Students, professionals, community leaders and politicians gathered for the 11th annual Muslim Day on Wednesday, March 25 at Christ Lutheran Church in St. Paul to train citizens how to contact and work with their state representatives.

The Muslim American Society organized the event with goals to connect local Muslims with legislators and to get more people involved with government. Five Muslim St. Thomas students, including senior Siham Ahmed, attended the event.

“(The) main purpose is just to allow the Muslim community here in Minnesota to interact with the legislative committee and to show that there are Muslims in their communities,” Ahmed, a first time attendee, said.

Citizens heard politicians and community leaders speak about the importance of political and community involvement and later had the opportunity to meet with their district representatives to voice any concerns.

Politicians such as Minnesota State Auditor Rebecca Otto, Secretary of State Steve Simon and Gov. Mark Dayton spoke to the crowd of about 150 people encouraging the involvement of those who might not usually participate in government processes.

“The good news is, it’s surprisingly easy to get the attention of a legislator,” Simon said. He explained that all it takes is a few emails to inform a representative of a community’s concerns.

Ahmed agreed and said she thought the event helped familiarize Muslims like herself with how the government works.

“We live in St. Paul. We’re American students, so we should be involved in the community,” she said.

Legislators also explained several proposed bills that will impact the Muslim community, including one that opposes racial and religious profiling. Another would allow for religious or cultural objections to autopsies except in rare cases.

Dayton spoke about the unique challenges and opportunities presented by an increasingly diverse Minnesota population. It takes conscious interaction between communities to foster understanding, he said, but the effort is worthwhile.

“There’s no question in my mind that we’re a stronger state. We’re a richer state, we’re more productive state, and we’re a better state (for cultural and religious diversity)” Dayton said.

Elena Neuzil can be reached neuz3833@stthomas.edu.