US protests reveal immigrant generational divide

When protests began in a Minneapolis suburb after a white police officer fatally shot a Black man, 21-year-old Fatumata Kromah took to the street, pushing for change she says is essential to her Liberian immigrant community. n"This is not the American dream I was promised and this is not what I expected," she said.

Meanwhile, 40-year-old Matilda Kromah feared stepping outside her home as trauma associated with the Liberian civil war suddenly rushed back into her life, two decades after she escaped the conflict. "I passed through a lot before getting to where I am, because I have to survive through the war to do things like this to survive," Matilda Kromah said.

The two women, whose shared last name is common among Liberians, have seen their lives changed amid the unrest that has sometimes engulfed the Minneapolis area in the months since George Floyd's death. Their behavior also reflects a generational split: While Fatumata has been drawn into the protests, Matilda has tried to avoid them, focusing instead on running a dress shop and hair-braiding salon that is essential to sending her children to college.

The same divide has played out across the Twin Cities' burgeoning Somali, Ethiopian, Liberian and Kenyan communities. Young people have thrust themselves into movements for racial justice, often embracing the identity of being Black in America. Older generations have been more likely to concentrate on carving out new lives rather than protesting racial issues in their adopted homeland. Wright died after he was shot by a white police officer during a traffic stop in suburban Minneapolis earlier this month.