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UPDATED: Fair coverage of Somali immigrants in Tennessee?
Posted By katie allison granju
Full disclosure from Katie before you read the following blog post:
-I grew up in Bedford County (where the Shelbyville Times Gazette is published), although I haven’t lived there for 25 years
-Many members of my family live and work in the small community where this newspaper is published
-A member of my non-immediate family who lives in Bedford County once sued the newspaper
-My mother was editor of this newspaper in the late 70s/early 1980s
-I would never presume to write/report a straight news story on Brian Mosely’s reporting because of the fact that I’ve blogged -basically editorialized - about his reporting on immigration issues.
Over and out-
KAG
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Shelbyville Times-Gazette reporter Brian Mosely has made his views on Muslims clear in his writing on his personal blog and in his postings on websites like Free Republic.
So it was, perhaps, surprising that he was the reporter tapped to pen the small-town daily’s recent series on Somali resettlement in Bedford County. The series was billed as straight news coverage, but Mosely’s opinions on the matter are clear in this op-ed on the issue which the paper ran in tandem with the series.
Some quotes from the op-ed:
Over the past few years, this community has given a helping hand and opened their arms to the new arrivals from Somalia.
In return, many of these refugees have given Shelbyville the finger.
When I began researching this story about the Somalis, I knew it would be controversial. We were aware that many in Shelbyville were having serious concerns about hundreds of Sunni Muslims moving here.
But as I began to talk with officials and others about our new neighbors, I was stunned by the reaction. Practically every person I spoke with locally said they had done everything possible to help out the refugees in adjusting to their new home and were treated very badly in return.
On the other hand, some I contacted for background on this story seemed to be so blinded by political correctness that they would excuse any behavior, no matter how upsetting or disruptive, as “part of their culture.”
Did anyone involved in integrating these folks into American society stop to think that many in the heartland of America might not share this overly optimistic and myopic view of cultural diversity?
Suddenly introducing a society that is literally hundreds of years behind the times in the ways of hygiene, mannerisms, culture and the treatment of women into 21st Century America is a recipe for sociological disaster. It is a massive shock to the Somalis and doesn’t do the local communities any favors either.Indeed, if this was Star Trek, this action would be considered a major violation of the Prime Directive.
It also doesn’t help that the most common image of Somalis in American popular culture is from the Ridley Scott film “Black Hawk Down,” which depicts them as brutal, wild-eyed fanatics slaughtering U.S. troops in the name of Allah and barbaric warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.
Fair and balanced?
Jan 4th, 2008
I can’t imagine what a hard adjustment that is for both the Somalis and the people of that county.
It is very clear that Brian Mosely has an agenda to advance and has found easy prey, a small vulnerable refugee community. His reporting was based on his wicked racist views of other people and supported by lies and fabrications. In my opinion, the fault lies with Shelbyville Times-Gazette which gave Brian Mosely a platform to advance his hate message against helpless Somali refugees.
Evidently you people don’t live here in Shelbyville and don’t understand the situation at all . . . so your opinion is kind of invalid and pointless.
Brian did a great job on his articles and tried to get the Somali community to participate and give their views but yet they didn’t. They refuse to be a part of the community or to respect the citizens here . . . that is all to it. Its not any issue with racism or us picking on some small minority . . . it’s the fact that we constantly have to deal with their rude behavior and them snubbing us as inferior and infidels while we are asked to bend over backwards for them. It is just getting old . . .
Jax Spike,
It seems you are the person in question here, the very Brain Mosley who has shown a degree of cowardism in his attempts to prey on the hardworking and decent Somali immigrants in Shelbyville. To use the cheapish line of “you don’t live in there, therefore you can’t comment on the realities on the ground” will never warrant an excusse for you to defend the apparent bigotry that Mr. Mosley has presented with all his serial articles.
