Submitted by sosadmin
Monday, August 08, 2011
On July 27 Rep. Peter King held his
third Congressional hearing on the “radicalization” of Muslim
Americans, putting the spotlight on Somali American youth. Only one
Somali speaker gave testimony, Ahmed Hussen from Canada. Below
Abdinasir Egal, a researcher with African Rights Monitor and organizer
of the Somali Diaspora Youth Conference in Boston in mid July, voices
his concerns.
by Abdinasir Egal
On July 27, 2011, Rep Peter King of New York chaired yet another
round of hearings on the recruitment and radicalization of Muslim
American Community, in particular the recruitment and radicalization of
Somali-American youth. Though there is legitimate concern about the
Somali youth returning to their former homeland and joining Al-Shabaab,
the main Islamist group that controls Southern Somalia, the motivation
behind these hearings lacks sincerity and is based on political
expediency.
Apart from being a stage for Rep King to play out his political
agenda, the hearings only encourage all enforcement agencies to target
and marginalize the Somali Youth without truly addressing the many
issues and problems facing the Somali-American community or
understanding the motivation behind the return of some Somali-American
youth to Somalia.
The City of Boston recently hosted the 3rd Annual Somali Diaspora
Youth Conference where young men and women expressed the frustration in
regards to the treatment of law enforcement agencies towards the Somali
American community. They spoke of how community members are profiled
at airports and how law enforcement agencies target the community
without any cause for suspicion. Conference panelists and participants
shared their experiences. Many spoke of how the U.S Immigration and
Customs Enforcement agents deal with Somalis returning from abroad.
According to the attendees, Somali-Americans are subjected to long
interrogation sessions sometimes lasting for hours where the person is
treated more like criminal suspect than a mere citizen returning to his
or her country.
Immigration agents collect detailed information on every
Somali-American that returns from a trip abroad. Some of the
information collected by the agents includes people’s tribal
background- something that has no relevance to any security issue.
Asking Somali-Americans of their clan affiliation only reinforces the
divisions within the Somali-Americans, a recovering factionalized
community. The FBI is even reported to have been meeting with the
Somali-American community along clan lines.
The issue of radicalization was addressed at the conference. The
youth and professional adults in attendance expressed their willingness
to listen and hear the Government’s concerns but they also stated that
the Government must be willingly to listen and hear what the community
has to say. The youth noted radicalization is not the most pressing
issue facing the Somali-American youth. Access to quality education,
healthcare, and housing were their core concerns. They also discussed
youth delinquency, gangs and inter-generational communication gaps.
Apparently, there is lack of appreciation for the political
realities of Somalia in the last 5 years. The ill-fated Ethiopian
invasion of Somalia in 2006 created an environment conducive to
nationalist movement. Some Somalis returned to Somalia to defend their
homeland from the invading Ethiopian- Somalia’s historical enemy. Many
joined the war not because they have an affinity with Al-Shabaab but
their nationalistic fervor compelled them to return and defend their
native land.
If Rep King’s previous hearings are any indication, aside from
its theatrical value, the hearing, I am afraid, only paints a wide
brush on the Somali-American community and further stigmatizes it.
Furthermore, I am afraid it emboldens law enforcement agencies to treat
the Somali-American community as second class citizens by compromising
their civil rights and civil liberties with impunity. And lastly, I am
afraid it negatively impacts the Somali-American community’s confidence
in law enforcement and law-makers and as such has an adverse effect on
the community’s willingness to cooperate with law enforcement-
something that is very essential to crime prevention.