Day: February 19, 2009

Obama’s attorney general Holder calls us cowards for not talking about race

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In a speech yesterday, newly appointed Attorney General Eric Holder has managed to stir a hornets nest by saying Americans are “cowards” for not talking about race. 

Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” said Holder, nation’s first black attorney general.

Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, Holder said, but “we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”

Mr. Holder, if people aren’t talking about race enough for you, you can blame your politically correct elitist friends for that.   Most  “average Americans” are afraid to open their mouths on the subject because some snotty leftwing goon will tell them they are racist xenophobic hatemongers.

And then, as for your comment that people of various races work together but don’t socialize together, so what!   People spend their free time with people they relate to for myriad reasons.  It has nothing to do with race it has to do with culture, values, lifestyle, and the way one grew up.  Here is what Holder said:

Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

If you leftwingers in the Obama Administration have a hang-up about race, could you keep your hang-ups to yourself.  You might be surprised that “average Americans” are doing just fine.

And, besides Mr. Holder, didn’t we just elect a black President, aren’t you the first black Attorney General, didn’t you all tell us we were now a post-racial country, so maybe you could find more positive, constructive or useful things to say about the American people.   Or, maybe don’t say anything and do your job.

Tent cities coming to a neighborhood near you?

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Jumping from Syracuse, NY to Boise, ID this morning, we have another story of US refugees about to be evicted, this time because they have no jobs and their rent subsidies are about to end.

One Iraqi family, brought to the United States from war-torn Baghdad and resettled in Boise with refugee status, may soon face an eviction notice at their new home.

In two weeks, Walid and Samira Waheed and their three children will reach the end of their six months of rental assistance. They have no savings, and, largely because of the declining job market, they have not found work. They do not have rent money for March.

“I am happy in Boise,” Walid Waheed said. “Please help us.”

Waheed is just the tip of the iceberg. More than 1,000 refugees resettled in Idaho in the last year, most expecting to quickly find jobs and become self-sufficient.

But now, with their welcome benefits running out and no work in sight, refugee families are facing the stark possibility of becoming internally displaced people in the very nation that offered them refuge.

Tent cities!  A Boise community manager is shocked to learn there are no solutions.  Although I feel for her, it wasn’t too long ago I read about how wonderful and welcoming Boise was to refugees and immigrants generally.   I’m not sure I can find it now*, but they even reportedly had city benches painted with “welcoming” messages to immigrants.  So the city shares some blame for not looking ahead.

According to community manager Barbara Seguin Du Haime, another two families have funding through March, but come April, she will have nine refugee families facing eviction.

“I was just amazed to learn that there aren’t solutions out there,” she said. “What happens to Boise? Are we going to have tent cities?”

World Relief says they are short $5000 a month for upcoming rents.

Jones said World Relief is still compiling the numbers, but needs about $5,000 a month to continue paying rent for unemployed refugees.

Tent cities in the US or left to die?   Oh, come on, the choice is not that stark.  Many of the refugees we have written about are not on the verge of death where they were, some like the Iraqi family we told you about yesterday were doing o.k. in Jordan.

Moore, at IRC, said communities across the country that have taken in refugees are all facing the same dilemma: a potential wave of refugees losing their housing.

“It’s a real possibility across the country,” Moore said. “It’s almost a question of playing God. Are you going to bring them here to have a difficult resettlement experience, or are you going to leave them there to die?”

How about going to the top dogs at the IRC and asking them to contribute their six figure salaries (from the US taxpayer) to these poor families you are bringing to Boise and other US cities.   Maybe if that happened the refugee spigot would be turned off for awhile.

*Update:   I found it!  The “Welcome the Stranger” campaign.  Now maybe they can use those benches for seating in the tent cities!

Refugees living in substandard housing in Syracuse must find another place to live

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

One more case in a growing number of cases of recent refugees to the US living in substandard housing.

Makagbeh Konneh, a refugee from Liberia, shares the two-family apartment building with her five children. She lives in the downstairs apartment with four of her five children.

Her oldest son, Sekou Bility, 31, lives in the upstairs apartment. Sekou, who works at a local nursing home, was planning to move before the city condemned the building. He got tired of the landlord ignoring his concerns about the lack of heat in the apartment.

There are so many people living in substandard housing. Many of those homes are in the city’s poorest neighborhoods–North, South, West and Near East sides.

Since this family has been here for awhile, it is not clear whether Catholic Charities placed them in unsafe housing initially, but I was glad to see that someone representing the agency is still helping them.

In Makagbeh’s case, I got a call from Brian Hodgens. Brian volunteered to help the family adjust to life in America after Catholic Charities settled them here in 2005. He’s stayed with the family, helping deal with their landlord problems and other challenges.

The same day Brian called, I got two calls from people who worked with refugees from Bhutan. They were concerned that some landlords were taking advantage of refugees because they don’t speak English and don’t understand the system.

Although the Liberian family has been evicted, they have something going for them, besides an American to help them, and that is  they have a job.   Refugees in Boise, ID that I’ll tell you about shortly, are about to be evicted and cannot find jobs.

The end of Malta? Somali illegal aliens overruning tiny Malta

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We have been writing about Malta since the very first month, July 2007, that we began writing this blog.    Malta is a tiny island nation in the Mediterranean Sea that is being overrun by African illegal aliens. 

I wouldn’t have found this article at all except that a commenter, George Xuereb, has linked to us and concludes his comment by saying:

I THINK THIS REALLY IS THE END OF MALTA

From the Times of Malta (the story is short but the comments are lengthy and angry):

A group of 227 immigrants have arrived in Birzebbugia on a large boat packed to the brim.

[…..]

It was noted that the illegal immigrants lacked life-jackets whilst their overall state of health was generally good.

It is the second big group to arrive in Malta this month, after 262 arrived on Feb 1.

Two groups of some 150 arrived in December and January.

I have maintained that the US exacerbates the problem in Malta because surely word has reached deep into Africa that the US is taking some of these illegal aliens as refugees to America, thanks to former Ambassador ‘tea party Molly.’

Oh, and be sure and watch the film clip with yesterdays story in the Times of Malta .   Camp of Saints anyone?