By Najma M. Jama

An article by Fareed Zakaria- “The failed state conundrum” in the Washington Post made me ponder like no other article has done before. What dreadfully caught my attention was that Somalia ranks No. 1 for the third year according to Foreign Policy magazine, a magazine that publishes its annual Failed States Index. The article further depicted Somalia as, “has had no functioning government since 1992, longer than probably any other present-day state. This is a tragic situation, but U.S. policymakers seem convinced it’s also one that poses a grave danger to American national interests.”

A question of how we exactly got there can have many answers and different tales depending on which Somali you ask but what unequivocally remains the same is the underlying factor that what happened resulted to division, hate, tribalism, corruption, and atrocity. How it happened and a matter of separating facts from fiction would be for the historians to deliberate. My objective is to find out why these destructive actions have transpired to the Somalis in the Diaspora. These actions have begun to infest our political and religion views and beliefs here in the US specifically Minnesota where carries the largest number of Somalis in N. America. Just like the fore fathers of America separated politics from religion, our brother s and sisters have not embraced this thriving culture, instead we have the same disintegrating and outdated ideology of clanship that crippled our land follow us to the US.

What are these ideologies I’m talking about? First and foremost, we have different Somali community organizations that are founded under the name “Somali,” this itself proves that we are not united under one umbrella organization that serves all Somali-Americans in MN, which has one unifying leadership that carries one message, mission, and goals.  Then of course have this model duplicated by other states that have significant numbers of Somalis. As the old saying goes, “Go to Rome and do what the Romans do” should be a basic foundation. We simply cannot expect the concept that worked in Somalia work here too. This is easier said than done would many argue; perhaps it is perhaps it isn’t.

What makes it so attainable is the dire need of a stable Somalia by all Somali Americans and more so for the younger generation who from narration has an idea of the Somalia their parents and grand parents grew up in. Since many were teenagers or born during the civil war, they lack a sense of belonging and other than war stories, they have little knowledge of their rich culture. At the same time these individuals have somehow assimilated into the US culture and began to question themselves how does a country as diverse as the US able to manage democracy among its many people who come from different ethnic groups and religion and why can’t we not emulate the same theory given that 99.99% of us share the same religion and culture and above all speak one language? This unifying one community module will not only set a good example to our aspiring youth but also signal to the rest of the Somalia that we are one and our message is one. The Somali Diaspora has a very robust connection to Somalia, not only financially but also as a voice of support and approval to those seeking leadership in the Country. We on the other hand have people in the Diaspora who are very passionate on bringing change to Somalia, but just like a pin dropped in a hay stack; just don’t know how to begin finding it.

As far as I can remember following national and local politics in the United States, I don’t remember us being at odds when it came to local politics until the 2008 Senatorial elections. Again, my interest is not pointing out how and why some of us chose different candidates. My concern is that even though our principles and beliefs had not substantially changed from the 2004 elections, we chose to have our little community battles become apparent in the American political arena hence making the candidates lobby different members of the Somali Community. That even worsened during the 2010 MN gubernatorial election where our discord was immensely transparent. Each DFL candidate had different endorsement from different Somali groups and these groups are not just our local family members but organizations and affluent members in the Somali community. It was awkward to see the candidates use our cracked walls by petitioning our support and providing detailed knowledge and issues facing the Somalis here and back home, the bright side of this actions were that they did take us serious but the daunting side to it was that it showed more than ever how divided we were. Imagine how effective it would be if we had one voice especially given that our end game was to have a Democratic governor.

These adverse divisions started to trickle into our religion sector and then overflew since the story of the “Somali missing men” surfaced. Religion had been the main link that kept us together, an absolute no fiddling, black and white, undisputable theory. That sacred premise has now been rescinded by those who label our Imams along clan lines, who are so quick to portray negative images about our mosques and their leaders to the media and the law enforcement officials who don’t care about us and out only to make headlines and solve their cases. The perpetrators who are working day and night to separate the community for their own personal agendas quickly forget what brought us here at the first place, they forget how displaced we are and how we are next to nothing in the eyes of the international community. As complex as we are, like a web we have holes that separate us but we are still linked together, we are so generous to one another and the attribute that amazes me the most is the solidarity amongst us especially when it comes to outsiders. Why then is it not easy for us to utilize our strengths and communal interests and have that bind us together and have our differences foster understanding and respect for one another instead of further segregating us?

By Najma M. Jama

M.P.A in Public Administration

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