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.
