Monday, September 27, 2010

Michelle’s Frustration

Michelle's Mission
“You can’t integrate people who don’t want to be integrated.”

The article below is from the September 22nd edition of Jyllands-Posten (subscription required). It describes a Danish woman’s well-meaning but fruitless efforts to alleviate the problems caused by cultural enrichment in the Nørrebro district of Copenhagen.

Michelle Hviid’s failure demonstrates that the standard leftist assumption concerning immigration — that integration is just a matter of showing good will and “openness” — crumbles with cruel results when attempted in the real world.

The woman described in the article is not particularly a public person — just a private individual who tried to do something active to deal with problems that others were only talking about, and expected that her friendliness and openness would be returned by the “poor excluded immigrants”.

Her experience shows that in spite of all the sweet talk and initial good impressions, reciprocity is not the usual the outcome — and in particular that immigrants are unable and/or unwilling to control what their children actually do.

Many thanks to Anne-Kit of Perth, Australia, for the translation:

Michelle’s Frustration

Integration: Michelle Hviid, 37, achieved nationwide fame four years ago when she created “Michelle’s Mission” — an integration project to encourage immigrants and native Danes to have dinner together. Now she is deeply frustrated at living in Nørrebro, one of North West Copenhagen’s ghetto areas.


This spring was the third time Michelle Hviid’s 12-year old son Benjamin was attacked by a gang of immigrant boys.

He and a friend were on their way home from school and were walking up Nørrebrogade [major thoroughfare] when 12-14 immigrant boys began circling them. Benjamin had seen a couple of the boys previously at a Tae Kwon Do club.

The group of immigrant boys managed to separate Benjamin and his friend so that each boy was surrounded by 6-7 immigrants. They started pushing the two Danish boys between them as if they were balls in a game. Slowly the boys were forced out onto the street. The traffic stopped and Benjamin made eye contact with some of the cyclists and drivers, silently pleading for help while being pushed around. No one came to his aid.

His friend was hit and kicked so severely that he ended up at the hospital emergency room. Benjamin escaped onto a bus, but his assailants followed. He had to jump off the bus and seek refuge in a shop before anyone helped him.

Crumbling faith

Benjamin has been attacked twice before by different immigrant boys in Nørrebro — the first time he was 10 years old, the second he was 11. In both cases the attackers were local immigrant boys. Now he takes a massive detour to avoid certain streets when riding his bike to and from school.

His mother, Michelle Hviid, lives with her husband and children on Thoravej in Copenhagen’s North West where they own their own apartment close to several ghetto areas. She is deeply frustrated about the attacks on her son. It has caused her faith in integration to crumble.

In 2006 she sought to make a contribution towards integration by trying to get 1,500 Danes and 1,500 immigrants together to share a meal. Danmarks Radio [State TV] ran five programs covering “Michelle’s Mission”, which created a lot of attention.

It proved easy to get Danes to take part but only 513 immigrants turned up.

Attacked in Kindergarten

Michelle Hviid’s faith in better integration also compelled her to enrol her three-year old daughter in the local kindergarten. It is situated close to some of the residential areas of Nørrebro which have been designated ghetto areas. But now she has withdrawn her daughter from this kindergarten.

“The staff were competent, but it seemed they were operating in pure survival mode with far too many children from low-income, disadvantaged and violent families — both Danes and immigrants. I don’t think my daughter learned or sang a single song during the year she spent at that kindergarten. My frustration peaked when one of the mothers attacked a teacher. My daughter witnessed the other teachers’ intervention to stop the attack, and she experienced the adults being very violent. I removed my daughter immediately and kept her at home until we could be offered an alternative placement.”

Only a day later Michelle was offered a place for her daughter in another kindergarten for children from Nørrebro. Here the children are picked up by bus and taken to the Deer Park [a large recreational park] north of Copenhagen — an offer which the family is very grateful for.

Too afraid to honk

Michelle herself is often frustrated when going about the neighbourhood.

“Often when I drive my car I find three or four 10-12 year old boys standing in the middle of the road, and they don’t get out of the way for a car, so I have to stop and wait. I am too afraid to honk my horn at them because I’m worried they will wreck my car or find out where I park when I get home. Normally I am a strong woman who can speak up for myself, but I choose not to honk at them.”

