Garbage Is What They Call Us Now

Somalis are ‘garbage.’

That’s what the president of the United States said about my people on December 3rd. Although I’m Canadian, that statement was everywhere and took over my social media. The following month was a daze because the internet exploded with racist rhetoric that can only be described as Nazi-level.

I’m used to my identities being attacked, whether that’s me being Muslim or Black. It’s unfortunate to say, but I got used to the dehumanization. I got used to seeing and hearing the most deplorable things imaginable. However, this was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The internet in general has gotten worse. More polarizing, more negative, and violent.

This essay isn’t about defending my people or my country. The Horn of Africa is a region that has existed for thousands of years, and if people choose to comment only on a few decades of instability, that’s their perspective. However, what I hope to highlight is the true reasons behind Somalia’s challenges.

This is an essay about how we’ve created a culture in our society where that level of racism is accepted. I am angry that a sitting president of the most powerful nation in the world can go around spewing such dangerous rhetoric. Most of all, I’m angry that I live in a world where I have to defend my right to exist.

It’s inconceivable, the injustice.

It’s quite fascinating to me how white people get so mad at people of colour, as if they haven’t spent hundreds of years destabilizing their countries, and get mad when those people have to flee to build a better life. They never want to hear about how colonization destabilized so many countries, and how foreign powers are constantly intervening, stealing resources, and overthrowing elected leaders for their interests.

We talk endlessly about childhood trauma and how it passes from generation to generation. Yet when it comes to colonization and the impacts of it, suddenly it’s “get over it, that was hundreds of years ago.” That wasn’t centuries ago. Somalia gained independence in 1960. That was within my parents’ lifetime.

Somalia had three European countries colonizing it. Somalis spent twenty-one years in armed resistance to kick out those powers. And even after they left, had to deal with their meddling. They carved up the country, and people wonder why such division exists in Somalia. Despite everything that occurred after Somalia collapsed in 1991, the country, against all odds, is on track to become one of the most rapidly transforming nations in Africa, with Mogadishu being one of the fastest growing cities in the world.

So tell me, MAGA, you call my country garbage, yet you live in the most powerful country in the world, untouched by not even 1% of what my people went through, yet as one of the richest nations in the world, you have over 700,000 people on the streets on a given night. Entire city blocks occupied by tent encampments indistinguishable from third-world countries.

Your country is facing one of the deadliest drug epidemics in history, and deaths exceed 100,000 per year. And as a developed nation, your healthcare system in the world, and medical debt is one of the leading causes of bankruptcy.

Worst of all, what your country is really known for is the amount of gun violence that occurs. As of January 7th, there have already been 8 mass shootings. With those numbers, the country is practically a war zone. Yet, your president on the world stage calls an entire group of people and nations garbage. The call is coming from inside the house.

I like to say that racist remarks are just a projection. I get it, when things are unstable, you need a scapegoat to blame. It’s what the Nazi’s did.

In 2026, when they can clone living beings, and flying cars are going into production, and the future is knocking on our door, it’s unbelievable that racism persists today. I will never defend my right to exist in this world. If my existence bothers you so much, well, I hope the rise in blood pressure every time you see me makes you sick.

I usually don’t let such comments get to me, but it took over all of my feeds. It led me to delete the apps from my phone. I recognized that even if I have a good head on my shoulders, being exposed to that kind of rhetoric again and again would impact me mentally.

I’m tired. I’m tired. I’m tired.

If I were to string together every word ever spoken in the past, present, and future, it still wouldn’t be enough to describe how tired it is to be a Black Muslim woman in this world. The constant dehumanization, and having to carry the actions of billions or millions on my shoulder as if we, the individuals, speak for the collective. Yet, white people can destabilize nations, and mass murder, and kill, yet it’s never all white people. Yet it’s all Muslims, it’s all Somalis, it’s all Black people.

In 2026, I will no longer be defending. I will no longer take the high road. Because the injustice of it all has broken all the meters, yet the cause of the injustice dares to point fingers.

What a world we live in.