The United States is a country of immigrants. Even if you can trace your family back to Native-America, they possibly crossed onto this continent from Beringia, or the Bering land bridge. We offer a lot to the immigrant in terms of economic freedom and political liberty. I speak from the experience of being a third-generation American. But the sticky issue of assimilation still crops into our national dialogue:
Community advocate Nimo Yonis leads a protest chant against the mayor of Lewiston, Maine.
Ten years after a Lewiston mayor set off a firestorm by saying the city’s Somali population was growing too fast, a new mayor’s remarks about the immigrant community is sparking another wave of anger and calls for his resignation.
Somali immigrants and their supporters in this former mill city in central Maine say Mayor Robert Macdonald should apologize and step down for what they call repeated anti-immigrant remarks, including telling a British Broadcasting Corp. interviewer that immigrants should “accept our culture and leave your culture at the door.”
A group of about 50 protesters rallied outside City Hall on Thursday before delivering 1,400 petitions to Macdonald’s office, asking for his resignation.
The mayor’s remarks sounded like he was telling immigrants to abandon their religion, their language and their identities, said Nimo Yonis, 26, one of an about 6,000 Somali refugees who live in Lewiston and the neighboring city of Auburn. The mayor’s words were painful, hurtful and “represent hate,” she said.
Nimo Yonis
“Basically, he’s telling us to forget who we were,” Yonis said. “Just leaving your culture at the door is leaving what you believe, what you stand for and who you are at the door.”
Here is the issue- Ms. Nimo Yonis, or Nemo Yonis as she is known on her MySpace page (The Official Genuine Beauty), wants it both ways. She demands we respect her culture and goes into full Somali garb, including draped head-scarf.
But you can see she is quite different on her MySpace page. Can she pull off her title The Official Genuine Beauty, over in Somali? Nope. Ah, you were a sorority girl, an Alpha Beta Delta at Georgia State University? Would that fly in Somalia?
You are a flight attendant who makes $100K? You grew up in Georgia, but just jetted up to Maine to get your picture in the paper? The mayor was not asking you to abandon anything, just to do what you’ve clearly done.
Ms. Yonis, you enjoy our freedoms and clearly accept our culture, as evidenced by your MySpace page. (I see the dudes hollerin’ you. Quite indelicately.) But you chaff at the assimilation suggestion when you’ve already assimilated? How does this represent the hate you mention?
My guess: you are window dressing for the Somali community up there. One of your cousins called you up and you could not resist. Or am I being hateful too? Before you get too angry with my words, know that I love the fresh energy new Americans bring to our country. That I speak several foreign languages not my own. That I am not a hateful bigot. Just someone who loves his homeland. . .
National People’s Action Sign
I see some of the signs in the protest have National People’s Action on them, a community organizing group based out of Chicago. It was founded by Shel Trapp and Gale Cincotta:
Gale Cincotta (December 28, 1929 – August 15, 2001), a community activist from the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, led the national fight for the US federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The CRA requires banks and savings and loans to offer credit throughout their entire market areas and prohibits them from targeting only wealthier neighborhoods with their lending and services, a practice known as redlining.
She was a co-founder with Shel Trapp of the National People’s Action in Chicago, a coalition of some 300 community organizations throughout the United States, and served as its executive director and chairperson from 1973 until her death in 2001.
Wow. Some interesting, shady folks. Ones who pushed for the loosening of mortgages. Did the demise of red-lining lead to the foreclosure crisis? What are they doing in Maine, other than stirring the pot?
For the record, I don’t think any immigrant to this country needs to leave their culture completely at the door. But they do need to accept ours. We don’t need more insular communities within United States. And this is the point of contention.
Update: I received three comments, from two different names (but one IP address) weighing in on the matter. First, Mike Morowitz said:
Two different Somalian girls. Nimo grew up in Lewiston according to quotes. Nemo is another Somalian woman of the same age from Georgia.
