Podcasts about Somali Americans

James Beard Award-winning Somali-American chef Hawa Hassan, talks about her new cookbook, Setting a Place for Us: Recipes and Stories of Displacement, Resilience, and Community from Eight Countries Impacted by War. The book features essays and over 75 recipes that explore the intersection of food and survival in geopolitical conflict zones including Yemen, Afghanistan, Liberia and El Salvador.

This bonus content is a reading from Platypus, the CASTAC Blog. The full post by Hannah Ali can be read at https://blog.castac.org/2025/04/laughter-and-dreaming-of-wins-in-recovery/. About the post: At Alliance Wellness, I also noticed how young Somali American men turn to humor and laughter to socialize experiences of sobriety or resist the structure and authority of Alcoholics Anonymous discourse while establishing rebellious rhythms and narratives of sobriety. However, as I played Ludo with these young men, I became more interested in how laughter also served as a ventilator of life and a space to imagine victory. The moment Somali American men entered their sober-living facilities, I would hear deep sighs of exhaustion and relief. Evenings at these sober homes became a site of raaxo (Somali for ease or pleasure) or nasasho (Somali for rest), phrases these young Somali American men informed me were among the many Somali words for healing.

To some people, the new year is an opportunity to start a new chapter or hang a new calendar. To others, it's just another day when rent is due. For many Somali Americans, New Year's Day is also their birthday. Somali refugees and other immigrant communities did not always have records of their birth date when they moved to the U.S. Some lost records while fleeing war in their home country and others never had a reason to track their age to the exact day. When filling out paperwork to resettle in the U.S., many immigrants chose or were assigned Jan. 1 as their birthday.According to a 2013 Minnesota Law Review report, more than 200,000 immigrants and refugees in the U.S. have Jan. 1 as their date of birth.Mahamed Cali, executive director of the Somali community radio station KALY 101.7, joined MPR News host Nina Moini to talk about what the day means to immigrants in Minnesota.

The start of 2025 means new laws going into effect in the state. We get a rundown of those, plus two special elections this month.The federal government wants to require reform at the Minneapolis Police Department. And the Vikings are taking an exciting step towards the Super Bowl. They are vying for the top spot in the playoffs on Sunday night.A taskforce is recommending the state decriminalize psychedelic drugs for therapeutic purposes.Plus, for many Somali Americans, New Year's Day doubles as a birthday. We learn about why so many Somali refugees celebrate their birth on Jan. 1.Our Minnesota Music Minute was “Compression” by Monica LaPlante.

In this inspiring episode, we are joined by the incredible Munira Abdullahi, a trailblazer and role model in every sense. Munira made history as the first Somali-American woman elected to the Ohio Statehouse, where she champions impactful legislation and community advocacy. She is a mentor, a youth advocate, and a dedicated servant to her community. We explore Munira's remarkable success story, starting from her early years as the eldest sibling, where she balanced multiple responsibilities, to her meteoric rise in public service. Her story is one of resilience, leadership, and breaking barriers.A huge thanks to Munira for such an amazing discussion & for sharing her time with us while in Turkey. Don't forget to check out https://www.muniraforohio.com/For the video podcast, find us on:

OA1092 plus T3BE49 - we continue our conversation with Somali-American author and advocate Abdi Nor Iftin. Then, it's answer time for T3BE question 48, and our new question 49! Play along on BlueSky! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! If you'd like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

OA1091 - We are honored to welcome Somali-American author and advocate Abdi Nor Iftin for the first of a 2-part Thanksgiving episode dedicated with gratitude to the incredible efforts that so many naturalized Americans have made to be a part of this country. Abdi has recorded the full story of his life in his book Call Me American, in which he details the long journey from his escape from being forced into service as a child soldier in war-torn Somalia to his years as a refugee in Kenya before winning the U.S. diversity visa lottery and building a thoroughly American life in one of the last states you might expect. In this extended interview we get to know Abdi as he shares his story and his unique perspective on what the current American moment means for him and his community.  Call Me American: A Memoir,: Abdi Nor Iftin (2018) “Now is the time to buckle up and fight, not to flee,” Abdi Nor Iftin, The Forecaster (11/19/24) “Abdi and the Golden Ticket,”  This American Life (7/3/2015) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! If you'd like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

More immigrants are participating in the US democratic process this election cycle. Abdi Daisane is a Somali American who is running for the Minnesota House of Representatives in District 14A. He was born in Somalia and grew up in a refugee camp in Kenya. Daisane tells VOA's James Butty, he's running to provide his constituents the same opportunities given to him as a refugee.

On Daybreak Africa: Nigeria's President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered the release of children jailed for taking part in widespread anti-government protests whose frailty during their court appearances sparked local and international outrage. Plus, Botswana's new president says the country's smooth transfer of power sets an example for other nations. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris make their final push before Election Day. Which party – Democrat or Republican - might benefit the most from the female vote? We will speak with a Somali American who is running for the Minnesota House of Representatives in District 14A. We'll also talk live with VOA reporters stationed at the headquarters of Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington DC, and at former president Donald Trump's headquarters in Florida. Also, we'll bring you the profiles of the spouses of the two presidential candidates. For these and more, tune in to Daybreak Africa!

Diagnoses of autism have risen sharply in recent years across the U.S. The number of care providers has also grown, as have concerns about oversight. What's not in dispute is a public crisis around autism, acute among children of color, and alarming among Somali Americans in particular. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Minnesota, home to the largest Somali community in the U.S. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

Diagnoses of autism have risen sharply in recent years across the U.S. The number of care providers has also grown, as have concerns about oversight. What's not in dispute is a public crisis around autism, acute among children of color, and alarming among Somali Americans in particular. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Minnesota, home to the largest Somali community in the U.S. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

