\
  The most prestigious law school admissions discussion board in the world.
BackRefresh Options Favorite

How Somali Immigrants Are Revitalizing Main Street America

There’s a mom and pop grocery store in Willmar, Minnesota th...
Swashbuckling puppy stain
  10/24/17
Your most ambitious work yet evan39
Claret associate area
  10/24/17
...
abnormal 180 address organic girlfriend
  10/24/17
...
slippery laughsome friendly grandma theater
  10/24/17
...
cobalt love of her life
  10/24/17
...
violet marvelous corner jew
  10/25/17
...
slippery laughsome friendly grandma theater
  10/25/17
No one is pretending that assimilation has come easy here. B...
Kink-friendly step-uncle's house
  10/24/17
...
Pea-brained passionate kitty plaza
  10/24/17
this quote says it all
learning disabled vigorous background story box office
  10/24/17
Keep your culture. Eat McDonald's.
galvanic sound barrier
  10/24/17
http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/26/politics/donald-trump-mcdonald...
Swashbuckling puppy stain
  10/24/17
TBF camel meat is vile
exciting mentally impaired station
  10/25/17
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/how-somali-im...
sickened legal warrant
  10/24/17
it's an article of faith that anything American is by defini...
Amber casino mad cow disease
  10/24/17
Whites are dull and unimaginative, that's why no scientific ...
sickened legal warrant
  10/24/17
This weekend I was at a festival and saw a traditional ethni...
Amber casino mad cow disease
  10/24/17
We're midway through a cultural devolution, on the route to ...
sickened legal warrant
  10/24/17
Cr
Disturbing feces laser beams
  10/24/17
...
learning disabled vigorous background story box office
  10/24/17
cant wait
Brilliant Church
  10/24/17
o, the cultural sophistication of the boomer arts
Swashbuckling puppy stain
  10/24/17
The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well e...
Disturbing feces laser beams
  10/24/17
so hipsters, basically
Swashbuckling puppy stain
  10/24/17
I've thought about this. There is a hunger for earnestness. ...
rambunctious rehab
  10/24/17
(Jedediah Purdy)
Swashbuckling puppy stain
  10/24/17
I don't think it can even work that way. Nobody learns intri...
Amber casino mad cow disease
  10/24/17
there was a white american identity that can be returned to....
rambunctious rehab
  10/24/17
which white American identity. New Englander Puritan descend...
Swashbuckling puppy stain
  10/24/17
Eh, that's not entirely true. I think people tend to iden...
learning disabled vigorous background story box office
  10/24/17
...
big green wagecucks
  10/24/17
so you're saying a Somali can choose to be American
Swashbuckling puppy stain
  10/24/17
actually, yes, i always say that. a specific person of any e...
learning disabled vigorous background story box office
  10/24/17
...
big green wagecucks
  10/24/17
We speak the language... said Mahboub, 56, who ***owns an in...
Amber casino mad cow disease
  10/24/17
see, they're growing our economy! we never needed so many in...
Kink-friendly step-uncle's house
  10/24/17
...
cobalt love of her life
  10/24/17
Holy shit
Bearded ultramarine pit boistinker
  10/24/17
...
big green wagecucks
  10/24/17
congrats libs, you pissed me off before 9:30am
learning disabled vigorous background story box office
  10/24/17
Our kids will inherent an incredibly vibrant culture. I can ...
Disturbing feces laser beams
  10/24/17
cheer up they like McDonald's too!
Amber casino mad cow disease
  10/24/17
Who is "our" Yankee dog?
Soul-stirring insecure set
  10/24/17
*earl on a plane to Willmar*
vengeful fragrant persian halford
  10/24/17
Everyone from Minnesota knows that Willmar is a shithole now...
Mind-boggling carmine school
  10/24/17
are you sure? that's contrary to what NBC is reporting. why ...
learning disabled vigorous background story box office
  10/24/17
FOUR PINOCCHIOS
sickened legal warrant
  10/24/17
"The days of family farms have passed here. Many of the...
coral bateful karate location
  10/25/17
JFC if u cant trust network news anymore who can u trust
Kink-friendly step-uncle's house
  10/25/17
Now that's what I call revitalization
Vivacious tanning salon
  10/25/17
...
violet marvelous corner jew
  10/25/17
Look what the vibrant Somalis have done for Ethiopia http://...
Claret associate area
  10/25/17


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 2:57 AM
Author: Swashbuckling puppy stain

There’s a mom and pop grocery store in Willmar, Minnesota that carries a few items you won’t find in the freezer aisle at any Wal-Mart. Like cubed camel meat.