She mentions several other frustrating examples of how immigrants don’t live up to Danish standards — like throwing rubbish in the street and noisy behaviour.

“You have to watch your mouth, though. I don’t want to be accused of being a racist. But I live in a neighbourhood with a problematic mixture of inhabitants. There are ghettos in a lot of ways. When I get annoyed at young people running around and causing trouble I tell myself that it is not because they are immigrants. I’m annoyed by them because they cause trouble. But at the same time I have to say that 90 percent of the people who frustrate me because they don’t behave decently, … they are not Danes. I’m not annoyed by them because they are not Danes, but because they don’t behave like decent people.”

For the time being Michelle Hviid intends to stay put.

“I love my apartment and my neighbours on the same stairway. Six or seven couples who are our very best friends live on our stairway, and we often eat together. We have our own successful “collective” surrounded by the ghetto. I also really love my 180 sq.m. apartment which I have decorated myself. It has three balconies and a roof terrace. It’s also not a good time to sell; we would lose a lot of money if we sold right now,” she says.

Michelle Hviid finds it hard to suggest ways to limit the formation of ghettos. She thinks more should be done to engage the mothers of immigrant families in order to get through to the rest of the family, and to encourage the children and young people to adhere to Danish standards for decent behaviour.

Worried about integration

She is concerned about what will happen to integration:

“You can’t integrate people who don’t want to be integrated. What about all those who have built up this huge inner anger and who already feel rejected and ostracized? How do we pick them up? I do so want to be part of a good integration. I would like to open my door to almost everyone. That’s what I tried to do with ‘Michelle’s Mission’ a couple of years ago. I am sad to say that now I feel powerless. I don’t know what to do, or if I can be bothered to do anything at all now that I have taken care of my own.”

37 comments:

gspencer said...

This woman represents all the liberal stereotypes who proves that no good deed goes unpunished. Most, though not all, liberals learn the lessons of conservatism after being mugged. Sadly it is her son who is getting the muggings. His mother is proving to be particularly dense, not very adept at learning lessons.

Western societies have invited beasts into our homes. This is hard to believe, but we have invited monsters into our most private places, our countries and homes, and these monsters are not following the Hollywood script of making for a happy ending.

HermitLion said...

"Sadly it is her son who is getting the muggings"

I also wanted to mention that part. It is her children who pay for her behavior. That kid will never look at 'immigrants' like his obtuse, rainbow-hugging, big-apartment-loving mother does.
Trust me on this one.

If there are any Danes amongst the readers, can you please say how much awareness of the subject exists in your country? I've had a few chats with a tourist from Denmark last week, and he was pretty sure that Muslim ghettos are not really a problem (or don't exist).

goethechosemercy said...

So when will she finally feel herself to be subdued, as the command goes?
Because it's one thing to be subdued and not know it, and it's another to really feel the bitter sting of foreign and Muslim hatred.
And they have deep hatred of the West and all in it.

EscapeVelocity said...

This woman hasnt figured out that it is her that is going to have to assimilate to them, and not vice versa.

That is what integration means.

Because she is willing to integrate and they have no interest in integrating.

When tolerance is a one way street, it leads to cultural suicide. - Col. Allen West

EscapeVelocity said...

BTW, this isnt unusual, its called political correctness and multiculturalism.

Euro Christians must assimilate to any and all "Others."

If they object, then they are racist, xenophobic, sexist, Islamophobic, homophobic, etc.

This has been in the works for aobut 4 or 5 decades now.

Islam is just a particularly egregious group (of Anti Western supremacists), so it highlights the situation in a heightened manner.

Siegetower said...

""I also really love my 180 sq.m. apartment which I have decorated myself. It has three balconies and a roof terrace. It’s also not a good time to sell; we would lose a lot of money if we sold right now,” she says.""

I have bad news for her. As long as she is surrounded by cultural enrichers who hate Danes, the real estate prices in her area will go down. And they'll stay depressed for decades. She's screwed. If you look at hostile immigrant areas the Western world over, the natives all leave because who wants to live surrounded by such aggression? The prices do down as it is a bad place to live, helping the hostiles who have less money to move into that area. The ghetto gets bigger and more homogenous in favour of the hostiles. Anyone native, Jewish or Chinese who is left but cannot afford to leave the suburb just becomes a perpetual victim.

