While living in Minnesota I had the opportunity to become friends with many Somali people. In the years since the Feeding Our Future scandal first broke, it has become popular on both the left and right to misjudge them.

The left pretends that Somali folks are wholly blameless and misjudged, that any problems were caused by miscommunications or a few bad apples, and that suggesting otherwise is evidence that the accuser is a bigoted reactionary.

The right pretends that Somali folks are unethical, immoral, stupid, and often evil.

Neither of these views are accurate. Somali folks are ethical, moral and capable of honest forethought. It’s just that their ethics and morals are not the same as the ethics and morals that permeate and are required by our civic-minded, pluralistic, liberal democratic society.

I will never forget the moment that my belief in a shared understanding of basic morals and ethics was shattered. I was talking to a Somali friend I had recently met about the short-sightedness of lying for political ends when he responded, “why would I care about that? They’re not my tribe. Those are your rules, not ours.”

I may write about that conversation soon because it was eye-opening in several other ways as well. No single event in my life has moved me to the right, or shattered my naivete, more than that hour long chat.