People are not garbage.
Wednesday, December 3, 2025
What happened? The President of the United States has spent the last two days disparaging people from Somalia. (If you voted for this administration, we especially need your voice right now. Please keep reading.)
Here’s what he said yesterday:
“I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you, OK. Somebody will say, ‘Oh, that’s not politically correct.’ I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason.”
“Their country stinks, and we don’t want them in our country.”
“With Somalia, which is barely a country, you know, they have no, they have no anything. They just run around killing each other.”
He called Representative Omar, who herself is from Somalia, “garbage.” And went on to say, “Her friends are garbage. These aren’t people that work. These aren’t people that say, ‘Let’s go, come on, let’s make this place great.’ These are people that do nothing but complain.”"
“They come from hell and they complain and do nothing but bitch, we don’t want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it.”
Today, he said that Somalis have destroyed our country and the state of Minnesota. He said that Representative Omar, a naturalized U.S. citizen, shouldn’t be allowed in the U.S. and should be “thrown the hell out of our country.”
I write this all out because we cannot become numb to the shock of having the President of our nation speaking about people in such crude, shocking, and dehumanizing ways.
Of the approximately 107,000 people of Somali descent living in Minnesota, about 87% of those who were born in Somalia are naturalized U.S. citizens. And 58% of Minnesota’s Somali population was born right here in the United States. This is an unacceptable way for the President to speak about anyone from anywhere, but pay close attention that this is how the President speaks about our fellow citizens.
Christians cannot sit idly by when our leaders talk about our fellow human beings this way. Somalis are made in the image of God, and are deeply loved by God. If you voted for President Trump, please speak up in defense of Somalis. If you did not vote for President Trump, please speak up in defense of Somalis. A gift of our faith is that our loyalty to Christ, and in turn the belief in the dignity of all people means that we can rise above partisan differences to say boldly what is true: People are not garbage. Our country is better because Somalis have made their home here.
How can I pray? Pray for Somalis living in the United States, hearing their President speak about them in this way. Pray for the precious children who have heard these words spoken about them. Pray that President Trump will miraculously turn from this evil. Pray for your faith community, that it will be bold in speaking up for human dignity.
What is one more thing I can do? As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior, whose parents fled with him to a foreign land to flee violence — just like so many of our Somali neighbors did. Let’s show up for our neighbors.
Find a way to publicly speak out against this dehumanizing language. I made some graphics you can use on Instagram here:
And if you have ways to tangibly support Somalis in your community, please do! I’d love to learn what you’re doing, and if any West Michigan friends have ideas, I’d love to join you!
Thank you for calling attention to this. I'd lay bets many of our politicians (from both parties) would have trouble finding Somalia on a map, let alone talking intelligently about the country's rich history or anything it produces (other than having some natural resources I'm sure our oligarchs would love to get their hands on).
But to the point: our neighbors with Somali roots are not garbage. They are here legally and bring good things to our economy and culture. I wish I knew a few in our area... I don't... but I really appreciate your bringing this up and making us aware. And I'll be keeping my eyes open!