Bruce Finley, Denver Post, June 29, 2009
Somali refugees who flocked to jobs in U.S. slaughterhouses—including plants in Greeley and Fort Morgan—are moving beyond cutting floors to Main Street.
“We want to become Americans,” said Mohamed Egal, director of the Somali Aid self-help group in Greeley, where more than 700 Somalis live.
They’ve established shops offering imported items. An unmarked mosque in central Greeley offers a place for Muslim worship.
Informal “hawala” money-transfer services help reach relatives stranded in war-torn Somalia and refugee camps in neighboring Kenya. A former burrito restaurant now sells plates of rice, lamb and goat.
And community leaders say dozens more hopeful Somalis arrive each week in Greeley from larger cities such as Minneapolis and Seattle, where federal contractors initially resettle refugees.
The lure: steady $12-an-hour jobs at Brazilian-owned JBS Swift Beef Co. The plant employs more than 300 Somalis, taking advantage of the legally authorized status of refugees accepted from war zones.
This avoids problems associated with unauthorized migrants from Mexico and Central America.
Somalis also are sinking roots in Emporia and Dodge City in Kansas; Grand Island and Norfolk in Nebraska; and Sioux City, Iowa—all towns with slaughterhouses that depend on assembly-line labor.
Mothers “tell our children to follow the rules of Greeley as well as the rules of our religion,” said Salado Abdille, 60, who takes an English class in the computer-filled East Africa Community Center along with newcomers from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Rwanda and Sudan.
“We want them to graduate from high school, then university,” Abdille said. “We want them to work at nice jobs, not the meat plant. Like computer engineering. We want them to be successful.”
Somali men find “Greeley is a good place to fit in,” said Abdirizak Dahir, 21, a Wells Fargo banker who moved from San Diego. “You do have a lot of setbacks, but a lot of people here have a good heart.”
Bridging the gaps
{snip}
[Dahir] found work at JBS in 2007. Adept in English, he began translating for other refugees.
One day in a Wells Fargo branch, Dahir joked that the bank should hire a Somali because more Somalis were arriving, needing to deposit paychecks.
To his surprise, manager Amanda Dunbar asked him to apply. He worked for a year as a teller, then was promoted.
Wells Fargo hires to match a broadening customer base, said Dunbar, who allows Muslim prayer breaks for Dahir and another Somali employee.
{snip}
And Wells Fargo managers have gained insight into another cultural challenge: Religious beliefs prevent many Somalis from transactions involving interest. “They take debit cards,” Dunbar said.
Now, a few use credit cards after bankers explained that no interest would be involved if debts were paid each month.
{snip}
A few bumps along the way
Assimilation issues do exist. Greeley police have held meetings to try to smooth local mixing, although they report no major problems. Spanish-speaking JBS foremen use hand signals to try to bridge language gaps.
And a Somali entrepreneur’s takeover of the Burrito restaurant, a longtime favorite of University of Northern Colorado students, confused customers expecting burritos who found only rice, lamb and goat.
The overall business trend points upward, said Ahmed Abdi, 25, who recently doubled the size of his Eighth Avenue East Africa Halal Market, which he runs with two sisters.
They are especially eager to serve non-Somali customers.
{snip}
Sidebar: Civil-rights complaints investigated
State and federal civil-rights officials are investigating claims that Somali workers at the JBS Swift Beef Co. meatpacking plant were mistreated.
{snip}
Concerns surfaced last year after JBS managers refused to let late-shift Somalis pray at sunset during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Workers walked off the job, and more than 100 were fired. Somali workers have since claimed ongoing issues with their Latino supervisors, Chavez said.
{snip}
JBS spokesman Chandler Keys said the company has attempted to accommodate religious practices by installing foot washes in locker rooms for foot-cleansing prior to prayer and bidet-type spray devices on toilets to assist with cleansing after using the rest room.
{snip}
“It’s an ongoing, flowing information dialogue that’s going to keep us on our toes in working with these people,” [Keys] said.
Original article
Email
Bruce Finley
at bfinley@denverpost.com .
(Posted on July 2, 2009)
Comments
http://tinyurl.com/km332s
Somalis are anything but good neighbors. In Ottawa, the capital of Canada, they’re responsible for a wave of murders and gang crimes.
With Somalis you know what to expect. The second generation are worse than the first.
This article is a perfect example of why the standard newspapers are faring so poorly these days (and some are going out of business). It’s not the Internet, a supposedly paperless world, or people preferring to follow American Idol and celebrities rather than peruse serious news items. No, it’s the fact that standard newspapers insist on presenting a left-wing slant on everything they report. If they reported on what people really thought of Somali immigration to the United States, then that would be truly reporting the REAL news, and who knows, people might start reading standard newspapers in larger numbers. It’s the media’s insistence on glorifying Muslims and third-world immigrants that have turned me off of buying newspapers, and obviously the Internet version isn’t any better.
To know anything about the conduct of Somalis, watch the movie “BlackHawk Down” as soon as there are enough of them, THAT is exactly the way they act. Anybody see a correlation with the contminated beef stories and the muslims working at slaughterhouses?? They wipe with their left hand and RINSE the hand after wiping their behinds,soap may or not be an option, and their toilet habits in their natural habitat are abysmal.