This Day In Maine for Friday, July 19, 2024

Emmy nominations; news and notes from the RNC; Adam Schiff calls for Biden to withdraw; things going on around town; Royce White files; Somali-American journalist explains some of the issues with fraud in his community; coal ash spill from Minnesota Power in north central Minnesota.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently released its 2024 report, “Changing the Odds: Comprehensive Solutions for Atlanta's Future.” The report tracks community, education, and economic data by race. This year's report explores how the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 racial unrest revealed racial disparities in Atlanta. Kweku Forstall, the director of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Atlanta Civic Site, discusses key takeaways from the report. Plus, for our graduation series, we hear from Marwah Ismail. She's a first-generation Somali-American and an Emory University student graduating with honors in religion and Italian studies on a pre-law track. Ismail talks with Rose about being diagnosed with a rare and malignant eye cancer while earning her undergraduate degree. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Amanda tackles some interesting topics on today's episode, such as New York City Mayor Eric Adams being investigated for public corruption for his 2021 election campaign. The show also discusses Cardi B and Patti LaBelle collaborating with their desserts. They are bringing their dessert brands together for the holidays. Amanda also gives her review of André 3000's new flute album, New Blue Sun. Also, comedian Sam Jay joins TASS for Back of the Class.  Listen, Laugh, and Learn on The Amanda Seales Show! FOLLOW ALONG AS WE COVER:  (3:58) - Cardi B Says She's ‘Super Starstruck' by Patti LaBelle as the Two Bring Their Dessert Brands Together for the Holidays. I think this is great, two artists of totally different genres and brands collaborating with and honoring each other. But you know what? Why stop the collaboration there?! Everybody's collabbing these days— Rick Ross & Meek Mill, KEKE and Usher. What would a Cardi B & Patti Labelle album look like. *Amanda sings at will after stating titles* (8:06) - It's Time For – Voting And Venting! This Is Your Opportunity (And Mine) To Vent About Anything Related To Voting– Contemplating Who Should Get Your Vote? Vexed About Certain Laws Being Voted On In Your City? We Wanna Hear About It! It's Time To Vent. Let's Go To The Phone Lines. (12:01) - 60 Second Headlines STORY 1: New York City Mayor Eric Adams is setting up a legal defense fund in the midst of a public corruption investigation into his 2021 campaign.  STORY 2:  Backlash against self-checkout is growing, and stores are starting to dial back on the technology. Common complaints are the machines can be unreliable and impersonal.  STORY 3:  Jimmy Kimmel will return as host of the Oscars, marking his 4th time the roll.   STORY 4: Congratulations to the new Mayor of Louis Park, Minnesota, Nadia Mohamed.  She's the first Somali American to win a general Mayoral election.  STORY 5: Over 35 million adults in the US have chronic kidney disease.  And now, Rob Base's iconic hit  “It takes two to make a thing go right,” is being re-mixed and taking on a new meaning in a health initiative to combat this chronic disease.  (14:50) - Thank You For Listening! And If You Missed Anything, You Can Check Out Our Daily Podcast Available Wherever You Get Your Podcasts! Plus, We Are Always Taking Your Calls On Our Topics. Or Maybe You Wanna Share Some Things You Learned This Week… (16:12) - Coming Up This Hour. Watch Don't Watch… Black Cake. I'mma Slice It Up.  I'll Review The Most Talked About Album This Week— New Blue Sun… By Rapper And Flutist — Andre 3000 Plus, The Big Up/Let Down… A Momma's Boy Has Let Me Down All The Way Down. (18:40) IT'S TIME FOR WATCH DON'T WATCH.  #BlackCake (23:05) – AMANDA REVIEW'S – New Blue Sun Andre 3000 has the whole world in a tizzy. Why? Because he's playing the flute. JUST the flute on his new album, NEW BLUE SUN, with no rapping; a lot of people are not happy. (28:39) - IT'S TIME FOR!... THE BIG UP, LET DOWN. BIG UP - To US!!! Not the YOU ES, but US, the people– for surviving a week of unfathomable shenanigans! Diddy and Cassie… Andre 3000's rapless album Meg and Pardi's “salted hash,” not beef Will Smith's ex “best friend” accusing him of relations with fellow actor, Duane Martin  Jada saying WE GONE SUE in response The leaked audio of Keke palmer's mother going clean OFF on keke's baby daddy, Darius Jackson. We survived y'all!! Not just this week but this YEAR so far.  It's been a year of DOOZIES. Our resilience to consume all this on the internets and still go to work is commendable.  BIG UP TO US!  LET DOWN - this Momma's Boy on Instagram! In an IG post, a mama went in on behalf of her son and what she thinks should be first date rules. (33:33) - Coming Up This Hour: Comedian Sam Jay Will Join Us For Back Of The Class And How Black Do You Feel? (36:52) – BACK OF THE CLASS w/ Comedian Sam Jay (41:01) – How Black Do You Feel Today?! (44:14) - It's Time To Listen, Learn And Laugh… With The Word Of The Day… The Word Of The Day Is: Inordinate - Adjective Something described as inordinate exceeds reasonable limits; it goes beyond what is considered usual, normal, or proper. (46:49) – Politicians Say The Smartest Things. Gop. Rep. Chip Roy Is Expressing His Anger For His Fellow Republican Colleagues.  (49:13) – Thanks for listening to the Amanda Seales Show! FOLLOW THE SHOW ON ALL SOCIALS: @Sealessaidit @Amandaseales @Jeremiahlikethebible If You Have A Comment Leave Amanda A Message At 1 855-Amanda-8 That's 1-855-262-6328  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a chef, writer, and founder of the Milk & Myrrh pop-up series, Ifrah F. Ahmed is passionate about celebrating and reimagining Somali cuisine through community. Her signature dish, the anjero breakfast burrito, has a fan base across the U.S. Ifrah, who is also a New York Times Cooking contributor and at work on her first cookbook, joins host Abena Anim-Somuah to share memories from her childhood in Seattle, her thoughts on preserving culture through food, and more.Don't miss Ifrah's Future Flash Five predictions and her voicemail to her future self.Thank you to Kerrygold for supporting our show. Learn more about Kerrygold's butter & cheese here.Hosted by Abena Anim-SomuahProduced by Kerry Diamond and Catherine BakerEdited by Jenna SadhuEditorial Assistant Londyn CrenshawRecorded at CityVox Studios in NYCThe Future Of Food Is You is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Check cherrybombe.com for show transcripts. Who do you think is the Future of Food? Nominate them here!More on Ifrah: Instagram, Milk & Myrrh, recipesFollow Abena on InstagramGet your Cherry Bombe Magazine subscription here

A Minneapolis photographer and director is highlighting her own community in her debut short film. “Dhaanto” follows a Somali dance troupe and their coach as they pass down knowledge of traditional dances to young Somali-Americans. Director Yasmin Yassin spoke with MPR News Host Cathy Wurzer about the film, which is playing Friday at Soomaal House of Art, though space is limited.

Minnesota has the largest Somali population outside of Somalia. Yet it isn't until now that the Twin Cities has had its first Somali-American reporter on a local TV station.Ubah Ali has started as a reporter at WCCO television. She joined MPR News host Cathy Wurzer for a conversation about her career in journalism. Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.   We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here.

It's been more than three years since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the civil unrest that followed. Now several Black entrepreneurs aim to bring business owners of color back to a hard-hit part of the city. They're revitalizing an historic retail building that was nearly lost to arson, with the hope that their success will encourage others to follow suit. In the days after a white policeman kneeled on George Floyd's neck, killing the 46-year-old Black man, protests and civil disobedience gave way to three nights of rioting. Buildings along the commercial corridor of Lake Street, including the Third Precinct police station where former officer Derek Chauvin worked, were the arsonists' first targets. While they reduced many buildings to rubble, one century-old landmark still stands. Taylor Smrikárova, real estate development director with the Minneapolis nonprofit Redesign Inc., is among several Black entrepreneurs who saved the Coliseum Building from the wrecking ball.“Its location on Lake in proximity to all the activity in 2020 and the size of the building meant the opportunity to come back and reclaim it and fill it with new uses just could not be missed,” Smrikárova said during a recent tour of the project site. Inside, the smell of soot and mold is fading as workers clean up debris, repair extensive smoke and water damage, and replace melted metal window frames.Built in 1917 to house Freeman's Department store, the building originally included a ballroom on its third floor. Its most recent tenants included a Denny's restaurant, a health clinic and a law office. Janice Downing, an investor in the project, plans to move her management consultancy to the second floor once renovations are finished. Downing said the project's overall purpose is to provide affordable retail, office, and restaurant space to business owners of color and Indigenous entrepreneurs who were forced out of the neighborhood. “This can be the place where people come and hang out, meet, work, gather,” Downing said. “It is a place where people can say that didn't get taken away. It's restored, and it's ours.” While Target, Cub Foods and other deep-pocketed chain retailers on Lake Street bounced back quickly, many small businesses left altogether.   Mama Safia's, a Somali-American restaurant, is moving back to the Coliseum Building's ground floor after three years in temporary space it leased with the help of a crowdfunding campaign. Its neighbor will be Du Nord Social Spirits, a Minneapolis-based Black-owned distillery. Other tenants are expected to include a barber shop and a nail salon. Downing said it was tricky to pull together the $29 million in financing for the project, in part because some lenders were skeptical that leasing out low-cost, move-in ready space to small businesses would prove financially viable. Loans and grants are part of the funding mix, as are historic preservation tax credits. Last year the Coliseum Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.Project architect Alicia Belton said that means they can't simply gut the building and start over from scratch. They must save original details, including the terrazzo floors and marble staircases. Unlike in many renovations, exposed ductwork and pipes are not allowed, and ceilings may not be lowered to conceal mechanical systems. NSJ Live The Lake Street recovery: Stories behind the storefront “From an architectural standpoint, this is the most difficult project I've ever worked on,” Belton said. “Everything I thought I knew working with the historic tax credit rules has been really challenging. But I think that the end result will be beautiful.” The women leading this project are finding that beauty in unexpected places, including a plaster wall that the fire sprinklers streaked with a pattern of soot. While others may have painted it over, Smrikárova said that when the Coliseum Building reopens in 2024, that wall will remain as a permanent reminder of the latest chapter in the building's history, one marked by the pain of violence and the promise of a new beginning.

