Which, lately, doesn't take much. I hope that Somalia recovers, but right now it's a mess.
Somalis come to Minnesota because this is one of America's major poultry producers. All those birds need to be processed, and that's a job where you don't need fluency in English. It's great for immigrants.
Which, let's remember, is what most 'real American' families were, not all that long ago.
St. Cloud's Porno Anti-Islamic Cartoons
Somebody went to a bit of trouble - and walked through the recent snowstorm - to put "graphic, sexually explicit cartoons...on utility poles in the 10 block of Second Avenue Northeast and the 300 block of Fifth Avenue South...." (St. Cloud Times, print edition, December 10, 2009)From the national news:
"St. Cloud police investigate anti-Muslim cartoons"I'm no great fan of the idea of "hate crimes," since prosecuting such crimes can be a matter of criminalizing ideas.
USA Today (December 10, 2009)
"Police in the central Minnesota city of St. Cloud are investigating anti-Islamic cartoons found on at least two utility poles.
"The St. Cloud Times reports the posters included hand-drawn and digitally-altered photos derogatory toward Muslims. It says they included depictions of the Prophet Mohammed and a swastika, among other images.
"Five of them were found posted Tuesday on a pole outside a store that caters to Somalis...."
"St. Cloud authorities say posters may be hate crime"
(St. Cloud Times print edition (December 10, 2009))
"...St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization Executive Director Mohamoud Mohamed said it appears the images were downloaded from the Internet. Some of them were written in multiple languages.
" 'It's an insult to our religion,' he said.
"Someone spent a lot of time downloading the images and putting them together, Mohamed said. Then the person spent time walking through Tuesday's snow and cold to post them.
" ' It's very scary,' he said.
"Mohamed said the community needs to come together and say it will not tolerate such behavior from 'a few very bad apples.'
" ' It's unacceptable,' he said...."
"...Anyone with information or who found similar images elsewhere can contact police at 251-1200 or Crime stoppers at 255-1301"
(St. Cloud Times (December 10, 2009)) [phone numbers are for St. Cloud, Minnesota, residents or visitors]
That said, the sort of harassment and - arguably - intimidation that these "graphic, sexually explicit cartoons", some of which depict "the prophet Mohammed and a swastika" (USA Today, St. Cloud Times), are, in my opinion, "unacceptable." (Mohamoud Mohamed, via St. Cloud Times)
What's an American Doing, Defending Foreigners?
First of all, someone doesn't have to be melanin-deficient, with ancestors from somewhere in northwestern Europe, to be a Minnesotan. Or an American. Quite a few of these Somali-Minnesotans are American citizens. Whether or not they've become citizens on paper yet, they're all living, working, and raising their families here.That still seems to come as a shock to a few red-white-and-blue-blooded Americans.
Some of 'Those People' are My Cousins, Nieces, and Nephews
I have no complaints about my ancestors. They were, for the most part, peasants in Norway, Ireland and Scotland. These days, that's no problem. Happily, the 'good old days' of "Irish Need Not Apply" signs are gone. America's having survived an Irish president's administration helped a little, I suspect.That was then, this is now. I've got cousins who are Oglala Sioux1 the way I'm Irish, and the extended family has roots in the southwestern Pacific. Even if I were so inclined, the kinds of folks I can call 'those people over there' gets smaller by the generation.
As American as Tacos and Pizza
America's still getting new waves of immigrants: bringing fresh, new ideas; the sort of energy and enthusiasm that some families lose after the first few generations; and new customs to America. I like it. But then, I don't mind living in a country where pizza, hamburgers, and tacos are all "American" foods.So, why do I hope that whoever put those "unacceptable" posters up gets caught? And, that people in St. Cloud make it clear that they don't, as a rule, treat their neighbors that way?
- Somali Muslims living in Minnesota are Minnesotans
- Like me.
- I appreciate it when people don't trash my religious beliefs.
- And so I need to at least say something when someone else is the target of that sort of disrespect.
- It's the right thing to do.
- I know that sounds corny: but there it is.
- I have some experience, having religious beliefs which are not shared by the majority.
- I'm Catholic.
- One of 'those people.'
