But at least it didn’t stem from from riots or some such, not that one would ever expect such here in America’s Third World County. The “African Grocery” with apartments above and mosque next door: complete loss. Two injured–one a firefighter. No, no riot, but still not a Good Thing. The Somalis in that town will miss their specialty grocery and mosque. Not a lot of crossover with the Pacific Islanders’ grocery here in town, either.
The destruction of people’s property and livelihood is never a good thing. Especially when those people are living peaceably among the community.
I hope the injured recover quickly.
Indeed, Perri. Fire began in the grocery. Three people lived above, one was injured. Firefighter was struck by falling beam (helmet save!). Also sent to hospital for further evaluation.
Investigation continues as of yesterday, but firefighters at the scene said didn’t see indications of arson, BUT such scenes are so chaotic, they could easily have missed indications, and an abundance of caution is warranted, methinks. The Somalis who have settled in the area (~600 of them) are mostly “nominal” Muslims (kinda like some Episcopalian congregations are nominally Xian *sigh*–easily surrendered/adapted cultural religion, adherence to actual precepts minimal, at best/worst, depending on one’s view), and have been productive members of the community, for the most part. Clothing, for example, among the Somalis in that area is mostly a cultural “style” thing, with no strong segregation of the women, etc., and the kids becoming more and more Americanized in attire and behavior.
The “mosque” (and grocery, for that matter) was mainly a kind of ethnic community center, assuaging feelings of homesickness among the adults and opportunities for group sharing of ethnic traditions–kinda like many other ethnic groups have had and still have (even my wife’s folks had shared experiences in Norwegian-themed social gatherings/centers, though they were first generation American born in their families).