""Michelle Hviid finds it hard to suggest ways to limit the formation of ghettos. She thinks more should be done to engage the mothers of immigrant families in order to get through to the rest of the family, and to encourage the children and young people to adhere to Danish standards for decent behaviour.""

That sounds like assimilation to me? Get the mothers to throw off their slave scarves and actually speak to the natives about why their culture is more successful? It would be the end of multicultism.

laine said...

Along with his own mother who has risked his well being and his toddler sister's to make herself feel good about her imaginary moral superiority, this young boy was let down by the Danes who drove by and ignored his pleading eyes though they saw the feral numbers ganging up. They were undoubtedly afraid of the charge of racism should they take the side of a couple of white boys against a group of Muslim thugs.

Henrik R Clausen said...

If there are any Danes amongst the readers, can you please say how much awareness of the subject exists in your country?

Much awareness. We have probably the best public debate about Islam & immigration that exists anywhere, and the fact that a major newspaper features this article prominently is another brick laid in the road to sanity.

Our Politically Correct Elite still shows strong resistance, though.

HermitLion said...

@Henrik:
Thanks for replying. I would say I'm puzzled then how this particular Dane had no idea about the immigration problems, but then he's a DJ...

It's good to know you have an open public debate about the issue. Getting it in the open is essential to expose all the lies, and let honest people see for themselves the sort of non-culture that 'immigrants' bring with them.

kepiblanc said...

I'll second Henriks's remark. Hardly a day goes by without some article in a major Danish newspaper. The typical pattern is as follows: An editorial trying to whitewash all the problems - followed by a deluge of protest letters to the editor.
An exception was yesterday's editorial in Jyllands-Posten (of Motoon fame):
http://jp.dk/opinion/leder/article2195122.ece
(Non-Danish readers will get the idea...)

HermitLion said...

@kepiblanc:
Thanks for the link.
The mainstream media in Israel only delivers news about how much we are hated in Denmark, or videos of pro-Arab demonstrations (they always fail to mention if the protesters are Arabs/Turks/etc. themselves), so every bit of information helps.

hadley said...

Her article and growing awareness reminds me of Irving Kristol's article from 45 years ago: My Negro Problem and Ours.

Of course, 45 years later Irving is a multi-cultural neo-con who is in favor of open borders and free trade (a policy which works for his family and tribe, I expect), so there's that.

goethechosemercy said...

The essay to which you refer was not written by Irving Kristol.
It was written by Norman Podhoretz.

kepiblanc said...

Erick said: The mainstream media in Israel only delivers news about how much we are hated in Denmark.
Huh? - Hated in Denmark? - Are they totally ignorant or do they have some obscure agenda? - I have yet to meet a Dane who hates Israel. OK - a few fringe lunatics and - of course - all Moslems, but I can assure you that 90 percent of all Danes support Israel. Maybe they don't dare to admit it in public (yes, we have the tyranny of political correctness as well), but give'em a couple'a beers and their reservations evaporate. And anti-semitism is practically non-existent. Whereas anti-Islamism is surging big time (who would have thunk...)

Henrik R Clausen said...

Erick, it sounds like your media are sensationalist concerning the Danish attitude to Israel. Sure, the socialists are easily deceived into silly opinions - given that they are deceivers themselves, that is hardly surprising.

For my own part, I have translated this booklet into Danish and given to all members of parliament, written in the newspapers etc.

It's quite easy to rebut most "Critics of Zionism", for their arguments are usually anti-semitism in disguise, and to all decent people that becomes too embarrassing when pointed out.

HermitLion said...

@kepiblanc:
It's really good to know!

Our media most definitely has an agenda, since they are pretty much overwhelmingly leftist (I can't even watch more than a few minutes of the news anymore, without becoming disgusted, or infuriated).

My guess is they attempt to push the fake peace process by sending the message that unless we give in to all Islamic demands, everybody in the world will hate us.
It reinforces the pseudo-intellectuals who tend towards the left to begin with, scares people who are easily scared, and feed those with the 'Jewish victim complex', who want to believe everybody hates Jews, in order to feel special.

