Day: November 14, 2008

Project to document the Somali diaspora*

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Today I received some information on something called The Somali Documentary Project.   Its goal is to document the “glory and the pain” of the worldwide migration of Somalis.  And, it seeks to educate host countries about the Somalis in hopes that respect and “justice” will follow. 

Huh?   “Justice” is part of the “radical” lingo I’ve been telling you about here, probably right out of some chapter in Community Organizing 101.   We are all supposed to melt and say, well of course we want “justice.”    What the heck?   Where is the “justice” for the people who don’t want their communities overrun with any group of new people.

How about if a million Americans migrated to some country and just said, here we are, we want to stay and we demand respect.   We want to keep our language, build our churches, we want special accomodations and jobs and healthcare and educations.  Would we, the Americans, be on the “justice” side of the equation?  

Now you are probably saying we (not me!) did that to the Native Americans.  It was not a good thing, so why is it now a good thing that the whole world wants to come here and do it to us?

Why don’t local folks who don’t want “change” have rights?    Remember that phrase you probably used as a kid to some know-it-all bully, “Who died and made you king?”  That’s what I am saying to all those spouting “change uber alles” garbage.

How about a documentary project that chronicles some American town that doesn’t want to change and whose citizens are proud to say so!  

When the Virginia Council of Churches called Hagerstown, MD “unwelcoming” last year, some of us joked about a road sign entering town that might say, “Welcome to the most unwelcoming town in America.”

By the way, this is one wierd website, you can’t even copy any of it.

* Yeh, diaspora is one of those chic words.  It means people spread out from their homeland.  You know, like many Americans are part of the English diaspora.   Actually I’m a part of the German and Irish diaspora.  But, really the word doesn’t get used for us.  You never hear of the Chinese diaspora either. Come to think of it, it is primarily used for people other people are trying to get sympathy for.

Thousands of Somalis flowing across borders into Kenya…

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

…not, however, deterred by the fact that the borders are closed.   I know, they must have heard that the streets of Nairobi are paved with AOR’s* for sale.  From the Voice of America:

As the humanitarian crisis in Somalia worsens, the influx of Somali refugees into Kenya has grown sharply. This, despite Kenya’s closing its borders early last year. Human Rights Watch is calling on the Kenyan government, UN agencies and foreign donors to take action to help the refugees.

It looks like everyone is into corruption, so is it any surprise that Somalis were getting into the US fraudulently.

The influx of Somalis into Kenya came despite Kenya’s ordering the border closed in January 2007 due to the growing conflict in Somalia. Simpson says, “The closure has not come without a cost to refugees. Because the border is closed, the Somali refugees have to pay people smugglers, who take them across the border in order to avoid corrupt Kenyan police, who, if they catch the refugees, detain them, demand bribes from them. And we have testimony from refugees, who say that they have been detained in police stations inside the camps and in towns around the camps, where they were beaten and held in appalling conditions, and deported back to Somalia when they were not able to pay bribes.”

Where are the Somali refugees getting money to pay people smugglers and to buy the AOR’s?  Might it be from remittances from Somalis already in the US?

* AORs are Affidavits of Relationship used to bring so-called relatives to the US and are supplied by American “anchors.”

Ho hum, Somali gang violence in Canada too

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Took a little break from Somali refugees this morning so you wouldn’t think we had turned into Somali Watch blog.   Now, back to those busy newsmakers, here is a report from Edmonton, Alberta in Western Canada about Somalis getting killed in gang violence.   Diversity adds so much to our boring lives.

As bodybags across the province are filled with victims of gang violence – many of whom are recent immigrants – the local Somali community is asking for help to curb the problem.

The man [program director of the Somali Center who would not give his name] said the Somali community is “very sad and very emotional,” and most are still confused by news that some of their own are murdered on the streets of Alberta.

His comments came following the slaying of Daniel Asarfo-Adjei, a 17-year-old Toronto man shot dead in Fort McMurray early Sunday. Police believe the young man’s death was drug-related.

Wondering where all these transient Somali gang bangers are coming from, the leader of the Somali Community Center points a finger of blame at who?   The police, don’t you know.  They aren’t doing enough to stop their kids from getting in with the wrong crowd.

The Somali centre spokesman said police have not done enough to help the community deal with the problem of youth turning to drugs, guns and gangs as a way of life.

For more on Somali gang violence use our search function.  I have lost track of all the posts we have written on the topic.  And, in retrospect it was crazy not to make a whole separate category just for Somali news.  I’ll put that on my to-do list for a slow day.

Two Iraqi Christian girls murdered in their home in Mosul

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

And, surprise, no mention of this that I can see at the UNHCR website.   The persecution and murder of Christians in Iraq goes on while the UN High Commissioner for Refugees continues news story after news story about the “persecuted” Iraqi Palestinians.

This is from the Asia News:

Mosul (AsiaNews) – Mosul Christians have been attacked again today. A group of armed men stormed a house in the Alqahira neighbourhood where they killed two sisters in what amounts to targeting killing. After entering the building the gunmen shot the two young women in cold blood and wounded their mother with a knife. At present she is in hospital but her conditions are not serious. The husband and the son were able to escape at the start of the attack.

[…] 

A source told AsiaNews that “youth gangs from poor families” were involved in the incident but that behind them there is “a criminal organisation” that is doing everything to drive Christians out of the city.

However, the UNHCR puts out international press releases about the rain in Palestinian camps on the Iraq Syria border.  And, the death of one Palestinian child accidentally run over by a truck “highlights” the tragedy of the Iraqi Palestinians.

What about the tragedy when Muslim terrorists kill girls in their homes?   Doesn’t that warrant an international press release?   Urghhhh!

Asia News wraps up its story with this:

In recent days more than 700 families had decided to come back to Mosul after local authorities promised to provide them with greater protection. This targeted killing “will push Christians to flee again” and threats of new attacks and violence will continue to hang over the few who remain.

55,000 Diversity visas up for grabs

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The deadline for the 2010 State Department Diversity visa lottery program is December first, so if you are hankering to get into the US sign up for this exciting opportunity real soon.   Since America doesn’t have enough diversity, Congress in its infinite wisdom, nearly 20 years ago designed a way for you to gamble your way in and add yourself to our great multicultural melting pot. 

However, assimilation is not mandatory because we are hip now—cultural relativism is the rule of the day.

There is a catch, you can’t be from a country that has sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the US in the last 5 years, we only want the really really diverse because that is cooler than the common diverse.

The annual Diversity Visa program makes visas available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. A computer-generated, random lottery drawing chooses selectees for Diversity Visas. The visas are distributed among six geographic regions, with a greater number of visas going to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to nationals of countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. over the past five years. Within each region, no single country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity Visas in any one year.

For DV-2010, natives of the following countries are not eligible to apply because the countries sent a total of more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years:

BRAZIL, CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, ECUADOR, EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, HAITI, INDIA, JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, PERU, POLAND, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM.

So, when I look at this list of ineligible countries it pretty much means that if you are from a country that hates America you have a good shot at this special visa.