My Philadelphia Weekly story on Matt Davis touched on City of Arrivals, Davis’s reverie on the immigrant experience in Philadelphia. With that fresh in mind I came across this story in the Inquirer, about Bintou Soumare and her husband, Amissi Ndikumasabo (above), Malian immigrants who opened a clothing store in North Philly, saving up money in the hope of bringing their sons to the U.S.
They managed to sock away $3,000 before they were both shot in a July 15 robbery.
Ndikumasabo has already been buried in Mali. Soumare clung to life in the hospital but has now died as well. A 19-year-old gunman is in custody; a second one is being sought. Not content to throw their own lives away, the criminals brought two honest, hard-working African Muslims down with them.
The couples’ mosque, Masjid Tawbah, is accepting donations at 5128 Duffield St., Philadelphia 19124.
In a guest appearance on Erykah Badu’s Worldwide Underground, rapper M1 of dead prez says this: “She make $280 a week, standing on her feet/The ends ain’t even meeting – the family ain’t eatin’/cause if taxes is 10%, and rest is for the rent/then crime is what u get and niggaz is innocent.” Um, not really. Crime of this sort is perpetrated against, not by, people who work too hard for too little money.
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