As a single mother, a Muslim, and a Somali-American worker living in Minnesota, Khali Jama has always had to fight for the life she, her family, and her fellow workers deserve. And earlier this year, after bringing that fight to the Minnesota state legislature, Khali and her coworkers achieved a major victory. "On May 16," Lisa Kwon reports in PRISM, "Minnesota lawmakers passed the nation's strongest Amazon warehouse worker protection legislation with the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, which ensures that workers can take breaks during the workday and have access to relevant quota and performance standards and data on how fast they're working. The bill's passage marks a significant victory for migrant workers—especially Minnesota's Somali immigrant population, of which the state has the largest in the country. For Khali Jama, a former worker in Amazon's fulfillment center in Shakopee, Minnesota, the new bill offers reprieve and protections that she worked to mobilize. As a Somali and a Muslim, Jama said the Warehouse Worker Protection Act ensures some equity in Minnesota's facilities." In this episode of Working People, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez talks with Jama about moving to the midwest as a child, about her path to working in healthcare and at Amazon, and about the incredible story of how Khali, her coworkers, and the team at the Awood Center, which organizes in Minnesota's East African communities, fought to pass the Warehouse Worker Protection Act.Click here to read the transcript: https://therealnews.com/how-immigrant-warehouse-workers-in-minnesota-took-on-amazon-and-wonAdditional links/info below...Khali's Twitter pageAwood Center website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageIsabela Escalona, WorkDay Magazine, "High Injury Rates Push Minnesota's Amazon Workers to Organize for Safety"Lisa Kwon, PRISM, "Warehouse Worker Protection Act Grants Migrant Workers in Minnesota Landmark Safety Protections"Matt Furber, Sahan Journal, "Amazon's Shakopee Workers Rally for Better Pay, Criticize Company for Not Giving Muslim Employees Vacation on Eid"Abdirahman Muse, Emma Greenman, & Erin Murphy, The Nation, "Minnesota Enacts Landmark Protections for Amazon Warehouse Workers"Permanent links below...Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show!Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageIn These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter pageThe Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter pageFeatured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme SongMusic / Post-Production: Jules TaylorHelp us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer: Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-podSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/newsletter-podLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

"I've never been an organizer," Khali Jama says, "but I've always fought." As a single mother, a Muslim, and a Somali-American worker living in Minnesota, Jama has always had to fight for the life she, her family, and her fellow workers deserve. And earlier this year, after bringing that fight to the Minnesota state legislature, Khali and her coworkers achieved a major victory. "On May 16," Lisa Kwon reports in PRISM, "Minnesota lawmakers passed the nation's strongest Amazon warehouse worker protection legislation with the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, which ensures that workers can take breaks during the workday and have access to relevant quota and performance standards and data on how fast they're working. The bill's passage marks a significant victory for migrant workers — especially Minnesota's Somali immigrant population, of which the state has the largest in the country. For Khali Jama, a former worker in Amazon's fulfillment center in Shakopee, Minnesota, the new bill offers reprieve and protections that she worked to mobilize. As a Somali and a Muslim, Jama said the Warehouse Worker Protection Act ensures some equity in Minnesota's facilities." In this episode, we sit down and talk with Jama about moving to the midwest as a child, about her path to working in healthcare and at Amazon, and about the incredible story of how Khali, her coworkers, and the team at the Awood Center, which organizes in Minnesota's East African communities, fought to pass the Warehouse Worker Protection Act. Additional links/info below... Khali's Twitter page Awood Center website, Facebook page, and Twitter page Isabela Escalona, WorkDay Magazine, "High Injury Rates Push Minnesota's Amazon Workers to Organize for Safety" Lisa Kwon, PRISM, "Warehouse Worker Protection Act Grants Migrant Workers in Minnesota Landmark Safety Protections" Matt Furber, Sahan Journal, "Amazon's Shakopee Workers Rally for Better Pay, Criticize Company for Not Giving Muslim Employees Vacation on Eid" Abdirahman Muse, Emma Greenman, & Erin Murphy, The Nation, "Minnesota Enacts Landmark Protections for Amazon Warehouse Workers" Permanent links below... Working People Patreon page Leave us a voicemail and we might play it on the show! Labor Radio / Podcast Network website, Facebook page, and Twitter page In These Times website, Facebook page, and Twitter page The Real News Network website, YouTube channel, podcast feeds, Facebook page, and Twitter page Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org) Jules Taylor, "Working People" Theme Song  

How do you help young children understand the harm of racism and the importance of racial equity? How do we help them make sense of what they see and hear about race every day? Early Risers podcast host Dianne Haulcy, president and CEO at The Family Partnership, presents a one-hour special broadcast presentation about raising children for a future of racial equity. Voices include Rich Lee, a professor of psychology and director of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Minnesota, and parents, including a Somali American mother in St. Cloud, Minn. and a Black couple raising a family in Rochester, Minn. Early Risers is a co-production of Minnesota Public Radio and Little Moments Count. Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS.  Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.   

On Today's Quiz there will be lots of Trivia Time for 20 new questions on this trivia podcast! Enjoy our trivia questions: Which game derives in part from the Greek prefix meaning "four", a reference to the number of blocks in each piece? In the play Angels in America the sound of what instrument is described as "like that of a duck if the duck were a songbird"? Which X-Men character has his skeleton bonded adamanitum? In the new release Renfield, which character does Nicolas Cage play? Which state of dormancy in winter is experienced by many creatures to avoid death by heat loss or food scarcity? Not including dwarf planets, what is the only planet in our solar system not visible to the naked eye and the first predicted by mathematics before its discovery? Which long bone found in the forearm stretches from the elbow to to the smallest finger? Who painted "The Night Watch"? Which former Soviet republic has Tallinn as its capital? The first sentence of which Jane Austen novel goes like this"_____Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and a happy disposition... had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her."? What is the name of the Somali-American model and actress who was the muse to designers Gianni Versace and Calvin Klein among others and was married to David Bowie in 1992? The first Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus was also known by what other name? If you liked this episode, check out our last trivia episode! Music Hot Swing, Fast Talkin, Bass Walker, Dances and Dames by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Don't forget to follow us on social media for more trivia: Patreon - patreon.com/quizbang - Please consider supporting us on Patreon. Check out our fun extras for patrons and help us keep this podcast going. We appreciate any level of support! Website - quizbangpod.com Check out our website, it will have all the links for social media that you need and while you're there, why not go to the contact us page and submit a question! Facebook - @quizbangpodcast - we post episode links and silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess. Instagram - Quiz Quiz Bang Bang (quizquizbangbang), we post silly lego pictures to go with our trivia questions. Enjoy the silly picture and give your best guess, we will respond to your answer the next day to give everyone a chance to guess. Twitter - @quizbangpod We want to start a fun community for our fellow trivia lovers. If you hear/think of a fun or challenging trivia question, post it to our twitter feed and we will repost it so everyone can take a stab it. Come for the trivia - stay for the trivia. Ko-Fi - ko-fi.com/quizbangpod - Keep that sweet caffeine running through our body with a Ko-Fi, power us through a late night of fact checking and editing!

A group of fifth grade students files into Becca Buck's music classroom in the basement of Gideon Pond Elementary. After a short warm–up, Buck introduces the song she wants her students to learn: “Huwaya Huwa” — a piece that some of the kids in the room have known for a long time. It's a Somali lullaby that Buck introduced to her classroom after realizing her curriculum was almost entirely centered on English and European music.  “A lot of it is folk music that has been in the United States. And of course, there's value for that in the music classroom. But I also wanted to make sure that all of my students felt represented and could see themselves in the curriculum,” Buck said. “Here at Gideon Pond, we have about 50 percent, Somali American students, and yet I had no repertoire that reflected them inside the music classroom.” Buck, who is white, started asking her students and their families to share songs with her. And she found that students were eager to do so.“It was just kind of a snowball effect, where I was getting students constantly coming up to me, when I was doing door duty or breakfast duty, saying, ‘Miss Buck, I have a song to share,'” Buck said. She paired up with her colleague Qorsho Hassan, a Somali American educator who was named Minnesota's Teacher of the Year in 2020 to collect more songs. Buck then analyzed the music, extracted rhythmic patterns and noted the historical and cultural stories that families and students shared with her. They've compiled the information into a book called “The Rhythm of Somalia” that's set for release later this year. Gideon Pond principal, Salma Hussein says the collaboration between Buck and her colleagues and students is exactly the sort of work she sees as important at their school.”I'm really big on affirming students for who they are,” Hussein said. “I have seen how students, when they reach high school and have not had the opportunities to be affirmed in the ways that Miss Buck is able to do in her classroom, I have seen and witnessed the impact.”  Music is a popular class at Gideon Pond, according to Hussein. “She really creates a fun experience for students to have joy in who they are, to show up authentically and to learn about each other in a positive way,” Hussein said.  Students are not just learning to sing the Somali lullaby that Buck is introducing. She's teaching them some words in Somali, introducing some aspects of Somali culture and history and showing them different versions of the song. Buck said her students light up when they hear their music in their language in the classroom and when they get a chance to talk about their experiences with the song. Fifth grade student Hanan Abdisalaam said the lullaby is something her mom used to sing to her when she was little. Hearing it in class makes her feel sleepy. Music classes, she adds, are her favorite lessons to attend. “It's actually really fun. The people are nice, everyone's your friend here. They include people,” Hanan said. “If you come to this class, you're welcome. Like everyone's going to welcome you, like you're gonna make friends in seconds.”Buck is finished with the work she's done on the book set to be released this year. She hopes it will make the material she's learned from her students, their families and her colleagues available to more teachers. But she hasn't stopped gathering music material from the community to bring into the classroom. She's still getting songs from students and voice notes from families. “I just think it's such a beautiful way of getting to know different humans in different cultures and I firmly believe that it helps to teach my students empathy,” Buck said. The teacher said she'll know she's done her job when her students become curious to know more about the cultures that have created the music she plays for them. “I want them to dig deeper rather than just hear music at a surface level.”  Burnsville music class includes songs familiar to Somali students