I used to live in the Denver area. In the Winter time it can feel like the coldest place on earth, with the temps making astounding drops from warm to cold in a single day.
In one day in particular that still makes me shiver, the temp went from a daytime high of 40 to a nighttime low of 10 above. I recall adding anti-freeze to my radiator, followed with water, and the splashing water was bouncing in droplets on the fender and freezing instantly.
Like the Northeast where they located others of these crime and poverty types, I just don’t see how they will ever stay there.
Dodge City, KS…full of…Somalis??!! America is finished for sure!
Americans have surrendered ownership of this nation to their government and the bankers and industrialists who control the government. Once Americans wake up and reclaim ownership of America we can exercise our rights and among those rights is the right to determine who we let into our country. Somalis, black Africans, Hispanic illegals, Muslims, communists and East Indians are not welcome and will eventually be shown the door…
“…Workers walked off the job, and more than 100 were fired. Somali workers have since claimed ongoing issues with their Latino supervisors, Chavez said…”
What the lefty presses refuse report is what happened after the walkout ( this is from Jihad Watch):
“…At 7:30 pm the Muslims, about 200 in number, walked off the job, went to the employee cafeteria and began to break tables and equipment….The Greeley P.D. SWAT Team and many police officers had to come into the plant to stop the destruction by approximately 200 angry Muslims of tables, equipment, and helmets inside the cafeteria at about 7:30 pm last night. My neighbor said that the medical department rendered treatment to one non-Muslim female worker who was assaulted during the melee….”
The Somalis feel they have been mistreated even though, “the company has install[ed] foot washes in locker rooms for foot-cleansing prior to prayer and bidet-type spray devices on toilets to assist with cleansing after using the rest room.”
The ‘plant’ is accommodating Somalis at the expense of its other workers (WHY?), meanwhile the other workers:
“…are frustrated by what they feel is a double standard when it comes to other races and Somalis.
‘Somalis are running our plant,’ Castillo said. ‘They are telling us what to do.’
Swift security guards paced the parking lot helping to break up the crowds. Joann Lopez, who finished her morning shift, said she was threatened with her job if she didn’t leave, which didn’t happen to Somalis when they protested earlier in the week…”
http://tinyurl.com/ly5jwg
And now, jumping on the black grievance industry so lucrative in the US:
“…State and federal civil-rights officials are investigating claims that Somali workers at the JBS Swift Beef Co. meatpacking plant were mistreated.
Complaints have been filed with state officials and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said Steve Chavez, director of the Colorado Civil Rights Division….”
http://tinyurl.com/mo48oc
You can bet they’ll ask for a cash settlement as they’ve done before (and won).
Of course, this company deserves to be sued into bankruptcy and made an example of to any company that thinks it’s a good idea to hire somalis or any blacks for that matter.
The entire refugee resettlement industry needs to be shut down NOW.
Bon
the continued immigration of Somalis and the BLATANT effort to bring them to the whitest parts of America (Maine, Colorado, Minnesota) are proof positive that our elite are making an overt effort to destroy us, and do not care about the consequences.
No sensible person, at this point, can say that Somalis are anything trouble. Yet they continue to come in waves.
I live in Fort Collins, just 30 miles from this frightening trend which appeared almost overnight after ICE raided the Swift plant and a number of illegal Mexican immigrants were sacked. It’s especially sad to see this happening in what is and was (except for Denver) a pretty white state. Talk about unintended consequences! Kind of makes you want the Mexicans back; at least they are somewhat indigenous to the area and don’t practice an alien religion. The bigger question is: WHY in a country of 300-plus million must we import nonwhite aliens to cut meat? It wasn’t always thus.
Ironic….they wash their feet but not their hands while handling food? Also illegals do not wash their hands after using the restrooms.
Lewiston, Maine is just about the first place these “refugees” were sent to…There were “scouts” out looking for the Whitest towns and cities and States to put them in. Do you ever think about the reasons for that? Isn’t it obvious after seeing what these traitors in the churches and our government has been doing since the 1960’s?
Like the Northeast where they located others of these crime and poverty types, I just don’t see how they will ever stay there.
Because our government will provide EVERYTHING they need for their comfort to include NOT HAVING TO WORK after winning their lawsuits.
Anonymous wrote at 7:16 PM on July 3:
“Lewiston, Maine is just about the first place these “refugees” were sent to…There were “scouts” out looking for the Whitest towns and cities and States to put them in. Do you ever think about the reasons for that? Isn’t it obvious after seeing what these traitors in the churches and our government has been doing since the 1960’s?”
Not true! Here’s what actually happened:
They were initially brought to Atlanta, GA because it was figured that they would enjoy living in a large black Metropolis in a warm climate. Two things happened to ruin this scenario.
First, American blacks were openly hostile to the Somalis and other African immigrants. They would taunt them and rob them quite frequently. Second, the Somalis soon discovered that the state of Georgia, dominated as it is by conservatives, was rather tight with the purse strings.
