Somali Gangs in Minniapolis

Many have become increasingly aware of the confrontations that the inhabitants of Somalia continue to face throughout their troublesome lives. While a boost of international aid has indeed reached the African country, the region still faces intense conflicts each day. In the early 1990s, thousands of Somalis fled the country in hopes of beginning new, simpler lives in the promising United States; nearly 32,000 people immigrated into the city of Minneapolis alone. With immigration of a hefty group into an already-established region also comes the crime and violence of the newer population, especially if the group’s presence is unwelcome.

In a 2007 report for the city, an estimated 400 to 500 Somalis were actively involved in gang violence. In only a ten month period, seven Minneapolis-area Somalis were killed, allegedly by some of their fellow countrymen. As the community began to grow progressively more concerned about the area’s gang activity level, local policemen and prosecutors have attempted, without prevail, to catch and try the local Somali gang members. Some of the gangs, like the Somali Hot Boyz and the Somali Mafia, have reportedly intimidated a number of witnesses set to testify against the gangs and have persuaded the witnesses to step down out of fear of reprisal by the gangs.

Gang experts believe some of the factors behind the increase in gang activities in the Minneapolis area can be accredited to the economic and social factors that the Somalis are facing. Whenever there is poverty coupled with a high unemployment rate, there are going to be active gangs in the area. Seeing that many of the cities all across the United States are faced with these same hardships that the Somali gangs are facing, one can see that the likelihood of an increase in gang activities in any poverty-stricken city is quite possible.

The ceasing of gang-related violence and killing is on the forefront of every law officials’ and prosecutors’ minds. Unless American wants to confront and battle a widespread epidemic of gang violence across the nation, all communities should be taking a serious look into limiting the growth of this ever-growing concern.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wires/2009/07/02/minneapolis-struggles-wit_1_ws_241296.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/20/national/main5174345.shtml