In this week's episode of the author interview series, we welcome Boyah J Farah, author of "America Made Me a Black Man". Boyah shares his personal journey as a first-generation Somali-American and how his experiences growing up shaped his perspective on race and identity in America. He talks about how the book came to be and the powerful message he wants to convey through his writing. He discusses the complexities of being a Black man in America and how the country's history and current events have influenced his experiences. This thought-provoking conversation provides insight into the struggles and triumphs of the Black community and the importance of acknowledging and understanding their experiences. Listen in for an inspiring and eye-opening discussion with Boyah J Farah. #AmericaMadeMeABlackMan #BlackIdentity #RaceAndIdentity #BlackMalePerspective #PodcastsForBookLovers #BlackLiterature #AfricanAmericanIdentity #BookPodcast #AfricanAmericanHistory#RacismAndOppression

Sharmaarke Mohamed was born in a country where virtually all of the things we taken for granted—food and water, education, and, most of all, stability—are in short supply. But Somalia gave Sharmaarke other things, like a deeply rooted sense of community, a feeling that family is a pillar of his individual existence, and, maybe most of all, a burning need to (re)create his own future.On this episode of The Burning Castle Podcast, Sharmaarke and I speak about this drive to create your own destiny—in his case, virtually from scratch. We talk about how Sharmaarke used his passion for soccer (he was a pro player in Somalia) to lever himself into a new life as an actor developing and producing his own projects in the US. We also talk about something that many artists toiling away in small rooms miss—the importance of nurturing a community of likeminded people around you, who share your interests, ambitions and challenges as a creator. This is what the great British musician Brian Eno called scenius—the genius of a being part of a scene—and it's what makes all the difference in the often lonely life of the arts.I hope you enjoy this episode. As a reminder, the podcast—like The Burning Telegraph newsletter—is free. We work hard to keep it that way, so a share by you with someone in your network—by email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or even the boring old word of mouth method—is hugely appreciated. Get full access to The Burning Telegraph at ashleyrindsberg.substack.com/subscribe

The Somali-American model joins Imran Amed to discuss her journey from a refugee camp in Kenya to the US to the top of the fashion industry — and what she's learned since taking a step back. Somali-American model Halima Aden nabbed an IMG contract and quickly shot the centre of the fashion world after she earned first attention as the first hijab-wearing Muslim to compete in Minnesota's Miss USA pageant. She walked for Yeezy, Fenty, Dolce and Gabbana and Tommy Hilfiger, and posed in Vogue, Elle and Allure. Then, in November, she stepped away from it all, announcing her intention to leave the industry. In retrospect, she thinks the best thing she did for herself in her career was never just see herself as a model.  “I found that some of the most fulfilling campaigns or photoshoots I got to be part of always tended to be when it wasn't just about me. It wasn't just Halima,” said Aden. “I was sharing stories that I brought from the refugee camp, sharing stories of other Muslim women in all different fields … I found that my work was more meaningful when it was tied to giving back.” Key Insights: Aden was born in a refugee camp in Kenya before moving to St. Louis, Mo. Eventually, her family resettled in St. Cloud, Minn, which is home to a large Somali immigrant community. She went on to compete in Minnesota's Miss USA pageant in search of a scholarship. She didn't win the pageant, but got something arguably even better: A call from Rihanna's team to shoot for Fenty Beauty. Aden's quick ascent meant she came into the industry at a more privileged vantage point. She didn't have to go to casting calls and received private dressing rooms. However, that no one else received the same treatment started to bother her.  The ex-model said her experiences of extreme poverty made her look at the fashion industry's excess with a bit of disdain, and perhaps, fuelled some of her anger at it.  After a journey of self-discovery, she's realised she needs to turn that pain into power as she maps out her future in the industry.  Additional Resources:  Halima Aden Plots Her Return to Fashion Voices 2021 - The Fashion Systems Push to Evolve To subscribe to the BoF Podcast, please follow this link.

In the summer of 2020, as COVID-19 tore through communities, and law enforcement faced a racial reckoning, Minnesota named it's 2020-21 state teacher of the year. In the state that saw the killings of George Floyd and Philando Castile by law enforcement, Qorsho's recognition as the first Somali-American to be named teacher of the year remains significant. But what never stopped was the racist, misogynist and Islamophobic harassment that she faced regularly. Nevertheless, Qorsho continued to work hard for her students and community, advocating with them and for them. Until she could not go on. Qorsho was my first friend in our state teachers of the year cohort of 2021. And continues to be a source of strength, humor, and motivation to me. Her story is at once a powerful testimonial and a cautionary tale.

Naima Dhore is a first-generation Somali-American farmer, activist and educator committed to look after mother earth and community building. She is the Program Director at the Somali American Farmers Association and owner of Naima's Farm LLC, where she supports future Somali-American farmers in Minnesota.  Tune in to learn more about: Naima's home country of Somalia and their food; Her story on becoming a first-generation Somali-American farmer; About the Somali American Farmers Association and their work; Access to land for immigrant farmers; Her hopes for the future. To learn more about Naima's work, go to https://www.somaliamericanfarmersassociation.com.

Osha and Shugri Said Salh discuss The Last Nomad: Coming of Age in the Somali Desert, a riveting story of survival & spiritual strength by a brilliant Somali American woman, Shugri Said Salh.  We'll explore the contrast between Nomadic life in the Somali desert and life in the city - and  hear about her harrowing escape from war torn Mogadishu.We'll  explore the contrast between Nomadic life in the Somali desert and life in the city - and  hear about her harrowing escape from war torn Mogadishu. Above all, this is a story of a strong, resilient woman with a deep heart guided by wisdom and compassion.Steeped in the art of Nomadic storytelling and poetry, Salh learned to weave entertaining tales with vivid imagery and descriptions. The Last Nomad is her first book; she is already working on the next one.As a young girl in the Somali desert, Salh learned to navigate complexity.  Osha Hayden and Shugri Salh discuss how Salh learned to navigate the changing landscape - from her nomadic pilgrimages with her grandmother to find water during the drought season, to dodging attacks by lions and warthogs. Inspired by the independence and strength of her nomadic Ayeeyo, (grandmother), and despite of the loss of her mother when Salh was just six, she excelled.Salh describes the deep cultural and social roots of the Somali tradition of female genital mutilation, bringing a deeper understanding to how this practice is woven into the fabric of life there. Through the characters in her next book, she will illuminate more about the ramifications of female genital mutilation on women's lives.Balanced between the worlds of the desert and city, Salh learned to adapt to constant change. Her inner strength and xenial family connections helped her survive when the civil war tore her world apart, forcing her to flee and seek refuge as an immigrant. Osha and Salh discuss the signals that that a civil war is brewing.Adapting to a new life, landscape and culture in North America was her next challenge. Then came the Covid pandemic; which thrust Salh, as an Infusion Nurse, into immediate danger in a rapidly changing medical environment. She knew how to adapt, navigate the challenges, and survive. As the last in the line of her nomadic heritage, Salh is inspired to gather the stories of her life and her ancestors and capture them for her own children and entranced readers everywhere.Shugri Said Salh was born in the Somali desert. In 1992, after civil war broke out in her home country, she emigrated to North America. She attended nursing school at Pacific Union College and graduated with honors. When she isn't writing or telling stories, she works as an infusion nurse. Salh lives in Sonoma County with her husband and three children. Author of The Last Nomad: Coming of Age in the Somali Desert, she is working on her next book.You can learn more about her on her website:  shugrisalh.com

This Day in Maine for Friday, July 15, 2022.

