Academic

More on Kayse Jama's op-ed re alienation among Somali-American youth

By Tung Yin

A few days ago, I linked to an Oregonian op-ed by Kayse Jama about the potential alienation felt by some Somali-American youth that had the potential to lead to radicalization.  That op-ed has generated about two dozen comments on-line, nearly all of which are harshly critical of Jama.  Here's a sampling:

Did we fail him? Ah, we allowed his parents to immigrate here with him, we were so racist, his parents were able to get great jobs and give him a good life, darn we were racist again! And darn it, its our fault he decided he wanted to kill hundreds of people!

* * *

Not only am I surprised to read this apologist for terrorism, I am surprised to read it in the 21st Century. Some may remember when US educators and psychologists developed the mantra that there is no such thing as a bad kid, only a bad society. From that we developed several generations of parents who took no responsibility for their children, and children who took no responsibility for their own behavior. Although the idea was not to label a kid for fear of traumatizing the little darling, we have instead put lots of letters after their names indicitating all the things that are wrong with them, as a manner of describing why they aren't responsible. Unfortunately, Mr. Jama is continuing that problem here and in his organization.

* * *

So, poor Mohamed Osman Mohamud was feeling "alienated" when he made the cell phone call that would supposedly kill hundreds of Americans at Portland's CHRISTMAS tree lighting ceremony? Oh, boo hoo.

Kayse Jama, I'm feeling alienated too. I don't know if I've reached the point of killing hundreds of people yet, but I certainly rightfully feel alienated.

I'm alienated because our city leaders insist on calling the CHRISTMAS tree at Pioneer Courthouse Square a "holiday" tree.
I'm alienated because our city leaders paid for and allow an illegal day labor site for illegal aliens at 240 NE MLK.
I'm alienated because our largest regional newspaper, The Oregonian, editorially supports illegal immigrants.
I'm alienated because every time I venture out in public I hear Spanish being spoken.
I'm alienated because our jobs and natural resources are being shipped overseas.
I'm alienated because our federal government refuses to protect our borders.
I'm alienated because our federal government refuses to jail and fine employers of illegal aliens.
I'm alienated because our federal government, with the American unemployment rate at 10%, continues to allow one million foreigners legal residency EVERY year.

Kayse Jama, Mohamed Osman Mohamud and his fellow Somalis are no more alienated than I am. I did not attempt to kill hundreds of people, Mohamed Osman Mohamud did.
Alienation is not the reason.

I don't quite get why so many people think that Jama was merely excusing Mohamed Mohamud's alleged conduct or blaming the U.S.  What I think is happening here is that these commentators are conflating two separate issues -- having some power to keep something from happening, versus deserving something that happens.

If I park my car outside a store and leave the engine running and door unlocked while I run inside to buy something, I do not deserve to have my car stolen.  If someone does drive off with my car and is later caught, that person should be prosecuted for joyriding/auto theft/etc. because he/she made a knowing choice to commit a crime.  However, it would be still better if I turned off the engine (and not just because idling wastes gas) and took the key with me to avoid having the car stolen in the first place.

In the same way, if Mohamed Mohamud was not entrapped into committing the crime, and he is convicted, then he fully deserves to be punished, because that would mean that the system has concluded that he made a conscious choice to break the law.  But that doesn't mean that society wouldn't have been better off if his seeming radicalization could have been avoided in the first place through the means that Jama discusses.  I'm not saying that we could have just snapped our fingers and prevented the alienation; it may be that we don't know how to do so.  But it does seem like a good idea to look into it, because if we can take steps to prevent alienation, it might be a lot cheaper than attempting undercover sting operations, or worse yet, dealing with the aftermath of a successful act of terrorism.

Full post as published by The Yin Blog on January 06, 2011 (boomark / email).