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- [SW Column] (The American Conservative ) The
Great Somali Welfare Hunt - The Refugee Act
of 1980 has turned thousands of Somali Bantu into American dependents :Posted on
24 Nov 2002
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Opinions expressed in this column
are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of SW.
The Great Somali Welfare Hunt -
The Refugee Act of
1980 has turned thousands of Somali Bantu into American dependents. Millions
more “refugees” may be eligible for resettlement in your neighborhood.
By Roger D. McGrath
The deconstruction of America is well underway. This has been clear to
anyone living in California since the 1970s. Back then I remember talking
with people who lived out of state about the changes that were being wrought
by immigration, both legal and illegal, to California from countries of the
Third World. No one could quite believe that the changes were as drastic and
far-reaching as I described. Many considered me an alarmist. Those who did
not thought that what I described was peculiar to California. The last
decade has changed all that. What began in California thirty years ago is
now happening everywhere. I would like to say that I take a perverse delight
in having reality smack those nonbelievers in the face. I don’t. The America
that I love, the America that I joined the Marine Corps to defend, the
America of my ancestors, is being destroyed.
The latest community to enjoy the delights of Third World mass immigration
is Lewiston, Maine, which, since February 2001, has been the destination for
hundreds of Somali Muslims. The first Muslim to arrive in the town actually
got there in May 1965, but his stay was brief. He was there to fight Sonny
Liston in a rematch. The year before, as Cassius Clay, he took Liston’s
crown in a bizarre seven-round battle in Miami that saw the dreaded Liston,
a 7-1 favorite, quit while sitting on his stool. “The fix was in,” was the
consensus. Between fights Clay converted to Islam and adopted the name
Muhammad Ali. He won his second fight with Liston, a 7-5 favorite this time,
in an equally bizarre one-round match. Again came the cry, “The fix was in.”
Little did the citizens of Lewiston realize that, 36 years later, Muslims
would begin arriving in their town again. This time they would stay. Once
more the fix seems to be in.
Lewiston, a former mill town of 36,000 on the Androscoggin River, was
virtually all white when the federal census was taken in 2000. Blacks, with
383 people, accounted for 1.1% of the population. No other nonwhite group
accounted for more than a fraction of a percent. The exact percentage for
whites was recorded as 97.3. With the mills shut down and a less than robust
economy, it would seem an unlikely place for Somalis to flock to.
Nonetheless, upwards of 2,000 have already done so, and more are on the way.
The problem goes back to the Refugee Act of 1980, which amended the
Immigration and Nationality Act and changed a traditional American policy of
favoring refugees from Communist countries. The act put the United States in
line with the United Nations by redefining “refugee” more broadly to include
anyone “who is unwilling or unable to return to his country of nationality
or habitual residence because of persecution or a well-founded fear of
persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a
particular social group, or political opinion.” Potentially half the world
falls under the definition. The Refugee Act also provided for both a regular
flow and the emergency admission of refugees as well as federal monies for
their resettlement.
In 1999, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) declared
the Somali Bantu “refugees,” and the United States agreed to resettle them.
The ancestral home of these particular Bantu was Tanzania, but Arab slave
traders took them to Somalia during the 18th and 19th centuries. Despite the
end of slavery during the 20th century, the transplanted Bantu remained less
than equal in Somalia. They were restricted to jobs considered demeaning,
excluded from the Somali clan system, and referred to by pejorative names,
generally meaning something like “lowly slave.” Most of them lived in the
Juba River valley of southern Somalia. When civil war erupted with the
overthrow of the dictator Mohammed Siad Barre in 1991, they fell prey to
various warlords. Mostly lacking arms themselves, they were dispossessed of
their land and property by whatever faction temporarily took power.
Eventually, more than 12,000 of the Somali Bantu crossed into Kenya and
settled in a UN sponsored refugee camp at Dadaab in eastern Kenya, where
more than 100,000 other Somali had also fled.
Logic would suggest that these 12,000 black, African Muslims be resettled in
their former homeland, the black, African nation of Tanzania, which is more
than a third Muslim and borders Kenya, instead of being transported
thousands of miles to the United States. But somehow, the UN commissioners
and American officials think the good, old U.S.A. is just right for the
Somali Bantu—and other Somali refugees as well.
