WardheerNews editorial

The recent racist barrage of insults by President Trump targeting Somalis and their lone member of the US Congress goes with impunity, a telltale sign of the resurgence of racial supremacy ideology at the highest office in the United States.

Although painful both to Somalis and to well-meaning Americans, this battle between the forces of good and evil is by no means the first nor the last. As President Obama said, American democracy is a “work in progress’ and will face multiple challenges, albeit surmountable.

America was established on the back of Black slaves, including large Muslim captives from West Africa. They were the primary labor force to cultivate cotton for the US during the pivotal textile-led industrial revolution that reoriented the world economy from Europe to America.

Yet, the legacy of slavery remained pervasive. Come to the most vicious war the US has participated in – WWII, Black soldiers like the Tuskegee air force fought heroically, only to come back to a hostile home where the gates of the GI Bill were closed.

Whereas the GI Bill created America’s suburban and modern middle class, policymakers barred Blacks from benefiting from such a policy. And the rights of Black people were narrow until the 1960s and 1970s civil rights movements busted some forms of racist barriers.

Racist leaders like Donald Trump tried to reverse the tide, but so far to no avail.

The Congressional Black Caucus denounced Trump’s “hateful attacks” and said his words are from “a racist and ignorant strategy of blacks and immigrant communities.”

Trump has a long history of racist rhetoric, particularly against immigrants of color. He propelled himself into national politics by advancing the false conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama, a Democrat, was not born in the United States, wrote Reuters  

Many members of the democratic party denounced the vile language of the President. Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, strongly stood beside the Somali community and spent the right energy to safeguard the public safety and welfare of the community at large. Governor Waltz of Minnesota said, “Trump slandered all Minnesotans and that his expressions of contempt for the state’s Somali community — the largest in the U.S. — were “unprecedented for a United States president. We’ve got little children going to school today whose president called them garbage.”

Although the largely conceited and sheepish Republicans hide their heads between their tails, at least one brave state senator from Minnesota, Jim Abeler, Senator Abler’s strong words, which echoed the now-defunct compassionate conservative values, said, “In the meantime, please do not call them ‘garbage.’ No man, woman, or child is more or less in the eyes of our Lord God Most High, and none of them is trash.” The lone Somali professor of Political Science at Macalester College in Minnesota, Ahmed Samatar, unfortunately, showed timidity and weakness in the face of fabricated fake news by MAGA’s media.

With a sigh of relief, the Somalis are rejoiced at the noble actions taken by large numbers of the residents of Minnesota; they came out forcefully to show solidarity to the Somali neighbors against the face-masked ICE, who have so far kidnapped innocent American citizens without a crime.

Over 90 percent of the Somalis in Minnesota are either citizens or legal residents. A small number of them are protected under Temporary Protection Safety. Unlike MAGA media, Somalis have created jobs and work on a variety of essential services. The unsubstantiated fake news that all Somalis are involved in corruption is nothing short of racist rants. To those indicted, the community and policymakers must give time and space for the legal process to take its course.

Attacking Somalis with ICE’s venomous methods is an expression of racism, and President Trump’s obsession with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, the first Muslim and African member of the US Congress, is unbecoming. What the White House is doing is a new low point in modern American history.

In the war between good and Goliath Trump, we are confident that Somali Americans will triumph over Trump’s evil intentions, as Martin Luther King triumphed over George Wallace of Alabama.

Meanwhile, we urge that the Somali Minnesota never accept intimidation, use the legal system, and be careful while going to work, taking their children to and from school, or shopping for the hard-to-afford food items in their neighborhood groceries. 

WardheerNews 
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