Trump accused of endangering children with Islamophobic post about Twin Cities kindergarteners

Twin Cities community members are speaking out Wednesday against what they're calling growing anti-Somali and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

This comes in the wake of a social media post earlier this week by President Trump featuring a photo of a kindergarten graduation with several Somali children at a K-8 school in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Mr. Trump included a caption from another account that says "Every girl is in a hijab ... in kindergarten."

Faith and community leaders, including those from the Somali community, gathered Wednesday morning at Karmel Mall in Minneapolis to condemn the politicization and public targeting of Somali students.

They say they're tired of showing up for moments where Muslims are attacked.

"We are here not because of one incident, but a pattern," said Malika Dahir, executive director of Reviving Sisterhood. "We have stood at podiums like this before. Just a couple of months ago we stood right here after a school bus was set on fire, yet here we are again because this has become a pattern, a pattern that should trouble every one of us."

Minnesota's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says the president has put lives at risk by posting this on a global platform, and that it puts a target on them and the school.

Dahir says she wants people to stand together, regardless of political party, and say children deserve protection.