many muslim women on the ballot this november

MIAMI (AP)

Jamilah Nasheed, an African-American convert to Islam and Missouri Democratic state representative, is one of just nine Muslim Americans in state legislatures nationwide, and the only woman, according to the alliance. She is almost certain to win re-election this year, and Muslim American women in California, Michigan and Minnesota are vying to join her.

Among them is Democrat Ferial Masry, who faces a tough race in her bid to represent a heavily Republican general assembly district near Los Angeles. The 59-year-old high school government and history teacher was born in Mecca but moved to Egypt when she was 10 so she could attend school, not an option for girls in Saudi Arabia at the time. She was a write-in candidate for the seat four years ago after the Democratic Party approached her.

She said no one expected the unknown "woman from Saudi Arabia with an accent" to do well, but she got almost 35 percent of the vote.

Farheen Hakeem, a 32-year-old activist and Green Party candidate for an open seat representing Minneapolis, first ran for mayor in 2005, then for a county commissioner seat. She lost both times.

"I was asked every question under the book," says Hakeem, who wears a head scarf and is of South Asian descent. People would grill her about Islam's treatment of women.

"If I'm so oppressed, how am I running for mayor? I'm still Muslim," she'd tell them. Now, she says, "People are like, 'Yeah, so what, she's Muslim.'"

Rashida Tlaib, an immigration lawyer from Michigan, never thought about running for office until after the terrorist attacks, when she said she saw the immigration system being used to target people of Middle Eastern descent and felt a responsibility to get involved.

After she worked on immigration reform, Tlaib was approached by the Michigan House floor leader, who wanted her to work for him, then later urged her to run for his seat. Tlaib was also recently tapped to be Barack Obama campaign's liaison to the Arab American and Muslim American communities.

Having won the primary in her heavily Democratic, majority Latino district, Tlaib will likely to join lawmakers in Lansing next session, and she looks forward to exposing them to Muslim holidays and traditions like fasting the month of Ramadan.

But Tlaib is quick to emphasize that she didn't run because she's Muslim American; it's just part of who she is. When she walked her district's neighborhoods, people were more interested in talking about crime and foreclosures than her unfamiliar name.

For entire article: On ballots this Nov: More Muslim American women

For a follow-up story on Rashida Tlaib (who won her race):
Michigan Legislature getting 1st female Muslim

obama inspires afro-brazilians

Al-Jazeera: Obama inspires Afro-Brazilians by Gabriel Elizondo in Salvador, Brazil

obama and hip-hop

NPR: Obama Hip-Hop: From Mixtapes To Mainstream
CNN: Barack Obama gets name-dropped in hip-hop
Washington Post: Rappers' Shout-Outs Make Obama Skip a Beat

XXL: Yes there is anti-Obama hip-hop

the small man...

The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.

- Hafiz

it's a new day - will.i.am

Obviously the election of Barack Obama is an incredibly profound historical milestone for the United States and so in some sense it is a "New Day. At the same time, it still remains to be seen to what extent Obama will try to re-create the Clinton administration, rule as a centrist or chart a bolder leftward-leaning course. I'm cautiously optimistic but I'm not sure if we can really expect a "revolution" which will suddenly make everything better (especially given the appointment of Rahm Emmanuel as chief of staff). However, I do think that we will start to make some baby-steps in the right direction over time.

Secondly, all these political will.i.am tracks (involving dozens of other musicians and actors) are making me wonder if in the Obama era, hip-hop will go from being protest music to pro-establishment patriotic music? Just a thought.

black president - brenda fassie

I had wanted to include a video to this song back when I started my "black president" series but didn't find one until now. Here is South African pop star Brenda Fassie singing about a different history-making Black leader. Personally, I think one of the most beautiful, powerful aspects of the song is that it was actually written several years before Mandela was elected. The dream became a reality. (And here is a clip of a sparser, more beautiful, less "pop" version of the song)





The year 1963
The people's president
Was taken away by security men
All dressed in a uniform
The brutality, brutality
Oh, no, my black president
Him and his comrades
Were sentenced to isolation
For many painful years
For many painful years
Many painful years
Of hard labour
They broke ropes
But the spirit was never broken
Never broken
Oh, no, my, my black president

Hmm maa (3x)
Mama
Hmm maa (3x)
Mama

Hmm maa (3x)
Madiba
Hmm maa (3x)
Madiba
Ahh, nyu ye uyee huu

He broke ropes
But his spirit was never broken
Never broken
Oh oh oh, my president

