Category: Emporia, KS controversy

Somalis definitely leaving Emporia, KS

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

According to the Emporia-Gazette, news was received today that the Somali refugees who have been the center of much controversy are leaving Emporia.  They are among the 1500 workers who will be unemployed shortly.

City Manager Matt Zimmerman told city commissioners at today’s work session that the Somali community had decided to leave Emporia following Tyson Foods’ decision to shut down its Emporia slaughter operation, according to a refugee coordinator from the state.

You need to go and read the citizen comments at this article to know how much this Kansas city was disrupted first by the secretive arrival of hundreds of Somalis presumably lured by Tyson’s to Emporia, and now their abrupt departure with the plant closure.    The Tyson’s Food company and its quest to keep wages low  is primarily to blame for all the hard feelings and upheaval among the long time residents. 

And, a share of the blame goes to resettlement agencies like Catholic Charities who seem to latch onto any employer no matter how unscrupulous their business practices.   The bottomline is that if they don’t get these refugees employed quickly someone might just suggest we are bringing too many low skilled workers to the US and their gravy train and ‘good’ works would be halted.

Although we have sympathy for unemployed people whoever they are, the Somalis compounded their problems in Emporia by making no apparent effort to assimilate.  And, I will bet they were never seriously told they must assimilate by whatever agency resettled them in the first place. 

Residents asking questions from the get-go are now subject to comments like this one from Joe_Strummer:

Just wonder what all these poor Klansmen are gonna do on their Saturday nights now that there’s no one to whine about.

But, then JayJazz has a comeback:

Damn! I just washed my hood again with my red underwear… I hate it when that happens.

That’s right Jay, keep your sense of humor and laugh at those claiming this is all about racism in a so-called “unwelcoming” city.   They will throw the blame for bad government policies, mismanagement by volags and ruthless business practices by a large corporation back on citizens.  Resist! 

If you are new to this controversy and have the stamina, visit our category called  Emporia, Ks controversy and start at the beginning.  We have written 25 posts on this topic.

My dream to be a meat packer

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Just happened to come across this website called “Colorado Confidential” with an article about African refugees who dream of jobs in meat packing.   And, for those who want to get a broader view of what goes on behind the scenes in refugee resettlement its a good overall article.   But, in light of what happened yesterday at Tyson’s Food in Emporia, KS, I wonder if there needs to be a reassessment of the job prospects in that industry.

Omar, 23, also from Somalia, spent nearly five years as a refugee in Nepal* before finally being resettled in Colorado. He arrived in mid-December. Once he gets a Social Security number, Omar plans to move to Greeley for a job at the Swift meat-processing plant, where wages start at about $10 an hour.

* A side issue:   What was Omar doing in Nepal?  It’s not exactly next door to Somalia and in fact it’s on another continent!

This was interesting in the article too.

Krassin Gueorguiev is program coordinator and lead teacher at the Spring Institute for Intercultural Learning, which has offered WorkStyles, an intensive course on American employment culture for refugees and asylees, for 25 years. Gueorguiev says many refugees arrive with a utopian image of life in the United States, and the reality – that most of them barely scrape by – is a hard slap.

The Spring Institute is the same outfit that was involved in settling the Somalis in Emporia, KS, so will they go back there now and help them find new employment?    On the Spring Institute’s Form 990 it states that “Grants are received from the federal as well as local governments to assist foreign students to work with US companies.”     At least $900,000 was received as a government contract in FY 2006.  You are paying for this.

As for the last line in the quote above:  “utopian image of life in the United States.”   I discussed that increasing problem in yesterday’s post on Bhutan.  Guess they got a hard slap in Emporia yesterday.

Here’s a shocker for you: Tyson’s meat packing plant in Emporia to close

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

 Update 1/28/08:  To get a feel for what is happening in Emporia, where the shock is barely settling in with residents, read these four articles and the comments from the Emporia Gazette (here, here, here and here).

