According to the Emporia-Gazette, news was received today that the Somali refugees who have been the center of much controversy are leaving Emporia. They are among the 1500 workers who will be unemployed shortly.
City Manager Matt Zimmerman told city commissioners at today’s work session that the Somali community had decided to leave Emporia following Tyson Foods’ decision to shut down its Emporia slaughter operation, according to a refugee coordinator from the state.
You need to go and read the citizen comments at this article to know how much this Kansas city was disrupted first by the secretive arrival of hundreds of Somalis presumably lured by Tyson’s to Emporia, and now their abrupt departure with the plant closure. The Tyson’s Food company and its quest to keep wages low is primarily to blame for all the hard feelings and upheaval among the long time residents.
And, a share of the blame goes to resettlement agencies like Catholic Charities who seem to latch onto any employer no matter how unscrupulous their business practices. The bottomline is that if they don’t get these refugees employed quickly someone might just suggest we are bringing too many low skilled workers to the US and their gravy train and ‘good’ works would be halted.
Although we have sympathy for unemployed people whoever they are, the Somalis compounded their problems in Emporia by making no apparent effort to assimilate. And, I will bet they were never seriously told they must assimilate by whatever agency resettled them in the first place.
Residents asking questions from the get-go are now subject to comments like this one from Joe_Strummer:
Just wonder what all these poor Klansmen are gonna do on their Saturday nights now that there’s no one to whine about.
But, then JayJazz has a comeback:
Damn! I just washed my hood again with my red underwear… I hate it when that happens.
That’s right Jay, keep your sense of humor and laugh at those claiming this is all about racism in a so-called “unwelcoming” city. They will throw the blame for bad government policies, mismanagement by volags and ruthless business practices by a large corporation back on citizens. Resist!
If you are new to this controversy and have the stamina, visit our category called Emporia, Ks controversy and start at the beginning. We have written 25 posts on this topic.