Category: Greeley/Swift/Somali controversy

Rough patches ahead for Cargill in Ft. Morgan, CO

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

A few years ago we created a whole category here at RRW on the Somali demands for special prayer breaks at Greeley’s JBS Swift and Company meatpacking plant (Grand Island, NE was involved too).  You can visit that category here.

Some of those fired workers (and frankly agitators) went to the Cargill plant in Ft. Morgan.  Here is a story that ran in the Denver Post the same day as everything is peachy with Muslim immigrants in Ft. Morgan, here.   You can tell they are working up to “issues” developing there too.

Although Cargill’s Fort Morgan operation has escaped controversy over accommodating the religious needs of its Muslim workforce, an undercurrent of problems exists, according to current and former workers and Somali translators.

Company officials say they respect religious rights and follow the law but cannot undermine a plant that produces 4 million pounds of beef daily.

“We know that some of our employees would like a guaranteed prayer time every day,” said Cargill spokesman Michael Martin. “That is not the legal requirement, and it would be impractical to accommodate this without shutting down the production line.”

He said the company accommodates the vast majority of daily prayer requests.

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers cannot deny a “reasonable” religious accommodation request as long as it does not pose an undue hardship, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Muslims pray five times a day at prescribed times that move depending on the sun’s position. That can pose challenges for plants with many Muslim workers. One-fourth of Cargill’s 2,000 workers are Somali, company officials say.  [Kind of negates any sympathy one might have for the company when they brought this on themselves by their own hiring practices.—ed]

The number of federal workplace-discrimination complaints filed by Muslims shot up in 2009 and 2010, to almost 800 each year, the EEOC says. Those numbers eclipsed the decade’s previous high mark the year after 9/11.

Then here is a reference to the Greeley mess I referred to in the opening above.

Cargill has avoided the rancor that has plagued JBS Swift & Co. in Greeley and other food plants nationwide. In 2008, about 100 Somali Muslim workers were fired after they did not report to work in protest of Swift’s refusal to give them a prayer break during the holy month of Ramadan.

Agitate, agitate, agitate, year after year.   Kind of makes turning to vegetarianism more appealing all the time!

Grand Island, NE: More refugees on the way

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

If the only article you ever read about Grand Island, Nebraska and refugees is this one, you might think that everything was going smoothly in this refugee resettlement target city.

So, before you read the article (yesterday) from The Independent, go back and first read this 2010 post about a Los Angeles Times report where the Grand Island police chief says of his city—-it is chaotic anarchy among all the ethnic groups.*

Grand Island is also the city where the Somalis bullied the Mayor and attempted to get her to resign over something she said in the New York Times, here.

I had forgotten how much I’ve written about Grand Island, just type it into our search function and see that we have several pages of posts.  Or, you might visit our whole category entitled, ‘Greeley/Swift/Somali controversy’ where there are many mentions of Grand Island.

Grand Island’s problems revolve around, what else, meatpacking plants nearby.  The Swift plant near Grand Island is one of several that experienced clashes among its various ethnic workers over demands for special treatment by Somalis.  They wanted prayer breaks during work hours, others objected.

The article from The Independent today says that more Burmese will be coming to Grand Island.  LOL!  I suspect they have had enough of the Somalis and food processing giant, Swift, wants some more docile immigrant workers.

Read the article, but here are some bits of information that might interest you, they did me (emphasis mine).

If the past is any guide, Grand Island may one day be home to Burmese refugees.

That’s because Burma has sent more refugees to Nebraska than any other country during the past five years, said Karen Parde, refugee coordinator for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Parde spoke at a Thursday Lunch and Learn hosted by the Multicultural Coalition of Grand Island.

She said Omaha and Lincoln are Nebraska’s two official resettlement cities, but communities such as Grand Island, Lexington, South Sioux City and others are primary locations for secondary refugee migrants.

Once refugees get established in a city their populations grow as others of their ethnic group move to be near to those who share the same heritage.  This is understandable—that they want to be with others like them—but Americans of European heritage aren’t allowed that wish (funny how that works!).

“Once refugees arrive in the United States, they have all the rights you and I do,” said Parde, who noted that the only exception is the right to vote.

One of those rights is the freedom to move to any city in the United States and not remain in the original resettlement city chosen for them, Parde said. As a result, refugees often move to a secondary city to be close to family members. They often move because the secondary city offers a better prospect of finding a job and a better chance of finding less expensive housing.

Looks like our overall refugee numbers will be lower this year.  Here they blame it on security checks that are holding the flow down, but I will bet its also because there is little to NO work and much welfare needed for refugees arriving now.   Meatpacking labor is probably the only employment around.

Refugees must undergo a security check before they are allowed into the United States, Parde said. Recently, one more security layer was added. Because security checks have expiration dates, some clearances have lapsed because of the time involved in doing the additional security check. Those initial security clearances must then be redone.

As a result, Parde estimated that between 60,000 and 65,000 refugees will enter the United States this year, even though 80,000 is the approved number.