Update 1/29/08:    American Congress for Truth blog has a post on the Emporia situation today here. Post says Somalis plan to leave Emporia.

We have been writing for several months about the fact that the Tyson’s meat packing plant in Emporia, KS had been bringing hundreds of Somali workers (400 by one count) and their families to this Kansas city causing a culture clash of some magnitude.   As a matter of fact, we have a whole category (over 20 posts) here at RRW addressing that controversy.

Now comes the news, out of the blue and late on a Friday, that Tyson’s will lay off 1500 workers at that plant.

Beef slaughter operations will cease within the next few weeks. However, the facility will still be used as a cold storage and distribution warehouse and will process ground beef.

_________

The discontinuation of slaughter operations will result in the elimination of approximately 1,500 of the 2,400 jobs currently provided at the Emporia plant.

I’ve wondered on previous occasions what happens to refugees and towns flooded with immigrants if the economy starts to tank.  It is already difficult enough I’m told to find work for unskilled laborers such as the Somalis, where will they go now?    Will they stay in Emporia on welfare?  Or, move with Tyson’s to another unsuspecting city?  Time will tell.

Affected workers will continue to be paid and receive benefits for 60 days. Tyson Human Resources representatives will begin meeting with them next week to discuss other employment opportunities within the company. The workers will be encouraged to consider transferring to other Tyson locations, such as company beef facilities at Finney County, Kansas; Dakota City and Lexington, Nebraska; and Joslin, Illinois.

Come to think of it, didn’t Tyson’s representatives only about two months ago lecture the people of Emporia to welcome these newcomers to their city, that the Somalis were now part of the community? 

Somali Community of Nashville, busy little beavers

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If you haven’t gone back to see what’s up in Shelbyville lately, here is a followup to our post on the Shelbyville Times-Gazette Reporter, Brian Mosely.    The Somali Community of Nashville has been busy lately posting demands in Tennesee and then in Emporia, KS as well.  (hat tip: Blulitespecial)  I’m guessing they sent their lengthy, well written I might add, screed to Emporia as a threat.

The Somali Community of Nashville condemns the unprovoked and undeserved public defamation of Somalis in Shelbyville, TN, by Brian Mosley and the Shelbyville Times-Gazette. We also advocate the following:

____

§ A prompt and public apology by Brian Mosley and the Shelbyville Times-Gazette to the Somali community in Shelbyville, TN,
§ The immediate cessation of the baseless and negative reporting on Somalis,
§ A sincere effort to build bridges of understanding between the residents of Shelbyville and the newcomers from Somalia instead of fueling the fires of prejudice and xenophobia,
§ And the adherence by the Shelbyville Times-Gazette to journalistic integrity by providing its readership with fair and accurate reporting on sensitive issues relating to community relations and refugee resettlement.

Sometime ago we told you about this case involving the Somali Community Center of Nashville and I’d like to know if it is the same group.  Just now I tried to find the website that had existed at one time for this outfit and it seems to be gone.   Is the Somali Community of Nashville the same people as the Somali Center of Nashville?

According to annual reports, the Somali Center in south Nashville receives $400,000 per year in taxpayer dollars from federal, state and local governments.

——–

But what has some asking questions is how the center’s executive director, Abdizirik Hassan, is still getting grants after pleading guilty to making false statements during a government investigation.

——–

In 2001, Hassan’s Nashville bank was shut down by counter-terrorism investigators because they said the bank was linked to Al-Barakat. Al-Barakat is a bank and wiring transfer service that is linked to al-Qaida, according to investigators.

——–

Hassan was arrested and charged with felony illegal banking.

———

While out on bond, Hassan and the Somali Center were awarded a grant in the amount of nearly $500,000 by the same federal government that indicted him.

Check out the forum at the Emporia Gazette, there are over 1000 comments there stretching over the last couple of months.  Scroll down to near the end to see the Somali Community of Nashville demands posted there too.