“We chopped it and we weigh it. You can’t get it anywhere except us,” said Abdilahi Omar. He’s the owner of Ainu Shams Grocery, which also sells goat meat, ghee, and Ethiopian flatbread.

In recent years, the arrival of thousands of Somali immigrants from East Africa has reshaped the Main Street in this tiny agricultural town and many more throughout the state. These refugees are opening businesses in once empty storefronts and introducing their customs to new customers in places once only found in America’s inner cities, where newcomers like these have traditionally settled upon arrival.

“If you want to know what Minnesota will look like in 20 years, go to Willmar,” said Ken Warner, President of the town’s Chamber of Commerce.

Redefining the Demographic

On two square blocks along Litchfield Avenue, Willmar’s otherwise sleepy main street, Somali women run errands while talking on cell phones tucked into their hijabs and men in traditional hats called kufi sip coffee at a local café called Bihi’s.

According to the Minnesota State Census, the official Somali population here is 1,500 — though informal estimates put that number at over 2,000. Combined with the city’s Latino population, the two groups now make up close to 25 percent of Willmar’s population, which is still dominated by farmers of Swedish and Norwegian origin.

The days of family farms have passed here. Many of the large agribusinesses that have since taken their place now depend on immigrant labor.

From Civil War to Jennie-O

The first wave of Somalis came to Minnesota as refugees in the 1990s after the outbreak of civil war in their homeland. After settling in the Twin Cities, many moved to Willmar, where they found work at the local Hormel-owned Jennie-O turkey processing plant.

Today over 20 businesses in and around Main Street are Somali-owned. Many of those have used community-based financing which complies with Islamic law prohibiting the collection or payment of interest.

Despite religious and cultural differences, there are many things these Somali immigrants share with their neighbors, said Abdirizak Mahboub, a local entrepreneur here.

“We speak the language. We are God-loving people, you know, in our own perspective. We work hard,” said Mahboub, 56, who owns an interpreting agency that employs over 30 translators and interpreters and has contracts with area hospitals, courts, and law firms.

On his desk, Mahboub displays photos of his two children, both of whom grew up here and graduated from Willmar High. Without the children of immigrants like Mahboub, Willmar’s school district would have had a net loss of over 1,000 students in the school system. Now, the children of Somali and Latino immigrants represent 50 percent of the district’s population.

“That is our future. We need to embrace the diversity that will be coming in our future workforce,” said Aaron Backman, the director of Willmar’s Economic Development Commission.

No one is pretending that assimilation has come easy here. But there are signs that Willmar’s youngest residents are embracing both cultures. Step inside the Somali Star Restaurant and you might meet Hassan Yusuf, the 8-year-old son of owner, Bashir. Ask him his favorite food, and he won’t say camel meat.

“McDonald’s,” he says with a smile.

His proud father patted his boy on the head — and winced, just a little bit.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34515199)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 4:00 AM
Author: Claret associate area

Your most ambitious work yet evan39

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34515283)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 4:12 AM
Author: abnormal 180 address organic girlfriend



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34515288)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 4:20 AM
Author: slippery laughsome friendly grandma theater



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34515299)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:26 AM
Author: cobalt love of her life



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516796)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 25th, 2017 3:56 AM
Author: violet marvelous corner jew



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34523607)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 25th, 2017 4:38 AM
Author: slippery laughsome friendly grandma theater



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34523679)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 4:18 AM
Author: Kink-friendly step-uncle's house

No one is pretending that assimilation has come easy here. But there are signs that Willmar’s youngest residents are embracing both cultures. Step inside the Somali Star Restaurant and you might meet Hassan Yusuf, the 8-year-old son of owner, Bashir. Ask him his favorite food, and he won’t say camel meat.

