Dakota Beacon

"This is frivolousness to the point of delinquency, the hallmark of a society which has neither faith in its own values, nor a determination for them to endure. And a society which does not defend its core-certainties is sooner or later doomed."  (The Independent, Ireland, August 2007, on Muslim immigration to that country)

In Grand Forks a few weeks ago, a consortium of civic, business and local government leaders and Lutheran Social Services presented a documentary film, Welcome to Shelbyville.  It offered a rose-colored view of Somali immigrants transplanted to a small town in the Mid-South.  The impression conveyed was of a narrow-minded, bigoted indigenous population and a sympathetic view of the Somalis.  PBS also aired this film in May.  Mixed in were a great deal of enthusiasm for the then-recent election of Barack Obama and what turns out to have been a distorted depiction of the involvement of a local newspaper reporter, Brian Mosely.  (His version of the events can be viewed at http://www.newenglishreview.org.)

The audience was invited to comment and several people did.  The comments were mixed, with some voicing objection to and concern with this sudden influx of immigrants, others advocating “acceptance” of the exciting new “diversity” and comparing this immigration to that of which their own ancestors were a part.  Naturally, the event spawned some reaction in the form of letters to the editor of the Grand Forks Herald.

The first of these letters cited problems with the immigrants and their perceived refusal to assimilate.  The second argued that we should be happy about this and, by the way, those we call a “minority” today will be a “majority” tomorrow, so we need to “accept” them.  There are some huge problems with the latter view, growing from a lack of understanding of the nature of the conflict between the world of Islam in general, the nature of Somali immigrant experience elsewhere throughout the United States and the traditional Midwestern attitude of welcome.  This is often magnified in communities dominated by academia, such as Grand Forks. 

Because of glaring omissions in the more recent letter and its general tone of naiveté, it seemed not only appropriate, but also wholly necessary to present some crucial facts of experience throughout the West with this phenomenon and of some of Islam’s basic tenets.  (It is important to note that the nation of Somalia is regarded as being 100% Muslim.)

Firstly, should we expect immigrants to assimilate?  If not, then we have some significant problems, insoluble problems.  Shall we establish a parallel America?  A parallel court system, a parallel government?  How shall we do this? The way of life of the adherent to Islam is incompatible with American law.  To begin with, we need to understand that the commandment to the Muslim is to destroy or subjugate the “Infidel”.  By Islamic definition that would include us, America.  The code of law observed by the Muslim faithful is antithetical to Western values and principles and would in our country be unconstitutional.  So first of all, how do we stand with regard to replacing our law with Sharia?  Hal Gershman told me that everyone would have to follow our law.  But he had no answer when I asked about the fate of two young Somali girls who had spoken up, asking us to “accept” them, should they fall into the error of dating young Americans.  Dating, and especially an American, would be forbidden. Would we intervene in “family” business?  Islam maintains that its teachings are the ultimate “authority” to a Muslim.

There are other issues: health issues arising from brutal, time-honored customs such as female genital mutilation (including bacterial and viral infections such as HIV), or the rights of other minorities or groups of people, such as gays.  A young woman at the event stood up and proclaimed her lesbianism, ostensibly as an argument for our need for “diversity”.  It is amazing that this well-traveled, educated woman should be blissfully unaware of the view of her lifestyle choices by Islam and the corrective measures taken in Muslim societies to root it out.  “Corrective rape” – the gang-raping of the errant woman in order to set her “straight” – is often the first course taken.  One shudders to think how, should she survive this “therapy”, a future lapse would be handled. According to officials, there “are no gays” in Iraq.  Either Iraq is right about this or gay people keep it a secret.  Apostasy is punished by death, usually beheading. Pets are considered “unclean”.  (Iran is rounding up pet dogs.) In Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to drive cars. You may not bring a Bible or the depiction of a cross into Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, or for that matter, most Muslim countries.

In most Muslim nations women are not permitted to go out alone but must be in the company of a male relative.  Lashing is recommended for offenders.  Women have one-half of the credibility of a man in court because Islam holds that a woman's mind is inferior.  To seek redress for rape a woman must present four adult male witnesses.  Ask yourself how possible is this?  If a witness were courageous enough to testify he would have stopped or prevented the rape! .  And the usual punishment for adultery - or being raped - is stoning.  We have in America numerous cases of honor killings of young women by husbands, fathers or brothers for behavior deemed “unacceptable” to Islam.  Do we want this kind of “diversity”?  Will America be a better place if we allow immigrants from alien cultures to become a majority?

