Because we kill them in Canada they are scared of us
Madow guy giving UK Somalis some closure
- Thread starter EainA2
- Start date
This is going to be a long post so if you want to skip then skip
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First, these are the formative years of a community that has no other reference point for anything. Racial identity is new to us, being "minorities" is new to us. Anything that takes place in this era sets the tone for the future, hence the importance of it
The Caribbean community in England existed earlier than everyone else for colonial reasons, they aren’t this “evil” group that terrorised the masses but human nature dictates that when other groups come into their already established community they’re gonna deal with hostility for being “different”. Unlike Canada (where similar immigrant groups exist) England (and other colonial European nations) have FAR more slanted migrant group diasporas which greatly exacerbate these differences. Nigerians and Ghanains dealt with it first, Somalis dealt with it later
Everything Somali was seen as negative growing up. Like every facet of our ethnic background was seen as negative, how we looked, our names, our faith, our food, the way we did this and that. Literally every facet of our ethnic existence was associated with negativity, it wasn't just some pirate jokes at all, do you know what that does to a group trying to establish an identity dealing with poverty and anti islamic rhetoric?
^ Very importantly this treatment wasn’t for being “black” or “african” or “muslim” like the treatment other somali diasporas had to deal with, specifically us as an ethnic group we were looked down upon, we had no one else like us to find solidarity with (as I mentioned unlike somewhere like Canada there aren’t many other black muslims, or other horn african/horn african adjacent looking people (regardless of religious background)). That creates a distinct environment relative to other diasporas. That isn’t to say in other countries Somalis don’t deal with this, but it’s usually in conjunction with a larger identity. The very specific harassment for just your ethnic group with no other ethnic groups remotely similar to us existing in our spaces is unique to reer england
One of the most important things that you guys don’t understand is that in our mockery we were actively "othered" from blackness, as opposed to other communities. The fact that Nigerian and Ghanian people dealt with the same stuff earlier than we did made this clear, they were mocked for being different (african) we were mocked for being different (separate to whatever “blackness” was). Notice how we’re also African but we aren’t in that bracket with them? That’s because we’re not the “same” as them, a rhetoric they drilled into the early england diaspora in some way or another whether by direct action or by implication. This laid down the groundwork for us to associate more with Islamic diasporas than with "black" ones, even today when there's no tension that formula still goes through.
Another HUGE factor is there was no reintegration attempt once the hate lessened, ESPECIALLY relative to the West African community. Across many different mediums from higher institutions to simple friend groups and shared culture I’ve witnessed the (non somali/horn african) black african community and black caribbean community become far closer since their migrations into the nation, more attempts to bridge gaps, acknowledge problems and move forward, by no means am I saying they no longer have problems with each other, however none of this happened for somalis. Once the novelty of openly mocking us stopped we just continued with life, people fucked with us now, but we definitely weren’t “one of them” (in terms of blackness) if that makes sense.
^ A good counter example to use against this is the UK Islamic community, South Asian Muslims were also racist but took time to attempt to unite British Muslim ummah for the sake of islam and acknowledged these problems. None of this means anti-blackness and xenophobia no longer exists in these south asian communities, none of this means somalis are suddenly open to south asians either (we have our own xenophobia problem) but the issue was acknowledged and efforts were made to fix them. That doesn’t exist between us and other black people in this country, in fact like @Ashraf said, this is literally the first non horn african black guy I’ve ever seen acknowledge this shit even existing.
And finally the lies, you know how I said these guys don’t acknowledge the shit that we received? Truth is they actively go out of their way to pretend it wasn’t even a thing, or that it was a couple of jokes. I have no issue with moving on from the past, but when I watch them write dissertations on how hard being “african” or being “dark skinned” was, it shows they know what happened to minority communities back in the day, and they also know the deeper and wider effects it has beyond just the initial mockery. They simply lie.
And do you know when I realised all of this? When the Somali incel/troll community exploded in prominence and all of these people who knew nothing about us, our culture, put no effort into integrating with us and actively told us the shit we dealt with up to this point was all made up and in our heads suddenly became experts on us. Specifically learning all of the xenophobia within our community to justify all the hate that they’ve wanted to spew at us, where was this proactive effort to learn about us before? Now all of a sudden the division in the black community that they told us we made up is actually all real, and it’s actually caused by the xenophobic and Anti-black Somalis all along. Comical I tell you
All this being said, it is undeniable that most of the shit we dealt with died down by like 2016 and anyone trying to pretend like it was still continuing past that stage is a liar, in real life all communities are quite cool and there's much more diversity all around in England.
My only issue is how after this period of time when the BS was lessening there was no attempt to Integrate us into the community like they did with other groups that dealt with this, and they had the audacity to pretend that we were the ones that caused problems to begin with
My only issue is how after this period of time when the BS was lessening there was no attempt to Integrate us into the community like they did with other groups that dealt with this, and they had the audacity to pretend that we were the ones that caused problems to begin with
Not true. Ohio does not have low black population. The DMV does not have low black population. Toronto (which is in NA) has a large Caribbean/African population.
Abaq
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. Im glad Reer Uk has people like you 
Taintedlove
Shaqo la'an ba kuu heysaata
I agree that a lot of Somalis have used it as leverage to be racist against madows. And that's very bad and annoying. I have to disagree on the fgm one. Fgm is a very traumatic procedure. It effects all parts of your life so I don't have a problem if somali women talk about it often. It hurts a lot to even do basic things. Controversial, but I think if your a man you shouldn't speak on women's fgm beyond "it's bad and should be gone,".
Taintedlove
Shaqo la'an ba kuu heysaata
I was thinking Minnesota, maine, Massachusetts etc.
Boston doesn’t have low black population either. Quite the opposite it has a large population of Black people. Search up Roxbury and Dorchester neighborhoods. They’re predominantly black neighborhoods. Many Somali folks who live in Boston live alongside them.
Taintedlove
Shaqo la'an ba kuu heysaata
Damn I always thought they were veey white states
I never commented on her tendencies to mention FGM all the time, it was just an analogy, the point was just to illustrate the difference between pointing out how irritating it is to recycle the same topics everyday, and being dismissive of important topics.
The truth seeker
Too young , too simple , and sometimes too naive
Urban areas are filled with blacks no matter where you go They run north Minneapolis
Ohio and the rust belt is nothing but white red necks and madows
Seattle is a tech hub filled with Asians don’t know how many blacks live there though
The truth seeker
Too young , too simple , and sometimes too naive
It’s your job to stand up to bullies avoiding Mexicans and madows in highschool is basically impossible there usually chill anyways
It’s the whites that segregate themselves on one side of the school all the non white kids get a long fine
Taintedlove
Shaqo la'an ba kuu heysaata
Yeah, but that guy was being dismissive. Fgm isn't really equivalent to this topic. The wave of intense bullying is over now, whereas Fgm is reoccurring. I'm off topic now but I get you mean
It’s the reactions I’m comparing, not the actions itself, and no he wasn’t being dismissive, he was just jokingly lamenting about her tendency to mention it all the time.
Taintedlove
Shaqo la'an ba kuu heysaata
I think joking about such things is akin to dismissiveness but that's just me