Season 4 is HERE! YAY!!! Warda is a Somali-American writer and in this week's episode, she is sharing with us the reality of her refugee experience in the USA.Her journey has been challenging, full of barriers and losses, and at the same time, she has risen, healed, and developed resilience. She is a first-generation college student and she wrote a wonderful book where she shares her immigration journey! What has helped Warda the most in her journey is being able to ask for help and connect with kind people that are willing to support her.We all have so much to learn from Warda and her determination.Thank you for joining us in another season!To connect with us at Modern Immigrant:IG https://www.instagram.com/modernimmigrant/Website https://www.modernimmigrant.net/Youtube https://youtu.be/ZysNBwqFIhcTo connect with Warda and buy her book:https://wardaabdullahi.com/Support the show

In the Pulitzer Prize finalist book Home, Land, Security: Deradicalisation and the Journey Back from Extremism (One World, 2021), Carla Power explores: what are the roots of radicalism? Journalist Carla Power came to this question well before the January 6, 2021, attack in Washington, D.C., that turned the US' attention to the problem of domestic radicalization. Her entry point was a different wave of radical panic—the way populists and pundits encouraged us to see the young people who joined ISIS or other terrorist organizations as simple monsters. Power wanted to chip away at the stereotypes by focusing not on what these young people had done but why: What drew them into militancy? What visions of the world—of home, of land, of security for themselves and the people they loved—shifted their thinking toward radical beliefs? And what visions of the world might bring them back to society? Power begins her journey by talking to the mothers of young men who'd joined ISIS in the UK and Canada; from there, she travels around the world in search of societies that are finding new and innovative ways to rehabilitate former extremists. We meet an American judge who has staked his career on finding new ways to handle terrorist suspects, a Pakistani woman running a game-changing school for former child soldiers, a radicalized Somali American who learns through literature to see beyond his Manichean beliefs, and a former neo-Nazi who now helps disarm white supremacists. Along the way Power gleans lessons that get her closer to answering the true question at the heart of her pursuit: Can we find a way to live together? An eye-opening, page-turning investigation, Home, Land, Security speaks to the rise of division and radicalization in all forms, both at home and abroad. In this richly reported and deeply human account, Carla Power offers new ways to overcome the rising tides of extremism, one human at a time. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In the Pulitzer Prize finalist book Home, Land, Security: Deradicalisation and the Journey Back from Extremism (One World, 2021), Carla Power explores: what are the roots of radicalism? Journalist Carla Power came to this question well before the January 6, 2021, attack in Washington, D.C., that turned the US' attention to the problem of domestic radicalization. Her entry point was a different wave of radical panic—the way populists and pundits encouraged us to see the young people who joined ISIS or other terrorist organizations as simple monsters. Power wanted to chip away at the stereotypes by focusing not on what these young people had done but why: What drew them into militancy? What visions of the world—of home, of land, of security for themselves and the people they loved—shifted their thinking toward radical beliefs? And what visions of the world might bring them back to society? Power begins her journey by talking to the mothers of young men who'd joined ISIS in the UK and Canada; from there, she travels around the world in search of societies that are finding new and innovative ways to rehabilitate former extremists. We meet an American judge who has staked his career on finding new ways to handle terrorist suspects, a Pakistani woman running a game-changing school for former child soldiers, a radicalized Somali American who learns through literature to see beyond his Manichean beliefs, and a former neo-Nazi who now helps disarm white supremacists. Along the way Power gleans lessons that get her closer to answering the true question at the heart of her pursuit: Can we find a way to live together? An eye-opening, page-turning investigation, Home, Land, Security speaks to the rise of division and radicalization in all forms, both at home and abroad. In this richly reported and deeply human account, Carla Power offers new ways to overcome the rising tides of extremism, one human at a time. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/islamic-studies

In the Pulitzer Prize finalist book Home, Land, Security: Deradicalisation and the Journey Back from Extremism (One World, 2021), Carla Power explores: what are the roots of radicalism? Journalist Carla Power came to this question well before the January 6, 2021, attack in Washington, D.C., that turned the US' attention to the problem of domestic radicalization. Her entry point was a different wave of radical panic—the way populists and pundits encouraged us to see the young people who joined ISIS or other terrorist organizations as simple monsters. Power wanted to chip away at the stereotypes by focusing not on what these young people had done but why: What drew them into militancy? What visions of the world—of home, of land, of security for themselves and the people they loved—shifted their thinking toward radical beliefs? And what visions of the world might bring them back to society? Power begins her journey by talking to the mothers of young men who'd joined ISIS in the UK and Canada; from there, she travels around the world in search of societies that are finding new and innovative ways to rehabilitate former extremists. We meet an American judge who has staked his career on finding new ways to handle terrorist suspects, a Pakistani woman running a game-changing school for former child soldiers, a radicalized Somali American who learns through literature to see beyond his Manichean beliefs, and a former neo-Nazi who now helps disarm white supremacists. Along the way Power gleans lessons that get her closer to answering the true question at the heart of her pursuit: Can we find a way to live together? An eye-opening, page-turning investigation, Home, Land, Security speaks to the rise of division and radicalization in all forms, both at home and abroad. In this richly reported and deeply human account, Carla Power offers new ways to overcome the rising tides of extremism, one human at a time. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

In the Pulitzer Prize finalist book Home, Land, Security: Deradicalisation and the Journey Back from Extremism (One World, 2021), Carla Power explores: what are the roots of radicalism? Journalist Carla Power came to this question well before the January 6, 2021, attack in Washington, D.C., that turned the US' attention to the problem of domestic radicalization. Her entry point was a different wave of radical panic—the way populists and pundits encouraged us to see the young people who joined ISIS or other terrorist organizations as simple monsters. Power wanted to chip away at the stereotypes by focusing not on what these young people had done but why: What drew them into militancy? What visions of the world—of home, of land, of security for themselves and the people they loved—shifted their thinking toward radical beliefs? And what visions of the world might bring them back to society? Power begins her journey by talking to the mothers of young men who'd joined ISIS in the UK and Canada; from there, she travels around the world in search of societies that are finding new and innovative ways to rehabilitate former extremists. We meet an American judge who has staked his career on finding new ways to handle terrorist suspects, a Pakistani woman running a game-changing school for former child soldiers, a radicalized Somali American who learns through literature to see beyond his Manichean beliefs, and a former neo-Nazi who now helps disarm white supremacists. Along the way Power gleans lessons that get her closer to answering the true question at the heart of her pursuit: Can we find a way to live together? An eye-opening, page-turning investigation, Home, Land, Security speaks to the rise of division and radicalization in all forms, both at home and abroad. In this richly reported and deeply human account, Carla Power offers new ways to overcome the rising tides of extremism, one human at a time. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

In the Pulitzer Prize finalist book Home, Land, Security: Deradicalisation and the Journey Back from Extremism (One World, 2021), Carla Power explores: what are the roots of radicalism? Journalist Carla Power came to this question well before the January 6, 2021, attack in Washington, D.C., that turned the US' attention to the problem of domestic radicalization. Her entry point was a different wave of radical panic—the way populists and pundits encouraged us to see the young people who joined ISIS or other terrorist organizations as simple monsters. Power wanted to chip away at the stereotypes by focusing not on what these young people had done but why: What drew them into militancy? What visions of the world—of home, of land, of security for themselves and the people they loved—shifted their thinking toward radical beliefs? And what visions of the world might bring them back to society? Power begins her journey by talking to the mothers of young men who'd joined ISIS in the UK and Canada; from there, she travels around the world in search of societies that are finding new and innovative ways to rehabilitate former extremists. We meet an American judge who has staked his career on finding new ways to handle terrorist suspects, a Pakistani woman running a game-changing school for former child soldiers, a radicalized Somali American who learns through literature to see beyond his Manichean beliefs, and a former neo-Nazi who now helps disarm white supremacists. Along the way Power gleans lessons that get her closer to answering the true question at the heart of her pursuit: Can we find a way to live together? An eye-opening, page-turning investigation, Home, Land, Security speaks to the rise of division and radicalization in all forms, both at home and abroad. In this richly reported and deeply human account, Carla Power offers new ways to overcome the rising tides of extremism, one human at a time. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

In the Pulitzer Prize finalist book Home, Land, Security: Deradicalisation and the Journey Back from Extremism (One World, 2021), Carla Power explores: what are the roots of radicalism? Journalist Carla Power came to this question well before the January 6, 2021, attack in Washington, D.C., that turned the US' attention to the problem of domestic radicalization. Her entry point was a different wave of radical panic—the way populists and pundits encouraged us to see the young people who joined ISIS or other terrorist organizations as simple monsters. Power wanted to chip away at the stereotypes by focusing not on what these young people had done but why: What drew them into militancy? What visions of the world—of home, of land, of security for themselves and the people they loved—shifted their thinking toward radical beliefs? And what visions of the world might bring them back to society? Power begins her journey by talking to the mothers of young men who'd joined ISIS in the UK and Canada; from there, she travels around the world in search of societies that are finding new and innovative ways to rehabilitate former extremists. We meet an American judge who has staked his career on finding new ways to handle terrorist suspects, a Pakistani woman running a game-changing school for former child soldiers, a radicalized Somali American who learns through literature to see beyond his Manichean beliefs, and a former neo-Nazi who now helps disarm white supremacists. Along the way Power gleans lessons that get her closer to answering the true question at the heart of her pursuit: Can we find a way to live together? An eye-opening, page-turning investigation, Home, Land, Security speaks to the rise of division and radicalization in all forms, both at home and abroad. In this richly reported and deeply human account, Carla Power offers new ways to overcome the rising tides of extremism, one human at a time. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