In Western nations society is breaking down because local laws cannot be enforced. In many streets of London, women - Muslim or not - must not go out without conforming to Muslim dress at the risk of acid being thrown in their faces   Police are unable to intervene in Denmark’s Muslim enclaves to protect citizens.  In England, a woman who was believed by her family to have committed adultery was warned by police to go into hiding because they could not protect her, following a vicious attack on her alleged partner by family members pouring sulfuric acid down his throat and blinding him.  They just told her they were helpless to prevent her murder.

A recent study informs us that 81% of American mosques are advocating jihad. Some 51% actively advocate violent jihad, 30% support it and 19% are somewhat passive [Mordechai Kedar and David Yerushalmi, in a paper entitled “Shari‘a and Violence in American Mosques”].  Somalis, although not exclusively, are implicated in this.  Should Americans be concerned?  But this is only “jihad” as in “terrorist attacks”.  What about the attack on our American life and culture by simple erosion of our natural American rights?

It is significant that the Grand Forks Herald refused to print the letter I submitted.  The reason cited was Mike Jacobs’ discomfort with my “tone” (which was respectful, though straightforward) and my “assertions” as to “what Muslims believe”.  The tenets of the Muslim faith are well known and the facts are documented.  No specifics were disputed by the Herald.  It was just that Jacobs was “uncomfortable” with my opinion.  It is the newspaper’s right to print what it likes.  But it is clearly a warning sign to independent-minded Americans.  Already we see abridgment of our right to be heard or to hear others.  We are now experiencing censorship and de facto loss of our First Amendment right at merely the suggestion that it might “offend” someone should divergent or dissenting opinions be printed.  How much more graphic need we be in defense of American culture and values than by citing this apparent fear of what is now a tiny minority of alien immigrants in this community who refused to become “American” and their short-sighted and narrow-minded promoters? 

I alluded in my letter to the case of one young Somali woman.  Her name is Ayaan Hirsi Ali.  Her story is well known.  She fled Somalia and Islam to escape an arranged marriage.  Her flight took her to the Netherlands, that bastion of freedom and tolerance.  There she put her considerable talent to work for filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, on a project about women under Islam.  This was considered by Muslim imams to be “blasphemous” and a fatwah was issued.  Van Gogh was thus murdered, a note pinned to his chest with a knife, claiming the execution for Allah and announcing that Ali would be next.  She fled the Netherlands.  She is now in America trying to warn us of the dangers of this ideological cult.  Molly Norris, a non-Muslim Seattle cartoonist, who - although she tried to express support for free speech - never even drew a caricature of Mohammed, was accused of this and her death was ordered.  She is now in hiding. No one knows where  - or whether she is.  This is in America.  Salman Rusdhie is in hiding.  The Netherlands Prime Minister Pym Fortuyn was assassinated because his outspoken objection to Muslim homophobia and the increasing tide of Muslim immigration was “unacceptable”.

The fact of our federal and local government involvement in this implantation program should greatly concern us all, not only because of our economic crisis, our unprecedented unemployment dilemma, but because America no longer requires immigration (nor can afford the cost of its support) and the third-world immigration we are seeing today is not assimilating, nor, indeed, assimilable.  It is heavily weighted in anti-American outlook, in contrast with that of a century ago.  We don’t need this. It is destructive of America and if we don’t discuss it now, tomorrow may be too late.  We are fast reaching a critical mass of alien culture in many communities.  “Multiculturalism” is being substituted by our leaders for American values and our own law and Constitution.  Shall Americans choose “diversity” or freedom and American culture?  One must replace the other.  We cannot, by definition, have both.

Americans can better arm themselves and inform themselves.  Read Mark Steyn’s Lights Out and America Alone, Mark Krikorian’s The New Case Against Immigration – Both Legal and Illegal, visit the website, Gates of Vienna, where you can read news feeds and commentary as well as editorial postings.  Don’t be afraid to ask questions about this.  Our communities are being permanently altered, fundamentally, without our consent.  We are being asked to set aside our own way of life and the freedoms that our soldiers have fought to preserve for over 200 years.  We were not ashamed to spill American blood to protect our way of life in the past, we were not afraid to recognize Right and Wrong and take a stand.  Should we falter now?  Is it even sane to tolerate an imported intolerance?  Because by tomorrow we will be farther down the road toward losing our own birthright as free Americans. 

Sally Morris is a member of Americans for Constitutional Government and the Executive Committee of the Valley Tea Party Conservative Coalition.

Editors' Note: READ THIS ANALYSIS - http://www.cis.org/refugee-system-needs-review