Tuesday September 30, 2008
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 was 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. She is not alone. Other parents have the same concerns.
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 became 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, of knowing who they hang with and of 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
