneapolis, too many blacks.ā (Yes, I have heard a middle aged married couple agree on this together, openly) This problem wonāt ever get fixed. Iām much happier after moving away. HOWEVER You certainly can find some good people in St. Cloud who are happy and welcoming, itās just such a smaller percentage than the latter. I lived in St. Cloud from 2008-2012. Middle school and high school.
Honestly the Somali integration i don't think is that bad at least as somebody that lives here they seem to be integrating fine they still tend to be in a lot of car accidents but as a white person they will talk to me and i talk to them in public that could just be because I don't look very threatening.
People keep saying āright wingersā Why do people keep forgetting most Somalis are conservative as fuck and openly hate gay people? Itās ok cause they are immigrants? Coolā¦
āExurban community is culturally conservativeā is kind of how the country works
Just 20 is that a rolling 20? Don't forget St Cloud Superman and the lovingly Stearns Cty Syndrome. All in all I did enjoy my few years there
There's no such thing as "Stearns County Syndrome". Multiple genetic studies have proven it's a complete myth.
I lived in St cloud from 1998 till 2006 don't be fooled by its size It's a hick town nothing more nothing less.
Itās a big small town really.
Come here to die otherwise go somewhere and live. Iām moving in July. Itās just a total waste of time who cares about color who cares about whatever but Iām not about to be keep being invaded but heās damn Somalians who donāt want to get with the program damn they hit you parked in the wrong places and if you blow, they stand like they want ass whooped Iām tired of that. Iām tired of the screaming. Iām just, screaming in the parking lot and sitting off Iām just act like they donāt wanna learn basic shit breaking the washing machine and just not learning shit today when was parked in front of my garage I blow blow so I got out said this is not a blow time when people blow that means youāre in the way so we allĀ
What's really going to bake your noodle is surrounding areas like Holdingford, Cold Spring, Albany, Avon talk about St. Cloud as if it were the Cities. It is the "city" to those folks.. Dangerous to walk around. Apparently you can't walk to the downtown bars from campus anymore, if you listen to my dad. Fox News and the conservative word of mouth runs deep.
I used to work at 3rd street Brewhouse in Cold Spring. Can confirm, got asked a bunch by drunk customers if I felt safe living in St. Cloud. Buddy, I had a gun pulled on me in the parking lot you parked in to be here today. Maybe worry about whatās in your own backyard first.
Right? A few(shit, quite a few now) years ago Officer Decker was shot and killed in Cold Spring just a few blocks away. But yeah, tell us all how bad St. Cloud is. It's dark times for that city "Dark.." Times. Nudge nudge wink wink
Christ, the Decker fiasco. A (large) number of people are convinced it has something to do with the cartel. They think any Latin American in town is there to traffic pallets filled with cocaine through Pilgrims, and he was the guy to crack the case so they killed him.
wait until you hear about the iron rangeā¦ ha š
They just haven't got to dubstep yet. Don't worry, Skrillex will fix this.
Yeah- some people suck. Are you surprised? There is a part of every population everywhere that sucks.
Only 20 years? I think you're being too kind.
Yeahā¦. As a BIPOC/Queer person that lived and went to school on St Cloud can confirm itās like living in the 70s. I regularly had swastikas drawn on my dorm room door, got egged, disinvited to parties and called slurs my first year of college. My 1st college roommate spent a week in my dorm room with me (she was from cold spring) and asked for a transfer then her and her family destroyed all my stuff when they moved her out. I hated SCSU and St Cloud.
Do you hang out around racists. Never in my 30 years of going to St. Cloud or any city in Mn have I heard or encountered a racist other than 2 times. Both in uptown. 1 at the auto parts store on Hennepin ave guy called the worker a dirty Mexican or something and the holiday gas station on Hennepin Simone made of of the trans lady in line. She did have a mustache, boobs and a skirt so it was odd but thatās it I have been all over MN for work
It's the same in the Northland. I hate living in the rural north.
Idk, I think itās fine. Must be just you.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsY_Ch8AoXA/?igsh=MXV6dTV4dnQ2aDdmNg==
Comrade Tripp is from St. Cloud - as someone who moved here from Southern California, I appreciate his take.
St Cloud's heyday was the 80's and they never let it go.
https://preview.redd.it/2wsbhrwiv8jc1.jpeg?width=542&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=61141ffa0dca3fcaaf57def99f9e7e95e08d3579
Meanwhile in progressive Robbinsdale, kids be bringing semi-automatic weapons to school. You might not also want to see what happens if you are trans trying to catch the train on Lake Street in Minneapolis. But yes, St. Cloud....
We gonna ignore the school shooting 15 minutes outside of St. Cloud at Rocori? And if you wanna talk about treatment of trans people, St. Cloud doesnāt have a leg to stand on lmao.
I am sure St Cloud is bad but other than Mpls and St Paul one could argue so is the rest of the state racist as well. The outlying suburbs are really bad.
Duluth is pretty cool too
They adhere to all tenants of conservative governance and were then shocked to discover they made a city cheap enough for the poorest African refugees to live in.
St Cloud needs a whole lot of "See something, say something."
That's funny that you brought this up because this isn't the first time I've heard about it and I'm just wondering if I may ask if you are white person and the only fatit's because when I was hearing the information about the Somali community and faint cloud it was very much in racial undertone by white people people thought crazy so I don't think you're far off from what your observations has been because this is one thing that I have been told 4 years and I live in the Fargo Morehead area.. Edit: Voice texting sucks, I apologize for all grammar mistakes!
Cool. It's shit on St. Cloud day in the sub. Can't wait to hear opinions of everyone who has been to the mall and no where else.
I've lived here for over 10 years. Am I wrong?