He's credited with writing a poem. Several, actually, all with the same general message. Here are a few:
"When Hitler attacked the JewsOr maybe it was
I was not a Jew, therefore I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the Catholics,
I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned.
And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists,
I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned.
Then Hitler attacked me and the Protestant church --
and there was nobody left to be concerned."
(Niemoller's address to the U.S. Congress (Congressional Record,
October 14, 1968, page 31636), Martin Niemoller poem and address on Hitler and the Nazis)
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --Or
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me." (MARTIN NIEMÖLLER: "FIRST THEY CAME FOR THE SOCIALISTS...", United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--The version you ran into probably isn't there. Some are rather politically correct, some were edited from a more conservative point of view. Although I don't quite agree with the UC Santa Barbara professor's assumption that the guy from the Small Business Administration was subverting the pastor's message ('everybody knows' what those capitalists are like?), the professor's page is one of the best resources I've found online, for studying Niemöller's remarks.
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me."
(Martin Niemöller's famous quotation: "First they came for the Communists"..., a page by Harold Marcuse, UC Santa Barbara)
Between Islamic crazies and white supremacists, there's a whole lot of hate - concentrated in, I trust, "a very few bad apples," but dangerous nonetheless. "My end of the boat isn't sinking" is not a prudent attitude.
Related posts:
- "Danish Newspaper's Cartoons Back in the News"
(October 27, 2009) - "Somalia, America, Assumptions, Terrorists and the Press"
(October 7, 2009) - "Bikinis, Burkinis, and Modesty: The Other Guy isn't Always Wrong"
A Catholic Citizen in America (August 16, 2009) - "Hijabs, Myths, and Flashing Flesh"
(August 12, 2009) - "Canadian Mosque's 'Specialized De-Radicalization Intervention Program' - Sounds Good"
(February 26, 2009) - "(Allegedly) Christian Terrorists? Yes, They Exist"
(December 31, 2008) - "Why I Call 'Knights in Support of the Invasion' Islamic"
(December 20, 2008) - "Islamic 'Knights in Support of the Invasion' Group on Facebook Shut Down: Censorship, or Common Sense?"
(December 20, 2008) - " 'Self-Satisfied Ignorance?' Eucharist, Quran, and Atheist Book Trashed"
(August 5, 2008) - "The Subway Project and 'Why Islam?' - Terrorists in the Subways! Or, Not"
(July 23, 2008)
Particularly the poems attributed to Martin Niemöller. - "'Will the Real Islam, Please Stand Up?' "
(February 6, 2008) - "Three Killed in Tel Aviv Gay Youth Club: There's No Excuse"
A Catholic Citizen in America (August 1, 2009) - "Honor Killing is Against Islam, Islamic Party Members Say"
(September 7, 2008) - " 'They’re all Muslims' - This Does Not Help"
(December 29, 2007)
- "Anti-Islamic cartoon investigation continues"
St. Cloud Times (December 11, 2009) - "Reward Offered Over St. Cloud Anti-Muslim Cartoons"
WCCO (December 11, 2009) - "JCRC Condemns Hateful Cartoons Targeting Muslims in St. Cloud"
Minneapolis Star-Tribune (December 10, 2009)- A remarkable number of Jews haven't forgotten Dachau
- "St. Cloud police investigate anti-Muslim cartoons"
USA Today (December 10, 2009)
1 Or, if you like, Oglala Lakota. The family has been saying "Sioux," which was the term most Americans would have understood up to a few decades ago. Turns out, "Sioux" is the Anglicized version of the Chippewa word for "snake." Euro-Americans had apparently asked the (Chippewa) American Indians (that's probably not PC today, but you know what I mean) what the people living a bit west of "here" were called. The Chippewa, who weren't on the Lakota "A" list any more than the Euro-Americans were, said that those 'people' over there were snakes. "Sioux."
The name stuck.
Sort of like "Yankee," but that's another topic.
I've learned that, possibly because we're all supposed to feel warm fuzzies about each other, that the folks who lived around here and points south and east (if memory serves) didn't call the foreigners to the west "snake." Could be.
And, that "Oglala" isn't PC any more. No surprises there. What's politically correct and what's not shifts.
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