Social Justice Series 2021: Abdi Nor Iftin, "Call Me American"

The Sociology and Criminal Justice Department is proud to welcome author Abdi Nor Iftin as the featured speaker for the 12th Annual Curry College Social Justice Series. As a child in war-torn Mogadishu, Abdi Nor Iftin learned English by watching action movies. When U.S.......More

The Sociology and Criminal Justice Department is proud to welcome author Abdi Nor Iftin as the featured speaker for the 12th Annual Curry College Social Justice Series. As a child in war-torn Mogadishu, Abdi Nor Iftin learned English by watching action movies. When U.S. Marines landed to take on the warlords, Abdi cheered the arrival of these real-life American action heroes. Sporting hip-hop clothes and dance moves, he became known as “Abdi American.”But when radical Islamists took control in 2006, it became dangerous to celebrate Western culture. Instead, Abdi risked his life posting secret dispatches to NPR. As life in Somalia grew more dangerous, he fled to Kenya. In an amazing stroke of luck, he won entrance to the U.S. in the annual visa lottery, though his route to America— ending in a harrowing sequence of events that nearly stranded him in Nairobi — did not come easily. Now he is a proud resident of Maine, a brand new U.S. citizen, and the author of the memoir "Call Me American."