There is a very disturbing story out of Phoenix this week involving that city's immigrant Liberian community. Four young Liberian boys between the ages of 9-14 are charged with gang raping an 8-year-old Liberian girl. The alledgedly enticed her into a vacant shed on July 16 with promises of chewing gum when thay attacked her. Witnesses saw the girl running and screaming from the scene with her clothes half-torn off. That is the first part of the story. What is really shocking is the response of the girl's family. They are refusing to take her back.
The father has told authorities he does not want to take the girl back because she has stained "the family's honor." The girl's 23-year-old sister is quoted in newspaper accounts as saying that she hoped the boys would be released because "they are from our (Liberian) community." As a result, the girl is thankfully in Child Protective Services custody.
Of course, we know that in certain parts of the world, this is nothing new. It is apparently true in Liberia, where rape is a common offense. According to varying sources, 50-75% of Liberian women have experienced rape, and it is only in recent years that rape is being treated as a criminal offense.
Before going any farther, let's clear one thing up. There is no mention of the family's religion. So this is not an exercise in Muslim-bashing. The Muslim population of Liberia is about 20%. What I am driving at here is a question of culture and values, and I am about to get very politically incorrect.
Without trying to paint a brush over the entire Liberian immigrant community, my question is this: While I understand the humanitarian angle of refugee resettlement, why are we actively bringing people here as refugees if they hold customs, values and beliefs that are so antiethical to ours? The Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration is involved in assisting tens of thousands of people from war-torn countries like Liberia and Somalia resettle into the US (and other countries) without any apparent regard as to how they may or may not assimilate into American culture. Once here, these immigrants receive assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement. As I have said many times, I welcome immigration. I think it is a positive thing, but it must also come with assimilation. What gain do we achieve by importing thousands of people into a free and open society who think rape is OK and a mark of shame for the victim upon her family-who must now disown her?
I say folks like that need to stay in Liberia.
While I am on the subject, I would like to say a few words about the Somalis. Again, our State Department has brought about 80,000 Somalis into the US and dumped many of them in Minneapolis. Again, I don't want to paint the entire Somali immigrant community with the same wide brush-but- we've been hearing about these folks for a few years now:
Somali cab drivers who refuse to take passengers carrying alcohol.
Somali grocery check-out cashiers who refuse to check out customers purchasing pork.
Somali meat-packing plant workers in Greeley, Colorado engaged in conflict with their bosses and co-workers over having breaks for prayer time. (Granted, that seems like an issue that could be settled amicably, but such has not been the case.)
And now, we read about Somalis disappearing from the Minneapolis area and joining the jihad. Some thanks to the US for bringing them here as refugees.
Nevertheless, Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) wants to find a way to "bring them home so they can rejoin their families and integrate into American society." I say bull! They had their chance. Let them be killed wherever they are or brought back in handcuffs.
Here's the point: While I am sure some members of these communities will integrate and make a contribution, why are we importing so many obvious problems? That Liberian family in Arizona has no business in this country. In addition, it doesn't appear that we are getting much bang for our buck with the Somalis either. Besides, while we have historic ties to Liberia, which was founded by freed American slaves, what do we owe the Somalis? Isn't that the place we went to feed starving people and wound up with Blackhawk down?
And let me give a couple of other examples that are more politically-correct, just to calm down you libs. When we opened the doors to Russians being let out of the old Soviet Union, we got a lot of bad guys in the process; perhaps, you have heard of the Russian Mafia-or the Israeli Mafia, for that matter. We screwed up letting many bad apples into the country then.
I realize I will be called jingoistic or worse for pointing out these issues, but so be it. We need to use common sense in deciding who comes here and who doesn't. This is not a matter of skin color, religion or nationality. It is a question of values. This is where the great vaunted Multi-culturalism runs into a brick wall. Nobody cares about your native dances, food, or how you celebrate marriages or birthdays. But if you think rape is OK and want to disown your 8-year-old daughter for "dishonoring" your family by being raped-there is no place for you here. Period.
There are many immigrants who integrate into American society. They reject this attitude that these few have.
ReplyDeleteAs for those who refuse to integrate into our society, either leave and go back to your original home or find a nation that suits you better.
So we should have never let that family into the country in the first place? Okay, that way when the little girl got raped in Liberia instead, she could have just been stoned to death or plain abandoned. Makes sense to me! That's what you get for being born to idiotic parents, stupid little girl!
ReplyDeleteYour whole diatribe is laughable. I must have never heard of our Constitutional right to a taxi cab ride. I must have missed when businesses were no longer allowed to fire workers who refused to do the job they were hired to do.
Hate to break your heart, Gary, but there's no cultural litmus test for moving to our great nation or becoming a citizen. If there was, I'm sure your immigrant ancestors would have failed that test just as miserably. Welcome to our wonderful free society. Love it or leave it.
Bryan,
ReplyDeleteSo what are you saying? That we should populate our nation with folks who subscribe to what this Liberian family subscribes to? Get ready for an upsurge in rapes. Hate to break it to you, but that is not a value that we believe in here.
To answer your question-no-we should never have let that family here in the first place. What happens in Liberia is sadly not our concern beyond our universal concern for human rights. We can't let that crap happen here.
Secondly, my ancestors -and I suspect your ancestors- didn't fail any such test.
Let's take it to its farthest conclusion. Do we allow immigrants here who believe in stoning women to death for adultery? Maybe you would, but not me.
You don't think a business should be allowed to fire a worker who refuses to do the job they were hired to do? I do.
