Minneapolis City Council Creates Somali-American Day
Eric Roper, Star Tribune, April 12, 2014
The Minneapolis City Council voted Friday to mark July 1 as Somali American Day in the city, home to many immigrants from the East African country.
The date holds significance among Somalis, who celebrate independence day on July 1 both in Somalia and the U.S. diaspora. That’s the day the Somali republic was created by uniting territories previously controlled by Italy and Britain.
Abdi Warsame, the first Somali-American on the Minneapolis City Council, praised the resolution at a council meeting on Friday. “This is a very important resolution for me,” he said. “And it actually came from the elders and the community leaders who wanted to highlight the contributions, the culture, the values of the Somali-American community, which is a large and growing population in the city of Minneapolis.”
[Editor’s Note: There are about 32,000 Somalis in all of Minnesota. The Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area has a population of 3.4 million.]
