Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya
Last week, a Somali-based extremist group known as Al Shabab laid siege to a Nairobi mall in Kenya, taking shoppers hostage and eventually killing over 60 people. As the world awaited details of the tragic attack, those in the organized Islamophobia movement saw these events as a chance to revisit past fear mongering tactics and drum up hatred directed toward Somali Muslim communities in Minnesota.
This is not the first time American-Somali Muslims have been on the receiving end of hateful rhetoric from those in the anti-Muslim cohort. In 2011, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) held a hearing in Minnesota claiming Minneapolis mosques were radicalizing and recruiting young Muslims to go overseas and join Al Shabab. Although there have been accounts over the years of Muslims of both Somali and American backgrounds enlisting in the extremist group’s ranks, it still only represents a small number compared to the overall Somali population residing in Minnesota. In fact, most of the Somali-American Muslim community is opposed to Al Shabab and were just as horrified by the recent events in Kenya.
However, the siege at the Nairobi mall brought a resurgence of fear and hostility towards American-Somali Muslims, something community leaders feared would be a result of last week’s attacks. And at the forefront leading the bigoted attacks were anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller and the American Freedom Law Center. Both urged Somali Muslims in Minnesota to support Congressman King’s hearings on radicalization where he emphasized Muslims were terrorists and claimed that over 80 percent of mosques are run by extremists.
“The Somali Muslims in Minneapolis are playing the victim card, constructing out of a whole cloth a fictitious narrative with which to attack and silence us,” Geller wrote on her blog, adding she believed this to be the “second wave of jihad.” She also used this time to refer back to her bigoted 18-point refugee resettlement platform where she calls for a halt to immigration of Muslims into nations that do not have a Muslim majority. The resettlement plan also recommends the unlawful inspection of mosques.
The fear mongering continued after others in the anti-Muslim syndicate claimed this kind of violence could be replicated and carried out in Minnesota malls by Somali Muslims returning home. “The nightmare scenario is that a bunch of them decide to carry out a Kenya (or Mumbai) style attack here, possibly hitting the Mall of America in Minneapolis or a similar target,” said CBN News “terrorism expert” Erick Stackelbeck who is known for his outlandish conspiracy theories about Muslims. “Remember, these guys have U.S. passports and are citizens, so they can move freely around the country,” he added. Another self-proclaimed terrorism analyst, Ryan Mauro, also pushed the idea this type of attack could happen in a U.S. mall claiming members of al Shabab are coming into the country through the Southern border and are then radicalizing members of the Somali community.
Once again, we see members of the Islamophobia movement using tragedy to further their anti-Muslim agendas. Their attempts to link all of the Somali Muslim community in Minnesota to the few who left to join Al Shabab and those responsible for the acts of violence in Kenya is both reckless and dangerous. This also speaks to their overall
Last week, a Somali-based extremist group known as Al Shabab laid siege to a Nairobi mall in Kenya where they took unsuspected shoppers hostage and were responsible for killing over 60 people. As the world awaited the details about the tragic attack, those in the organized Islamophobia movement saw these events as a chance to revisit past fear mongering tactics and drum up hatred directed toward Somali Muslim communities in Minnesota.
This has not been the first time American-Somali Muslims have been on the receiving end of hateful rhetoric from those in anti-Muslim cohort. In 2011, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) held a hearing in Minnesota claiming Minneapolis mosques were radicalizing and recruiting young Muslims to go overseas and join Al Shabab. Although there have been accounts over the years of Muslims of both Somali and American backgrounds going to enlist in the extremist group’s ranks, it still only represents a small number compared to overall Somali population residing in Minnesota. In fact, most of the Somali-American Muslim community are opposed to Al Shabab and were just as horrified by the recent events in Kenya.
However, the siege at the Nairobi mall brought a resurgence of fear and hostility towards American-Somali Muslims, something community leaders feared would be a result of last week’s attacks. And as always at the forefront leading the bigoted attacks against the Somali refugees were expected members in the Islamophobia movement. Anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller and the American Freedom Law Center both urged Somali Muslims in Minnesota to be supporting Congressman King’s hearings on radicalization where he only emphasized on Muslims being terrorists and alleged over 80 percent of mosques are run by extremists.
Geller also vehemently addressed the Somali Muslims in Minnesota who feared their communities would feel a backlash after the Kenya mall attack. “The Somali Muslims in Minneapolis are playing the victim card, constructing out of a whole cloth a fictitious narrative with which to attack and silence us,” she wrote on her blog, adding she believed this to be the “second wave of jihad.” She also used this time to refer back to her bigoted 18-point refugee resettlement platform where she calls for a halt of immigration of Muslims into nations that do not have a Muslim majority as well as to unlawfully survey and inspect mosques.
The fear mongering continued after others in the anti-Muslim syndicate claimed this kind of violence could be replicated and carried out in Minnesota malls by Somali Muslims returning home. “The nightmare scenario is that a bunch of them decide to carry out a Kenya (or Mumbai) style attack here, possibly hitting the Mall of America in Minneapolis or a similar target,” said CBN News “terrorism expert” Erick Stackelbeck who is known for his outlandish conspiracy theories about Muslims. “Remember, these guys have U.S. passports and are citizens, so they can move freely around the country,” he added. Another self-proclaimed terrorism analyst, Ryan Mauro, also pushed the idea this type of attack could happen in a U.S. mall claiming members of Al Shabab are coming into the country through the Southern border and are then radicalizing members of the Somali community.
Once again we see members of the Islamophobia movement using tragedy to further their anti-Muslim agendas. Their attempts to link all of the Somali Muslim community in Minnesota to the few who left to join al Shabab and those responsible for the acts of violence in Kenya is both reckless and dangerous.