Somali
Gangs and Rampant Crime
Minnesota
boasts the largest Somali population in the U.S., and with that, fraud and gang
violence have exploded.
Emmy Griffin Contributor
patriotpost.us 10-8-26
Minneapolis-area
Somalis are in the news again. Why? Well, it started because a Somali gang
shootout disrupted a homecoming football game in a supposedly safer
neighborhood outside of Minneapolis. In Eden Prairie, a fight broke out in the
stadium during the fourth quarter. Reports say that 150-plus members of a
Somali gang began fighting on the stadium grounds, and shooting broke out in
the parking lot. The perpetrators were not students of either school. Stadium
staff quickly evacuated the stands and players to keep them out of harm’s way,
but the story still made national headlines.
Eden
Prairie is nowhere near the truly bad part of Minneapolis. It is in a rich,
mostly white enclave, and crime is low. It’s not where Somali gang shootings
are accepted as part of the background noise. The Somali gang problem has
metastasized so much that it’s bleeding (both figuratively and literally) into
the wealthier suburbs.
Naturally,
leftists continue to tell us that Minnesota does not have a Somali gang
problem. They would even point to a statistic put
forth by the Cato Institute’s Alex Nowrasteh that says Minnesota Somali
immigrant males aged 18–54 are slightly less likely to be incarcerated (1,170 per
100,000) than native-born Americans are (1,221 per 100,000). Matthew Lilley,
John Mitchell Fellow at the Australian National University, and Robert
VerBruggen, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, point out how useless
that statistic is in a City
Journal article.
For
one thing, recent Somali arrivals have had significantly less time to be
incarcerated. If you change the qualifications to a longer time span (going
back to 2006) and alter the age range to 18-29, with the further qualification
that the Somali immigrant had to reside in the U.S. since they were at least
15, then the incarceration rate reflects a more accurate depiction of just how
much the Somali population does not follow the law. The incarceration rate
jumps from 1,170 per 100,000 for Somalis to 5,030 per 100,000. Native-born
American numbers rise to only 2,450 per 100,000.
People
who come to a different country with a different culture often assimilate very
slowly, if at all. Instead, first-generation immigrants often continue their
old culture in their new home. Unfortunately, Somalia ranks 179 out of 180 on
Transparency International’s Corruption
Perceptions Index, meaning even organizations like the World Bank and the
World Economic Forum recognize Somalia as having a corrupt culture.
Minnesota
is a deep-blue state. Ten years ago, Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is now
campaigning for governor, told
a crowd of Somali immigrants, “We are home to the largest Somali population in
the United States, and we are so proud of that fact in Minnesota!” That is
still true a decade later.
The
Land of 10,000 Lakes has been on the receiving end of tens of thousands of
Somali immigrants, and Democrats are massive
supporters of multiculturalism. They cling to the moniker “great melting
pot” as an antidote to racism; according to their worldview, they can’t
be racist if they import a bunch of immigrants from other cultures.
Unfortunately
for them, reality shows us that some cultures actually are better than others.
When even the WEF calls Somalia corrupt, that says a lot about that culture. If
you don’t take that corruption into account, you end up with Somalis defrauding
the American taxpayer or Somali gang members starting a fight at a homecoming
game that ends in a shooting.
The
icing on the hypocrisy cake is that local Minnesota officials are upset
that people are noticing Somali gangs shooting up the place on a regular basis.
Pointing it out is apparently tantamount to being racist toward the Somali
gangs. For the Left, being accused of “racism” is the worst crime imaginable,
but at the end of the day, the real issue is cultural, not racial.
When
you import people from a failing country ruled by Islamists and warring tribes
for centuries (with brief civilization given to them from 1800 to the 1960s),
you’re inheriting the chaotic and broken culture that is incompatible with
American culture. As our Thomas Gallatin put
it:
In brief,
American culture rests on a foundation built on a Judeo-Christian ethic, which
recognizes and prizes the fundamental perspective that all men are created
equal. They all reflect the image of God and, therefore, are inherently endowed
with certain inalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.
This forms the bedrock of American culture. And it has often been observed that
what the Founders meant by Liberty was not absolute autonomy of the individual
to do whatever they pleased, but rather the freedom of the individual to pursue
happiness, restrained and directed by a shared Judeo-Christian morality.
This morality is only possible when defined by a commonly held set of social
values, which is the essence of culture. Therefore, culture is best identified
not by skin color or ethnic background but by a shared set of values and
practices, which includes views on ethical behavior.
This is why multiculturalism, like socialism, is impossible.
And
it’s why Somali gangs will continue to make the news.
