Islamists Sabotage Assimilation of Somali-Americans

Some are returning to Africa to fight as jihadists — and that's just part of the problem.

July 8, 2009 - by Brendan Goldman
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The mainstream media has publicized a few cases of Somali-American youth that have returned to their homeland to fight for Islamist forces there. What the media has neglected to investigate is how Islamist members of the Somali-American community have formed organizations to advocate their agenda here in the United States. These organizations, which claim to represent the larger Somali community, silence moderate Muslim voices and impede the integration of Somalis into American society.

There are approximately 200,000 Somalis living in the United States, the largest community of 70,000 people residing in Minneapolis-St. Paul (population statistics for Somalis in America are rough estimates because many Somalis are here as refugees and therefore are not counted in official surveys). According to Andrew Liepman, the deputy director of intelligence at the National Counterterrorism Center, Somali-Americans face “greater insularity compared to other, more integrated Muslim immigrant communities, [which] has aggravated the challenge of assimilation for their children.”

Islamists have taken advantage of this insularity to disseminate their ideology within the community. The Islamists’ dogma ascribes no value to American cultural norms and has therefore led to clashes between Somalis and their host communities.

In one such incident, Hassan Mohamud, a prominent Somali-American imam, recently encouraged his congregants to give to Islamist causes in order to ameliorate “the hell of living in America.” Under the leadership of Mohamud and three other imams, Somali cab drivers in 2007 boycotted patrons carrying alcohol or accompanied by dogs — including those required for the visually impaired — because they claimed driving such passengers violates Sharia law.

In another Islamist-inspired incident, radical Somalis organized a labor strike in September 2008 at a meat packing plant in Grand Island, Nebraska. The factory workers at the plant were expected to work during the time allocated for the prayer that marks the end of the daily fast during the month of Ramadan. The Islamists’ agenda was to force the factory to adopt a different work schedule that would necessitate non-Muslim workers to come to their jobs on Saturdays for the entire month in order to receive their 40 hours of pay.

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Brendan Goldman is a senior at New York University, majoring in Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, and an intern at the Middle East Forum. Research for this article was conducted under the auspices of Islamist Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.

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19 Comments

1. RE:

Enough of the ‘if it’s different, it is therefore good’ mindlessness of the multiculti/diversity automatons. Their relativism is a recipe for anarchy.

Jul 8, 2009 - 3:00 am 2. Adina Kutnicki,Israel:

Marginalizing Islamists is not enough, deportation should be the goal. After all, where is it written that a nation has to tolerate subversion in its midst? Certainly not in any part of the US Constitution.

In any case, the onus is on Muslim leaders who want to assimilate and live life freely. It is not enough to state as much to one person or another, they have to OPENLY proclaim their views so that they can no longer be stifled.

I’m waiting…..

Jul 8, 2009 - 4:04 am 3. Truth Serum:

Multicultural worshipping Europe/UK have done nothing but placate muslims by allowing all muslim demands to be met——and look where it’s gotton the EU nations = Islamization. Meanwhile the indigenous cultures and people have been minimalized.

‘Nip it in the bud America’! – or you too will be dealing with non-stop bullying muslims trying to impose the political ideology/Islam onto you.

Can anyone tell me what Western nation – where a large immigration of muslims has been a plus?…………..(cricket chirping silence)

Jul 8, 2009 - 4:29 am 4. Bad Karma:

Assimilation has been a farce from the begining. Manipulation and aggrevation to the communities to which they have moved in to has been going on for some time. It is now reaching it’s limit and we are going through the low phases of which the UK had gone through (and choose to ignore). Hopefully we will not get to the point the UK is in, many other places in Europe are contending with. It’s amazing how someone comes to the U.S. with the belief they will not only bring with them, the backwards draconian culture, but that somehow we are at fault for not stepping aside for it. Here’s a thought, if you like the things you brought with you from another country and don’t like the way the U.S. is, then stay there.

Jul 8, 2009 - 5:02 am 5. Not Positive About The Future:

The success of America has been assimilation. Without assimilation you have a multiculturalist society, with each little enclave striving to keep their own ways. It is the road to failure……..encouraged and aided by the American government.

Jul 8, 2009 - 6:22 am 6. Larsen E. Whipsnade:

Sooner or later we will have to admit that Islam is not just a spiritual religion. It’s also a political party because it advocates a different form of government.

Jul 8, 2009 - 7:00 am 7. The Skizzerd of Waz:

Has it ever occurred to anyone that maybe trying to assimilate a horde of 12th century barbarians isn’t such a hot idea?

