Watch Low Band
Somali Muslims have been disappearing off the streets, returning to Somalia to get terror training, then coming back to the States. Somalis here have been violently trying to impose Islam on the American workplace. I have been covering the disruptive dangerous jihad caused by the forced settling of Somali Muslims into small towns by the State department here.
SOMALIA MUSLIMS IMPORTING TERROR AND HARDCORE JIHAD
Despite all this, the State department has stepped up its efforts to import jihad into America. And why bring in hostile forces that take American jobs away from American workers at a time when employment is approaching record highs?
CBNNews.com - SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. - It has
been nearly 20 years since Somalia last had a functioning government. Islamic
jihadists now control most of the country-and sharia is the law of the land.
Tens of thousands of Somali refugees have resettled in America in recent years
to escape the chaos of their homeland, which is located in the Horn of
Africa.
But the transition isn't going smoothly in one small town.
At first glance, Shelbyville is your typical sleepy southern hamlet. It's
nestled in middle Tennessee, where the walking horse is king.
There's Main St., the local sheriff, a movie theatre. It's all very "Mayberry,"
except for one big difference: the recent arrival of hundreds of Somali
Muslims.
Small Town Having Difficulties
Shelbyville is about an hour's drive from Nashville, in the heart of the
Bible Belt. Like many Americans, the citizens of Shelbyville knew little about
Somalia other than the 1993 Black Hawk Down incident, in which 18 U.S.
servicemen were killed while battling warlords and Islamic jihadists in the
Somali capital of Mogadishu.
So when hundreds of Somalis began turning up in the town--many of them
dressed in traditional Islamic garb--locals quickly took notice.
"They've had an impact here. Unfortunately, it's not been a good impact,"
said Brian Mosely, a reporter for the local Shelbyville Times-Gazette.
Mosely won an award from the Associated Press for a series of articles he
wrote for the paper about Shelbyville's Somalis.
"I found that there was just an enormous culture clash going on here," he
said. "The Somalis were--according to a lot of the people I talked to here--were
being very, very rude, inconsiderate, very demanding. Tthey would go into stores
and haggle over prices. They would also demand to see a male salesperson, would
not deal with women in stores"
Different People, Different Culture
"Their culture is totally alien to anything the residents are used to,"
Mosely added.
The problems extend to local schools--where some Somali students won't talk
to female administrators. There have also been issues with local law
enforcement.
"I'm not really sure whether that is because of experiences with the police
in their country, or whether that's just the way their culture is," said
Shelbyville's Police Chief, Austin Swing.
Guess Swing swings both ways.
Shelbyville is home to about 17,000 people. The town's Somali population is
estimated to be between 400 and 1,000.
Mosely says the Somalis have isolated themselves from the rest of the
community.
"We're talking about people who have not had any experience with Western
civilization," he explained. "They don't know the language. Things like running
water are a miracle to some of these folks…you don't take people from a totally
alien culture, put them into a community, and then say 'alright, you must get
along.'
Thye don't want to get along? Why are they here?
Little Chance to Adapt
Abdirizak Hassan is the director of the Somali Community Center in nearby
Nashville. He says the state of Tennessee has no programs to help immigrants
integrate into their new surroundings.
"They come, and the only thing they can do is go to work, and then after work
they go back to the apartment," Hassan said. "They're totally isolated and
there's no interaction between them and the locals."
He added that some have even expressed a desire to return to Somalia.
I'll take up a collection. Let's fulfill their desire.
"A lot of them face eviction. They put them in an apartment complex that
costs $600 a month. They can't get a job that gives them that much money,"
Hassan explained.
"And sometimes you have families, like, a single mother with eight kids, or
seven kids or six kids, and you expect her to go to work in six months time with
no English, no driver's skills, nothing? I mean, sometimes it's impossible."
Why did the State department bring them here?
"The locals, mostly, when they see a few hundred people in their backyard
with a different look, strangers, you know, of course they have the right to be
concerned," he added. "But I think if the local authorities and organizations
like ours do a lot of outreach, I think we can bridge the gap."
So how did so many Somalis end up in rural Shelbyville? The answer can be
complicated.
Taken in by the U.S.
The State Department helps resettle refugees from war-torn countries like
Somalia in the United States. The resettlement project is one part of a
taxpayer-funded refugee aid program with a billion dollar budget.
Immigrants are chosen from UN refugee camps. The selected refugees then
undergo a few days of cultural orientation and are soon on their way to
America.
Although most of the refuges are repatriated to their home countries, the
U.S. takes in more refugees than any other nation--with a cap of about 80,000
this year.
"What we do is we look at the most vulnerable groups of refugees," said Todd
Pierce of the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.
"One group we've tried to help is Iraqi Christians and those who've worked with
U.S. and Coalition forces."
Pierce said the resettlement program helps improve America's image in the
eyes of the world.
"It's one of the best facets of America, that we are a very generous,
hospitable country," he said. "This is something that has been bipartisan for
decades now--we've brought people in….we look at Africa, we look at the Middle
East, we look at Southeast Asia."
A Rocky Transition?
More than 150,000 Somalis now live in the U.S., most in larger cities like
Minneapolis, Nashville, Boston, Seattle and Columbus, Ohio.
Gang activity has been a major concern. And according to the U.S. government,
at least a dozen young Somali Americans have returned home in recent months to
join an al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group called al-Shabab.
As a result, the FBI is conducting investigations in several cities with
large Somali populations. The fear is that the Somalis will return to America
and put their terror training to use on U.S. soil.
Pierce says the government tries to shut any potential troublemakers out of
the refugee resettlement program.
"We work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to make sure we vet
people coming here, especially since 9/11. It's very important," he said.
[...]
Enter Shelbyville
Somalis in other cities were drawn to Shelbyville by the jobs offered at the
local Tyson chicken processing plant.
The plant came under fire from the Department of Justice in 2001 for hiring
illegal Hispanic immigrants.
The large influx of Somalis has only added to locals' frustration with the
plant and the government.
"We've had three major industries shut down here and 700 to 800 people have
lost their jobs," Mosely said. "They're trying to find anything they can, and
then--as they see it--the government is shipping people from overseas to come
here and take their jobs."
Getting Past Controversy
Despite locals' continued complaints over its hiring practices, Tyson says it
is doing things by the book. A Tyson spokesman said the company is following
federal employment guidelines--and that the majority of its employees are local
residents.
The Tyson plant generated national controversy last fall when it dropped
Labor Day as a paid holiday in favor of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.
The decision was later reversed, but longtime local residents say the
incident was symbolic of the larger changes taking place in Shelbyville--changes
they are coping with as best they can.
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