Holding onto your heritage: Somali traditions keep family roots intact while chasing the American dream

By |

My mother came to America for one reason and one reason only. The “American Dream.”What she didn’t know was the land we held onto might be sacrificed for that dream.She came from Somalia, which was going through a civil war at the time. My mom fled to Europe in 1992 while pregnant with my eldest brother. Soon after, my two older siblings, Zamzam and Abdinaim, and I were born in Bonn, Germany.She wanted us to have the best life, filled with opportunities she never had. The only place to do that was America.Coming here when I was only three, my family and I soon realized that we needed to learn English in order to succeed. Continue Reading

Fifty shades of white

By |

Monday’s MLK DAY protest march in Minnesota, which included a four-hour game of chicken between the 2-3,000 Black Lives Matter marchers and multiple ranks of police and troopers, including many on Continue Reading

Coming back to your community: A nonprofit aimed at Somali women pushes for empowerment, education

By |

Walking through the Sabathani Community Center in Minneapolis, a long, winding hallway greets me. The lighting is dim and the walls are bare. Women of color stand in front of different doorways and little kids run around without mothers.Behind a door with no signage lies the office of Isuroon. The Twin Cities organization, founded by Fartun Weli, stands for advocacy and community outreach in Somali communities.Specifically, Weli is motivated to provide Somali women with emotional support and health resources to help ensure their success.“We just want to make sure that the struggle of first immigrant, first generation Somali women is addressed and that they have every opportunity to succeed,” Weli said. “That will also mean that the second generation will succeed.”ADDRESSING A NEEDWeli, originally from Somalia, struggled financially while growing up. Continue Reading

Community Voices: A white boy’s thoughts on Martin King

By |

(I originally posted this on Facebook, but that is probably not the right venue for essays.)

 

Martin Luther King. His day, so to speak?  What should a white boy think or say about this?  I was born in 1950 and remember the snarling hostility towards King. The billboards saying “Martin Luther King is a Communist.” And so on. King was hated by nany people, including my family. Continue Reading