But heck, a couple of beers and a chat about beating back the global Jihad sounds great. Where do I sign up? :D

HermitLion said...

Henrik, when the IDF killed those 'peace activists' on the Turkish ship, the news were filled with pictures of anti-Israeli rallies for days. It was hard not to get the feeling that the entire world has become insane at some point.
Add to that the fact that many of the activists of the flotilla (not on the Turkish ship) were European, and you can see how one can get the wrong impression. Since there aren't many Irish people in Israel, one crazy Irish leftist misrepresents her entire nation
(I'm using Irish as an example, of course).

Thankfully, there's the internet. I can't begin to explain what joy it is for me to have access to the articles and opinions here in Gates of Vienna.

Also, I've downloaded the booklet from your link - it looks like a good read.

spackle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
spackle said...

MIchelle's frustration? More like Michelle's willful denial.
She also tips her hand in the remark about the value of her apartment. She has thought many times about getting out of dodge. But that inner gooey Leftist wont let her do it. No, not until her son has been permanently maimed or she has been savaged. The more and more I deal with and read about committed Leftists the more I am convinced they are all hopelessly neurotic and mentally ill.

kurt9 said...

I might be a little dense, but my question is this: Why are there so many immigrants in Europe in the first place? Most of Europe has a very socialistic economy with not a lot of job creation (most new jobs are created in small to medium-sized growth business). There is also considerable government regulation that limits the formation of new businesses. Given this economic climate, why are there so many of these immigrants in Europe when there does not appear to be the job formation to support them? What kind of jobs do these people do?

Anonymous said...

Kurt :

They live on a mixture of benefits, drug dealing, menial private-sector jobs (as builders, cleaners, cashiers, cooks, nannies...) and public-sector jobs or non-jobs.

Public-sector housing and public-sector low-level jobs are, more and more, earmarked for immigrants. Of course this is entirely unofficial.

kurt9 said...

Robert:

Is the reason for hiring immigrants for such low-level work is because European people are unwilling to do these jobs themselves? Is it to keep the wages down in these jobs? (both explanations are the case in the U.S.). Or is there some other reason?

EscapeVelocity said...

Post WW2, immigrants were imported due to lack of manpower.

However since the 60s, they have been imported for 2 main reasons.

One is the Leftist push for "people of color," under the monikers of anti racism and multiculturalism. This has hidden motivation to disempower the majority indigenous populations, and effect wealth transfers to "the Other," which is broader in scope, comprising the agenda of breaking bourgeois societies, and instituting a global governance and wealth transfer.


But secondly, the birthrates declined and in order to prop up the Lavish Welfare State, workers and young people were needed. (I realize that these immigrants are more of a burden on the welfare system than propping up tax revenues from productive wealth creation but that doesnt negate the reason that immigration was advanced.



That is it in a nutshell.

Anonymous said...

". What about all those who have built up this huge inner anger and who already feel rejected and ostracized? How do we pick them up? I do so want to be part of a good integration. I would like to open my door to almost everyone. That’s what I tried to do with ‘Michelle’s Mission’ a couple of years ago. I am sad to say that now I feel powerless. I don’t know what to do, or if I can be bothered to do anything at all now that I have taken care of my own.”



While this retarded woman persists in this mind set, her little children suffer needlessly. THis will remain in their mind for life. Either the children will grow up to pitty her, or have contempt for her.

Her first job is to care for her children,while they are growing up, for their welfare in all ways.
Nevber mind about her "very best friends in the stair way" either.

kurt9 said...

I was last in Europe about 10 years ago. I may be a little clueless here. So, bear with me.

Middle-eastern birthrates are declining. They are actually declining at a faster rate than they did in Europe. The same is true with India and Pakistan. African birthrates, on the other hand, are as high as those in the rest of the third world back in the 1970's (when they used to have those national geographic covers with the little kids with the swollen bellies).

This suggests that Islamic immigration to Europe should slow in the near future, and be overtaken by Sub-Saharan African immigrants. At some point, say, around 2030, the Muslim minorities should find themselves outnumbered by Sub-Saharan African people.

I've heard that Southern Europe (Italy, Spain) are getting more Africans than muslims these days.

Can any of you in Europe confirm if this is indeed true?

