Ebony magazine recently had an article about the tensions between Somalis and black Americans in Columbus, Ohio. Charles and Jamerican Muslimah (part one and part two) have both commented on the situation since they live in Columbus, OH and Minneapolis (respectively) which have the two largest populations of Somalis in the country.
I have a few comments of my own here.
One thing I have noticed is the increasing tendency in many cities to say “Desi”, “Arab” or “Somali” and mean “Muslim” and vice versa.
razib 11:28 am on June 27, 2008 Permalink |
One thing I have noticed is the increasing tendency in many cities to say “Desi”, “Arab” or “Somali” and mean “Muslim” and vice versa.
part of it is just ignorance. brown folk (indian, muslim, etc.) all look the same. but i have noted before that people like hussein ibish routinely conflate muslim and arab american when they’re on talking heads panels. i think this is pretty annoying since
1) majority of american muslims are not arab
2) majority of american arabs are not muslim
Nattuk 2:07 pm on June 29, 2008 Permalink |
3. majority of desis are not muslim either.
Nattuk 2:07 pm on June 29, 2008 Permalink |
(desis in america, if that wasn’t clear).
Ashanti 5:36 pm on March 16, 2009 Permalink |
The only reason a why a somali would fight wiv other blacks is cus they’re mental. They need to have a good look at themselves n c dat dey r blacks themselves. If a white person called them nigga dey would get violent. If dey consider themselves not black den y would they go violent. My friend is a somalian, and shes not a muslim. And shes married to a jamaican guy.
abdul 4:35 pm on March 20, 2009 Permalink |
somalis dont conside rthem selves “black” because the term black to us means those who went through slavery…somalia is a country with many different shades of people but color dosant make you who you are..somalis are “AFRICANS” were not niggas or blacks…where africans from east africa..NOT black our skin isnt black it’s brown
AwaleAliIBrahim 7:31 pm on April 14, 2009 Permalink |
YES,Somalis are black BUT! we have little influences like our European Genes and Arab Genes but those genes are so little they are almost unnoticeable. But me as a Somali i consider myself Beautiful AND Black
AwaleAliIBrahim 7:32 pm on April 14, 2009 Permalink |
But I am a Muslim before that, Ameen!
Safi 7:37 am on June 24, 2009 Permalink |
It sounds to me that black people have a serious problems not only with Somalis. It is well known fact that black people have been in North America for over 400 years yet they have done nothing to better themselves or create a favorable conditions for thier offsprings but blame others for thier laziness and lack of ability to accept who they are as negros. Then, it was hispanics they were hating for taking over “thier” jobs, now it is Somalis they blame and say about “they do not even speak englis and they find the jobs.” and when that did not work they started saying Somalis are not blacks. Rest assured that Somalis are not blacks Period. Somalia is located on Horn of Africa yet its people are not black. Can you dig it. And here is another thing you can dig if you can, look at other countries in the negro continent in which countries people are not black, for instance, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Moroco. Sure enough the problem the negros have with Somalis is not that the Somalis are not blacks but you blacks do sell drugs, do drugs, fill in the prisons across the world, and Somalis come to North America etc, as a refugee and find jobs and start business. So I suggest that you start busting your black ass negross and start working instead of blaming people all your years since you were freed.
Farah 2:33 pm on August 11, 2009 Permalink |
Somalis are not mixed, and the person who said that must be part of the Somali minority. African Americans hate us because they think we are beholden to them, that we have to kiss their ass to be acceptable. We are a proud people who never kissed anyone’s ass, and we are not going to start now. They hate us just like they hate all refugees who settle in their neighborhoods. They have harassed us, beat our youth and killed some of us, and expect we should love them. They hate us, because in the short time we have been here we have opened businesses and many of us got educated. They will love us, when we all lose our culture, history and religion.
Kamal 11:13 pm on September 12, 2009 Permalink |
Wow! I am 100 percent Somalian. I am dark-skinned, I consider myself a Somali person. We are not mixed with any race. I can say that i am black because of my skin-color, but not my feature shape though.
Ibrihim 5:59 am on October 9, 2009 Permalink |
That was the dumbest shit I have ever read “our skin isn’t black its brown” (probably havn’t been to Somalia for a while) and Somalians never needed to come to America to experience slavery that was already experienced in north africa and the Arabian Penninsula but nuff respect I got love for my black people we have many shades.
Josh 8:00 am on December 10, 2009 Permalink |
Ibrihim
Actually your the dumb one, as the fact is that not all Africans have been enslaved.
Somalis and most other north Africans like them are not the same as your run of the mill African Bantu or nilotic. They have not been enslaved, and infact descendants of the people who spawned Arabia, Ancient egypt and most Eurasians for that matter.
Even the Ethiopian slaves you here of who have the been given the name Habesha by right of the land they came from, were almost 100% wild nilotic tribes captured by the ruling semitic Habesha tribes like the Tigray or Amhara.
ifkanolasha 8:54 pm on January 28, 2010 Permalink |
Really? Somalis havent been enslaved? What about the Italians that ran our country and the fact that they literally stepped on us, while crossing muddy waters…? Honestly, if it talks like a duck, walk like a duck…you get the drift…the only country in the whole of Africa that was not colonized or enslaved or anything was Ethiopia. Now you can hate them for that or not..
Either way, its the ignorance and the misguided pride that got us today where we are…a country destroyed, her people all over the diaspora..then you come here and you wanna attack the people of the country that you’re a guest at, and claim superiority…nigga,please!
fardowsa 3:30 pm on February 1, 2010 Permalink |
lets get one thing straight america is the land of immagrents and we as somalis are not guest’s i dont believe that we are any better then African Americans and they are no better then us they are africans just like us i dont care how long they’ve been here
Get Real 9:17 pm on March 7, 2010 Permalink |
Why come here then? Why not stay in Samolia and be Somlian? You are a GUEST anywhere you take shelter that was not originally your own (hence place of birth). Your’re right “black americans” and “black somalis” are not better than one or the other, however how would you feel if a “black american” went to live in Somalia with a high and mighty attitude?