You are right-we don't have a cultural litmus test, but when it comes to outrages like this-we damn well should! Let's use some common sense.
Here I am siding with both, Bryan and Gary. Lucky for the girl that she is in the USA. True we cannot impose our laws on other nations. Gary, it is the same in Germany, there are so many immigrants who can't or won't assimilate and it seems there are only gutless politicians and judges.
ReplyDeleteI don't know where all this is going.
Several things are not being explored. Here in Illinois, a state agency (DC&FS) Dept. of Children and Family Services (whom I'm no fan of) gave a conference on the subject of "teenage sexual predators" that were in their custody. Of course these were all males, because the feminists who run the Rape Industry refuse to study female violence, but it showed that over 92% of these male sexual predators were in fact not predators at all. They were males who had no male role models and/or were raised in single women head of households units where there was no proper sexual orientation. Only 2% had psychiatric disorders.
ReplyDeleteWhat we have is the typical MALE BASHING that always takes place by the feminists when they know no facts, have drawn conclusions with no evidence and where the males have no legal representation. What would you expect from a feminists industry that controls 100% of all rape information.
Yesterday I watched a hysterical female anchor on CNN-HLN (?) badger the Liberian president and ambassador with a lynching mentality. There was no mention of how many males NEVER RAPE ANYONE. Never any mention of the fact that between 50-70% of rape allegations are false, unfounded or unsubstantiated. Never any mention what scientific research has repeatedly shown is that rape is the most over reported crime in the US.
As is usual, in the gender wars women start a feeding frenzy and when the facts show otherwise they simply remain silent and toss another dirty pantie on the fire. Remember the Duke false rape case. When it was proven that nothing happened, the feminists Rape Industry saturated the news media with screams of "...there is no such thing as false rape...If a female says she was rape, it happened..." Of course there is plenty false rape cases, but only if you're a male.
Male Bashing is a big business and it pays well. $3.1 billion from the VAWA.
Yours truly,
John C. Reilly LCSW, BCD
Clinical Therapist and Supervisor
Mr Reilly,
ReplyDeleteWhile I share some of your feelings about feminists, rape still is an abhorrent crime, sometimes unjustly accused, but when committed still abhorrent. As to your statement that most male perpetrators were raised in bad circumstances, perhaps, so, but they can still grow to be predators. Yes, it is true that the overwhelming majority of males (like me) never rape anyone, but by all indications, the case in Phoenix actually happened-and the reaction to it by the girls family-while maybe common in Liberia-has no place in this country. As to my comments about the immigration aspect to it, is this an attitude we want to see take root in America? No.
Ingrid,
ReplyDeleteI'll say the same thing to you I said to Mr Reilly; these kinds of cultural attitudes should not be allowed to take root in the US-or Germany.
"Secondly, my ancestors -and I suspect your ancestors- didn't fail any such test."
ReplyDeleteBecause there was no such test. Had there been, they would have. I am not Irish, and I dunno about you, so this is just an example, but do you really believe that when this country had large numbers of Irish people immigrating here that their culture was the dominant one of this country? Of course not. They didn't "assimilate." They simply redefined what American culture was and is, making their culture a part of a new norm.
"Let's take it to its farthest conclusion. Do we allow immigrants here who believe in stoning women to death for adultery? Maybe you would, but not me."
Sure. They can believe that all they want, but as soon as they try to put such a belief into practice, they'll be arrested and taken to jail. We don't have thought police in this country. If the justice system decides to deport them (assuming they haven't become citizens), then okay. But this is all dependent on action, not mere belief or thought.
"You don't think a business should be allowed to fire a worker who refuses to do the job they were hired to do? I do."
I do too. I guess I worded it poorly. I was sarcastically pointing out that businesses ARE free to fire a worker if s/he refuses to do the work they were hired to do. So I'm not sure how one can complain about immigrant workers refusing to do their work, when the businesses are perfectly free to fire them. Who knows where you even got these examples though. I wouldn't be surprised if they were urban legends perpetuated in the conservative blogosphere echo chamber.
So, since you feel so strongly about assimilation, you must be really upset about the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in our country, right?
Bryan,
ReplyDeleteLet me try to address your points one by one:
I don't get your analogy about Irish immigrants and how they redefined American culture. Same with Italians, Poles, Japanese, Chinese, Mexicans, etc. Any "redefintion" has not in my view conflicted with basic American values. As for this idea about family honor being shamed because an 8-year-old daughter was raped-and not wanted back-that is a "redefinition" we can do without.
As far as belief and action, that would certainly apply to those here. But I think it is something we should take into consideration before deciding to resettle tens of thousands of people into this country who have such idea that we consider.....can I say barbarian?
Because eventually, belief translates into action, such as what happened in Phoenix. It has also happened in other parts of the US and Europe-honor killings specifically. There have been reports of forced female genital mutilation being conducted behind closed doors in places like Rotterdam for one. There was a cae in St Louis about 20 years ago of parents who murdered their teenage daughter for going out and doing what all American kids that age do. The problem is that any person with a brain can predict these incidents.
As far as the Somali workers I quoted, no urban legend. Of course you know that firing workers has all kinds of union implications, but the company I quoted was a meat-packing plant in Greeley, Colorado, a major company whose name escapes me at the moment, but which I will come up with it shortly.
PS I am interested on your comments about the latest posting on the Baha'is in Iran.
Bryan,
ReplyDeletePS Swift Meat Packing plant in Greeley, Colorado Sept 2008
See:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,421471,00.html