Some like Sadik Warfa think the program is a potential forum for government surveillance. He’s suspicious of the chief prosecutor’s involvement in social services. Warfa also fears the program will isolate the Somalis in the city, and further pigeonhole Muslims around the country as a problematic, violent population that requires special attention and funds.
In 2012 the FBI honored Ka Joog, a group that provides free after-school and mentorship programs, with the FBI director’s community leadership award for being “an organization that goes beyond the traditional sense of community service and has a profound effect on their community”. But in partnership with the county attorney’s office, a program dubbed “be@school” tracks students who have a number of unexcused absences, and then involves their families.
The FBI’s recognition of Ka Joog, and the participation of two of their staff on the CVE taskforce (one is the chair) has fueled the fear that the social services proposed are secretly mixing with surveillance and policing.
Abdi doesn’t deny that surveillance is an issue: “People have a reason to be scared.” She went on to point out that some NGOs, even those run by Somalis, are viewed with suspicion. “When you think about Ka Joog, it’s because of the work they did with radicalization and the FBI. It’s not an after-school program.”
The full article: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/14/somali-muslims-minnesota-counter-extremism-program
The Counter Violent Extremism (CVE) task force is being chaired by one of the Director of Ka Joog.