Will we be next? Ohio’s Somali community, the second largest in the U.S. after Minnesota, is terrified that President Donald Trump’s crackdown on Somali immigrants in Minneapolis will spread to Columbus, where an estimated 60,000 Somali Americans live.
A surge in ICE activity and racial profiling targeting Somalis in the Twin Cities followed Trump’s racist rant last week against the entire Somali community in America that among them includes an overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens.
Sit with that for a minute.
The president of the United States openly trashed Americans of a certain ethnic and racial group in a vile attack that preceded increased federal government harassment of mostly Somali Americans in Minnesota.
Will Ohioans of Somali descent be next?
Trump has insulted people from African (“s—hole”) countries before, but his latest outburst against Somali Americans was, as one account put it, “shocking in its unapologetic bigotry.”
After nodding off during a lengthy Cabinet meeting dripping with Dear Leader adulation, the 79-year-old convicted felon lashed out at immigrants from the war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation.
Trump called American citizens from Somalia “garbage” and vowed to deport them “back to where they came from” because “they contribute nothing” and “I don’t want them in our country.”
His premier toady, Ohio’s shameless JD Vance, banged the table in emphatic concurrence.
It was repulsive, if not unsurprising behavior from a man who notoriously demeaned and endangered legal Haitian immigrants revitalizing local economies in his home state.
As the approving JD looked on, Trump heaped derision (again) on Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar, who immigrated from Somalia as a child, and called for the member of Congress to “be thrown the hell out” of the U.S.
“We’re going the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilhan Omar is garbage. Her friends are garbage.”
There is no ambiguity about the message Trump is sending to the world when he disparages nonwhite immigrants in America while inviting affluent white South Afrikaners to emigrate here with U.S. support.
Conversely, the most powerful man on the planet depicts Black Somali Americans as worthless freeloaders who threatened to destroy “our” country and wants them expelled.
Never mind the taxpayers, doctors, lawyers, engineers, small business owners, politicians, etc., who are first- and second-generation Somali Americans contributing to their communities.
Ismail Mohamed is one of them.
He is a 33-year-old lawyer and one of two Somali Americans serving in the Ohio House as a state representative from Columbus.
The Democrat, in his second term, has been fielding urgent calls and texts from anxious constituents ever since Trump put Ohioans of Somali origin in the crosshairs of his wrath.
People are gripped with fear, he said.
“Especially those who don’t speak English, who fear going out. If they get picked up and can’t communicate, how are they going to relay that they are U.S. citizens?” asked Mohamed.
“I am advising many to know their rights, make sure you have documents with you, the name of a lawyer.”
The young legislator was shaken by Trump’s hateful rhetoric about his community yet resolved.
“We’re educating the community, but those in legal limbo as asylum seekers are worried. Even though you have legal status, a pending application, you’re at risk. When the president of the United States, the leader of the free world, attacks a community he knows is not in a position to fight back, it’s hard not to be scared.”
Mohamed, who was born in Somalia and lived as a refugee before coming to the U.S., is most concerned about the impact of Trump’s words and what they could trigger in someone who’s already on edge.
“It’s easy for someone who’s a racist or bigot to pick up a gun and shoot at a local mosque or, God forbid, kill someone. We’ve seen that happen before in other states. We’ve seen an increase in hate crimes in Columbus. I’m careful, even as an elected myself.”
The lawmaker recounted recent online attacks against him stemming from a video of him speaking Somali to his constituents.
Posted blasts skewered an elected rep in the U.S. speaking a foreign language.
Mohamed was unsettled when a Republican colleague in the Ohio House, state Rep. Jennifer Gross, actually reposted the video attacking him and added, “This is an Ohio State Representative. Thoughts?”
Mohamed confided he had to have security for a period of time.
Gross’ post has not been deleted.
Still, the refugee-turned-lawyer-turned-state representative reflected that every immigrant community in America has faced some initial pushback and hostility.
“They’re not American enough, or their language is different, their food is weird.”
But experiencing the ugliness firsthand, and from the president no less, is difficult to process said Mohamed.
“It is still hard and painful when a young kid, a college kid, reaches out to you and says why is the president calling me garbage?”
It is a new low to try to explain or justify, he added.
“You feel so angry and hurt. But we are appealing to everyone to say this is wrong, this is un-American to target and dehumanize an entire people simply for political gain. If it is Somali Americans now, it’ll be a different community next week. I hope Ohioans who are not Somali can just take a step back and imagine what is happening to us happening to them or their ancestors who were not welcomed.”
The post Rampant fear in this red state shows the true danger of Trump’s vile racist attacks appeared first on Raw Story.
