Most ajnabis believe that Somalis only started coming to the USA recently as refugees. In actually, the first ethnic Somalis to arrive in the U.S. were sailors who came in the around 1920s from British Somaliland.
My ancestors came during a time where the Immigration Act of 1924 was passes, which limited the number of immigrants allowed into the United States yearly through nationality quotas. The law only allowed immigration from Northern and Western European countries. Just three countries, Great Britain, Ireland and Germany account for 70 percent of all available visas. Immigration from Southern, Central and Eastern Europe was limited. The Act completely excludes immigrants from Asia, aside from the Philippines, then an American colony.
They didn’t need NAACP, BLM, Bernie Sanders or Abraham Lincoln to help get the American dream. Not only that, both my Berber and Somali family had more than economic mobility and privileges than some ethnic whites.
That’s why I acknowledge my Somali heritage, even though I’m only a fourth generation.
My ancestors came during a time where the Immigration Act of 1924 was passes, which limited the number of immigrants allowed into the United States yearly through nationality quotas. The law only allowed immigration from Northern and Western European countries. Just three countries, Great Britain, Ireland and Germany account for 70 percent of all available visas. Immigration from Southern, Central and Eastern Europe was limited. The Act completely excludes immigrants from Asia, aside from the Philippines, then an American colony.
They didn’t need NAACP, BLM, Bernie Sanders or Abraham Lincoln to help get the American dream. Not only that, both my Berber and Somali family had more than economic mobility and privileges than some ethnic whites.
That’s why I acknowledge my Somali heritage, even though I’m only a fourth generation.