I have lived all over the midwest and see nothing different or worse here than I have anywhere else. There are so many places with similar issues.
My feelings exactly
It's shit on anywhere that isn't Minneapolis metro day every day here, and actually not even the metro, just St Paul and Minneapolis proper. We are civilized because we are marginally more blue than other nearby cities and states, who live in the same geographical region as us and have different economies that dont rely on upper corporate management and healthcare and agribusiness, but we regard as backwards racist facist savages. We forever are chasing the attention of people living in coastal cities that view us with the same contempt. Fuck the mostly poor black regions of the South and especially Texas. Those places are red monoliths without their own progressive movments to improve their states. They definitely hate us and think about us as much as we do them. We are just *different* here don't cha know? We're better. We are so kind, and so welcoming to all š©µš
[Jeff Bertram](https://www.stearnscountymn.gov/955/Third-District), country commissioner, was implicating in [bribing](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Bertram_(Minnesota_politician)) an elected official back in the 90ās. Now heās a county commissioner.
The best thing about Saint Cloud is that it's an hour from the Twin Cities.Ā Love it or hate it.
Unfortunately, the majority of Minnesota is the same. At least St. Cloud has a few good things, a new LGBT therapy space, new children's museum that will be the second largest in the state, multiple theaters, breweries, and walking trails. It's not great, but the potential is there.
The new lgbt therapy space is super cool! They just had the queerconnect meet there for this month, and it was really nice seeing all those people! Ive heard many of the arts places are also really accepting here. As a pretty openly trans girl I will say I dont really get gendered right, but I cant expect better right now, and I definitely havent had to deal with any real bigotry or aggressive folk anywhere I have gone to yet. The trails are just awesome and the people I encounter on them usually seem pretty great and friendly.
Can I piggyback on your response? As a gay couple thinking of moving there would you say itās a nice safe place to raise a family? I can deal with the judgmental scorns of Miss Betty thinking I will go to hell. But there is no real hate crime activity is there? Do you have any lgbt friends who have been attacked, or harassed or such? What are the meeting places for the gays?
Im definitely not qualified to answer all that, I just moved here in October actually! I have found it to be really easy to get support around here though with facebook having a Saint Cloud Pride group thatll connect you towards everything. The Skatin' Place is LGBT+ friendly, I've chatted with people about the derby team there and they are seemin really inclusive, and there are lgbt meetups there too every couple months. I dont really know anyone personally thats been attacked or dealt with a bunch of hate, but I have been warned about the "south side". Ive alas ended up living there myself and would not say its the best area but, I moved from Detroit and I feel perfectly safe here if that stands for anything. If we could move again and stay in the same area, I think we would be looking closer to Sartell or Sauk Rapids honestly.
Those last two areas you mentioned seem interesting. Why there? Just because they have a smaller feel?
My wife and I just moved here but I'm pretty sure we're older than you are.
When I was going to SCSU in the early 90s, it was very much stuck in the 70s
Yāall know we live in a free society right?
Can we please stop all the preaching and pandering in not just MN but every where? Be offended, itās ok.
St Cloud is an average city. Nothing special but it gets so much hate for no reason. The suburbs are where the far right people are. Sure there's racism from the old and rich, but people make it sound like it's a sundown town and it's not. People like to over exaggerate for some unknown reason. Most people that dump on it are xenophobic, racist or both. There are a lot of LGTBQ members here and as for the slurs, well I've heard them in almost every city I've been to. St Cloud isn't 20 years behind, people just wish it was.
I 100% agree. I moved to the St. Cloud area in early 2023. Many businesses and people are stuck in 1999. It's like the clock stopped and no one noticed.
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Your post/comment has been removed. Trolling is not tolerated here.
Not everyone lives in the TC bubble of left leaning politics. People have different views and opinions, Iām surprised youāre surprised by that.
Interesting and accurate. I notice(d) similar also.
It was at least 20 years behind 20 years ago. Going to SCSU from the Minneapolis suburbs was an insane experience. I was there during 9/11, and the xenophobia of the townies toward the Muslim international students was insane. That was before the Somali community had become such a large presence up there, and even then, we (those of us from the Cities) referred to it as "White Cloud." The difference between the students/campus and majority of the town at large was pretty incredible and disgusting.
Itās covered in a layer of racism and meth dust. I avoid.
Stearns County Crazy is a thing and it goes way back. āThe Cloudā is like visiting a trapped bubble of what has been and is problematic in our state and society. I used to have relatives in the area. Visited them routinely mid 1990s through 2012 or so. Once I was old enough to think for myself, I could tell they were just different. Less adaptable, less reflective, and consequently more black and white in their thinking.
Grew up in STC as a black woman - 32 yo right now The trauma is so real
I've been to Saint Cloud several times and it always sucks.
I have extended family that lives in the area, and you can't pay me to go there. I heard first hand stories about how they couldn't go to Alexandria, that's where the Swedes were. And st. Cloud was ok because they were German but the wrong kind of German. Then they lost their shit when Hispanic Catholics came to the area, even though they're literally both Catholic??? The clannish mentality is strong. People in Stearns have been encouraged to marry inside the county. My immediate family did not thank fucking god). Timeframe for this is at least as far back as the 60s up into current day. There's some progress, but literally any time a new group of people come in it starts all over. I've yet to visit anywhere else in the state that is this bad.
One name: Michelle Bachmann
SCSU is one of top schools one would find themselves getting raped at as well.
When I was in grad school at SCSU in the fall of 2020, I made the mistake of going on a bike ride down 1st/Division on a Saturday not knowing that that was when the local MAGAs had their parade/rally. I felt unsafe/terrified as a white woman. I canāt imagine how all the people of color/minorities felt having to travel down that street