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Anti-Somali sentiment,Somalophobia orSomaliphobia,[1] refers to fear, hostility, or other negative attitudes towardsSomalis orSomali culture.
Anti-Somali sentiment is sometimes referred to by the uncountable senseSomalophobia, the countable agent noun ofSomalophobe, or adjectivally asSomalophobic sentiment.[2][3]
The antonym and opposite sentiment are referred to by the uncountable senseSomalophilia, the countable agent noun ofSomalophile, or adjectivally asSomalophilic.[4]
The 2000s and early 2010s saw major sporadic outbreaks of violence against Somali shopkeepers in South Africa. This violence has been attributed to jealousy over the large presence of Somali businesses.[5] However, some writers have attributed such hostility to a wider xenophobia, since other non-South Africa Africans were targeted as well.[3]
Somali Americans have experienced Anti-Somali sentiment and it is sometimes expressed in the context of anti-immigration sentiment.[6][7] Anti-Somali sentiments sometimes overlap withIslamophobic sentiments andracism in the United States.
On 30 October 2015, Asma Jama (a Muslim woman of Somali descent and Kenyan nationality) was viciously beaten for speaking Swahili in anApplebee's on the outskirts of Minneapolis. The perpetrator of that violence was charged with third-degree assault. In June 2016, two Somalis were shot after wearing their traditional clothing.[8] A week prior to the shooting, a Somali halal shop in the city was vandalized.[9] Minneapolis City Council member Abdi Warsame discussed anti-Somali sentiments in the aftermath of the shooting of Justine Damond by a Somali police officer.[10] InDodge City, Kansas several Somali men were the victims of hate crimes ranging from racial slurs to serious bodily injury in 2016.[11] Due to the high concentration of Somali-Americans inMinnesota, anti-immigration sentiment has been used as a campaign talking point, including by candidateDonald Trump during his2024 presidential campaign.[12] After Trump eferred to Somalis asgarbage and called for the deportation of all people of Somali descent,[13] some female Somali Americans or female Horner Americans in Minnesota stated that they were religiously harassed, and others sexually assaulted by members of the U.S.ICE agency.[14] In the 2020s, the Somali community adjacent to the Dar Al Nur Community Center in Fairfax, Virginia were repeatedly subjected to physical attacks and destruction of property over a three-year period.[15] The Somaliphobic remarks led to a backlash from the Somali-American community and its supporters in Minneapolis, a city that has one of the largest Somali-American populations in the country with civic and business leaders in the city condemning the rhetoric as tarnishing.[16]
In December 2025, aviral video showed an employee at aCinnabon bakery inAshwaubenon, Wisconsin, harassing a Somali couple with racial slurs after mocking the woman'shijab. Cinnabon subsequently released a statement onTwitter stating that the employee had been immediately fired, as their actions "do not reflect our values or the welcoming experience every guest deserves".[17] A fundraiser in support of the fired employee later raised nearly $100,000 onGiveSendGo;[18] meanwhile, aGoFundMe set up for the Somali couple raised over $1,000.[19]
There are also some pejorative terms that serve to dehumanize Somalis. The termskinnie became popularized with the filmBlack Hawk Down. The term has been said to allude to reducing Somalis to their humanitarian struggles[20] andNational Public Radio has suggested that its usage deprives Somalis of their own point of view.[21] The termAbdi is also sometimes pejoratively used to refer to male Somalis.[22]
TheAssociated Press's stylebook suggested thatSomali is the correctdemonym or adjective, rather thanSomalian.[23]