Then Eþulf said:
I love how many ignorami failed to notice her MySpace hasn’t been logged into in two years. Instead of trying to defame her based on an old web profile try addressing the issues.
And then Mike Morowitz commented later with:
You might consider checking to ensure the person who owns the MySpace is the same person that you’re talking about.
Pro-tip: They’re not.
Okay, I am open to the possibility that these are two different girls. One came from Atlanta and the other from Lewiston. They are the same age and both Somali, which led me to believe they are the same person. First, let me check the spelling. Ah, the Atlanta girl spells her name both Nemo and Nimo. Do a simple search. So that is inclusive.
Hmm, here is a newspaper (Sun-Journal, Thurs, March 07, 2002) article telling me that Nemo Yonis moved from Atlanta to Lewiston, Maine to attend high school.
Sun-Jounral – Thurs March 07, 2002
Pro-tip: you are wrong, troll. Nimo (Nemo) Yonis is the one taking advantage of American hospitality. You can’t play it both ways. Either she is the Americanized party girl or the concerned, community-organizing Somali lady who wears a head covering. Not both.
Update II: An interesting observation was posed from a commenter. Of course, she probably did not mean to be so interesting; she was striving for dismissal.
Luscinia Hâfez said:
You’re a bunch of mindless sheep drunk on fear of a few Somalis.My reply:
Fear is the wrong word. If assimilation is going to be challenged, it better be challenged by someone or some group with something superior to propose. And this woman is a phony.I’ve noticed I’ve had unprecedented (my new favorite word) traffic from Maine since I posted it. And not a peep from the sheep-herders.
I’ve spent time in more than 30 countries. (Yes, I counted.) And I can point to several who have enviable traits engendered by their society. Although I have never travelled to Somalia, I doubt it would make the list. . .
And course, you’re right, Navy One…all we need to as an example is to point out Dearborn, MI and it’s depressing decline and slum conditions all thanks to Muslim immigrants who seem to want all the perks of the redistribution society as exemplified by Chicago politics and Barack Obama, but none of the responsibilities of assimilating to this country which involves following our laws and none of them seem inclined ..Sharia, you know…antithetical to everything this country stands for and our Constitution…if they cannot and will not follow our laws, they can leave and we’ll be obliged and happy to show them the door….k
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What make me the maddest in your post today is the double stranded she has imposed upon herself. Like you showed in her my space page and her picture on the newspaper. It is like ” come on pick one or the other, don’t flip flop as it suits your needs.” She should have no creditably at all!!!!!! What is she going to run for office????
PS My Space is still around??????????
Kris: “If they cannot and will not follow our laws. . .” Yes!
Mark: A true double standard. She might have considered getting rid of her MySpace page before she became a revolutionary.
Ah, three comments, from two different names (but one IP address) weighed in on the matter.
First Mike Morowitz said:
Two different Somalian girls. Nimo grew up in Lewiston according to quotes. Nemo is another Somalian woman of the same age from Georgia.
Then Eþulf said:
I love how many ignorami failed to notice her MySpace hasn’t been logged into in two years. Instead of trying to defame her based on an old web profile try addressing the issues.
And then Mike commented later on with:
You might consider checking to ensure the person who owns the MySpace is the same person that you’re talking about.
Pro-tip: They’re not.
Okay, I am open to the possibility that these are two different girls. One came from Atlanta and the other from Lewiston. They are the same age and both Somali, which led me to believe they are the same person. First, let me check the spelling. Ah, the Atlanta girl spells her name both Nemo and Nimo. Do a simple search. So that is inclusive.
Hmm, here is a newspaper (Sun-Journal, Thurs, March 07, 2002) article telling me that Nimo Yonis moved from Atlanta to Lewiston, Maine to attend high school. Pro-tip: you are wrong, troll. She is the one taking advantage of American hospitality. You can’t play it both ways. Either she is the Americanized party girl or the concerned, community-organizing Somali lady who wears a head covering. Not both.
