The untold stories of early Somali Americans

[Kurobecky]

Somalis at the Clark St jail, Chicago, 1915. Part of a travelling 'ethnographic show' They were in jail after they had had an altercation with yet another human zoo promoter who had failed to promote them (the third in a row) they were kept in jail before being sent to Ellis Island and then deported to French Somaliland (Djibouti)

There were Somalis that came over as sailors, like my great grandpa. He immigrated because of the Italians invaded. Fucking Italians. The English were assholes, but at least they kept it real. My Somali ancestors’ trade were missionaries, merchants and mercenaries.
Unfortunately, the only part of history that gets talked about is slavery and Africans of Bantu descent.

Also, the early Somali Americans tried to before involved in civil rights , but it turn out super bad. My dad only liked Martin Luther King, which he preferred to call him Michael because the real Martin Luther disliked Muslims and Catholics. Plus, he helped end the Moorish rule cause he’s a racist. We enslaved them to save them from sin. White peoples are so ungrateful

 

[Kurobecky]

Also, despite very Americanized, our culture is still distinct from other Black Americans and still pays homage to traditional Somali culture. Both white and black Americans tried REALLY hard to convert us completely, but failed horribly. We have English names as a node to British Somaliland. The form of Catholicism we practice is a modern version of Donatism and Islam influences. It’s more conservative than European and Latino Catholicism. Also, the Catholic Church buys most of their frankincense from Somalia.

 

[Nafiso Qalanjo]

I feel bad for them. They had to live through the Jim crow era.

 

[Nafiso Qalanjo]

I wonder if they mixed with the local AA population because they are no Somalis that I heard of that have been in the U.S 50+ years

 

[Amirah]

This is incredibly interesting to read. thanks for sharing.

 

[Kurobecky]

I feel bad for them. They had to live through the Jim crow era.

We gave everyone hell. Despite being “liberal “ and “progressive “, Chicago and the Midwest is racist and segregated asf. They downplay a lot of racism in the north. Both the blacks and whites are prejudice towards us. The only groups that were cool were the Asians and Mexicans, not the Puerto Ricans. Honey Boo Boo, Shanaenae, and Cardi B were hatin’

 

[Kurobecky]

I wonder if they mixed with the local AA population because they are no Somalis that I heard of that have been in the U.S 50+ years

My grandpa married my grandma, who’s an evil Berberian. Now, the history of early Berbers/Moorish in the America is CRAZY. A lot of them fled to the Americas because they kicked out for enlightening them or to escape taxation from the Bantus. It was the combination of the high taxes, regulations of trading and the French abolishing slavery because they’re some hating liberals sjw pigs. My maternal cousin is half moorish. His moorish family have lived in Europe since the Middle Ages. My Berber ancestors gave no fucks. Seriously, my grandma’s got kicked out of Europe and Africa

 

[KingSomali999]

How come he liked mlk but not Malcolm X?

 

[Kurobecky]

I wonder if they mixed with the local AA population because they are no Somalis that I heard of that have been in the U.S 50+ years

No, unless they were mixed and had a high status. Our cultures and mindset was still very different, even during Jim Crow. And only the women married into AA families. My grandpa chose a surname (Reed) that less that 25 percent of AAs have and religion that was hated by the KKK and supported enslaving Bantus/Natives. My dad’s folks married whites, not Latinos and Italians.

 

[Kurobecky]

How come he liked mlk but not Malcolm X?

He hate the NOI and saw it as blasphemy. My dad liked him after he went Mecca. He told me Malcolm X was killed by NOI. Louis Farrakhan is a black Jim Jones. The only thing he didn’t agree with MLK is forced integration. He always told me to never beg someone to like you . Get rid of Jim Crow laws and let people associate with whoever they want. But hating whites is stupid and hypocritical.