Rochester, MN: Welcoming the stranger hits a speed bump

“They don’t seem to like each other!”

That comment by a police officer appears to be hitting close to the truth in this story about how American blacks and Somali “kids” are beating up on each other in that “welcoming” city, Rochester, MN.   We first told you about Rochester here and reported on how the Catholic Charities head lady there lectured a Kiwanis lunch about how diversity is strength, and multiculturalism is beautiful.  And, we are all immigrants afterall!  You might want to revisit that post, then read this:

Rochester, Minn. — Abdalla Mursal moved his family from Atlanta to southeastern Minnesota a decade ago to raise his four children in an area with good schools and low crime. [Sounds like the same migration that occured in Lewiston, ME.]

“This city is a very peaceful city and everybody who lives here likes it,” Mursal said of Rochester. “I like this city.”

But in recent months, Mursal and other Somali parents have discovered that their children’s schools aren’t so tranquil, as Somali youngsters have been in fights with white and African American students.

On Oct. 14, another student teased Mursal’s son, Abdirahman, a high school junior, and hit him with a baseball bat at school.

“Somebody hit him with a baseball bat in the back, but immediately the police handled the case. So, I let the police and the school handle the case for the matter,” Mursal said. “Fortunately, there was no injury and he was okay.” 

The fight was between a group of Somali and African American students. No one was hurt, but the incident received a lot of public attention since it involved so many young people. Police have sent this case to county prosecutors and submitted disorderly conduct and riot charges for eight of the students.

Again, district officials would not say if they suspended the students, but after the brawl, school officials held a closed-door meeting with Somali and African American community leaders to talk about the fights. Somali parents like Mursal say the incidents are more about cultural misunderstandings than race. But they say it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what triggers these fights.

Police also can’t point to a particular cause for tensions between other students and Somalis.

“They don’t seem to like each other,” said Capt. Brian Winters of the Rochester Police Department.

But, how can that be? Aren’t they all African brothers?  Isn’t America a melting pot?

Somali terror connection to Rochester

Interestingly, we reported on Rochester, MN another time recently.  Remember the recruiter (apprehended in the Netherlands) who is supposed to have helped the Somali missing youths get to Somalia to join the Jihad, well, can you believe it, he was from Rochester, MN!

Endnote:  It’s not just Rochester, diversity is beautiful in Denver too!  Readers might want to see what is going on in Colorado where “blacks” are beating up Burmese and Bhutanese refugees, here.

Debbie Schlussel has the scoop on the Detroit attempted terror attack

Update:  Suicide underwear discussed at Hot Air, here.  See also “Great Balls of Fire,” here.

Thanks to Janet Levy for sending it,  here is Debbie Schlussel’s post on the Nigerian Jihadist—who he is and  how he got into the US.  This is one point she makes, and one we have made here on numerous occasions.

This incident is also yet another weight on the overwhelming evidence refuting the still often uttered claim that Muslims are driven to terrorism because they are poor or do not have economic and educational opportunities. Not only was he studying in London, but his father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, is a wealthy, prominent Nigerian banker, who is the immediate past chairman of the First Bank of Nigeria and a former Nigerian government minister. But as indicated by the “Alhaji” prefix on his fathers name, the elder Mutallab was apparently a religious Muslim, who went on the hajj to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Read her whole post, she has inside information on the Detroit area legal system that will be involved in his case.  Our friend Jerry Gordon, in a conversation with me yesterday, referred to the Jihadist as the “leg-bomber” (you know, like Richard Reid was the shoe-bomber), well it appears that if Debbie is accurate about the location of his bomb parphernalia, he could be called the crotch-bomber.  I know it’s no laughing matter, but since these Islamists have no sense of humor, we must keep ours.  Besides, didn’t Alinsky say that ridicule was the strongest weapon (short of killing or maiming people that is).

Afterawhile:  I just heard on TV that Senator Lieberman had suggested that we don’t know yet if the Nigerian Jihadist was connected to Al Qaeda.  He may have been self-radicalized, so the argument goes.  I noticed that last March when I attended the Senate Homeland Security hearings on the Somali missing youths, that that same kind of reasoning was being employed—if no Al Qaeda link then Lieberman et al gave a visible sigh of relief.  But, what difference does it make?  What difference if the Islamic radical becomes a dangerous terrorist on his own, he is just as dangerous.  What is so magic about a link to Al Qaeda?  Or, is it just one more bit of wordplay to make us all go back to sleep?