He is not only a racist but he is also a lier who has written four articles without ever resorting to substantiate even one point. He tried so hard to find some weak points against his prey, i.e. the Somalis in Shelbyville, and couldn’t even reveal one except to suggest that the Somalis are cognizent in preserving their cultural values, which in fact, has no problem at all. There are so many people and ethnicities in America with so many cultures and yet they all find hospitable to coexist and exchange their values. That is indeed the beauty of America, which the racist in Brain Mosley has found it as a form of Weakness!
Shame on him and who ever tries to conceal his daylight racist Agenda that is so ostensible to every one of us, except you, probably.
these somalia ppl are HATEFUL,,,,,,,i JUST WISH THAT YOU HAD THEM. I am not a biased person, ,,,,,open to all,,,,,,,these are rude, crude, and hateful,,,,,,mean. we will rue the day that we invited them to our country. they hate us and our country. brian (not brain) is most definitely NOT a racist and not liar (not lier) . sorry, we wish these horrible people lived with you.
Unwelcome in Shelbyville, Tennessee
On December 28, 2007, Brian Mosley of the Shelbyville Times-Gazette wrote an article titled “Drug, gang problems accompany Somalis.” Part of a series, the article was, ostensibly, written to help residents of Shelbyville, TN, understand “the impact of Somalian refugees on Bedford County.” In it, Mr. Mosley wrote what Larry Lowman, chief administrator for Bedford County Sheriff’s Department, told him about Somalis and their interactions with law enforcement. According to Mr. Lowman, there were “a lot of gang related activity with Somalis, imported from Nashville,” but Lowman failed to tell Mr. Mosley exactly what these activities were. With no documented gang related activity by Somalis in Shelbyville to write about, Mr. Mosley then cited the “three primary organized” Somali gangs in Minneapolis, MN (a very safe 940 miles away). By mentioning these alleged gangs in far away lands, Mr. Mosley was, essentially, warning his readership that it was only a matter of time before Shelbyville, with a Somali population of 300, would become another Minneapolis, a city with a Somali population of 40,000, twice the entire population of Shelbyville.
Still convinced there was more to Somalis and law enforcement, Mr. Mosley asked the Shelbyville Chief of Police, Mr. Austin Swing, if he knew of any gang related activity by Somalis. Mr. Austin informed Mr. Mosley that he, too, had heard of gang related activity by Somalis, “but as far as knowing it for a fact, he could not confirm this assertion.” If Mr. Swing, the Chief of Police of Shelbyville, had no factual knowledge of any gang activity by Somalis, why did Mr. Mosley see it fit to give his article the title that he did? Undeterred by the lack of cooperation, Mr. Mosley further prompted the Chief of Police only to be told “his department is constantly receiving calls about suspicious activity in the Somali community from the public.” (Could these be the same phantom activities to which Mr. Lowman referred but failed to enumerate?) The Chief of Police finally tells Mr. Mosley that “in his conversations with people in the community who have dealt with the Somalis, the issue of rudeness has frequently been raised, but it has not caused law enforcement a major concern.” Clearly, the Chief of Police had said all he was going to say on Somalis. They were rude, it seems, but not criminals.
Unhappy with the direction his article took, Mr. Mosley wrote another one the very next day, December 29, 2007. With the title “Somalians respond poorly to local hospitality,” it was to become the grand finale of his series on Somalis. In this latest attempt at defamation, Mr. Mosley wrote of how “over the past few years, this community [meaning Shelbyville] has given a helping hand and opened their arms to the new arrivals from Somalia,” but that these ingrate newcomers had, in return, “given Shelbyville the finger.” Mr. Mosley didn’t explain just how the Somalis had been ungrateful except by citing poor attendance at local English as second language classes. In what seems as a last gasp effort, Mr. Mosley then wrote about a terrible crime that horrified Somalis around the nation and used it as an example of a “difference in culture” that he found unacceptable. Failing to realize, or perhaps intentionally so, that similar or more heinous crimes are committed every day by persons of every race, creed and nationality and that few communities are vilified by the actions of individuals, unless, of course, the community happens to be the weak and voiceless Somali community in Shelbyville, TN.