Most of the early arrivals in the United States settled in Clarkston,
next-door to Atlanta, but problems quickly developed with local blacks who,
the Somali contend, preyed on them. A few Somali had problems with another
form of American diversity. Mohammed Abdi said that he was resettled north
of Atlanta in a “war zone” between Vietnamese and Mexican gangs. Moreover,
Somalis soon learned that welfare benefits and public housing were more
generous and better elsewhere, especially in New England. By February 2001,
they had discovered Lewiston, and the influx began. The numbers of those
arriving accelerated last summer, exceeding 100 a month. Although it is
difficult to get an exact fix on the figures, it seems that more than half
of all Somalis in Lewiston are on the dole. Welfare spending has more than
doubled since their arrival.
One of the Somalis who has a job is Abdiaziz Ali, a 31-year-old father of
five who arrived in Lewiston last year. Ali is a welfare caseworker. He
greets new arrivals, puts them on welfare, and finds them housing. He is
happy to be in Lewiston, where benefits are substantial, schools good, and
crime low. He himself was robbed twice by local blacks in Atlanta.
Mohammed Maye, the president of the African Community and Refugee Center in
Clarkston, has a map of Lewiston on the wall of his office. “Go to Maine,”
he advises Somalis. He has recently opened a second office in Lewiston.
Abdullahi Abdullahi, the president of the Somali Community Development
Organization in Clarkston, tells Somalis that, unlike Georgia, Maine has
terribly cold winters, but “the welfare system is better.” Better for sure.
Lewiston provides welfare to anyone in need, and the state picks up half the
tab. Recipients are allowed a generous five years of assistance before
benefits are terminated, and, even at that point, extensions are not
difficult to obtain. Single parents can stay on welfare and go to college.
Public housing is also available, although, because of the influx of
Somalis, there is now a waiting list. More than a third of the apartments at
Hillview, Lewiston’s largest public housing project, are occupied by
Somalis, many of them single mothers with large broods of children. The
fathers are unaccounted for or still in Georgia or Africa. Those who are
unable to obtain public housing are eligible for Section 8 vouchers, which
the federal government provides to subsidize rental of private housing.
Just where all the Somalis will eventually be employed is a mystery. The
mills of Lewiston, once upon a time, produced a quarter of all American
textiles. Across the Androscoggin River, the factories of Auburn turned out
shoes by the thousands. Foreign competition has destroyed those industries.
Like many other communities in the United States, Lewiston has tried to
re-invent itself and create a service-based economy. Banking, insurance,
healthcare, and the like, however, do not provide the blue-collar jobs that
have sustained generations of immigrants with few skills and limited
English. Perhaps the demise of the old industries is of little consequence
to the Somalis. When Renee Bernier, the president of the Lewiston city
council, offered to hire 30 Somalis at $8 an hour to hold warning signs at
road construction sites, few showed any interest. Those who did wanted to
work no more than a half-day, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
With the welfare system, public housing, and, to a rapidly increasing
degree, the schools creaking under the strain of the Somalis, some in
Lewiston have dared to speak out. Recently, mayor Laurier Raymond, in a
public letter, asked the Somali leaders to discourage the migration to
Lewiston, saying the city was “maxed out financially, physically and
emotionally.” He was immediately attacked by the former mayor, Kaileigh
Tara, who said she “wanted to cry” when she read Raymond’s letter. Somali
leaders said he is “an ill-informed leader who is bent toward bigotry.” The
usual terms xenophobe and racist were bandied about. A protest march of some
200 Somalis and their white sympathizers traveled several blocks from a
downtown Methodist church to Lewiston’s first mosque, a converted grocery
store on Lisbon Street. The U.S. Department of Justice was called upon to
conduct an investigation to ensure that the Somalis are not discriminated
against. The UN cannot be far behind.
Meanwhile, the 71-year-old Raymond, a former probate judge, has been brought
to heel. He met with local Somali leaders at city hall and vowed to
co-operate with the Somali community to reduce tensions in Lewiston. After
the meeting, the Somalis issued a written statement saying, “Like all
families, we have our misunderstandings, but families draw strength from
resolving their issues.” Raymond had evidently been operating under the
misapprehension that Muslim Somali Bantu were not part of his family.
