Somalis All Over
07/18/2017
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In light of recent events in Minneapolis, may I recycle an old column?  Thanks.

Somalis All Over; Taki's Magazine, August 18 2011.  Extract:

Any population has a lot of variation, and I have no doubt there are many law-abiding and industrious Somalis. When you take in 4,000, or 16,000, or 100,000, though, the law of averages is going to kick in—as it kicks in unmistakably in Somalia itself. Human-capital-wise, the Somali averages are simply terrible.

Things are rough in Somalia: chronic civil war, recurrent famine, disease, piracy. Private persons who are distressed by the Somalis’ plight should by no means be discouraged from doing anything they can think of to relieve the distress over there.

The reason nations have governments, though, is to protect and advance the interests of their own citizens. How the interests of Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders have been advanced by having thousands of Somalis settled among them is not clear to me. Perhaps the State Department could send someone around to explain.

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