If so, is it possible that the muslim immigrant communities could be on the receiving end of things from the blacks around 2030 or so?

Cyrus said...

Others may give a better picture, but once if the muslims got a majority population before 2030, or even large enough to direct the politics of a nation, then large numbers of Africans would be a non-issue. The new islamic countries would quickly use military force to stop such silliness.

Anonymous said...

"I've heard that Southern Europe (Italy, Spain) are getting more Africans than muslims these days."

They're the same thing.

Central Africans are also islamic.
Niger, Nigeria, Sneegal, Cape Verde Islands.

BTW, "muslim" is not a race, it's a religion/Law.

Islamics can be of any race or country.

kurt9 said...

I know that. However, it is possible for people of different ethnic groups to fight even if they share the same religion.

Also 80% of Africans (Blacks) are Christian, not Muslim, and Christianity is growing faster than Islam right now.

The Observer said...

In Denmark at the moment ethnic Danish women have higher birth rates than non-western immigrant women.

For the Danes this rate is 1.9 and for the non-western immigrants 1.6

I’ve written a piece on this trend here.

Anonymous said...

Yes, different ethnic groups fight even if they are the same religion.

For ex. the Arabs (Wahabbis) vs. Iraqis (Sunnis) vs. Persians (Shiites). And there are countless other sects, all against each other.

You said,

"Also 80% of Africans (Blacks) are Christian, not Muslim, and Christianity is growing faster than Islam right now."


I heard it was the other way around,b ecause in Niger, Nigeria and Sudan, the islamics were forcing converstion- esp. in Sudan.


But if what you say is true, then it's all good!

Engineer-Poet said...

There are words which come to mind when I see things like this:

"12-14 immigrant boys"

The words are "target-rich environment".

Sooner or later, those words are going to occur to someone in the "enriched" area.  The ghetto has no "non-enrichers", and whatever happens there affects no one else.  And once it catches on, the results are bound to be... unfortunate for the "enrichers".

I wish it would be otherwise, but the behavior of the "enrichers" allows few other conclusions.

hadley said...

@14: you are right of course. It was Pod the Elder who wrote the article. At my age it is so hard to keep them separate, even in my short term memory. Kristol, Podhoretz pere et fils, Goldberg, Krauthammer, they all say the same things: "invade the world, invite the world". There is absolutely nothing distinctive in their arguments. It is as though they are all reading the same party line and disgorging the same talking points in the same papers for the same people.

Henrik R Clausen said...

Post WW2, immigrants were imported due to lack of manpower.

Which was patently stupid. We should have invented better machines rather than start importing a new underclass :(

Peggy Siobhan Sullivan said...

She said:"I also really love my 180 sq.m. apartment which I have decorated myself. It has three balconies and a roof terrace. It’s also not a good time to sell; we would lose a lot of money if we sold right now,”

I can only wish she would put her son first. He is the one taking the beatings.

Engineer-Poet said...

"We should have invented better machines rather than start importing a new underclass :("

Read Alternatives to Immigrant Labor? The Status of Fruit and Vegetable Harvest Mechanization in the United States.  The money quote:

"Harvest labor productivity must be greatly increased so that production costs can decrease and worker income can increase. This is a key factor that the U.S. Government has been neglecting since 1979, when the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture of that time, Bob Bergland, stated, “I will not put federal money into any project that reduces the need for farm labor.” This policy supported an anti-mechanization movement that had brought a lawsuit against the University of California for using public funds to conduct mechanization research."

Anonymous said...

The whole lack of manpower thing is bollocks. You can have foreign workers and never grant them citizenship and after you no longer have a labour shortage, you deport all of them. That's how you do things.

It wasn't foolish to use foreign workers, it was foolish to let them stay here, Henrik.

Engineer-Poet said...

It's much easier to keep them from staying if they never arrive in the first place.

Post a Comment

All comments are subject to pre-approval by blog admins.

Gates of Vienna's rules about comments require that they be civil, temperate, on-topic, and show decorum. For more information, click here.

Users are asked to limit each comment to about 500 words. If you need to say more, leave a link to your own blog.

Also: long or off-topic comments may be posted on news feed threads.

To add a link in a comment, use this format:
<a href="http://mywebsite.com">My Title</a>

Please do not paste long URLs!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.