I pulled this from a "newspaper" website. Wayne
>Group Calls for 'Black Hawk' Boycott
>01/18/2002 2:00 PM EST
>
>By RENEE RUBLE
>
>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Somali-American community leaders called for a boycott
>of "Black Hawk Down," charging the new movie depicts their African
>homeland's people as savages and could create a backlash against refugees
>who fled to the United States.
>
>Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St.
>Paul, said about a dozen people from the center saw a preview of the movie
>this week and were shocked. Minnesota is home to at least 25,000 Somalis,
>believed to be the biggest concentration in the nation.
>
>"We don't know what Americans will think of us Somalis after they watch
>this movie," Jamal said Thursday.
>
>"The Somali people are depicted as very savage beasts without any human
>element," he said. "It's just people shooting each other."
>
>
>The movie, which opened Friday, portrays a 1993 firefight that left 18
>American soldiers dead. They were part of a mission aimed at restoring
>peace and averting famine in the country in the wake of the ouster of
>dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.
>
>Jamal said the movie left out that thousands of Somalis were killed in the
>conflict. The Advocacy Center planned to distribute fliers at theaters
>explaining the history of the conflict.
>
>With the focus back on Somalia as a possible hideout for al-Qaida members,
>the movie compounds the possible repercussions for local Somalis, who have
>worked since Sept. 11 to show their support in the war against terrorism,
>Jamal said.
>
>He cited the death of a Somali man punched at a Minneapolis bus stop in
>October, which triggered accusations in the Somali and Muslim communities
>of a hate crime. No one has been charged.
>
>"The community is shocked and really afraid of the consequences of this
>movie," Jamal said. "It's a big psychological setback of our efforts."
>
>
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