Somalis in Twin Cities shaken by sex-trafficking charges

Wednesday 24 November 2010
By Erik Eckholm

MINNEAPOLIS -- When the girl now identified as Jane Doe 2 came under their control in 2006, at age 12, the Somali Outlaws and the Somali Mafia gangs set a firm rule: Their members could have sex with her for nothing; others had to pay with money or drugs.

Repeatedly over the next three years, in apartments, motel rooms and shopping center bathrooms in Minnesota and Tennessee, the girl performed sexual acts for gang members and paying customers in succession, according to a federal indictment that charged 29 Somalis and Somali-Americans with drawing young girls into prostitution over the past decade, using abuse and threats to keep them in line, and other crimes. The suspects, now age 19 to 38, sported nicknames like Hollywood, Cash Money and Forehead, prosecutors said.

The allegations of organized trafficking, unsealed this month, were a deep shock for the tens of thousands of Somalis in the Minneapolis area, who fled civil war and famine to build new lives in the United States and now wonder how some of their youths could have strayed so far. Last week, in quiet murmurings over tea and in an emergency public meeting, parents and elders expressed bewilderment and sometimes outrage -- anger with the authorities for not acting sooner to stop the criminals, and with themselves for not saving their young.

The indictment was the latest in a series of jolting revelations starting in 2007, when a spate of deadly shootings in the Twin Cities made it impossible to ignore the emergence of Somali gangs. Then, came the discovery that more than 20 men had returned to Somalia to fight for Islamists, bringing what many Somalis feel has been harsh and unfair scrutiny from law enforcement and the news media.

"And now it's this sex ring," said Zuhur Ahmed, 25, who discusses Somali issues on her weekly program on KFAI community radio in Minneapolis. "Everybody is wondering what's going to be the next thing."

Cawo Abdi, a Somali sociologist at the University of Minnesota, said that past surges in concern about troubled youths had not been followed up with money and programs to help them. "This is viewed as such a huge scandal and outrage," she said of the new charges, "that it has to lead to some kind of action."

Many Somali immigrants are adapting well to the U.S., as demonstrated on a major Islamic holiday last week when, in what has become an annual ritual, thousands streamed from morning prayers to enjoy the giant indoor amusement park at the Mall of America. Yet poverty remains common, and their wrenching history creates some special obstacles for Somali families.

Source: New York Times