I am a somali advocate and also the uncle of the Mr.Abdulkadir Hashi, that Jim Graham is referring to this post.
I would like to respond to the false allegation that Mr.Graham aggressively pursued against Mr.Sabri. He simply took advantage of a misunderstanding between a somali tenant of Mr. Sabri's. when i showed Mr.Hashi the e-mail that Jim Graham posted today, he was very disturbed by Mr.Graham's vindictive behavior toward Mr.Sabri. Both Mr.Hashi and I, along with many other Somalis, are very thankful to Mr.Sabri for giving us the opportunity to open our businesses in Minneapolis. It is Mr. Sabri who opened the fist Somali mall in North America. It is also Mr. Sabri who opened the first mosque for the Somalis. It is also Mr.Sabri who initiated and has held the Somali Independence Day activities for 2 consecutive years in Minneapolis. it is also Mr.Sabri who stepped forward to help the families of the Somali cab drivers who were killed. It is also Mr.Sabri who has invested his money into ownership of a monthly local Somali newspaper so that affecting Minneapolis and their community. I guess you have to be close to Mr.Sabri's organization to know how much he contributes to the Somali community. You would also undrstand that he is not only a landlord,but a brother to us. when some of us have financial problems he is ready to step in to assist us by forgiving past due balances and/or future rents. In fact,he recently donated money to all of the Somali graduates for their accomplishment. I don't know that many non-Somalis who understand our culture and differences the way Mr.Sabri does. I would like to repectfull disagree with all of these allegations that were brought forward by Mr.Graham. After talking to Mr.Hashi,he plans to personally respond to Mr.Graham's Mis-advocacy of himself and his people. I know that the disagreement was not over Mr.Hashi's questioning about the parking at the new development and Karmel Square, but rather an unrelated issue between Mr.Hashi and Mr.Sabri has been resolved and all of the lanlord/tenancy differences have bee worked out. So I would like Mr.Graham to stop pretending that he is the savior of the Somali people. I would also ask that he focus on his own neighborhood and how the unfortunate were taken advantage of. Abdul Mohamed Sixth Ward Business Owner,Somali Advocate __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