Nebraska typically agrees to take about 720 immigrants annually, but Parde said it has agreed to take up to 800 refugees in a year. She said the decision to raise the number has been a balancing act, especially when the state economy has slowed.

Yes, here it is, it’s taking a long time for refugees to find work.

She said the primary temporary assistance is a Cash and Medical Assistance program that refugees can receive for up to eight months. However, the expectation is that refugees will find a job within 30 to 90 days.

Parde told The Independent that Nebraska refugees had easily been meeting that goal until the economy slowed. Most refugees continue to find jobs, but now it is often taking five, six or seven months.

Many refugees come with no knowledge of modern amenities.

As a result, when they arrive in the United States, they have almost no knowledge of modern life, including knowing anything about electricity, refrigerating food or modern sanitation, Parde said.

And, now, here is the only thing in the whole article that would tell readers that everything is not copacetic in Grand Island.  Some of the Somalis don’t like each other.  Where have we heard that before?

While Americans may think of all people from the same country as being the same, refugees see distinctions, Parde said. Somali refugees will divide themselves into what she described as “Somali Bantu” and “Somali Somali.” She said the Bantus, an ethnic minority in Somalia, are considered to be of a lower social class by “Somali Somalis.” Bantus have sometimes been mistreated by Somalis.

*It’s been over 30 years since I’ve had the pleasure of watching the spectacular sandhill crane migration on the Platte River near Grand Island, it makes me sad to read about how different this heartland town must be now.


Truth-telling Grand Island, Nebraska mayor retiring

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We should all be so lucky to have a mayor like 73-year-old Margaret Hornaday—a politician who is one tough lady and speaks the truth.

We first learned about Mayor Hornaday, here in 2008, when she burst on the scene by stating a truism in the New York Times.  This was in the wake of a complaint by Somali workers of religious discrimination at the JBS Swift meatpacking plant there.

The New York Times reporting, in a story about tensions between immigrant groups, that brought the wrath of Somali activists down on her:

Ms. Hornady, the mayor, suggested somewhat apologetically that she had been having difficulty adjusting to the presence of Somalis. She said she found the sight of Somali women, many of whom wear Muslim headdresses, or hijabs, “startling.”

“I’m sorry, but after 9/11, it gives some of us a turn,” she said.

Not only do the hijabs suggest female subjugation, Ms. Hornady said, but the sight of Muslims in town made her think of Osama bin Laden and the attacks on the United States.

“I know that that’s horrible and that’s prejudice,” she said. “I’m working very hard on it.”

She added, “Aren’t a lot of thoughtful Americans struggling with this?”

Subsequently there were demands by Nebraska Somali community organizers for her to be impeached and thrown out of office!  Here they call her a terrorist and say they will sue her.

We had lost track of the story until yesterday when I saw the article about her upcoming retirement (she obviously finished her term).

Two years later we pick up the story here

Asked by The Independent what she found most difficult during her tenure, she responded:

“Biting my tongue,” Hornady said after an uncharacteristic pause while she ruminated.

Then she went on to tell the story about the New York Times and the Somalis’ rage.  (I don’t know if this, below, all happened before or after they were demanding she step down as mayor.)

The Independent story goes on, Somalis wanted her to meet their women:

Her straightforwardness also led to what Hornady considers one of two regrets during her term ” comments made to the New York Times about post-raid Grand Island. Swift recruited refugees from Sudan and Somalia to fill voids left by undocumented Hispanic workers. The Somalian workers encountered difficulty in accommodating their prayer schedule and fasting during Ramadan and engaged in a walkout all the way to City Hall.

The mayor commented that, in a post-9/11 environment, the clothing worn by some Somalians was startling and may even evoke images of terrorists.

“What ticked them off is when I said the hijab, the head scarf they all wear, was to me a symbol of women’s suppression and that angered them,” she said. “They see it as religious or respect.”

Sudanese residents had already met with the mayor to discuss assimilation into the community. Her comments in the Times prompted a fervored request from Somalis for a meeting, as well.

“It created such a brouhaha, the Somalis wanted to meet with me. I told them I would be happy to meet with them,” Hornady said. “They wanted me to meet with their women.”

Mayor Hornaday planned a tea party for the women and hardly anyone came

A date was mutually picked, and City Hall set up for the 40 women and some men that the mayor was told were coming.

Instead of using the city’s rectangular meeting tables, the mayor had round tables brought in. She bought round mirrors and flower-filled vases for each table and bought a rose for each woman.

She even brought in her mother’s silver tea service and arranged for cucumber sandwiches and apple and lemon tarts from Sutter Deli.

“I carefully avoided any pork or anything that might be a problem,” she said, in respect of the cultural diet restrictions.

The 9 a.m. event was pushed back to 10 a.m. on a rainy, cold morning.

“By 10:10 a.m., one woman and her father had arrived,” the mayor said. “Maybe by 10:30 there were half a dozen women and 12 men.”

Unfortunately, the mayor’s brother had died just days prior to the tea party, and she had to catch a flight to his California memorial service the morning of the event. It left her little time to spend with the few who did show up.

