Alright – so, I am sooooo trying to retire from advocacy but these publicly elected officials keep pissing me off. They want to be elected, write whatever policy they want, and we shall have no right to say nada about it. How do you like them apples?
The Somali DFL Caucus had what they called listening session in Cedar/Riverside today (April 12, 2025). The flyer said it starts at 4pm. So, I went there at 4pm. Guess what? doors were locked and no one was there. The first thing they start is lying about the start time. Yuk. They finally show up and start the so-called listening session an hour and 15 min late. Then they praise themselves, tell us how wonderful they are and how yuk yuk the other side is, yada yada. They give the microphone to school board members, city council, the new NE Mpls senator, house representatives, Somali caucus people, on and on. I thought this was a listening session. You just wait….and drum roll pls… then they say we are waiting for Sen. Fateh who was late almost 2 hours. This is the guy who wants to be the boss of Minneapolis. He can’t even show up on-time for what appeared to be a meeting for him.
Sen. Fateh says few useless and untrue words like – we are united. Who exactly is united, Mr. divide autism families. Then he says… Let me think, nothing to write home about or significant. Then he leaves without hearing from one single person.
The newly elected MN DFL chair was there and told us how the name of democratic farmers & labor name came out. He mentioned Sen. Paul Wellstone. They always mention him, but no one has ever measured to Sen. Paul Wellstone – he was a true human being who was approachable, humble and did his job with humility. I have never seen any dfler like him – ever. Then he said the DFL party is losing the farmers. What now? how does this relate to Somalis. We do not farm. How about you tell us what the ones already elected have done and/or will do about – oh I don’t know, autism, opioids crises, affordable housing, home ownership and education disparities. Nope, they did not talk about anything that is important to this community.
I have always wondered why the Somalis who have worked very hard for this party never graduate from community outreach and getting more votes. How come they don’t end up in the administration of the person they campaigned for. Let’s see Simba has been helping the DFL for almost two decades. Why can’t these crappy politicians hire him as an advisor or in their administration. Oh wait, we are only good for getting the votes not being successful in the dfl party.
The Mpls school board something was there. Let’s see Mpls public schools is soooo bad for black/brown and students with disabilities to the point they are sued by the federal government. The school board association constantly comes to education committees in the capitol and lobbies to suspend students instead of keeping them in the classroom. I tried to ask him why Mpls does not write a dissent opinion to bills like HF 1052 and HF 1436. You see, I am tired of preaching sugar while practicing salt. Mpls public schools despite having more black/brown board members still have horrible education gap and discriminatory practices. Furthermore, the idea of the dflers care about teachers of color shortage, oh please. They controlled all three branches of government until this year for years and did not move this issue significantly. The problem is they know most of us do now follow legislations and policies and believe whatever crap they feed us in Cedar. I sat next to a lovely African American dfl and she listened more than all of these Somali caucus combined. Sheeko iyo hadal baad haysaan, ee dadka dhagaysta. Qabtana howshii la’idiin doortay. Ha noo afmacaanaynina, oo qowda maqashii, waxbana ha qabanin naga daaya.
Waan codaynaa – waan seexanaa. Waan codaynaa – waan seexanaa. Yep.
On a good note, I saw so many people that I have not seen for years. It was yum yum seeing so many Somalis who are doing awesome work for the community. I just wish we learned how to hold elected officials accountable. I was also impressed by the leaders of the Somali DFL Caucus Ali, Ilhan and others. I have friendly unsolicited suggestions:
- Make an election plan for the Somali community each election year.
- Have a list of potential policies and/or funding those that you supported will support and hold them accountable if they do not.
- Get the governor to appoint several Somali lawyers to be judges.
- Help Somali lawyers to run to be county, district, court of appeals and MN supreme court. All of them are up for elections without any competition. If we want justice to be fair then we need to ensure the judges reflect those they judge.
- Be constantly on media to tell people your accomplishments and what you are working on. In fact, I would encourage you to start a podcast and do it weekly.
- Make sure the many young Somali professionals who campaign long and hard are hired in the winner’s administrations.
Thanks so much for what you do Ali and Ilhan!
The above words do not reflect any candidate, agency, or committee.
Idil Abdull – Somali Autism Mom & retired advocate