Update:  See Judy’s excellent points about this interview here.

Stop whatever you are doing, and read this great interview on Somalis in Shelbyville by Jerry Gordon of New English Review and reporter Brian Mosely!    Here is a part of the introduction.

We have written extensively about the problems of assimilation of émigré Somalis in cities like Nashville, Minneapolis, Lewiston, Maine and another Tyson Foods locale, Emporia, Kansas with a Somali meatpacker work force. The problems in those communities have included issues such as TB, public health, drug dealing, petty crime, in some cases massive unemployment, federal Medicare and Medicaid fraud and separation of Church and State provisions.

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One of the few members of the Fourth Estate, who has covered the problem of assimilation of legal Somali humanitarian émigrés in the US, is Brian Mosely of the Shelbyville Times Gazette.

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In a series of hard hitting articles in the Shelbyville Times Gazette, Mosely has vividly portrayed the problems of what happens when hundreds of Somalis with a strong tribal culture and Muslim faith come to a small community in America’s heartland. What threads through Mosley’s series is the Somalis demonstrable lack of discernable public health standards and minimal education, plus their rejection of US cultural standards of tolerance and offers from community outreach groups.

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In this interview with Mosely, we discuss the background that led to the Times Gazette Somali series, the reaction of the community to his reports and opinion pieces, comments by readers, and the attempt to muzzle his free speech rights under our Constitution.

Read it all here.  It is fascinating.

Note:   We have a very good search function at RRW and have covered the Shelbyville issue extensively, just search for the word “Shelbyville.”