Somali cab drivers lead Memorial Day Walkout

The Somali Taxi Drivers Association of Minnesota and Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Taxi Drivers Association have agreed to support a one day walk-out Monday, August 18. They are calling for public support of the walkout to bring attention to the hazardous conditions under which cab drivers work in Minneapolis and St. Paul. In less than one month two Somali cab drivers have been murdered: Ahmed Ahmed on July 10 and Mohamed Saleh on August 8.

About two hundred people attended a Community Vigil at East Phillips Park at 24th Street and 18th Avenue, where Saleh was murdered on the early morning of August 8. Somalis, neighborhood people, Council Member Dean Zimmermann and County Attorney Amy Klobuchar heard the mother of Mohamed Saleh describe the pain she felt at her loss. Zimmermann said he believed the case would be solved soon and that the police had good leads. The person who murdered Ahmed Ahmed has been apprehended and is awaiting trial.

Solutions to the problem of cab driver's safety are controversial, and there is no clear consensus on a satisfactory solution.

Some drivers want a plastic shield between the driver and the passenger, but that may not have prevented the murders of Ahmed and Saleh. And many drivers feel that a shield would put too much distance between the driver and the fare.
The installation of cameras in the cabs might prevent robberies and murders, but the cost of putting the cameras into the cabs would be borne by the drivers.

A strobe light on top of the cab might alert other vehicles to a dangerous situation, and a global positioning system would tell the dispatcher exactly where the cab was.

Many residents in the inner city are afraid that the easiest solution will be that cab drivers will no longer pick up fares in poor neighborhoods.