America Can NOT Trust Muslims --- jews, xians, or any other lot of violent religious myth believers.
On Monday, April 11, 2016 at 1:44:03 PM UTC-5, Travis wrote: > > > > > > > > > > http://www.gopusa.com/?p=8435?omhide=true > > > > Can America Ever Trust Young Muslims? > > *Associated Press <http://www.gopusa.com/author/admin/>* *April 11, 2016 * > > [image: Description: > http://www.gopusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/abdirizak_mohamed_warsame.jpg]*[image: > > Description: http://www.connectignite.com/inimage/images/close_button.gif]* > <http://www.gopusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/abdirizak_mohamed_warsame.jpg> > > > > *MINNEAPOLIS (AP)* — As a spoken word artist, Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame > liked to talk to other young Somalis about following their dreams. In a > video posted online in 2011, the teenager stands at a microphone and > encourages teens to stay focused on their goals in life. > > “You guys are tomorrow. And all you have to have, to get anywhere you > want, is determination,” said Warsame, who was active in a local arts > group, was a regular at a neighborhood center, and whose mother and cousin > were leading voices against radical recruitment in Minneapolis’ large > Somali community. > > In recent years, about three dozen young men from Somali neighborhoods in > Minnesota have left to join militant groups fighting in Somalia and Syria, > making the area one of the leading sources of U.S. recruits for radical > Islam. Local leaders have launched a major effort to stop the flow by > building up positive influences on the thousands of young Somalis in the > area. And in many ways, Warsame seemed to embody the key points: hopeful > attitude, engaged in the community, with strong family support. > > But Warsame’s case, rather than a positive example, has become a > cautionary tale. Standing in jail-issue clothing before a federal judge in > Minneapolis earlier this year, the tall young man, who is now 21, hung his > head as he admitted to secretly planning with friends in 2014 to go to > Syria to fight with the Islamic State group. He now faces up to 15 years in > prison. > > Despite everyone’s best efforts, “I was always listening to one side,” he > said at a court hearing, referring to radical messages he saw online. “I > didn’t see the other side of it, that innocent people were being killed.” > > By the time he realized his mistake, “it was too late,” said Farhio > Khalif, a leader of a community task force that is working with the U.S. > attorney’s office on anti-recruitment strategies. “He was already caught > up.” > > More must be done to convince children “there is opportunity and there is > hope in this community,” Khalif said. > > Minnesota’s Somali population, the U.S.’s largest, numbers 41,000, > according to census estimates, though community advocates say it is much > larger. They have been drawn here over the years by welcoming social > programs. > > After local recruits began leaving for the war zones about 10 years ago, > the then-head of the FBI appeared on Somali radio and television programs > to counter the radical messages luring them. Somali community groups have > held regular meetings to raise awareness about the recruitment threat. A > group called Ka Joog, which is Somali for “stay away,” sponsored activities > that give kids a sense of belonging in America. > > Last year, in the largest effort, organizers secured $850,000 for an > ambitious package of projects, including a new job center in the Somali > community where unemployment hovers around 19 percent, about three times > the state average. > > A leading target of the effort is “Little Mogadishu,” where Warsame grew > up. The neighborhood is marked by the massive 1970s-era concrete towers > looming at its center, and dotted with Somali restaurants, shops and > cultural centers. > > Warsame, who goes by Zak or A-Zak, came to the U.S. with his family when > he was 10 months old, the second of eight children. In his teens, Warsame > found poetry as a way to express himself. He joined a group called Poet > Nation and posted videos on YouTube. In one that features his old > neighborhood, Warsame, wearing a Minnesota Twins hat, raps about violence > after a friend was shot. He says he doesn’t preach violence, and gives > “much love to the projects,” where gang-related shootings were a threat. > > Bob Fletcher, a former Ramsey County sheriff who founded the Center For > Somalia History Studies, saw Warsame as a typical inner-city teenager > struggling with identity. > > “He was one of those kids that could’ve gone either way,” Fletcher said. > “To the gangs, to the radicalization, or to succeed academically with the > circle of Ka Joog kids who he is close to.” > > Warsame had work and school opportunities after high school. He worked as > a baggage handler and for a deicing company at the airport and attended > community college. > > His mother, Deqa Hussen, was vigilant about radical influences. At one > point, concerned about some of his companions, she sent him to live with > his father in Chicago in 2014. Two months before her son’s December arrest, > she lectured Somali parents at a town hall meeting: “I need you guys to > wake up and to tell your child, ‘Who’s recruiting you?’ Ask what happened. > …. We have to stop the denial thing that we have, and we have to talk to > our kids and work with the FBI.” > > But at his plea hearing, Warsame told the judge he was already in thrall > to Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical Islamic cleric killed in Yemen in 2011, > listening to his lectures on the internet and watching videos of > beheadings. He said he came to believe his duty as a devout Muslim was to > take up arms against non-Muslims. > > “I think he found himself surrounded by very angry young people,” said > Abdirizak Bihi, a community activist. > > Said his mother after his guilty plea, “I didn’t know. It hurts me even > hearing it now.” > > The federal judge overseeing Minnesota terrorism cases, Michael Davis, > offered Warsame a spot in a new program that assesses a defendant’s > prospects for deradicalization before sentencing. > > Some community members say they hope the young man can return to the > community. > > As a poet with a charismatic personality, said Bihi, the community > activist, “I can envision him going to schools, talking to young people in > the community, going to mosques, working with imams. His message here could > resonate in many communities.” > > > > > __._,_.___ > ------------------------------ > Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected] <javascript:>> > ------------------------------ > > > Visit Your Group > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmaWUxbGNyBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0NjAzOTAwNjg-> > > > > [image: Yahoo! Groups] > <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo;_ylc=X3oDMTJlcnZ2Y2l1BF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawNnZnAEc3RpbWUDMTQ2MDM5MDA2OQ--> > > • Privacy <https://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/yahoo/groups/details.html> • > Unsubscribe <javascript:> • Terms of Use > <https://info.yahoo.com/legal/us/yahoo/utos/terms/> > > __,_._,___ > > > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
![http://www.gopusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/abdirizak_mohamed_warsame.jpg]*[image:](http://www.gopusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/abdirizak_mohamed_warsame.jpg]*[image:){kind=link}
![http://www.connectignite.com/inimage/images/close_button.gif]*](http://www.connectignite.com/inimage/images/close_button.gif]*){kind=link}