“The women spoke not one word,” she said.

Racial tension was all around (not limited to white on black racism)

The Independent story continues:

What was said to the mayor at that meeting and at others during her tenure leading a culturally diverse community is that tensions occur all around.

The mayor said Sudanese and Somalian people don’t always get along and are “suspicious” of Hispanics. Hispanics can be negative toward blacks, she said.*

“White Americans don’t have a lock on bigotry and racial prejudice,” the mayor said.

In hindsight, it might have been good to “rephrase” the statement to the New York Times reporter, Hornady said, but she has no regrets in making it.

“I didn’t say anything that other people don’t think, haven’t thought. I’m just more honest about it,” Hornady said. “I got a huge number of e-mails in response to that from all over the world.”

The responses were “mostly supportive, primarily supportive,” she said, noting that things that are new or different stand out more in a small community such as Grand Island.  [I would like to think we had some role in her supportive e-mails because we sent her address around the world at the time!]

Thanks Mayor Hornaday for your service to your town and our country!

* We have posted several stories on Grand Island racial tension, and one of the most telling tales was one reported in the Los Angeles Times of all places about how the different cultures are fighting with each other in that meatpacking town.  Diversity is beautiful or chaotic anarchy?

New readers! See our category (80 posts!) entitled Greeley/Swift/Somali controversy for all of our posts involving those western meatpacking plants targeted by Somali Muslim activists (and CAIR with handmaiden EEOC!) demanding religious accommodation in the workplace.

 

From meatpacking to driving a cab, Denver suburb becomes the heart of the Somali cabbie business

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is an overly long story about the use and abuse of African cab drivers in Denver.  I couldn’t get through the whole thing, so I recommend reading the comments first and it will give you a gist of the sob story (the title, ‘Mean Streets‘ tells you right away the tone of the story).

I’m posting it because of this little bit of information about a growing Somali Tuula in Aurora, just outside of Denver.  It also provides an update of the story we covered extensively two years ago about the Somali religious demands at the Swift meatpacking plant in Greeley.*  According to this report, many of the meatpacker workers have now turned to the cab driving business.

From Westward News:

He [Ahmed Odawaay, who teaches Somalis how to pass cab driver tests] isn’t the only one to get his start in this Aurora strip mall. Over the last few years, these storefronts have become a community center of sorts for the area’s growing Somali community. Down the way, past a store that sells international cell phones and Arabic prayer books, a former Chinese restaurant is now a Somali eatery and pool parlor. At the far end of the strip, another cafe serves up gingery chai and sambusas — the Somali version of samosas — and broadcasts international soccer games.

Odawaay has watched this ad hoc village take root as more and more Somalis have moved to metro Denver — or, as he likes to put it, gotten stuck here. Some came to Colorado from other parts of the country for decent-paying warehouse positions at places like MCI or delivery gigs with the Rocky Mountain News, but those jobs don’t exist anymore. Some came to work at the Swift meatpacking plant in Greeley, but as claims of discrimination against Muslims there triggered an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint, many of the immigrants headed south to try their luck in Denver.

According to Odawaay, they’ll find few options beyond driving taxis.

* We covered the Greeley/Swift controversy extensively in a special category, here.

For new readers: We have admitted well over 100,000 Somali refugees to the US.   To check out the numbers visit this post, one of our most widely read posts over the last few years.   In FY2010 which ended September 30th the US State Department resettled 4,884 Somalis (here) to towns near you.

Also, after being closed for nearly two years, the US State Department is on the verge of resuming the fraud-ridden family reunification program that admitted as many as 36,000 Somalis fraudulently to the US between 2003 and 2008.  See the latest on new regulations, here.  The State Department is on the verge of re-opening the program.

Ft. Morgan, CO Police Chief sent to Denmark to learn more about refugees

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The trip, sponsored by the US State Department as part of a program to help communities deal with a refugee influx, is detailed here in a lengthy article in the Ft. Morgan Times:

Fort Morgan Police Chief Keith Kuretich spent two weeks in Denmark recently talking with of-ficials about Fort Morgan’s experience with refugees and immigrants, and learning about that country’s situation.

He flew to Denmark along with seven other Americans as part of the World Learning Visitor Exchange Program supported by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cul-tural Affairs Office of Citizen Exchanges.

The Chief did learn that terrorism is a real problem in Europe with its open borders.

Read it all.

The Ft. Morgan honor killing

I wonder what ever happened with that Ft. Morgan Somali honor killing we wrote about last in May, here.   I wonder if the Chief discussed honor killings with his Danish counterparts?

Now I see, Abdi plead guilty when faced with the evidence that the knife he used to kill his stepsister was taken from Swift & Co. meatpacking plant where he worked (the victim worked at Cargill meatpacking) indicating perhaps that the murder was premeditated.  He would then have to face trial on first degree murder charges.   The article says he was to be sentenced in July, but I don’t see any story on that.

Abdi’s plea bargain effectively sweeps the whole honor killing story under the rug.