In a few days, Mohamed Abdi will pack up his family and take his American dreams back to Kenya.
It would be so comfortable to stay. But, at age 30, it's time to go and begin a campaign for parliament.
"I want to be a Martin Luther King for my country," he said.
You can call Abdi courageous or stubborn or a dreamer. But always add this: proud American.
"If I had never come here," said Abdi, "I never would have been able to think about making my dreams come true. In this country, I learned that you don't have to come from a prominent family or be wealthy to run for office. I'm 100 percent American."
Which is not to say he doesn't understand our blemishes.
For example, on Sept. 11, the day before this fall's primary elections, Abdi, a volunteer for Keith Ellison's campaign for Congress, was knocking on doors, reminding people to vote.
One conversation, Abdi said, went something like this:
Abdi: "I'm here to remind you to vote tomorrow in the primary."
Man at door: "I can't believe someone named Mohamed is telling me about voting, especially on Sept. 11. You people are the people who flew planes into buildings."
Abdi: "I had nothing to do with that. Can I ask you what you've done to serve your country?"
Man: "I was with the Postal Service."
Abdi: "I've been a Marine for eight years."
Man: "I'm sorry for what I said."
He's no stranger to the sort of bigotry that he faced at that door. He grew up in Mandera, a cruelly poor region of Kenya filled with people of Somali roots. In Kenya, Somalis are seen as second-class citizens. Basics such as roads are nearly nonexistent. Starvation is a constant. As far back as fifth grade, Abdi, whose family is Somali, resisted the injustices.
"In Kenya, we have something called Presidents Day," he said. "I was in a choir, and we were supposed to learn a song of praise for our president. In the song, there were words like, 'the good father.' " At the time, the corrupt Daniel arap Moi was president of Kenya.
"I would not sing," Abdi recalled. "The teacher wondered why. And I said it's because the president is not a good father."
In the short term, he said, he was suspended from school.
But in the long term, it was the first step on a journey to the United States and citizenship and two hitches in the Marines, which took him to the Afghanistan and Iraqi theaters, and then to Marine recruiting duty in the Twin Cities. That led him to Ellison, whom he greatly admires.
The admiration, it should be noted, is mutual. Ellison is an Abdi fan, as are a lot of Marines, meaning he has a broad base of support -- in the United States.
"I have friends here who want me to run for office in Minnesota," he said. "But I tell them we have many leaders in this country. My people need leaders."
His campaign will begin in earnest in January. The election is in 13 months.
"I'm going to take them the good part of America," he said.
Doug Grow • [email protected]
Source: Star Tribune, Nov 13, 2006