The Somalis soon discovered that it would be better to sacrifice the warm weather in Atlanta for the better welfare benefits in the Northern states.
Minnesota, with it’s heavy German/Swede/Norse population, mirrors the socialist states of Northern Europe with it’s generous benefit programs and social services. Maine, being in the welfare state French-Canadian tradition and part of New England, is the same.
Once the Somalis got wind of this, they flocked to the North to avail themselves of every possible social program that existed — all at the expense of the native White, working populations, of course!
These Somalis will not assimilate as they are black and muslim, they belong in Africa not the US. The decline of the US is inevitable with more non whites taking residence.
Somalis are too far from European norm this nation founded on. Indeed, all but very modern Muslims cannot assimilate in US. And that is the key word, assimilate. If Hispanics or blacks, Somalis or Pakistanis can’t or won’t assimilate into the Calvinist, limited govt values of the US, they have to go. It’s not a “racial” thing. It’s a way of life thing. The American way of life. We want it. We will keep it. Invaders leave and take your goats with you. Thank you.
How accepting we are with these people who bring their customs with them. But Boer farmers in S. Africa are being murdered and raped at an ever growing rate and the rest of the world ignores it. School kids here are obsessed with Darfur and participate in symbolic rituals such as “Dying for Darfur” but not one kid in High School is aware of the genocide along with its ancillary atrocities begin perpetrated every day against people who are responsible for feeding most of that continent.
To poster #13…
No, I disagree. This is what the government and the media want you to think is the reason. They are as bad as those same American blacks to begin with, so why would they flee from them? Lewiston was 95% White! Most of us here know that there are “scouts” that DO search for small towns etc. to place nonwhite immigrants. Why do you think they are brought to the USA in the first place and then scattered to these towns and cities our enemies declare are too “White”? I read at the time this was happening, the who and why of this, was done to Lewiston and now in Kansas and Nebraska???? Come on. wake up.
All newly arrived somali immigrants should be packed off to the “People’s Republic of Vermont.” Don’t they just love and celebrate diversity there. Get moving Senators Leahy and Sanders.Also, you could ask Howard Dean for a little help.Perhaps we might even have one of these fair-minded gentleman agree to make the supreme sacrifice and offer his position to a somali minority.
What are there now, 300,000 black muslim Somali invaders here in the U.S.? I think most are in Michiganistan, but the fed is seeing to it that we all get some. Violence is coming and weapons really will be our friends.
Everytime one of these blacks enters the US the I.Q. of the population is lowered, the crime goes up a bit, there’s more tension, turmoil and bickering; the social benefit net is strained closer to the breaking point, and it takes us one step closer to being a full-fledged third world empire, always on the brink of collapse, and it will only get worse as we continue with this PC radicalism.
But, what happens if we go deeper into this recession, instead of slowly climbing out of it?
How many states now are flirting with budget shortfalls and how many are close to the situation in Calif. where collapse is emminent, if not this year then the next or the one after that?
It was mentioned by some globalist corporate type the other day that the media, politicians and especially the messiah’s coterie of oddballs, should “play up” the notion that we are “bottoming out;” that it will take time, but we will be on the upswing so it’s just a matter of waiting. All this “psyching” he said was to keep from having what he termed “civil unrest.” He added that it will take years to fully recover.
More PC drivel in Owellian speak to fool the unwashed masses they feel compelled to ride herd over, because they’re so much more intelligent than the commoners….and aware.
But like every other bit of conning they’ve done only a few of the most weak-minded of the masses will be taken in.
It’s utter nonsense to believe that as jobs are lost and wages keep falling and taxes keep rising society will remain quiet and obedient.
It’s also utter nonsense to believe that a couple of million military and police will be able to control a hundred million people at each other’s throat, no matter how much “technology” they have. It would be like trying to hold back a tidal wave with a fish net.
And, if they are short of funds to pay the police and military, I wonder how they expect to keep their loyalty, if they ever had it in the first place?
We are living in interesting times and it will get much more interesting with each passing day.
to comment #6-HH
#15 Poster says “It’s not a ‘racial’ thing.”
Really now, just who are you trying to fool here with that lefty politically-correct jargon? Furthermore, I’m making no effort to debate with you on that childish assumption. Most people here are long past the kindergarten stage to fall for that one.
Hello Folks.I am from England and I recently discovered this American website via links after the European Elections.Combined with other American Conservative (or Nationalist websites)I am learning a lot about the Political situation in North America vis a vis Immigration.It is indeed of great concern to us all on both sides of the Atlantic.
Poster # 20: “It’s also utter nonsense to believe that a couple of million military and police will be able to control a hundred million people at each other’s throat . .”
Exactly! We already know how police will perform under such circumstances — i.e., New Orleans, where, after the hurricane, some of the police simply left their posts to go home and take care of their families, and the others backed their squad cars up to the K-Mart doors and begin loading free flat-screen TV’s. Anyone who thinks that the Police are going to control the coming civil unrest are living in fantasy land. If there was wide-spread civil violence, would you stay to protect a shopping mall or city hall, or would you go protect your family?
