Sunday, March 04, 2018

Maine: Battle over female genital mutilation bill raging « Refugee Resettlement Watch

Maine: Battle over female genital mutilation bill raging « Refugee Resettlement Watch:
Diversity is beautiful alert!
"This is one of those great ‘fun’ political debates you will get to have once the population of Muslims, mostly from East Africa, ‘find their way’ to your state. 
Maine, especially Lewiston, is the Somali capital of the East!...
Here is a bit of the story from the Portland Press Herald just to give you the flavor:
AUGUSTA — There are parts of the world where it has long been common for adult women to slice away girls’ external genital tissue in a bid to dampen their sexual desires.
Though Maine is a long way from anywhere this has traditionally been a problem, a battle is raging among lawmakers about whether the state ought to have a law specifically barring female genital mutilation.
Safiya Khalid
Safiya Khalid: “It is horrible.” But, here’s what I want to know: if the Somalis in Maine are truly refugees why are they going back to Africa for any reason? Isn’t that the place they claim they were “persecuted.”
...One provision in a bill legislators are considering also would make it a felony to take a girl outside Maine to have someone cut her genital tissue without a medical reason, which is already illegal under federal law.
Safiya Khalid, a Somali-American from Lewiston who serves on the city’s library board, said Friday that “old school” women in her community “wouldn’t risk” having the procedure done on a child in Maine, but some might take their daughters back to Africa for it. She doesn’t know anyone who’s had it done, she said, but she thinks it probably has occurred..."
Read on!

No comments: