piri thomas (1928-2011)

Piri Thomas' Official Website
NPR: Piri Thomas, Poet And Novelist, Remembered
Democracy Now!: Author Piri Thomas Dies at 83
LA Times: Latino writer Piri Thomas dies at 83

dr. jackson issues a challenge

Dr. Sherman Jackson, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at University of Michigan and author of several pioneering books, including “Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering,” has issued a challenge for supporters of IMAN (the Inner-City Muslim Action Network based in Chicago) in these final days of Ramadan. In a generous commitment, Dr. Jackson has agreed to match, dollar for dollar, all donations received online until the end of our Heal the ‘Hood campaign. Read more about the challenge here.

alianza afro latina islamica / casa a.l.i., inc.

From their website

Our mission is to give men and women released from incarceration or treatment facilities a place where they can live, keep personal property, have access to phone calls, job searches, public assistance programs, parole, and basic needs till they get on their feet.

We give our residents not only a respectable living environment but also guidance on how to conduct themselves, and how to deal with adversity and/or rejection in order to avoid rearrest or denial of employment.

Men and women are given spacious living areas where they don’t feel as if they are in a shelter environment and have to be up at the crack of dawn to leave the facility in search of employment.

Our intake and residential program is six months long with the reserved option of extending that period for three months if necessary for a total maximum of nine months. We also provide them with transportation for them to go to and fro to the places they need to. We residence to ensure their success.

Our After Care Director sees to it that after our residents leave our homes they are not left without a support group to assist them if they encounter difficulties.

Residents successfully completing the program are eligible to return if they encounter difficulties or are unable to maintain gainful employment and stable residence, but only on a case by case basis.

As Afro-Latinos and African-Americans ourselves we have firsthand experience with the effects that lack of decent community assistance programs can have on our neighborhoods so we know our market.

We will be also taking the burden off of government by providing a valuable service and lifting part of the financial burden recidivism, homelessness, and unemployment create.

Our approach is more holistic in the sense that we also provide mentoring through our volunteers and staff, some of whom in the past were incarcerated or underwent treatment at a substance abuse facility but have successfully made the transition into responsible, gainfully employed adults and can now show our residents how they did it in order to have a positive impact on their lives.

I haven't researched them carefully but perhaps when it comes to zakat, or at least sadaqa we could consider organizations like these which have a local impact rather than sending money overseas.

islam on the rise in brazilian favelas

the sunni beard

by Chikodi Chima

Philadelphia is known as "the city of brotherly love" and these brothas' love their beards.

traditional islam for the hip-hop generation

Southern California InFocus: Traditional Islam for the hip-hop generation by Zaid Shakur talks about some of the positive things going on in and around the San Diego urban Muslim community.