Colonial officials pressured superiors to punish defiant Somalis

Evidence

On this day Osman and a few other Somalis were able to purchase their tickets after a long wait. The trip took several hours, and Osman rang the stop bell as the bus approached the native village just about half a mile from the Italian settlement. The driver did not heed the request. Osman was annoyed by the lack of consideration, particularly since the few Somalis on the bus had luggage to carry. As he got off the bus Osman politely asked the driver why he did not honor his request to stop at the native village. The driver, Rossi, became incensed at the audacity of this native to question him. Rossi shouted at Osman and told him that he should never dare ask such a question. He repeatedly yelled, “Do you understand?” Osman retorted, “I understand, and that means I will never travel on CITAO buses.” Osman took his luggage and set off toward town, but the driver ran after him hurling profanities and threatening to smash his face. Osman turned around to face the driver and calmly replied, “If you call me an SOB, then you are one, but go ahead and hit me.” He reminded the driver that he expected respect, since he was a paying customer. At that point four white men came from a nearby restaurant and took Osman and another Somali, Hassan Lughay, by the shoulder and dragged them off to the restaurant. In the process Osman lost his luggage, which was mostly books. The two Somalis were taken from the restaurant and bused to a roadblock, where white vigilantes ordered them into a cell. The whites released Osman when they discovered that he was an officer at the resident commissioner’s office, but they submitted a report to his superior. … Next morning, Osman went to the office early and wrote a report on the incident and demanded justice. He left his appeal on the commissioner’s desk. Telephone calls started pouring in before the commissioner finished reading Osman’s petition. The calls were from the judicial officer of the region, Fagotto; the secretary of the Fascist Party, Pelosi; and the captain of Italian Africa police, Lipari. The first two witnessed the incident. The callers told the commissioner that Osman was a bad example to other natives. They demanded a fitting punishment, since Osman was bold enough to voice his displeasure with the service of CITAO and its founders, which included the minister of colonies, Terruzzi. Prato had a lot of difficulty defending Osman but managed to forestall further damage to him. The callers tried to extract an apology from Osman, but in tears he refused them. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 163

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Italian colonial commissioners publicly flogged Somalis who petitioned for wage justice — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 155; Colonial officers humiliated Somali employees with degrading dress rules and violence. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 202; Punishing a white official threatened the Somali complainant’s safety — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 168 (+3 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Italian colonial commissioners publicly flogged Somalis who petitioned for wage justice — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 155; Colonial officers humiliated Somali employees with degrading dress rules and violence. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 202; Punishing a white official threatened the Somali complainant’s safety — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 168 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Punishing a white official threatened the Somali complainant’s safety #complicates (0.78) — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 168