“McDonald’s,” he says with a smile.

Hehe!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34515295)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 8:39 AM
Author: Pea-brained passionate kitty plaza



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516144)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:29 AM
Author: learning disabled vigorous background story box office

this quote says it all

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516414)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:56 AM
Author: galvanic sound barrier

Keep your culture. Eat McDonald's.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516591)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 11:01 AM
Author: Swashbuckling puppy stain

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/26/politics/donald-trump-mcdonalds-celebration-nomination/index.html

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34517068)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 25th, 2017 4:26 AM
Author: exciting mentally impaired station

TBF camel meat is vile

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34523654)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 8:42 AM
Author: sickened legal warrant

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/how-somali-immigrants-are-breathing-new-life-sleepy-rural-towns-n690226

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516153)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:24 AM
Author: Amber casino mad cow disease

it's an article of faith that anything American is by definition sleepy, sedate, dull. Anything foreign is exciting, lively.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516387)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:25 AM
Author: sickened legal warrant

Whites are dull and unimaginative, that's why no scientific or literary creativity has emanated from majority white countries.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516394)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:38 AM
Author: Amber casino mad cow disease

This weekend I was at a festival and saw a traditional ethnic dancing group, basically similar to square dancing, in brightly colored ruffly dresses. It was quite intricate and fast-paced, and impressive, and it made me think about how many people would immediately dismiss this as hopelessly uncool and out of date compared to, eg, randomly twerking your ass, and how backwards that really was.

Maybe I'm just getting old but I don't think I'm wrong.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516493)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:50 AM
Author: sickened legal warrant

We're midway through a cultural devolution, on the route to animism and potlatch blood feuds.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516563)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:01 AM
Author: Disturbing feces laser beams

Cr

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516627)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:02 AM
Author: learning disabled vigorous background story box office



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516633)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:21 AM
Author: Brilliant Church

cant wait

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516758)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:01 AM
Author: Swashbuckling puppy stain

o, the cultural sophistication of the boomer arts

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516629)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:03 AM
Author: Disturbing feces laser beams

The next real literary “rebels” in this country might well emerge as some weird bunch of anti-rebels, born oglers who dare somehow to back away from ironic watching, who have the childish gall actually to endorse and instantiate single-entendre principles. Who treat of plain old untrendy human troubles and emotions in U.S. life with reverence and conviction. Who eschew self-consciousness and hip fatigue. These anti-rebels would be outdated, of course, before they even started. Dead on the page. Too sincere. Clearly repressed. Backward, quaint, naive, anachronistic. Maybe that’ll be the point. Maybe that’s why they’ll be the next real rebels. Real rebels, as far as I can see, risk disapproval. The old postmodern insurgents risked the gasp and squeal: shock, disgust, outrage, censorship, accusations of socialism, anarchism, nihilism. Today’s risks are different. The new rebels might be artists willing to risk the yawn, the rolled eyes, the cool smile, the nudged ribs, the parody of gifted ironists, the “Oh how banal.” To risk accusations of sentimentality, melodrama. Of overcredulity. Of softness. Of willingness to be suckered by a world of lurkers and starers who fear gaze and ridicule above imprisonment without law. Who knows.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516648)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:07 AM
Author: Swashbuckling puppy stain

so hipsters, basically

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516681)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:19 AM
Author: rambunctious rehab

I've thought about this. There is a hunger for earnestness. Saw a bit of it in the movie Logan Lucky.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516749)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:24 AM
Author: Swashbuckling puppy stain

(Jedediah Purdy)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516778)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:29 AM
Author: Amber casino mad cow disease

