Nekessa

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Biography

About me

Julia Nekessa Opoti is the producer and host of Reflections of New Minnesotans on AM950 where she interviews immigrants from all over the world who have made Minnesota their home, temporary or permanent.

As a writer, Nekessa has reported extensively on Somali, Liberian and other immigrant issues in the Twin Cities for the Twin Cities Daily Planet. She served as editor of Mshale, an immigrant African newspaper.

Nekessa is the co-founder and publisher of the Kenya Imagine, an opinion and analysis portal that is on hiatus.

For questions, tips and story ideas send her an email at nekessa [at] tcdailyplanet [dot] net.

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Nekessa

Ellison introduces bill to allow permanent residence for Liberians

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison introduced the Liberian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 2011, H.R.

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Reflections of New Minnesotans: Talking to Somali activists

By Nekessa Opoti, AM 950 Radio

Julia Nekessa Opoti and Siyad Abdullahi interview three Somali leaders in the premiere broadcast of Reflections of New Minnesotans on AM950, Voice of Minnesota. [Full audio below.]

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Minnesota Muslims respond to King hearings

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Minnesota Representative Keith Ellison and Minneapolis resident Abdirizak Bihi were among the witnesses who testified March 10 in the first day of Republican Representative Peter King's Washingt

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Twin Cities pothole season is open: Tips for tracking and reporting

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Both Minneapolis and St. Paul have surveyors and crews out working night and day to fix the not-quite-spring potholes around the cities.

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Food shelves find need for new foods for new Minnesotans

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Injera, photographed by VirtualErn, reprinted under Creative Commons License

What are local food shelves doing to cater to varying tastes of Minnesota's large immigrant population?

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New country, new holiday, new foods for Minnesota immigrants

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

Tim Decker and Jamal Hashi (photos by Nekessa Opoti)

Surviving the cuisine of a new country is a challenge for immigrants; so it was for the pilgrims in the sixteenth century, and so it is now for new American immigrants. And so history goes that Native Americans saw to it that the Pilgrims, the new immigrants, would not starve. Somewhere along the way turkey, cranberry sauce and all the present day trimmings were added to what is now one of America's largest holidays. While the rest of that story on the Native Americans and the Pilgrims was to turn ugly, today Thanksgiving has become a day of giving thanks and feasting. So, how do today's immigrants celebrate Thanksgiving?

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Crime in Cedar-Riverside decreasing

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

From trash talk on Facebook to national news, talk about Cedar-Riverside leaves many believing that this Minneapolis neighborhood is among the most dangerous neighborhoods in the United States. The facts? Not even close. While it is true that the neighborhood has suffered several tragedies in the recent past, crime statistics tell a different story. 

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Dealing with "on-line attack fatigue" in the Somali community

By Nekessa Opoti, Cedar Riverside Seward series

As an outreach coordinator for E-Democracy's Cedar-Riverside forum, Julia Nekessa Opoti writes about the fears she has found in the Cedar-Riverside Somali community. She is also a writer for TC Daily Planet's Cedar-Riverside-Seward high-rise series.

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Cedar Riverside Seward series

English only? Not in Minnesota history

By Nekessa Opoti, TC Daily Planet

School for Italian immigrants in New York, 1892

Did you know that there was a time when there were non-English speaking towns in Minnesota that had non-English schools and newspapers? Would it surprise you to learn that in 1890 election instructions in Minnesota were in nine languages? The current uproar over English-only ordinances like the one recently passed by the city of Lino Lakes largely ignores Minnesota's (and the nation's) immigrant history. 

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Anti-immigration activist helped Lino Lakes pass English-only ordinance

By Nekessa Opoti, Minnesota Independent

A decision by the Twin Cities suburb of Lino Lakes to make English its official language is under attack for its perceived  hostility towards immigrants to the US. Suspicions of an anti-immigrant agenda seem to be underlined by revelations that the city's resolution was written with the help of Virginia-based Pro-English, an organization with the stated goal of making English the official language of the American government. 

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