In the Pulitzer Prize finalist book Home, Land, Security: Deradicalisation and the Journey Back from Extremism (One World, 2021), Carla Power explores: what are the roots of radicalism? Journalist Carla Power came to this question well before the January 6, 2021, attack in Washington, D.C., that turned the US' attention to the problem of domestic radicalization. Her entry point was a different wave of radical panic—the way populists and pundits encouraged us to see the young people who joined ISIS or other terrorist organizations as simple monsters. Power wanted to chip away at the stereotypes by focusing not on what these young people had done but why: What drew them into militancy? What visions of the world—of home, of land, of security for themselves and the people they loved—shifted their thinking toward radical beliefs? And what visions of the world might bring them back to society? Power begins her journey by talking to the mothers of young men who'd joined ISIS in the UK and Canada; from there, she travels around the world in search of societies that are finding new and innovative ways to rehabilitate former extremists. We meet an American judge who has staked his career on finding new ways to handle terrorist suspects, a Pakistani woman running a game-changing school for former child soldiers, a radicalized Somali American who learns through literature to see beyond his Manichean beliefs, and a former neo-Nazi who now helps disarm white supremacists. Along the way Power gleans lessons that get her closer to answering the true question at the heart of her pursuit: Can we find a way to live together? An eye-opening, page-turning investigation, Home, Land, Security speaks to the rise of division and radicalization in all forms, both at home and abroad. In this richly reported and deeply human account, Carla Power offers new ways to overcome the rising tides of extremism, one human at a time. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/national-security

In the Pulitzer Prize finalist book Home, Land, Security: Deradicalisation and the Journey Back from Extremism (One World, 2021), Carla Power explores: what are the roots of radicalism? Journalist Carla Power came to this question well before the January 6, 2021, attack in Washington, D.C., that turned the US' attention to the problem of domestic radicalization. Her entry point was a different wave of radical panic—the way populists and pundits encouraged us to see the young people who joined ISIS or other terrorist organizations as simple monsters. Power wanted to chip away at the stereotypes by focusing not on what these young people had done but why: What drew them into militancy? What visions of the world—of home, of land, of security for themselves and the people they loved—shifted their thinking toward radical beliefs? And what visions of the world might bring them back to society? Power begins her journey by talking to the mothers of young men who'd joined ISIS in the UK and Canada; from there, she travels around the world in search of societies that are finding new and innovative ways to rehabilitate former extremists. We meet an American judge who has staked his career on finding new ways to handle terrorist suspects, a Pakistani woman running a game-changing school for former child soldiers, a radicalized Somali American who learns through literature to see beyond his Manichean beliefs, and a former neo-Nazi who now helps disarm white supremacists. Along the way Power gleans lessons that get her closer to answering the true question at the heart of her pursuit: Can we find a way to live together? An eye-opening, page-turning investigation, Home, Land, Security speaks to the rise of division and radicalization in all forms, both at home and abroad. In this richly reported and deeply human account, Carla Power offers new ways to overcome the rising tides of extremism, one human at a time. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

This episode of Big Blend Radio features Somali-American writer Warda Mohamed Abdullahi. Her powerful memoir, "Warda: My Journey from the Horn of Africa to a College Education,” not only tells the story of her own resilience but also that of striving refugees around the world. Set in the rugged shrublands of rural Ethiopia, the contentious neighborhoods of South Africa, and the icy streets of Michigan, Warda is the story of a fierce young woman on a tireless quest to become the first member of her family to go to college. More: https://wardaabdullahi.com/ 

A human rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department concluded that the overarching culture at the Minneapolis Police Department encouraged a “pattern or practice of racial discrimination.” The two-year investigation was launched in June 2020 after the murder of George Floyd and conducted by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. The sweeping findings, released on  April 27, describe flawed training that emphasizes a paramilitary approach to policing and city and department leadership that does not hold officers accountable for misconduct.  Overall, Black residents in Minneapolis are more likely to be treated aggressively by police officers and almost twice as likely to be pulled over and searched while driving, compared to white citizens in similar circumstances.  The report also describes how Minneapolis officers created fake social media accounts to monitor and engage with Black individuals and Black organizations, outside of any criminal investigation and for no public safety reason.  On Monday, MPR News host Angela Davis spoke about reactions to the findings and possible next steps. Guests:  Matt Sepic is a MPR News correspondent. Angela Rose Myers is former president of the Minneapolis NAACP and currently serves as co-chair of the organization's political action committee.  Steve Belton is president and CEO of the Urban League Twin Cities. Kami Chavis is a nationally known criminal justice expert and a law professor at Wake Forest University in N.C. She is transitioning into a new role as founding director of the Center for Criminal Justice Policy and Reform at William & Mary in Virginia.  Subscribe to the MPR News with Angela Davis podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or RSS. Hear their conversation using the audio player above and read the highlights below. “Our investigation identified that there has been a vacuum of collective action, of collective sustained action, from key city and MPD leaders. And the organizational culture at MPD has existed unchecked, resulting in unlawful discriminatory policing. It undermines public safety and it's been going on for at least the past decade,” said Rebecca Lucero, Commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. Steve Belton shared his reactions to findings that Black residents of Minneapolis are more often stopped and arrested. “All of these things are racially driven. And this report provides really irrefutable evidence that that's occurring. And it was alarming. And it made me very angry,” he said. The investigation included a review of hundreds of hours of body camera footage, thousands of interviews with community members and police officers, and years of reports. It also revealed officers' use of racist, sexist, dehumanizing language against Black and Somali American men, members of the community and other officers, MPR News reporter Matt Sepic confirmed. Chavis said the culture within the Minneapolis Police Department must be addressed: “If you have those officers within the department that know this is happening, and they see that others are able to get away with it, why would they act any differently? Why would they bother to tell a superior about the behavior if they're only going to be retaliated against, and, and the other person, not punished? This is where accountability comes in.” A consent decree will help to establish a framework, she said, whereby members of the MPD are held accountable for their actions. Actions could include discipline, dismissal or retraining officers where appropriate, Chavis added. Alongside police reform, Angela Rose Myers is focused on improving access to resources for those who need assistance with mental health, drug use, employment and housing. She said that to strengthen the local community, police outreach and enforcement is not enough.  “Maybe they shouldn't be taking on these tasks, handling issues within schools, within families, things like that,” she said. “Maybe they shouldn't be the ones that are our sole providers of saving our community.”