I don't think it can even work that way. Nobody learns intricate Slovenian dances because their grandmothers and older cousins taught them intricate Slovenian dances. They saw a flyer for a class and decided it looked fun. They're probably 1/4 Slovenian but maybe part Scottish and part German too, and it's essentially random which one they happened to pick. At some point it's not a Slovenian dance in anything other than name. If you have the option of choosing your identity is it really an identity?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516811)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:31 AM
Author: rambunctious rehab

there was a white american identity that can be returned to. it is SJW bullshit to think otherwise.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516820)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:50 AM
Author: Swashbuckling puppy stain

which white American identity. New Englander Puritan descendent? Boston Brahmin? Catholic Marylander? Penn Quaker? Virginian? South Carolinan? Georgian? Texan? "white American identity" is a fiction, there are many types of white and ljl if you think 19th century East Coast WASPs saw themselves as of the same culture as a Floridian or an Italian

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516951)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:35 AM
Author: learning disabled vigorous background story box office

Eh, that's not entirely true.

I think people tend to identify more with certain parts of their heritage than others.

So someone may have been exposed to Slovenian heritage by her Slovenian grandmother, and may really identify with that heritage. And even though she's only 1/4 Slovenian, culturally she may skew very Slovenian.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516837)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:35 AM
Author: big green wagecucks



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516843)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:50 AM
Author: Swashbuckling puppy stain

so you're saying a Somali can choose to be American

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516956)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:52 AM
Author: learning disabled vigorous background story box office

actually, yes, i always say that. a specific person of any ethnicity or race can choose to bind themselves to a certain culture and really love it and be a part of it.

that's not really what's going on with our immigration system though.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516976)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 11:00 AM
Author: big green wagecucks



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34517050)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:25 AM
Author: Amber casino mad cow disease

We speak the language... said Mahboub, 56, who ***owns an interpreting agency***

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516389)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:44 AM
Author: Kink-friendly step-uncle's house

see, they're growing our economy! we never needed so many interpreters before!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516525)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:27 AM
Author: cobalt love of her life



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516797)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:27 AM
Author: Bearded ultramarine pit boistinker

Holy shit

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516402)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:28 AM
Author: big green wagecucks



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516404)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:29 AM
Author: learning disabled vigorous background story box office

congrats libs, you pissed me off before 9:30am

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516410)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:30 AM
Author: Disturbing feces laser beams

Our kids will inherent an incredibly vibrant culture. I can smell the camel stew already!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516418)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 9:39 AM
Author: Amber casino mad cow disease

cheer up they like McDonald's too!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516496)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:37 AM
Author: Soul-stirring insecure set

Who is "our" Yankee dog?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516857)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 10:54 AM
Author: vengeful fragrant persian halford

*earl on a plane to Willmar*

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34516995)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 11:18 AM
Author: Mind-boggling carmine school

Everyone from Minnesota knows that Willmar is a shithole now due to all the immigrants. Even ten years ago you would hear people bitch and complain about all the trash and neglected houses and the crime.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34517199)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 11:19 AM
Author: learning disabled vigorous background story box office

are you sure? that's contrary to what NBC is reporting. why would they lie?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34517206)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 24th, 2017 11:20 AM
Author: sickened legal warrant

FOUR PINOCCHIOS

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34517213)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 25th, 2017 3:16 AM
Author: coral bateful karate location

"The days of family farms have passed here. Many of the large agribusinesses that have since taken their place now depend on immigrant labor."

This is just a fucking blatant lie. Agribusiness in the plains does not depend on immigrant labor. It actually requires a very tiny, sophisticated labor force that drive $500,000 combines which harvest huge areas.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34523571)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 25th, 2017 3:48 AM
Author: Kink-friendly step-uncle's house

JFC if u cant trust network news anymore who can u trust

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34523598)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 25th, 2017 3:19 AM
Author: Vivacious tanning salon
Subject: Now that's what I call revitalization

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/02/02/flashback-2016-somali-refugee-attacked-ten-minnesota-another-attacked-eleven-ohio/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34523575)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 25th, 2017 3:57 AM
Author: violet marvelous corner jew



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34523608)



Reply Favorite

Date: October 25th, 2017 4:22 AM
Author: Claret associate area

Look what the vibrant Somalis have done for Ethiopia http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/talktojazeera/2016/05/ethnic-somali-abdirahman-mahdi-onlf-ethiopia-boiling-160507083254836.html

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3773122&forum_id=2#34523645)