Somalis in Minnesota

Disputable Numbers

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 62    people of minnesota educational achievement and graduation rates specific to Somalis, anecdotal evidence is encouraging. Somalis are in classrooms at every educational level from kindergarten to college, including students pursuing advanced and doctoral degrees. Members of the first generation of Somali American postgraduates have already taken their places among the American workforce. An upward trend in educational achievement can be spotted in the ­ medical students and those who have already passed the medical board examination as well as in the Somali students conspicuously present throughout the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system. At the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities, where the largest group of Somalis is enrolled, 280 to 350 Somali students attended in academic year 2011–12.61 Somalis’ relative level of success in the employment arena is very difficult to measure from an academic point of view.Whateverscantinformationonecanscrapetogetheris unreliable.Forexample,onestudyshowstherateofemployment among Somali males in Minnesota to be 65 percent, while another attests to a rate of 60 percent. One study indicates that 51 percent of the Somali population in Minnesota is living in poverty, while another brings the poverty level to 83 percent. It is difficult to gather employment information about Somalis because no category captures their net data from the larger pool of other Africans, blacks, people ofAfricandescent,andevenotherMuslims.Thisproblemis compounded by the lack of trained eyes that, having gained the community’s trust, could make accurate tracking possible . But one thing is quite clear: ­ Somalis know they are doing better in Minnesota because of the strong jobs market and the increased business opportunities that come with it. Thisunderstandingbringsconfidencetothecommunity,no matter how the numbers appear on a chart.62 A solid bearing on the number of Somalis living in the state of Minnesota has been elusive, too. Reasons for this the Somalis    63 uncertainty are many, but chief among them is that Somalis have long been suspicious of census takers, for in the past clans understood that power lay in numbers, and none would claim to be from a smaller group. In the United States, Somalis may be hesitant to enumerate who and how many are living at a particular address, fearing landlords may use the information against them. Second, during Siad Barre’s repressive regime, a smaller population meant fewer resources would be allocated to that group. Today in the United States, no organization or entity is collecting data about this community. But the state of Minnesota is in good company: both Canada and the United Kingdom are in the same guessing boat. Canada estimates its Somali population to be between 35,000 and 200,000, and the United Kingdom offers estimates of between 44,000 and 250,000. The census of 2000 placed the number of Somalis in...