Ramsey County initiative aims to provide additional support to Karen youth

A budding partnership led by deputies in the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office aims to prevent crime among the area’s Karen youth, the latest effort to provide support and deterrence for teens found particularly susceptible to drugs and gang violence.

Law enforcement officials and the Karen Organization of Minnesota launched the joint effort after a March brainstorm session about gangs, resource sharing and summer activities to help at-risk youth in the Karen community.

Pronounced Kuh-ren, the ethnic group is native to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

The March meeting was personal for sheriff’s deputy Kaw Ku, who came to Minnesota in 2019 after immigrating to Arizona nine years earlier. He was 17 when he arrived in the U.S. and struggled to learn English, make friends and cope with bullying. Now as a deputy, Ku said, he wants to give to the Karen community by serving as a role model.

“Coming to another country, and [with] how you look, sometimes people see those things and make you feel like you do not belong,” Ku said. “I want to do something to lead by example, making a difference, and to help the youth. Because the youth are the future. They are the leaders for the community.”

An estimated 20,000 Karen live in Minnesota, mostly in St. Paul. The state’s Karen population is the largest in the U.S. Many came to the country to escape war and persecution in their homeland, where reports of Karen being subjected to forced labor, rape and death persist.

Their families found opportunity in Minnesota, but gangs and drugs have plagued many of their youth. As the Star Tribune has reported, authorities and advocates have found that historical trauma and a lack of resources have left Karen children vulnerable to their influence. Some allegedly were even forced to use drugs at gunpoint.

Many Karen parents who escaped persecution in Myanmar have reported extreme depression because they don’t know how to help their kids.

St. Paul police said an alarming rate of methamphetamine and fentanyl addiction fueled violence among Karen gangs last year. They say a suspected gang member was shot in the ankle last June as he walked by his home. In another incident, more than a dozen bullets peppered the house of a Karen youth whom police believe was associated with a gang. When the home was struck again months later, two stray bullets hit a neighbor’s house. No one was hurt.

St. Paul’s Humboldt High School, which has the highest percentage of Karen youth in the city’s school district, stemmed the tide of gang and drug influence through a partnership with police, the Karen Organization and the nonprofit Urban Village. That partnership reportedly has shown progress, bringing opportunity and community to troubled Karen youth, but advocates say more support is needed.

And deputies at the Sheriff’s Office say helping Karen people could help everyone.

Deputy Daryl Gullette helps to direct the Youth Plus Program, a grant-funded program at the Sheriff’s Office that serves mostly Karen, Karenni and Somali youth. He organizes fishing trips, homework assistance and other activities to help participants interact with each other.

Gullette said the program helps build relationships among young people from different cultures. As a St. Paul native and former school resource officer, he said such work is important in building a strong community.

“Empowering the Karen and Karenni community — it benefits us all. It gives us a different view into their struggles and to open up understanding,” Gullette said. “We’ve all had problems. It’s OK to ask for help. It’s OK to offer help ... it’s [about] how do we reach success together?”