Somali Americans angered, perplexed by Trump attacks, find solace in community support

• Bashir Garad, owner of a small travel and accounting business, and the chair of the Karmel Mall Business Association, said the multi-ethnic community that comprises the Twin Cities “stand with us, and we appreciate them, and we really owe them.”

MINNEAPOLIS, United States

US President Donald Trump has, for months, launched rhetorical salvos at the Somali-American community and its political leadership, collectively calling them “garbage,” and alleging they are responsible for widespread fraud that has resulted in billions of dollars in taxpayer losses.

In Minneapolis, home to roughly 100,000 Somali Americans, or about one-fifth of the country’s total population, residents reacted in mixed measure with indignation, dismay, and befuddlement when presented with the president’s allegations.

“The word (that) came from the president of the United States was devastating, and it damaged our credibility and damaged our values. Calling us ‘garbage,’ that word, we do not accept that,” Wali Dirie, the cofounder and executive director of the Islamic Civic Society of North America, told Anadolu at the Karmel Mall, a multi-story commercial hub for the Somali American community.

Dirie came to the US in 1996. Like the vast majority of those who came to the US from Somalia during the country’s ongoing civil war that began in the 1980s, Dirie now holds American citizenship, as do his four children.

He said the president’s rhetoric has damaged the community, but said it remains “resilient” in the face of the verbal assault, bolstered in part by the wider community in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul that has worked to uplift it, said Dirie.

“The people of Minnesota showed support, and helped our community,” he said.

'We are all human'

That sentiment was echoed repeatedly in multiple interviews Anadolu conducted.

Bashir Garad, the owner of a small travel and accounting business, and the chair of the Karmel Mall Business Association, said the multi-ethnic community that comprises the Twin Cities “stand with us, and we appreciate them, and we really owe them.”

Still, he acknowledged that a minority in the community continue to harbor animus towards Somali Americans “especially since the president marginalized the community, and labeled it with a wrong message.”

Trump has in recently months fixated on the Somali American community, escalating his disparaging rhetoric after a conservative influencer alleged that billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on fraudulent childcare centers in the Twin Cities.

“The fraud being committed by the Somali population in Minnesota -- Have you heard of them? They're lovely people -- is monumental,” Trump said in remarks earlier this month at the Detroit Economic Club. “In Minnesota, we're cracking down on the Somali scams, ending the brazen and shameless theft of taxpayer dollars.”

Beyond the rhetoric, little evidence has been put forward publicly to substantiate claims of widespread childcare fraud, which Trump pegged in remarks at the World Economic Forum as being worth roughly $19 billion.

The repeated attacks, coupled with the president’s ongoing migration crackdown in Minneapolis and St. Paul, prompted several non-Somali visitors at the Karmel Center to turn out to the Karmel Mall to show their support for the community.

“I don’t know there are words for how I feel -- sad, scared, angry, ashamed, embarrassed for our country. It’s awful,” Kori Burg said when asked about her reaction to the president’s rhetoric.

Barbara Platnick, who was with Burg Thursday, said the president’s verbal attacks are “not fair.”

“We are all human ... They are here for a reason, and they belong here,” she said.