October 21, 2016 – The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) demands cancellation of the airing of the HBO show “Mogadishu, Minnesota.” Formerly titled “The Recruiters,” ADC has serious concerns that the show will feed into further stereotyping and stigmatization of the Somali-American community in Minnesota, and Arabs and Muslims around the country.
Read: ADC letter to HBO Demanding Cancellation of the show.
Local activists in the Minneapolis area strongly oppose the show and are concerned with the way their community will be portrayed and criminalized. For Americans who have never interacted with the Somali community, this TV show centered on “jihadi recruitment” will be the only depiction of Somali-Americans they may ever see, endorsed by HBO.
ADC has serious concerns that the HBO series theme is part of the same narrative of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) policies that have targeted the Somali American youth. CVE is a government-led program that is based on the notion that certain groups of people are inherently predisposed to violence.