The arrest of 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud, in connection with a failed plot to detonate a car bomb in Portland, Oregon, has brought attention to the nation’s growing Somali community. Even before Mohamud’s arrest, young Somalis have often become the focus of negative media attention ? often linked to gang violence, stories of radicalization and drug or sex trafficking.

Speaking contrary to that image, Zuhur Ahmed ? host of Somali Community Link on our affiliate KFAI in Twin Cities, Minnesota ? argues that the Somali experience is a uniquely American story: that of a first generation community struggling to build its roots.