That is not my title!  That is the very improbable title given to yet another rehash of the South African “xenophobia” story we have written about many times.  The title is from an article in Medeshi, an on-line publication about the Horn of Africa.  I really haven’t a clue where they are coming from (well maybe that title gives me a little clue!).

Anyway the article is, as I said, another rehash of the supposed “xenophobia” going on in South Africa where local black South Africans are rioting against other African immigrants many of whom have arrived illegally in the Rainbow Nation that Nelson Mandela created.   Obviously since all involved in the violence are black, they can’t use the word “racist,” so “xenophobia” is the word of choice to explain the behavior of the “mentally inferior” locals.   Sound familiar!

Here is how the “mentally inferior” describe the problem:

Our problem is simple: We are hungry. We are angry. And the Somalis are undercutting us.

Does that sound like a mentally deficient statement to you?

Then here is the only new information this article provides.   All of the other articles I’ve written about and even this article until this point suggests the violence is directed at mostly the arrogant Somalis.   Here a Somali claims that they avoided much of the violence by NOT assimilating.  Frankly that makes no sense to me, and contradicts the first part of this article.

…. the Somali community was still vulnerable because of the differences between Somalis and other cultures, said Alas Jama, 43, a Somali from the Cape Town suburb of Bellville.

Although his countrymen had integrated well when it came to establishing businesses in South Africa’s townships, many preferred not to weave their lives into that of the local community. “Because we are Muslim, many Somalis prefer to marry amongst themselves because of the sensitivities associated with mixing cultures,” he commented.

“Somali people’s culture is very different to those you find in Southern African communities and this leads to problems. Many Somalis don’t feel comfortable taking on local cultural traits, which has the affect of alienating them to some degree,” said Jama, who helped coordinate relief efforts during the xenophobic violence.

“Because other Africans from around the region have integrated better with the South African communities in terms of living amongst and marrying locals, they were the first to be targeted by the mobs that took over,” he said.

“Somalis created their own jobs, opened their own shops and stayed amongst themselves, and this really helped them to be spared during the killings here at that time,” Jama said.
“They lost property and had shops destroyed, but it was those who had integrated best who suffered the most from violence, because they initially felt safe and did not leave in time.”

Huh?   Staying separate, not assimilating, being differant all helped spare them from violence?   Lets go back to the title of this article and ask ourselves—who are the mentally inferior?

Search “South Africa” for all we’ve written on the topic.  

Go back to my story of last night from Grand Island, NE and notice a pattern.  Somalis have no plans to assimilate anywhere.