These people come from a land ruled by freakin’ warlords for crying out loud! And please don’t tell me it’s all because Somalia is a failed state and yada yada yada, OK? Somalia failed as a democratic nation wannabe because it never has been anything more than what it is now, a feudal battleground where the biggest and the baddest rule the roost.

Zero sum game, it’s us or them, militant Islam fits these people like a glove, it’s what they’ve lived with and under for centuries. So is it any wonder the words of some bug eyed, smelly caftan wearing lunatic mullahmaniac will resonate more strongly in their ears than the mamby-pamby “We Are The World” mumblings of some mealy-mouthed nanny state social worker community organizing airhead?

Wake up and see the world for what it is!

You’re not going to turn these Somalians into cookie cutter Ozzie & Harriet’s with odd last names. Bringing them over here was a mistake, it’s time to admit it and send them back where they belong.

Jul 8, 2009 - 9:05 am 8. Carol/la:

I DO NOT believe allowing subversion to exist in the USA is safe. Therefore Obama needs to leave, and take Biden,Pelosi,and McCain with him.

the Somalians have been put in a bad situation here. They needed something different than we had to offer. they do need help, just not what we offered. If you are going to help someone, do not try to mold them to what you “think they should be.”

Jul 8, 2009 - 9:40 am 9. Joshua:

Bad Karma, #4: Here’s a thought, if you like the things you brought with you from another country and don’t like the way the U.S. is, then stay there.

Trouble is, Islamic supremacists have been encouraging Muslim immigration to the U.S. and other Western nations precisely because they don’t like the way the West is (i.e. un-Islamic), and hope to recast Western civ along Islamic lines. Da’wa by demographics, if you will.

Jul 8, 2009 - 9:51 am 10. Bill Perron:

Send ‘em all back, Allah may be akbar, but Mammon is greater. Hooray for Mammon, three cheers for Mammon,rah, rah, rah, Take that and shove into your burka.

Jul 8, 2009 - 10:46 am 11. Bemis:

The problem is bringing people here in the first place that are going to find the US an affront to their ideals. The federal government wonk that propsoed this ought to fired and the progam stopped right away.

Jul 8, 2009 - 11:06 am 12. Leatherneck:

We have already seen terror attacks by the religion of peace. The enemy is here, and growing. This is one part of a full court press to destroy America as we have know her.

Add illegal alien invasion to suck social services, rape, and murder, changing marriage, a government that puts us in hock to CHICOMMs, a central back,(the FED), that listens to other countries desires for American tax payer money, etc…

I suggest a military court for Treason for our government. Have they done the will of the people, or special interests?

Jul 8, 2009 - 2:18 pm 13. Scott:

Islam ultimate goal is total Islamization of all countries, look at the problems Britain, France and other European countries are having with their Muslim immigrants. I expect in a few years we may have IED attacks in this country, just a matter of time

Jul 8, 2009 - 2:24 pm 14. tom:

hmm not sure all those stories are the work of “Islamists” much the same way pharmacists refusing to fill birth control would be “Christianists”??

Jul 8, 2009 - 2:30 pm 15. Leatherneck:

How many pharmacists do you that blow people up tom?

ROPMA!

Jul 8, 2009 - 6:08 pm 16. Meryl:

“The Islamists’ dogma ascribes no value to American cultural norms….”

Tada! There’s the explanation in a nutshell for Col. obama’s relationship to America.

Jul 8, 2009 - 9:56 pm 17. canuck:

Sign a form acknowledging our standards…violate them and your butt is on the way out of here with all your relatives. No more freebees

Jul 9, 2009 - 2:37 am 18. wayne:

Wherever you see these problems in America, you don’t have to look far and you’ll find CAIR and the Saudi’s.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Iraqi insurgency are ALL funded by the Saudi’s.

If we had just wiped the nation of pork-conceived, dogspawn that is Saudi Arabia off the map of the earth after 911 we’d have peace with the Islamic world – they’d be to damn terrified of us to do otherwise.

As long as the Saudi’s live there will be no living in peace with Islam.

Jul 10, 2009 - 5:14 am 19. Peter Montbriand:

Interesting discussion here. I live in the Twin Cities. It’s a mixed bag. Some of my favorite coworkers have been from Somalia. The coworkers tended be bad muslims. Eating pepperoni pizza, not praying at the proscribed times, drinking etc. are all supposedly outlawed by the Koran, yet they partake(partuke). On the other hand, there is a virtual ghetto in the public housing projects. Comparing Somalis to other immigrants is quite interesting. Somalis are my first real up close look at muslims and islam. I came to this conclusion: I trust muslims(as people), but not islam.

Jul 11, 2009 - 1:56 am