Bishar Hassan's parents and five siblings had lived as renters in the 16 years since coming to the United States. But their rental house felt increasingly cramped, and when the building's owner said he was selling, Hassan knew it was time to move. He helped his family buy a house in north St. Cloud, with a large yard, three bathrooms and at 2,900 square feet, far more space than they had before. Equally important to him, it put them on a path to building wealth. “When you're renting, you're actually paying someone else's mortgage and you're not really getting anything back,” Hassan said. “But when you own a house, it's an investment for you, and you get that back.” Owning a home has long been viewed as an economic stepping stone in America, a source of pride that can build generational wealth for families and stability for neighborhoods and cities.  It's a prize, though, that Minnesota's new immigrants sometimes find out of reach. While many have the income to buy a home, they face significant challenges, including rising home prices, an extremely tight real estate market and, in some places, prejudices that make them feel unwelcome. Muslims face another unique barrier: a rule in Islam that prohibits profiting from lending or receiving money. So getting a conventional mortgage that charges interest isn't permitted. With St. Cloud's East African population rising rapidly, finding answers is important to the city's future. As many as 70 percent of the region's Somali community lives below the federal poverty line, according to a recent Wilder Foundation report. Home ownership can be a poverty fighter. ‘American dream' elusive Mohamed Nuh Dahir rented an apartment when he first came to St. Cloud 20 years ago. After he got married and had five children, Dahir said the three-bedroom apartment was getting crowded. After looking for years for opportunities to buy a home without paying interest, he purchased a five-bedroom house in southeast St. Cloud in 2020 that offers his family more space.  “Everyone is happy,” he said. “Everyone has their own room. They have an area they can play. It's so different.” Dahir, who is imam of the Islamic Center of St. Cloud, said he thinks home ownership benefits people of all communities, but especially for Somali families, who tend to be larger and close-knit. He said more families have been looking to buy homes in the past couple of years, and the mosque sometimes offers educational classes on home ownership. Paul Middlestaedt for MPR News 2020 Imam Mohamed Nuh Dahir stands at the Islamic Center of St. Cloud on April 17, 2020. “One part of Somali culture is we see each other on holidays and we stay together for a couple of nights,” Dahir said. “So it's important for them to have a home.” Home ownership rates among St. Cloud's Somali community, however, are considerably lower than other populations, said Mónica García-Pérez, an economics professor at St. Cloud State University. She analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey and found it's just 7 or 8 percent — much lower than that of African American or Latino communities, or among white residents. Because homes tend to increase in value, the lower home ownership rate has likely made it harder for the Somali community to build wealth that can be transferred across generations, García-Pérez said. “Home ownership — real estate — has been one of the faster growing wealth accumulators in the U.S.,” she said. Kirsti Marohn | MPR News Shirwa Adan, executive director of the Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Organization. There's a strong connection between lower home ownership rates and poverty, said Shirwa Adan, executive director of the Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Organization. “When you are paying $1,500 [a month] for a four-bedroom apartment, that could have been your mortgage,” he said. “But that rent money you're giving every month, that is not coming back to you in terms of a tax return or even purchasing a piece of your home every month.” Adan's group was formed in 2015 by Somali elders to help the East African community bridge language and cultural barriers to applying for jobs and housing, navigating the health care system and starting businesses. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization has helped many families get rent support, Adan said. But lately, a growing number of families are interested in buying homes. “If you own a home and it takes you 30 years to pay it off, after 30 years, your kids have a place they can call home,” he said. “I think it's really a huge aspect of building wealth and getting into that American dream of having your family sustain and not pay rent every month, because they have something that they own.” ‘Nobody had savings' New immigrant families, however, often face other obstacles to home ownership, including a lack of knowledge of the real estate process, and language barriers that make the already-complex paperwork even more daunting. And after years of renting, many families don't have the savings for a down payment on a home, said Johanna Osman, executive director of the Sakan Community Resource, a Twin Cities nonprofit. “They were living paycheck to paycheck, maybe,” she said. “And so nobody had savings. And because of all those years of avoiding using credit, they had no credit score.” Since starting in 2017, Sakan has raised money from the community to provide down payment assistance for about 350 families, Osman said. It also offers financial literacy and homeowner readiness programs, and recently expanded those to central Minnesota. Financial education in schools Helping reduce economic disparities Many families go through Islamic financing companies to get a no-interest loan, but there are also predatory lenders who are purchasing houses and offering them for sale by contract for deed, Osman said. “The community doesn't understand that with a contract for deed, yeah, there's no interest. But if something happens, like COVID, in the middle of it, you don't own anything,” she said. “You don't own that house until you pay your last payment.” Paul Middlestaedt for MPR News Existing homes in the Lake George neighborhood are an attractive option for first time home buyers in St. Cloud. Adan said some local real estate agents have been selling homes on a contract for deed, giving families 10 years to pay the cost instead of 30 years like a traditional mortgage. The monthly payments are often high, and the homebuyer usually is required to pay additional money at the end of every year, he said. Ten years is a long time for something to go wrong in a family's life that could leave them unable to make those payments, Adan said. If the buyer is unable to make the lump sum payment at the end of the year, the seller could take back the home. “A lot of people in our community do not want to go to maybe Wells Fargo and get a mortgage, even though they might have the credit and the financial means to do so,” Adan said. “They're not able to take that loan with interest.” Farhan Jibril grew up in a Somali American family in St. Cloud, and now works as a real estate agent, helping other Somali families navigate the homebuying process.  David Schwarz | The St. Cloud Times Farhan Jibril poses for a photo in the ReMax offices in St. Cloud on Friday, Sept. 21, 2021. For families planning to stay in St. Cloud for the long term, owning a home rather than renting makes sense, he said, and can also help them get loans for college or to start a business. “I think initially, just building that generational wealth for your kids,” Jibril said. “If you're a parent, the most important thing should be, ‘How do I put my kids in a better position 20 years from now?'” There are other less tangible benefits to home ownership for Somalis, who have faced some hostility since first settling in central Minnesota two decades ago. Owning a home makes it easier for neighbors to get to know one another, Jibril said. Community conversation What it is like to be Somali in St. Cloud As state considers repairs to I-94 Rondo residents look for reconnection “Because not only are you paying taxes, but you're also becoming a part of the community,” he said. “You're doing your lawn. You're also getting to know your neighbor, taking them some Somali foods and traditional foods, teaching them about the religion. And they also see how you live.” ‘Making Minnesota their home' Paul Middlestaedt for MPR News Many single family dwellings are being constructed across the street from St. Cloud Tech High School. Beyond homebuying, the St. Cloud region still struggles to meet the housing needs of many of its new residents. It's often difficult for immigrant families to find four- or five-bedroom apartments in central Minnesota that are large enough to accommodate families with several children, Adan said. “So if you have six or seven kids, when they are 3, 4 or 5 years old, or even elementary, it is kind of OK to have them in the same room,” Adan said. “But at some point, the landlord is going to tell you … ‘Hey, you have too many people.'” In St. Cloud, families sometimes have more luck finding a house than an apartment with the needed space. That's what Bishar Hassan discovered when he secured a home in north St. Cloud for his parents and siblings. Hassan, 36, was able to overcome Islam's prohibition against interest by securing a no-interest mortgage through an Islamic-approved, or halal, financing service. While there are different types of arrangements, they typically are structured as a partnership between the homebuyer and the financing company. The homebuyer makes monthly payments to the financing provider, increasing their investment in the home over time. Although Hassan's parents and siblings moved into their new house in February, he still lives in an apartment with his wife and their two young children. They have enough space for now, but Hassan would like to move into a house himself someday, and he believes more in the East African community will be looking for opportunities to do the same as they work to grow their families and put down roots.  “I think in the long run,” he said, “it shows you that people are making Minnesota their home, which is a good thing.” What should we cover next? Pass the Mic

Today we are interviewing Somali American author Abdi Nor Iftin! Abdi is author of the book Call Me American, and you may have heard him on This American Life ("Abdi and the Golden Ticket") or on NPR or the BBC. Abdi Iftin was a refugee who won the US Diversity Visa lottery program while living as a refugee in Kenya and moved to the United States. Fascinated with the US since watching American movies as a child, Abdi Iftin talks about his journey becoming fully American and fighting prejudice because of his identity. He also talks his thoughts on the global displacement crisis and how we can be a better global community, as well as his upcoming documentary! More information about Abdi Iftin and links to buy Call Me American can be found here: https://www.callmeamerican.com/ What did you think of Abdi Iftin's thoughts on how we can reframe the language we use to talk about refugees (or people seeking refuge)? We want to hear from YOU! Liked this episode? Let us know! Subscribe and leave us a review below! Connect With Us If you or someone you know would like to share their personal refugee story, send us an email at seekingrefugepodcast@gmail.com or connect with us on any of these social media platforms: https://twitter.com/refugepodcast https://instagram.com/seekingrefugepodcast https://fb.me/seekingrefugepodcast Our Team: Jackie Burnett (Host/Editor) Aidan Thomason (Producer/Co-Editor) Claire Mattes (Producer) Esha Hegde Diana Clark Anusha Ghosh Victoria Halsey Rohit Swain Patrick Anderson Emily Jensen Saanvi Somani Music: Opening Track: Ketsa - Where We Are (http://bit.ly/2nKJWaW) Closing Track: Above and Below - Never Forget (http://bit.ly/2nNfw7Q)

January 16 2022 | Imran Siddiqui | Justice News | Mahdi Ali did not grow up like a so-called typical kid, who bikes, goes to school, has fun with friends hanging out or just playing video games, nor did he go to college, he did get his GED but not in the way you might think. Because for the past 11 years, he's been figuring out how to grow up and survive in different prisons across the state of Minnesota. He had to grow up fast. He had no choice. Mahdi Ali was convicted as a teenager, for triple murders in Minneapolis that occurred on the night of January 6 in 2010, Murders that he claims he did not commit. Mahdi says despite his numerous efforts to reach out to Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison and his office, including the conviction review unit, no body has responded to his requests so far even when the facts are absolutely clear. The actual accomplice, Ahmed Ali, who was with another unknown person during the time of the robbery, implicated Mahdi Ali at that time, but recently, in a shocking move, Ahmed Ali recanted his statement. This happened on camera while Tom Lyden of Fox 9 Minnesota was interviewing Ahmed Ali in regards to Mahdi's case. Even in the light of such a revelation, the state is not responding to Mahdi which makes him feel that once again the justice system of his own state of Minnesota will let him down. Mahdi also says that the Somali American community in Minneapolis has been mislead by the state convincing them to believe a false narrative about the murders in a rush to solve the high profile case and now the state is ashamed knowing they had the wrong guy all this time. Those horrific murders took place at about 7.44 pm. The biggest evidence of Mahdi's innocence, is the actual time stamped video footage from his alibi, which was never used in court. It states 7.41 pm. Mahdi has maintained his innocence since the beginning because Mahdi Ali won't admit to a crime he says he did not commit. It's been over a decade now and he has never changed his story, and it fits the facts. Who is telling the truth? Did Mahdi Ali's story change this time? Find out on this episode of FairPlay on Justice News - Where Justice Has No Color. | Imran Siddiqui is the managing editor at Justice News and the author of The JBlog. Email - imran@jnews.network or Catch his podcast FairPlay on j107 Justice Radio Discover More on JusticeForMahdiAli.Com |  FairPlay is brought to you by Justice News Warrior Patrons and Justice News Super Patrons