After having miserably failed to link Somalis in Shelbyville to any gang related activity, insinuated that they are of a different species suffering from a backward culture and a lack of proper hygiene, Mr. Mosley concluded his campaign by writing “one can not expect a community to keep bending over backwards to help folks, only to [be] treated with rudeness, disrespect and hostility. At some point, our welcoming attitude and southern hospitality will turn into resentment and distrust.” Could this be a veiled threat to the vulnerable community? Is Mr. Mosley trying to incite hate crimes against Somalis in Shelbyville? It is most unfortunate that hearsay, insinuations and fallacies pass for journalistic reporting. Even more tragic is that Mr. Mosley, seemingly so lacking in journalistic integrity, probably considers himself to have done a great job exposing poor refugees from a war-torn nation as the ungrateful recipients of Shelbyville’s welcome. “The arrogant sense of entitlement demonstrated by these new additions to Shelbyville must stop,” writes Mr. Mosley, as if arrogance was a trait found in every Somali in the community, and if it were, that it is a crime against the laws of Shelbyville. If Shelbyville’s welcome is anything like that of Mr. Mosley, the Somali community must surely be under siege in that city.
The Somali Community of Nashville condemns the unprovoked and undeserved public defamation of Somalis in Shelbyville, TN, by Brian Mosley and the Shelbyville Times-Gazette. We also advocate the following:
? A prompt and public apology by Brian Mosley and the Shelbyville Times-Gazette to the Somali community in Shelbyville, TN,
? The immediate cessation of the baseless and negative reporting on Somalis,
? A sincere effort to build bridges of understanding between the residents of Shelbyville and the newcomers from Somalia instead of fueling the fires of prejudice and xenophobia,
? And the adherence by the Shelbyville Times-Gazette to journalistic integrity by providing its readership with fair and accurate reporting on sensitive issues relating to community relations and refugee resettlement.
Somali Community of Nashville
Wow, like how you pick out certain parts and draw a conclusion. WOw more somalians making demands. You aren’t citizens therefore you don’t have rights.
Remember 911 anyone?
ALL the hijackers- MURDERERS were MUSLIM!
MUSLIMS raise their fists and shout “Death to America”
MUSLIMS behead innocents in the name of ALLAH,
MUSLIMS “preach” peace yet all the suicide/homicide bombers are MUSLIM.
I leave you with this:
Not all Muslims are terrorists, but MOST TERRORISTS ARE MUSLIM!
Here’s a novel idea, how about everyone reads the ENTIRE series. If you read the first installments you will realize that Mr. Mosely made a few people upset with his equal and unbiased reporting. As far as the posts from “the Somalian Community” if you would have liked to have given your two cents to this series I’m pretty sure your time has passed. Thanks anyway. Also to the “Somalian Community” I would like to remind you that you are speaking to infidels right now. I didn’t think you were allowed to do that? Does that alone warrant a beheading?
I try to be polite to everyone and give them the respectt that they deserve, but for all of the people out there that feel as this story is racist or biased please feel free to visit Shelbyville. My husband runs a local store and deals with people from this group daily. They are rude “which is Fact” and unfriendly. Yet he still smiles and tells them to have a nice day. My children have had God taken out of their schools why should they accomadate theirs. Although my God teaches me to pray for these people. I believe that there are good and bad in every race or culture so I would not even try to say that samalians are worse. I do know that I work 50 hours a week and my husband works 60 hours a week to provide for our family and pay taxes without any help from the government. If they want a chance at a new life then follow the rules I follow every day. Learn how to drive on the right side of the road, learn what respect is, At least make an attempt to a be part of the community you want to live in. It is not fair for anyone to come into the U.S. and think that we owe them. That is not racist it is just good old plain common sense!