Monday, October 8, 2012

Somalis in Lewiston, Maine Demand Mayor's Resignation

More assimilation problems for a local Somali community-this time in Lewiston, Maine. Here's the summary: Mayor tells local Somalis they should assimilate. Somalis demand mayor's resignation.

http://news.yahoo.com/maine-mayor-somalis-leave-culture-door-135314654.html

Sounds like Lewiston hasn't seen such excitement since Mohammed Ali "knocked out" Sonny Liston.


"Resign!"
at

1 comment:

  1. Siarlys JenkinsOctober 8, 2012 at 12:19 PM

    The mayor is wrong, of course, but that is wrapped around some truth.

    The earlier mayor might better have said "Our economy is not growing much right now, we don't have jobs available for thousands more new immigrants, there is no land available for subsistence farming, the Bush administration isn't paying for the financial impact on a relatively small community like ours, so if a lot more people move here, they and the entire community will have a very hard time of it. Please suggest to your relatives that their are better places in America to move to."

    The current mayor's remarks should be examined in light of Anglo attitudes toward Irish, Germans, Jews, Italians... in the end, America did very well as a place where immigrant communities could eat their own food, open restaurants to let the rest of us try it too, worship as their family always had... but the laws may be different here than what you were used to, that might even be one reason you came here, so learn our laws, learn about about the existing culture here (as we do when we visit, e.g., Paris, except for the really obnoxious Americans who expect everyone to speak English to them)... and yeah, learn some English.

    In other words, yes, if you plan to make this your country, or even just live here a little while, do learn our culture and laws... and you may have to leave a few things at the door... but no, you don't have to abandon your own culture.

    By the way, I didn't see any boxers among those carrying the signs.

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