By Chime Tenzing
Dharamsala, December 5 – Tibetans in Minnesota, the state in the United States with the second largest concentration of Tibetan immigrants, welcomed the state’s new governor Mark Dayton, who was sworn in as Minnesota’s 40th governor on January 3.
Mr. Namgyal and Mr. Nima Dorjee of the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota presented Dayton with a copy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s autobiography, My Land and My People, and a Tibetan traditional ceremonial scarf, or khata, on behalf of Tibetans in Minnesota. Namgyal and Nima congratulated Dayton and told him that the Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be visiting the state in May. “He (Dayton) said he was glad to know that and he would try to invite His Holiness to the governor’s office,” Nima Dorjee said.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to Minnesota on May 8th, 2011 to host a series of spiritual events in the city of St.Paul has been confirmed. A conference themed on “One Heart, One Mind, One Universe” will be jointly organized by The Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota and the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota, which will see His Holiness’ first official visit to the capital city of St. Paul since 2001.
Minnesota has a Tibetan population of around 3,500.
“Let’s get Minnesota working again by working together,” Dayton said in his inaugural address at St. Paul’s Landmark Center. The former U.S. senator is the first Democrat to hold the state’s top office since the late Gov. Rudy Perpich vacated it in 1990.
