Beggars can’t be choosers: Refugee food stamp recipients demand Islam-approved options

It seems as unlikely as it does crazy, but it did happen, refugees living in America have demanded Islam-approved food stamp options. What’s more, as the Obama administration works to relocate more Muslim “refugees” into U.S. communities, things like this are bound to happen again.

In recent months an Islamic woman’s “advocacy” group began demanding that a Minnesota county change its food stamp policies in order to require a low-price, halal food shelf. The Isuroon Project said there was a “desperate need” for a culturally specific halal food shelf in the metro area, at a local food bank, which would have cost taxpayers more than $150,000, the Political Insider reported.

“Isuroon has reached out for Hennepin County’s support for the Ethnic Food Shelf, and has cooperated fully with the Hennepin County commissioner’s office and provided the county with their required qualifications,” the group said in a statement. “The commissioner’s office has ignored Isuroon’s requests for review and the community needs to respond to let the public know what has transpired.”

On its website (of course the group has one), Isuroon describes itself as “a grassroots nonprofit organization working to promote the well-being and empowerment of Somali women in Minnesota and beyond. Led by the very women we serve, our group has earned a trusted place in the community because of our cultural insight and collaborative approach.”

The group says its main functions are:

• We build trusting relationships within our community. We cultivate new social networks to encourage conversation and concern about the well-being of Somali women and girls.
• We conduct Community-Based Participatory Research [to create] partnerships with our Somali neighbors to investigate the community’s needs, to create plans for meeting those needs, and to measure the success of our efforts.
• We improve the health literacy of Somali women and their families through health-education support groups, workshops, and community gatherings.
• We advocate changes in government policy to address the inequality that perpetuates poverty among Minnesota’s African immigrants.
• We provide emotional and logistical support for Somali women struggling with poverty, illness, social isolation, and domestic challenges.
• We build bridges between Somali women and the professionals best equipped to serve their medical and social needs.

Apparently the group’s activities does not include reading the U.S. Constitution, the First Amendment of which prohibits Congress (and, by its supremacy clause, state governments as well) from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” Requiring Minnesota residents to pay for Muslim-specific dietary needs would negate that portion of the amendment (as would implementing a rule or law requiring Jewish food stamp recipients to have access only to Kosher foods, and so forth).

And did you recognize some of the Left-wing political key words in the group’s policy statement?

• We advocate change in government policy to address the inequality that perpetuates poverty among Minnesota’s African immigrants. 

Can you imagine Irish, German, French and other European immigrants to the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries demanding that the federal government “address the inequality” of their poverty? Haven’t Americans already addressed that simply by permitting these African migrants to come to the U.S. in the first place, where by virtue of simply being here they have a much better chance at making a good life than where they came from?

• We build bridges between Somali women and the professionals best equipped to serve their medical and social needs.

What about the needs of Somali men? And are Somali women somehow being denied access to “professionals” who would “serve their medical and social needs?” If so, how so? What sort of specific “social needs” is this group talking about? Are American citizens partaking in these social needs while simultaneously excluding Somali women?

And besides, aren’t American taxpayers already doing enough simply by providing all Somalis – and other migrants, for that matter – a range of benefits including food, healthcare, education, and housing? How much assistance did these folks get with these “needs” in their home countries?

Americans are some of the most generous people on the planet, yet we’re constantly being told that we don’t do enough, don’t give enough, don’t pay enough, and don’t help out enough. It’s no wonder a guy like Donald Trump, who comes along and says we ought to do for ourselves first for a change, is rising to the top of this year’s presidential race.

Sources:

ThePoliticalInsider.com

Isuroon.org