On this week's episode of The Rural Woman Podcast, you'll meet Naima Dhore. Naima is a first-generation farmer, activist and educator committed to look after mother earth and community building. She is the Program Director at Somali American Farmers Association and owner of Naima's Farm LLC, where she supports the next generation of Somali American farmers. Naima is passionate about organic farming and inspiring young people to become future farmers, specifically people from immigrant communities in Minnesota. For full show notes including links in today's show, head on over to WildRoseFarmer.com https://wildrosefarmer.com/121 (https://wildrosefarmer.com/121) LIVE - The Rural Woman Podcast Community Chat on Wisdom | https://fb.me/e/4rPC3XXSJ (Learn More) Like and Follow our Facebook Page | https://www.facebook.com/theruralwomanpodcast (Here) Join The Rural Woman Podcast Community on Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/groups/theruralwomanpodcast (Here) Get Patron-Only Extended Content & Bonus Episodes |https://open.acast.com/public/patreon/fanSubscribe/2908106 ( Listen Here) Support my work on Patreon | https://wildrosefarmer.com/the-rural-woman-podcast/patreon/ (Learn More) Patreon Executive Producer | Sarah R. | https://happinessbytheacre.ca/ (Happiness by The Acre) Editing | Max Hofer |https://www.instagram.com/mixbaer_studio/ ( MixBär Studio) Order The 2022 Cultivating Capital Course | https://the-rural-woman-podcast.captivate.fm/cultivatingcapitalcourse (Click Here) Shop our Show Sponsors | https://wildrosefarmer.com/2020/05/21/show-sponsors/ (Here) Before You Buy The Mic | Podcast Coaching | https://wildrosefarmer.com/before-you-buy-the-mic-podcast-coaching/ (Learn More) Positively Farming Media | a hub for creators in the food & agriculture space | https://www.subscribepage.com/positivelyfarmingmedia (Learn More)

Kota sits down with Max Ward to discuss his book about the Japanese state's effort to suppress revolutionary movements and ideologically convert their participants through the Peace Preservation Law in the 1920s & 30s. We begin our interview by discussing the elusive concept of “Kokutai” (national polity or national essence) through a metaphor of Ghost in the Machine, the ideology of imperial sovereignty that animated the Japanese state and its application of the PPL.  While the law was intended to criminalize anybody who sought to “alter the kokutai,” because of the term's ambiguity,  the legislators and state officials had to interpret it on a case by case basis. The previous scholars have interpreted this ambiguity as a problem that should not have been brought into the legal rationality of the law.  However, Dr. Ward argues that it was this very ambiguity that constituted the logic of imperial sovereignty and imperial ideology which stipulated that Japan shall be governed by “a line of Emperors unbroken for ages eternal.” We then trace the change in the applications of this law from outright suppression of anarchists, communists, and anti-colonial activists to their “rehabilitation” and ideological conversion, known as "Tenkō" (literally "falling over" or "changing direction") where tens of thousands of activists renounced revolutionary politics and declared their support for Japanese imperialism and fascism as loyal imperial subjects, while reinforcing the image of the imperial sovereign's supposed benevolence towards its wayward subjects.  He challenges the claim that this seemingly benign use of ideology to rehabilitate political criminals suggests a “janus faced” character of the prewar criminal justice system. Rather, it shows that power operates through both coercion and manufacturing of consent, as many converts supposedly chose to convert on their own volition through guidance and assistance by community groups like the Imperial Renovation Society which acted as what Louis Althusser calls Ideological State Apparatuses. By citing a similar program used against a group of Somali American men in the mid-2010's, he argues that how the PPL was applied is by no means unique to Japan, but universal in how power operates through both repression and ideology. We discuss how the notion of “Japanese Spirit” and the supposed uniqueness of Japanese culture were mobilized in the mass conversation of JCP activists.  We ask whether the party grappled sufficiently with the national question, as shown in the conversion of its leaders Sano Manabu & Nabeyama Sadachika into “socialism in one country,” an appropriation of Stalin's argument for defence of the Soviet Union into a type of national socialism, as well as how some historians reproduced this discourse.  We discuss how the law was applied in the colonies, what its history tells us about the rise of fascism in Japan and its relationship with liberalism, and how the Japanese state sought to popularize tenkō as part of the mass mobilization during WWII We conclude our interview by discussing topics such as how the legacy of thought policing influenced the development of police power in post-WWII Japan, the representation of tenkō in Endo Shusaku's novel Silence and its film adaptation by Martin Scorsese, the similarity between tenkō and the rightward drift by former leftists today as seen in the online discourse about “red patriotism,” and how the emperor system works in contemporary Japan. Intro Music: Cielo by Huma-HumaOutro Music: Parabola Divanorium by Paraj Bhatt Donate on GoGetFunding.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/againstjapanism)

Somali-American role model and activist Halima Aden is remarkable. On this very inspiring episode, she tells Leomie what it was like being photographed in the arms of white celebrities as a baby in Africa, why her mother smashed her homecoming crown and after a highly publicised exit, why she walked away from fashion at the peak of her career.  Halima Aden was born and raised in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where her family fled to escape the civil war. After landing in the US, Halima began blazing her trail, becoming the first Muslim model to wear a hijab in the Miss Minnesota USA pageant, which led to covers on Allure, Teen Vogue and British Vogue. Follow @Leomieanderson & @Halima on instagram and ROLE MODEL podcast right here, so you never miss an episode.We'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on Role Model, head to rolemodelpod.com now to feed back. A Somethin' Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

English at school, Somali at home, Arabic on weekends. This is how Sahra Ali came of age. A storyteller by nature and writer by trade, her recent piece about forging a Somali American identity in the Midwest truly spoke to us. She joins us on this episode of AMP to speak about words, 9/11, and her personal evolution. Born in a tiny village in northeast Somalia devoid of electricity and brimming with war, Sahra's family eventually followed her father to the U.S., where he'd moved eight years earlier. Introduced to the country by way of New York City, she walks us through the stark transition to her new life in Jersey City and its banding together of various Muslims. The moment she realized Americans couldn't properly pronounce Sahra she became Sarah—a name and a persona she maintained until early adulthood, even amongst her family. Despite witnessing the traumatic events and aftermath of September 11th, Sahra was young and from a culture focused on survival. So while her dad reacted by moving the family to Ohio, her natural, almost inherited psychological response was to disconnect entirely from the trauma. She shares her diplomatic and perhaps late-onset approach at self discovery, testing out freedoms while still under the confines of a traditional Somali upbringing. And how she had a cheerful but very different experience than the Americans, her “non-immigrant” siblings. Finally we delve into words—beautiful, evocative, consequential words. As a young woman who won Quran recitation competitions, taught herself to read & write in Somali, and took her journal everywhere, the profession seems to have chosen her rather than the other way around. Now a writer, poet, and diversity & equity consultant, she makes a living documenting stories and facilitating racial literacy. She recites some of the joyful Quran as well as a Shakespearean sonnet, natch, and we muse about the day when an Arabic surah will be as ubiquitous in America as “Amazing Grace.” This episode was recorded in March 2021. Check out the article that resonated so strongly with our host and so many other kinds of Muslims. And find out more about Sahra and her other work here. American Muslim Project is a production of Rifelion, LLC. Writer and Researcher: Lindsy Gamble Show Edited by Mark Annotto and Asad Butt Music by Simon Hutchinson Hosted by Asad Butt Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After spending much of his childhood in a refugee camp in Kenya, Yahya Noor, of Tawakal Halal Cafe in East Boston,  has a perspective that has proved useful in navigating the COVID-19 crisis. In this episode, we hear from him about his unique experience as a refugee and Somali-American, the food he serves at his family-run restaurant, and why he thinks community is the key to resilience.    One of our favorite spots, Celeste in Union Square, is offering TFL listeners 10% off all takeout orders! Whether you want to get cozy with their famous Peruvian creamy chicken stew, or pretend you are on a warm and sunny vacation with a fresh ceviche, Celeste has you covered, just use code TFL10 at checkout! www.celesteunionsquare.com