The Outstater
The Somali Perspective
MANA ABDI, a state representative in Maine, says that moving to America from Somalia was a “boot camp” and she abhorred the housing provided her. “They first put me in Kansas of all places,” she says. Other Somali leaders have made similarly disparaging comments, making clear that they prefer what they consider their superior culture over the traditional American one.
In my later years I have been trying to put the most charitable interpretation on things. Therefore, I am squelching my initial, visceral urge to dismiss Ms. Abdi, et al., as pathetic, ignorant, dirt-bag ingrates whom should be sent back to the hell holes from which they came.
That was the old me. Now I would only compare Ms. Abdi’s arrival in America with those of a typical 19th-century settler in the Great Plains or Midwest — your ancestors, most likely.
Begin by imagining breaking prairie soil far, far from any neighbor, your family’s survival depending on a horse, a plow and a single harvest. And to keep things interesting, throw in the stray torture-minded primitive — let’s just call them the savages they were — plus the most unpredictable weather on earth.
There is a story of a pioneer settlement in Kansas, the place Ms. Abdi holds in contempt, that was hit by a tornado within its first week. Tragically, another tornado hit a week later. When the railroad representative came to check on them a few months later, they had built their entire settlement underground and had begun farming.
These people didn’t arrive here to pick up a welfare check, huddle in ethnic enclaves and then treat the democratic process as if it were an ATM. Rather, they saved and planned for years to make the trip, mostly from northern Europe. They considered it the greatest of privileges to be here where they could own land and enjoy liberty beyond the imagination of those whom they left behind.
The pull of liberty was so strong and they arrived in such numbers and succeeding to such a degree that it transformed America into a world power — all within a single generation. Before our European ancestors set to work, the Great Plains were dominated by native grasses and the Midwest by a mix of forests and prairies. Between 1860 and 1900, millions of acres were brought into cultivation.
The late British historian Paul Johnson, in “A History of the American People,” calls this monumental and heroic: “The speed with which the American wilderness was turned into a land of farms, towns and cities was a heroic achievement, a saga of human courage and ingenuity, unmatched in history. The settlers, armed with little more than determination and crude tools, tamed a continent.”
My Grok assistant tells me that the U.S. become the world’s leading wheat producer by the late 19th century, with wheat acreage expanding from 21 million acres in 1879 to 44 million acres by 1899. Again, the bulk of this transformation occurred in an incredibly short period, within a few decades, particularly between 1870 and 1900. For example, in the Dakotas, settlement was negligible before 1870, but by 1900, over 10 million acres were under cultivation.
And success was not accidental. Some arrived as a corporate group with specific skills, that is, one an expert in Turkey Red wheat, a blacksmith to fashion the necessary steel-tipped plows, another an expert in livestock, another fluent in English and American law, and so forth. They had saved money and were heavily recruited by the new railroads to settle, to invest, along the routes.
Do Somalis have specific skills? A fair question. They have among the highest unemployment rates of any nationality in the U.S. And if they have any accomplishments comparable to that described above — here or in Somali — I am unaware of them. So until Ms. Abdi has some to talk about, she would be wise to keep her mouth shut and observe what hard work and enterprise look like. — tcl
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