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Well, you can look at her two different modes of behavior as business and pleasure. I am not sure I can tell which is which, but you know what I mean…
Ha ha, business and pleasure. It is possible. I suppose the head scarf is for business-casual Friday?
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Luscinia Hâfez said:
You’re a bunch of mindless sheep drunk on fear of a few Somalis.
My reply:
Fear is the wrong word. If assimilation is going to be challenged, it better be challenged by someone or some group with something superior to propose. And this woman is a phony.
I’ve noticed I’ve had unprecedented (my new favorite word) traffic from Maine since I posted it. And not a peep from the sheep-herders.
I’ve spent time in more than 30 countries. (Yes, I counted.) And I can point to several who have enviable traits engendered by their society. Although I have never travelled to Somalia, I doubt it would make the list. . .
I don’t think I’d be able to disagree with you Navy One on that score…the truly ‘mindless’ sheep are those who don’t look any further than their nose for the useful idiot & politically correct philosophy and multicultural position of the moment…for some reason or other, I am reminded of the atmosphere of Nazi Germany almost eighty years ago with that trollish comment….Muslims were quite the rage then too with Nazis…their associations are both long and deep….the Muslim Brotherhood was a concoction of the German Nazi movement back then from my exploration of World War II European history..but those who choose to engage today in their own mindless and repetitive multiculti nonsense would find themselves overwhelmed by the history in all of this…that they possess what is called cognitive dissonance and their experience in critical thought is marginal or missing.. ..it seems to me, Luscinia Hâfez possesses neither of those qualities in abundance…I’m rarely wrong in such matters but it does appear the ignorance is on the other foot in her case….k
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I’ve always felt the Emma Lazarus poem on the Statue of Liberty should be replaced with a simple sign: “Welcome to America. Please leave your cultural baggage at the door.” By cultural baggage, I mean dysfunctional old-country traditions, such as blood feuds and treating women as subhumans, that are out of place in modern Western civilization.
Diversity is great only if it is a diversity of assimilation. Being an American does not mean you have to give up your native cuisine, art, music, religion or even language. If what you have is wonderful, let your fellow Americans share it, as we have done with so many awesome imports from Europe, Asia, African and Latin America. We like new stuff here. Really.
Just don’t ask — or, as is more often the case these days, demand — that we change to accommodate you. Without a common culture and ethos, America could degenerate into a Balkan state in just a couple of generations.
Excellent point. Come to America for a reason. Not to recreate the drama you left at home, but for something new. You don’t have to abandon your culture. In fact, open up a restaurant or a store celebrating it! But leave the 3rd world silliness back there in the old country.
Great article. Couldn’t agree more, NavyOne! The bottomline to me is why do immigrants come here in the first place? Is it because the USA sucks and they want to move to a place that sucks worse than their native land? And if the USA doesn’t suck as bad as the place they’re leaving, then why try and change the U.S. culture to suck as bad as the place they left?
Well, I think you (NavyOne) discovered a major part of the answer: “I see some of the signs in the protest have National People’s Action on them, a community organizing group based out of Chicago.”
BADDA BING BADDA BOOM!
God Bless the USA! Go Navy! ***Salute***
p.s. Dear Nemo, oh my, my, oh hell yes – Honey put on that party dress!
Ha ha, thanks Sard. Love the enthusiasm!
***Salute***
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Of course, assuming that these two are the same, a time-line thought process is helpful.
First, what is MySpace? Is that what people did before internet? (ha!)
Second, So, a young girl is brought to America where she attends school and enjoys the fruits of America. She begins to explore herself and her beliefs.
Soon, she is now moved to Lewiston to be with her own kind – whether by parental force or her new awakening. Remember the religion that we are talking about here. Perhaps she found\re-found Islam. This action typically causes oneself to revert to animalistic tendencies and backward thinking. This could explain the different attitudes over the last few years.
Is she still a 100K/year flight attendant wearing the garb of her culture? Or is she now a silent subservient female who sometimes breaks ranks with her male-dominated religion to expose her face in public?
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