Tuesday
September 30, 2008 - Minneapolis:
Here in Minneapolis, today as we celebrate Eid
with our families and friends, a Somali mother is in tears and
in pain for the loss of her only son. He was 19. He came for a
hair cut to get ready for the Eid festivities. Unfortunately, he
didn't make it. His life was cut
short by a bullet probably from another Somali teenager.
Just a week ago, a Somali family buried their 20 year old son, a
third year college student, who was shot
in front of community center where he was volunteering to tutor
and mentor younger kids. Three months before that, in the same
place of the community center, slain
was a 31 year old youth mentor and basketball coach. Two months
before that, 18 years old high school graduate as killed
in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. These brothers were killed
by other brothers in what now can be only termed as an
all-blown-out senseless gang violence within the Somali
community.
So far one juvenile suspect,
16 years old, is held
for the killing of the murdered college student. These were the
ones killed so far in this year. Just by the end of last year,
two other twenty-something youth were gunned
down in South Minneapolis. There are few others who were
injured who luckily didn't die.
This morning, a Somali mother
I talked to, who lives in the South Minneapolis neighborhood
where the gang violence is concentrated, is worried for her two
teenage boys and is now contemplating maybe sending the boys to
relatives in Arizona. "I am scared to lose my boys"
she confides me and continues that her boys hang around the
neighborhoods and Somali shopping strips. "They could end
being shot." She cries.
Everywhere you go today and
anyone you talk to, after the Eid congratulations exchange, the
talk and the conversation is about these Somalis teenage boys
shooting each other and what is going to happen next, who would
be shot and when.
Somali teenage boys are going
crazy and most have guns with them. Random shootings have become
the only way they settle score.
They have formed their own
gang families and promise more violence to come. The community
in whole is in tense and suspense mood. People are worried that
this would get out of control. The police are pleading with
people who witnessed or know the perpetrators of these shootings
to come forward and help them to bring the criminal murderers to
justice.
No one seems to know how to
prevent more shootings to happen. There are some who are trying
to come up with solutions and among them is newly formed Somali
college student organization called the Youth against Violence
Committee.
The root causes of the Somali
gang violence within the Twin Cities Somali community are hard
to pinpoint and is complex to decipher. It is not isolated to
Somalis in Minneapolis. Same thing is happening in other Somali
Diaspora communities to lesser degrees compared to one in
Minneapolis/St. Paul. Once a while, one hears or reads news
about Somali teenage or young man gunned down in places like
Seattle, Toronto and London, UK Other immigrant and refugee
communities have either gone or going through this problem of
gang violence.
Somali Community in the Twin
Cities is now challenged more than ever to find ways to deal
with this gang violence phenomenon. A whole community plan to
deal and address this gang violence among Somali youth is
needed. Somali parents, families, community leaders, college
students all have to come together, stop the blame and
escape-goat game and act. A concerted effort is needed from
everyone, especially families and community activists to mentor
these lost and violent kids so that we can prevent the senseless
killing of our youngsters and the grieving of Somali mothers.
There are some known solutions
to reduce the gang violence and make sure that more youngsters
resist joining gang groups.
Somali parents should take
more responsibility and stop complaining about the culture shock
they face in America. They need to learn about raising kids who
have different way of life and mindset. They also need to
remember that it is not the teenage boys who choose to be here
on the first place. The parents came here to run away from
violence in Somalia and brought their boys with them to spare
them from the violent Somali civil war. Having cultural and
language barriers is no excuse of being involved in your kids
life, knowing who they hang with and having family time and
involvement.
Finally, the more the
community as whole let this deadly Somali gang violence go on in
our neighborhoods, community centers, shops, schools, the more
things would get out of control and the more many of our younger
kids would be shot.
Abdulkadir Mohamed –Ato
Abaadir0@gmail.com
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can about voip (voice over IP) if you have no clue what IP
is, than you will need to learn that first. below is a
link where you can learn about voip.
http://www.voip-4-non-geeks.com
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Xafiiska Wararka ee Toronto, Canada
Qaranimo Online
info@Qaranimo.com
