Novelist Nadifa Mohamed was born in Hargeisa, Somalia<\/span>\u00a0and moved to Britain at the age of five. She\u00a0is a graduate of Oxford and the\u00a0<\/span>author of two books,\u00a0Black Mamba Boy<\/em>, and\u00a0<\/span>Orchard of Lost Souls<\/em>, the latter of which is set in Somalia on the cusp of a\u00a0<\/span>civil war. We asked Mohamed\u00a0how Trump\u2019s Muslim immigration ban might effect her, and its broader significance to lives around the world.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n How has the executive order effected you, and how do you feel?<\/strong> So in the past, if you held a Somali passport, give me an idea of\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>how one would get into the United States on a visit.<\/strong> Have any of your friends or family ever been turned back at\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>borders, what happened to them?<\/strong> It is an impersonal, bureaucratic exercise in distrust. The dreaded\u00a0<\/span>SSSS is stamped on my boarding pass and my hand luggage is searched\u00a0<\/span>again at the departure gate, I have to take off my shoes and be\u00a0<\/span>frisked again, there is no answer given when I ask the border agents\u00a0<\/span>why, just that I should ask the TSA when I land. Traveling within the\u00a0<\/span>US and out from there causes me no problems so by the time I land I\u00a0<\/span>just want to get on with my trip, and do not ask any questions. I\u00a0<\/span>presume it\u2019s my name, where I was born, how I look, but it\u2019s very\u00a0<\/span>frustrating to be constantly treated with suspicion, whether the\u00a0<\/span>danger is terrorism, drug smuggling, ebola, you become the site of\u00a0<\/span>other people\u2019s fears. It\u2019s almost funny the number of threats people\u00a0<\/span>see as I pass but it means I can be treated as guilty when I have done\u00a0<\/span>nothing wrong, my own identity\u2014beliefs, experiences, qualities\u2014do\u00a0<\/span>not matter. It\u2019s not just the US either, for Somalis being Black,\u00a0<\/span>Muslim and from a notorious \u201cwar zone\u201d creates real difficulties in\u00a0<\/span>many countries, from Europe to the Middle East to Africa.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Did the United States represent any kind of beacon to you, and if\u00a0<\/span>not, do you think the world has a beacon for freedom and human rights\u2014<\/span><\/strong>if it doesn\u2019t, where does that leave us?<\/strong> Feature image: Sabreen Hussain<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>It\u2019s hard to tell yet how it will effect me, there has been so much\u00a0<\/span>confusion that I\u2019m not clear whether I am banned or not. It was Mo\u00a0<\/span>Farah\u2019s statement that he was unable to return to his home in Oregon,\u00a0<\/span>because he was born in Mogadishu, that made me realize that, as I was\u00a0<\/span>born in Somalia, I would be unwelcome too. It seems as if there has\u00a0<\/span>been a deal struck today between the British and American governments\u00a0<\/span>to exclude British passport holders with dual nationality from the\u00a0<\/span>ban, but everything is still very uncertain. It has made me wary of\u00a0<\/span>traveling to the US, to be honest, and it\u2019s pretty sad as this time\u00a0<\/span>last year I was about to go to New York to\u00a0interview Toni Morrison<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>and I was so immersed in African-American literature and life.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>I have never tried to get into the US with a Somali passport, and I\u00a0<\/span>actually don\u2019t even have Somali citizenship. I am entitled to a\u00a0<\/span>Somaliland passport but as it is an unrecognized country I think there\u00a0<\/span>are only about two countries that accept it as a valid traveling\u00a0<\/span>document. For Somalis to legally and easily travel they need a foreign\u00a0<\/span>passport, that is why so many of them try the illegal route across the\u00a0<\/span>Sahara and Mediterranean. The US is particularly difficult to enter\u00a0<\/span>and Somali refugees in Kenyan camps are put through strenuous, lengthy\u00a0<\/span>checks lasting many years before they are cleared for resettlement in\u00a0<\/span>America.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span>Not from the US, but from European states, yes\u2014one of them was\u00a0<\/span>severely beaten by police in eastern Europe and hospitalized.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nin and out of\u00a0<\/span>the United States?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
\n<\/span>No, it doesn\u2019t and I can\u2019t think of anywhere that is a beacon for\u00a0<\/span>freedom and human rights. There are some places that really do not\u00a0<\/span>have any pretense of caring about either, but the vast majority of\u00a0<\/span>countries seem to espouse freedom and equality while not quite living\u00a0<\/span>up to those ideals.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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<\/a>January 31, 2017<\/p><\/div>\n
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