Sudanese Community in Maine

[WorriedAmerican]

'Why is this happening?'

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story ... 9&ac=PHnws

Portland's Sudanese community expressed frustration Monday with what members see as the city's failure to curtail growing violence involving Sudanese victims.

They voiced their concerns in response to Sunday's fatal shooting of James Angelo, 27, the son of one of Maine's most prominent Sudanese leaders.

Angelo, an unarmed security guard at Mercy Hospital, was shot in a hospital parking lot along Winter Street shortly after 4 a.m. as he returned to work after a break. He died later that morning.

An autopsy Monday by the state Medical Examiner's Office concluded that Angelo died from a gunshot wound in the area between his upper back and neck.

Police, who have yet to identify suspects in the shooting, said multiple shots were fired. They have not said whether Angelo was the victim of a random attack.

Witnesses described a possible interaction between Angelo and two people before the shots and reported that two people fled in opposite directions after the shots, according to police.

On Monday, a delegation of 11 members of the Sudanese community met at City Hall with Mayor Ed Suslovic, City Manager Joseph Gray, acting Police Chief Joseph Loughlin and Rachel Talbot Ross, president of the NAACP's Portland branch and the city's director of equal opportunity and multicultural affairs.

In a letter to officials, the Sudanese leaders said they no longer view Portland as a safe city. They said that police have not made arrests in several incidents of violence against Sudanese victims, particularly over the last two years.

The letter listed seven unsolved cases, including a shooting in December of a 20-year-old Sudanese man who was standing outside a Somali community center, and an incident on March 12 in which an unidentified man fired four shots into the home of a Sudanese family on Hammond Street. That shooting prompted the family to leave the city.

"The Sudanese community lives under fear of many things, one of which is the lives of its members, and second, for its inability to control the upbringing of its children," the letter said. (?????)

Loughlin said he could not compare the level of crime affecting the Sudanese community with that of other groups in the city because he did not have statistics available. He said police are working hard to solve the cases listed in the letter and plan to make an arrest in one of them.

The letter was delivered on behalf of Angelo Okot, the victim's father and president of the Sudanese Community Association of Maine. Okot described the group as having 2,000 members. He did not attend the meeting at City Hall.

Earlier in the day, Okot said he had thought Portland would be a good place for his refugee family to settle.

"Now somebody jealously (???) came to rob my lovely son from me to kill him without cause," he said.

After a memorial service for his son was held in the parking lot at Mercy Hospital, Okot said he had heard that his son was threatened at work on Aug. 16 in an incident that involved police and a group of young people.

Okot said Angelo reported the incident to his supervisor, but Okot worried that not enough was done to ensure his son's safety. "I believe these kids were looking for him," Okot said.

The hospital did not return a call seeking comment on the Aug. 16 incident. It has referred questions about the shooting to police.

Police said the Aug. 16 incident is just one of many factors in their investigation.

Loughlin said police are still working around the clock on the case but have not received many tips. He repeated a call for the public's help.

Police are looking for two people who were on Winter Street at the time of the shooting. One was described as a short black man in his early 20s with a slight build and short hair. The man appeared to be clean-shaven and was wearing black pants and a white hooded sweatshirt with a design...or print.

The other person was described only as wearing a light-colored shirt or jacket.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact them at 874-8479 or at police.portlandmaine.gov, by clicking on the citizen input link.

Loughlin said he does not believe the Sudanese population is being targeted. "This affects our entire community," he said. "This insults our entire community."

The tone of Sudanese leaders was more conciliatory after the meeting at City Hall.

"It's not really that we feel bad about the police," said Edward Laboke, a relative of Angelo. "We feel, 'Why is this happening?'"

Laboke said no assumptions could be made about whether the perpetrators of violence against Sudanese residents are from the Sudanese community or outside of it.

"As long as he is a criminal or she is a criminal, we will not care if they are Sudanese or not," he said.

Suslovic said the meeting included discussions about employment opportunities and activities for Sudanese youths.

Many Sudanese youths feel alienated from Portland's mainstream culture, said Alfred Jacob, 25, who leads a youth program in Kennedy Park that's funded by the Portland Housing Authority.

"Our youth are not engaged," he said. "We are not part of the city."

Angelo's family is among the 6,000 Sudanese refugees who have resettled in Maine. The figure, provided by Catholic Charities Maine, the only refugee resettlement agency in the state, refers only to refugees for whom Maine was the first home in the United States.

Sudanese resettlement in Maine continues today, although the numbers are small, said Arian Giantris, director of the refugee and immigration services program.

The Sudanese resettlement in Maine began in the mid-1990s, surged in 2000 because of conflict in the Darfur area of Sudan, and has waned in the past few years, said Wilfreid Plalum, a Sudanese community leader who is related to Angelo.

A significant population lives in the Lewiston area, and Sudanese are living in other parts of the state, but Portland has the largest number, he said.

On Monday morning, several dozen people gathered for the memorial service in the parking lot where Angelo was shot. His mother, Mary Tutuliano, who works in the hospital's housekeeping department, collapsed and was helped to her feet by hospital staff members.

As she walked into the lot, she sang a mourning song in the Acholi language, which is spoken by tribes in southern Sudan and in Uganda.

The family's supporters also sang songs in Arabic, a shared language in Sudan. The songs included a Christian hymn, "In Heaven with God." The song speaks about people's ignorance in contrast to God's power to know the truth, according to family members who translated the lyrics.

"No one knows about anything that happened," the mourners sang, "but with God there is nothing for him to know."

************************************************** ***

no assumptions could be made about whether the perpetrators of violence against Sudanese residents are from the Sudanese community or outside of it.

10 to 1, it's was their own people that are doing it.

they "fear many things, one of which is the lives of its members, and second, "for its inability to control the upbringing of its children,"

What does that mean?

Many Sudanese youths feel alienated from Portland's mainstream culture,

Of course they do!!! I would if I was in a foreign country and did NOT assimiliate I would not feel comfortable in the countries Mainstream culture!! Again, it's all our fault, we just SAVED THEIR LIVES from their country's savagery!!! Complain, complain, complain...

[WorriedAmerican]

Here's the comment I left:

People here talking about immigrant this and immigrant that. They are NOT immigrants!! They are refugees!! You want to talk about ignorance?
They are here legally and DON'T have to take our American oath.
They don't love America or pledge our flag! That's the, "non assimilation" part, that makes them feel "not a part of the communities! It's not our fault, they keep to themselves.
Most illegals and refugees that pick Maine to resettle to, do it for our most generous, over the top, welfare system. That's partly why the state is going under financially.
BaldArchie makes an Executive Order welcoming Illegal's too! Don't us Maine people have a right to say who the want, and how much they want, of our welfare going to??
Catholic Charities needs to foot the bill, not Mainers. We can hardly pay our taxes as it is. That would also help with us accepting them more and not looking at the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ signs.
As this country goes, more, and more, bankrupt, I predict it will get worse for illegal's, which it should and refugees, which it shouldn't.
This is NOT racist, bigotted, or xenophobe thoughts. I have no problem with LEGAL immigrants, they cause no problems, settle in quick, and THEY are proud to be Americans. They also can speak English. Too bad our country doesn't follow The Constitution....

[Justonehero]

We are such a kind and compassionate country aren't we? If these poor Sudanese don't feel safe here I guess they could go back to sudan.