Lying next to my sweetheart, Jean-Christophe Etienne, I thank my lucky stars that he's safe and sound beside me in my bed. Every time I log onto my Facebook account or watch CNN, the trigger-happy cops have shot another unarmed young black man. A while ago they choked a black man to death for selling cigarettes on the streets of New York City. Seriously, President Barack Obama needs to do something about this. Racist white cops are shooting brothers for sport, and unless we start locking them up for this shit, they'll just keep doing it.
My name is Ayaan Abdullahi, and I'm a newcomer to the City of Saint Paul, Minnesota. I was born in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, to Somali immigrant parents. Three years ago, I visited Minnesota for the first time after graduating from Carleton University with a bachelor's degree in business administration. It was my first trip to the States. My parents, Ali and Fatima Abdullahi don't travel much, at least not outside of Canada.
When we came to Minnesota in the summer of 2011, we stayed with my father's older brother, Uncle Osman. I fell in love with America during that trip. Somali Americans are so different from us Somali Canadians. Growing up in the close knit Somali community of Canada's Capital region, I was raised fairly conservative and wouldn't dream of leaving the house without my hijab. The Somali girls I saw in Minnesota were so Americanized, with their bare heads, their short skirts and loud voices.
During that trip, I met a young man whom I simply could not forget. Jean-Christophe Etienne, the guy next door. Born in Minneapolis to a Haitian immigrant father, Lucas Etienne, and a white American mother, Jean-Christophe is simply one of the most beautiful human beings I've ever seen. Six feet two inches tall, slim and fit, with caramel-hued skin, curly black hair and lime-green eyes that he got from his Irish-American mother, Deirdre O'Bannon. Nice, eh?
I think I fell in love with Jean-Christophe Etienne the first time I laid eyes on him. This beautiful, friendly and easygoing brother simply took my breath away. A first-year student at Saint Catherine University at the time, Jean-Christophe aspired to work in law enforcement someday. Damn, if a sexy brother in uniform like him approaches me, I'd seriously volunteer for a strip search. What? Do my thoughts surprise you? Just because I'm a Hijab-wearing Somali gal from Canada doesn't mean I don't have the same thoughts, feelings and desires as all other women.
Jean-Christophe and I became friends, and I was surprised by how much this young Haitian-American stud muffin knew about Somali culture. Jean-Christophe would laugh when I asked him to say certain words in Somali. At Saint Augustine High School, where he went, there were apparently lots of Somalis and he learned to speak their language. I asked Jean-Christophe why he learned the Somali language and he laughed and said it's because he wanted to holler at all the pretty Somali girls. Good answer, I thought and smiled. Very good answer indeed.
Jean-Christophe and I hung out a lot during the two months I spent in Minnesota in the summer of 2011. He would pick me up in his car and take me around Saint Paul and Minneapolis, and I grew to love those cities. There are so many Somalis in the state of Minnesota it's not even funny. Everywhere we went I would see my people. Sometimes I think there's more Somalis in Minnesota than in Ontario!
Discovering Minnesota with Jean-Christophe by my side proved to be an experience I would never forget. Jean-Christophe took me to malls, movie theaters and restaurants, and he was always friendly and courteous. I was sexually attracted to him, to tell you the truth, but I was too much of a coward to do anything about it. Somali culture is quite repressive when it comes to sexual matters because of the Islamic influence in our customs and cultural ways.
Pious, Hijab-wearing and Koran-quoting Somali women like myself aren't supposed to shake hands with males, or go on dates, or do a variety of other things considered haram by the rules of Islam. Marriages in Somali culture are arranged for convenience rather than romantic sentiment, for the most part. Even though there are millions of Somalis living outside of Somalia, making their homes in places like Canada, America and the United Kingdom, we stick to our cultural ways. We still have arranged marriages and follow the strict rules of Islam wherever we go.
I never questioned anything about my religion, which I consider to be the world's best religion, until I met Jean-Christophe Etienne, the sinfully sexy Haitian-American stud muffin. I was in love with him, you see, and I struggled with whether or not to tell him. According to the ancient and sacred rules of Islam, a Muslim woman cannot marry a man who isn't Muslim. By the same token, a Muslim man may marry a woman from any religion or cultural background. For the first time in my entire existence, I disagreed with an aspect of my Muslim faith. I found the rule preventing Muslim women from being with men of other faiths utterly unfair. And yet, I loved Jean-Christophe and wanted to be with him.
Sadly, I never told Jean-Christophe how I felt and when he made a pass at me, I told him that I just wanted to be friends. Jean-Christophe was deeply saddened, but accepted my decision. That was in August of 2011. Fast forward three years later. I graduated from Carleton University and left the dull lights of Ottawa, Ontario, for Minnesota. I got fired from my job at TD Bank and decided to make a fresh start elsewhere. My cousin Amina Hussein moved from Toronto, Ontario, to Saint Paul, Minnesota, and married a guy named Ibrahim Adewale. A Nigerian Muslim guy whom she met while he was visiting Toronto from the States.
