Somalis in Minnesota

Politics

the Somalis    61 Politics By nature, a Somali is a political animal. Somalis’ ­ political participation on both the state and the federal level has been quite pronounced. A large share of the credit goes to the late Senator Paul Wellstone, who in the mid-nineties first approached the Somali community asking for votes while offering his profound capacity to show care and understanding. As a result, Somalis became active and informed members of the voting public. During his last campaign, while running for his third senatorial term in October 2002, Senator Wellstone came to the Somali community for an occasional candidate-meets-constituency gathering, where mundane demands were put to him. But nothing was mundane about how the senator responded to these questions. He made history by answering haa, or “yes” in Somali, when applicable. Other politicians soon courted Somali votes or invited the community into the process. Republican Senator Norm Coleman was the first to hire a Somali staff member at the federal level, and he took pains to be well informed about Somalia’s saga. Somalis have often found themselves aligned with the Democratic Party and in recent election cycles have feverishly campaigned for Congressman Keith Ellison, Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak, Governor Mark Dayton, and President Barack Obama. In 2010, Somalis in Minnesota made their own history when the first Somali American, Hussein M. Samatar, won a seat on the Minneapolis School Board.ItisonlyamatteroftimebeforeotherSomaliAmeri­ cans are elected to serve the larger community as well.60 Disputable Numbers The Somali community in Minnesota is young enough that demographic information about it and its members remains anemic. Though there are no collected data on ...