Category: Greeley/Swift/Somali controversy

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.

Update on Somalis here and there

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

In a post on July 13th (Somalis here, Somalis there, Somalis everywhere) I mentioned that a new Refugee Resettlement Office had opened for the Greeley and Ft. Morgan areas of Colorado.  The Denver Post today carries the usual puff piece about the Somalis who are arriving to the “Mayberry-like Mainstreet” of Ft. Morgan.   The article is entitled “For refugees its a good place”

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_6440317?source=rss

As you read down past the endearing comments about the first snow for the new arrivals, the article gets more interesting.   The Somalis are employed in the meat packing industry.   Its just my guess, but as illegal immigration is increasingly a problem for employers, they are now turning to refugee resettlement as a source of cheap labor.    I’m even guessing these big employers are hiring human resources experts to scour the world’s refugee camps for the brightest prospects.   The federal government (the taxpayer) picks up the tab for all the other expenses to get the employees to middle American cities and set them up in housing and take care of the family’s other needs.

But there are a few flys in the ointment:

They learn quickly, for instance, about keeping their lawns neat and understanding the rules for driving, Anderson said.

More sticky are cultural and religious canons that conflict with the American lifestyle. At times, the refugees will leave their assembly line work to tend to family or friends outside the plant, Waters said.

“Many come from an agricultural-based background, and they are not used to functioning in a more structured environment,” she said. “They have to learn they just can’t walk away.”

Another issue is that many of the refugees are Muslim and adhere to praying at least five times a day. That, too, can cause slowdowns that irk some employers, Waters said.

“This will be, as in the past, an issue that has to be negotiated with their company,” she said.

So the accomodation begins, bit by bit….. more on how we are asked to accomodate the religious requirements of Islam later.     Gotta go feed some old horses.

Somalis here, Somalis there, Somalis everywhere

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

You’ve all heard about the now infamous Maine “Ham Hate Crime ” incident in Lewiston last spring, right? You know, white kid puts ham steak in a bag and places it on the table where Somali Muslim kids are having lunch. Somali kids traumatized for life. Just google ‘ham hate crime’ and you will get pages and pages of stories about this international incident.

The Refugee Resettlement program of the US Government has brought thousands of Somali refugees to the US in the last few years.

Just this week talk radio host Laura Ingraham railed about a California elementary school making special accomodations for 100 Somali students. But no one seems to ask why are all these Somalis here.

This Investor’s Business Daily editorial sparked her discussion. http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=268874251390676

The special accommodations for Carver Elementary’s nearly 100 Somali Muslims don’t stop with organized prayer. The school cafeteria has banned pork and other foods that conflict with the Islamic diet.

And the K-8 school has even added Arabic — the language of the Quran — to its curriculum, while segregating classes for girls, a la the Taliban.

……..

Tough, say Muslim-rights groups. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is defending the Carver program, insists public schools must cater to the growing number of Muslim students. “Our country is transforming demographically, religiously,” said the spokesman for CAIR’s San Diego chapter. “Our country has to now accommodate things that are not traditionally accounted for before.”

Look out Greeley, CO! Hide the Ham Steaks! Due to the influx of Somali and other African Refugees a new Refugee Resettlement Office will open to accomodate refugees coming to Greeley and Ft. Morgan.

http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20070710/NEWS/107100073/-1/rss02

Greeley is famous for another Muslim connection:

Greeley’s al-Qaeda connections make headlines around the world

Many people believe you couldn’t have found a more conservative, religious and docile town in America than Greeley in 1949. There were many churches, and no bars or liquor stores allowed in town.

But a six-month stay here in Greeley by an Egyptian student in 1949 made him so angry that he wrote books to express his anti-American diatribe. His name was Sayyid Qutb (SIGH-yid KUH tahb) and he became one of the founders of Islamic terrorism.

Read the rest of this important account of the origins of present day radical Islam here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1686655/posts