Mailbox
Jennifer Roblez
Friday, September 7, 2007
I WOUND up not renting an apartment in East-Central Emporia near a community of Somalis. I wrote last week about the influx of Somali refugees to Emporia, which generated quite a few comments on emporiagazette.com. But they were not a factor in my decision. Lack of mature trees and single-family homes were the primary reason.
Yet, I expect the discussion about Somalis here will continue, and I hope it does, whether online, or in our homes, at work, at church services and during those daily intersections we have with each other, when the rubber really meets the road.
Here’s a sample of online responses, edited only for grammar, from “Mogadishu to Emporia,” which ran Aug. 31:
• “Most of us only want to live and let live. But you can’t come to my country and refuse to assimilate. You can’t insist that we make special accommodations for you. Our own ancestors came here and assimilated long ago. In fact, many of us still practice our own cultures in our homes, but in public, we are one, and our heritage is American.”
• “I do not live in the United States, but I know many Somalis who are doing well in the U.S. Some of them are professors at different universities. Now we are in the 21st century, and it is not good for us to hate each other; we need to understand each other and respect. I don’t know any Somalis who live in that city (Emporia), but I think most stories are kind of a racist incidents, and maybe Somali people are victims of racism. For me they will remain innocents until you prove they did ... bad things. I believe that everyone who lives or works in, or visits in the United States has the right to be treated with dignity and respect and to live without fear of discrimination.”
• “One of the unfortunate realities of this country is that minority groups, particularly those who are new to this country and practice different religions and have different cultural customs, have been the victims of distortions, rumors and discrimination. It may not be easy, but the Somalis living here in Emporia must find a way to overcome all that. They’ll find that the majority of people here are of good will and want to find room for the Somali population to assimilate. The folks who create the problems for you, like some here on these forums, are vocal, but they are themselves a minority.”
On the subject of God’s omnipotence, “The tough question,” Aug. 24, which arose during a Democratic presidential election debate, online readers had this to say:
• “None of us can explain why a child dies while crossing the street on the way to school or the reason a 73-year-old lives while a young soldier dies. These tragedies raise questions that even the best of us cannot answer. They’re mysteries. But to use these tragedies as platforms to assume that God is powerless is ill informed.”
• “I know grief when someone I love dies, but I don’t think God is responsible for the injury. So what is — could it be that the devil and evil really do exist?”
Jennifer Roblez’ e-mail address is roblez@emporiagazette.com.