Raymond’s new family practices female genital mutilation, specifically
clitorectomy. Termed “female circumcision” by the culturally sensitive and
euphemistically inclined, the barbaric practice is common among African
Muslims. Not infrequently the clitoris is cut out without the benefit of
anesthesia or surgical instruments. Broken bottles or tin can lids
occasionally serve as scalpels. This means that often not only is the
clitoris cut out but that portions of the labia are also cut away or
severely damaged. According to reports from the refugee camps in Kenya,
hundreds of girls are being rushed through the mutilation because
U.S.-sponsored cultural orientation classes have informed the refugees that
the practice is illegal in the United States. The Somali Bantu usually
excise the clitoris when girls reach the age of eight or nine. In recent
weeks, girls as young as two have undergone the ordeal.
More than 12,000 Somali Bantu have now been transferred from the Dadaab
camp, near the border with Somalia, across 600 miles of Kenya to the Kakuma
camp in the northwest. Next stop, the United States. The Somalis do not have
to worry about using their credit card air miles—it is all courtesy of Uncle
Sam. There are plenty more refugees in Kenya. The UNHCR counts nearly
200,000, most of them Somalis but large numbers of Sudanese as well. The
Somali Bantu could be just the beginning.
Those Somali already in Lewiston have found what they call their “dream
place.” Nonetheless, they understand that there are other dream places in
the United States, and they mean to find them. Following their ancient
practice of “sahan,” they send young men out in all directions to
find not water and good grazing, as in Somalia, but public housing and
generous welfare benefits. The tribe then follows. “They came in droves off
the buses,” said Lewiston council president Bernier, and “some made the
welfare office their first stop.” The practice of sahan has become
more sophisticated in the United States. The Somalis use the Internet to
access the websites of states and towns across the nation, checking crime
rates, welfare programs, housing, and schools. Employment opportunities are
evidently a low priority. This certainly removes the main obstacle for most
of us relocating to dream places. Abdiaziz Ali, the welfare caseworker, is
not shy about announcing the Somalis’ intentions. “We can spread
out—anywhere we want.”
Anywhere, for now, means mostly towns in New England. Holyoke, Massachusetts
has been targeted for Somali Bantu settlement by a coalition of religious
charities. The coalition has received a million-dollar grant from the
federal government to establish the Somalis in the town famous for the first
women’s college. Holyoke city councilors, however, say that even with the
grant the costs of absorbing the Somalis would be prohibitive. By a 12-2
vote the councilors passed a resolution that stated, “The city does not have
the resources to care for, educate, train, house or protect said
individuals.” The resolution concluded by firmly proclaiming that the
councilors “do not support the decision to place the refugees in our city.”
Federal officials say the local townsfolk have no control over the
resettlement grant and cannot prevent the Somalis from moving to Holyoke.
Local sentiment against the anticipated arrival of the Somalis has been so
strong that the charities coalition canceled a public presentation and slide
show on the plight of the refugees. I suspect the slide show did not include
photos of mutilated genitalia.
Holyoke mayor Michael Sullivan tried to calm the citizens, saying, “Don’t
blame the victims. The victims are the city—and the Bantus. Its not fair
that Holyoke has to be alone in this, but if nobody’s going to do it, we
have to try.” Actually, the federal government does not have to do this to
Holyoke or to any town in America. The American people, in poll after poll,
have voiced their opposition to our current immigration policies. We are
under no obligation to destroy the ethnic, religious, and cultural
traditions that have built this country. We are under no obligation to
destroy the homogeneity of small towns in America.
With upwards of 130,000 Somalis in Kenyan camps hoping to be resettled in
the United States, towns throughout America might soon have the opportunity
to enjoy the diversity that a thousand or two African Muslims will bring
them. Meanwhile, we send our boys overseas to fight and die, ostensibly to
protect the United States. One of those boys who died in Somalia, in our
ill-conceived raid on Mogadishu—so brilliantly dramatized in “Black Hawk
Down”—was SSgt. Thomas J. Field, Army Ranger and native son of Lisbon, just
downriver from Lewiston. Local folk got the state highway that connects
Lisbon and Lewiston named in his honor. In Lewiston, the highway becomes
Lisbon Street, which now features Lewiston’s first mosque, regularly crowded
with Somalis. May God rest your soul brave young man—because somewhere “the
fix is in.”
Roger D. McGrath is an historian in California and the author of
Gunfighters, Highwaymen and Vigilantes (Univ. of California Press) among
other books.
[Column]