Now in 1990
The people's president
Came out from jail
Raised up his hand and said
'Viva, viva, my people'
He walked the long road
Back, back to freedom
Back, back to freedom
Freedom for my black president

Let us rejoice for our president
Let us sing for our president
Let us pray for our president
Let us sing, let us dance
For Madiba give us freedom
We thank you Lord
For listening to our prayers
Night and day
Oh oh oh, my president

Madiba

Zulu /Xhosa lyrics

My president
I will die for my president
I will sing for my president

I will stand and say
Viva, viva, viva, viva, viva, viva

obama: the recap

If I was President...
black presidents (part one)
black presidents (part two)
if al gore was president aka black presidents (part three)
black presidents (part four)
black presidents (part five)
black presidents (part six)
jimmy smits and the west wing



Obama and the Church
thoughts on obama's resignation from trinity united church of christ
the compassion forum
jeremiah wright and the black church
rev. 'icarus', the obama campaign, & the left
hiv/aids and the us government
rev. jeremiah wright: a change is going to come / national press club
there is nothing wrong with rev. wright
bill moyers and rev. jeremiah wright



Obama and Islam
more from zaid shakir
barak obama on the middle east
obama's islamic past
two calls for pan-africanism from the muslim world
this is what a non-muslim us presidential candidate looks like



Obama and Latinos
latinos and obama
obama and black latinos
president obama and afro-latinos



The Horserace
obama roasts mccain at the alfred e. smith dinner
some brother must have really done her wrong...
another bit
political bits
hispanic governor, bill richardson, endorses obama over clinton
morrison endorses obama for president
obama wins maine and a grammy
racism and the mcain-palin campaign



Obama and other religions
obama redraws map of religious voters
obama and different religious communities



Misc.
here's another thing i don't get...
an open letter to certain white women who are threatening to withhold support from obama in november
the dark knight: the rise of "the real" obama
obama and father's day
heru: barack obama is septimius severus
obama: the death of white supremacy?
barack's black dilemma
"well, i'm not gonna take the white house in 2008 on just my sparkling wit and funding from hostile governments."
mumbo jumbo with ishmael reed

day break

I haven't talked about Afro-futurism for a while, so I figure I should mention that I recently saw Day Break, a prematurely-cancelled television series starring Taye Diggs. It has a premise similar to Bill Murray's Groundhog Day in that Diggs' character keeps reliving a particular day until he gets it "right". But instead of being a cutesy romantic comedy, Daybreak is a somewhat violent drama series about a Black hero being apparently framed by the (mostly-white) powers that be. In this case, the role of "The Man" is played (in part) by members of a group called the Santayana Club. (George Santayana is the Spanish philosopher who is famous for having said: "Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it". On the other hand, almost all the people of color are at least portrayed rather sympathetically (even the criminals). An interesting show... it manages to keep the suspense and interest going, revealing layer after layer of an intricate story.

Here are all 13 episodes

pot. kettle. black. aka mccain and rashid khalidi (and ayers)

the empire strikes back

As we approach one of the most important elections (symbolically and otherwise) in US history. it is heartening to see signs of a growing consensus around Barack Obama (see Republican and conservative support for Barack Obama in 2008 and also Republicans and Conservatives Endorsing Barack) which has the potential to unify the country and redraw the political map. On the other hand it is a source of concern that the McCain campaign in its death-throes (inshaAllah) along with other elements of the far right are getting more vicious as election day approaches. (Feds disrupt skinhead plot to assassinate Obama)

i voted today

Oh my God, the line was soooo long. The process took about 3 hours from beginning to end. I kept thinking back to tv images of the first post-apartheid Election Day in South Africa when Mandela was on the ballot. I spent most of the time outside, waiting to be let into the Lemon City Library (Miami). Then I got a numbered ticket and was eventually let in. Once inside (which was still 70+ deep), I had to wait for my number to be called before being let into a seperate room where all the voting booths were. Fortunately for future early voters, the governor is extending the poll hours for the rest of the week.

20 questions with upski

In These Times: 20 Questions with Billy Wimsatt Wow, I went to school with this kid. Cool guy.

I like the way he describes his politics:

I’m for the underdogs and the polar bears. I’m for matriarchy and Barack Obama. I’m for green jobs, not jails. I want to turn the Titanic around before we hit the iceberg.

I believe we need deep transformation at all levels of society, individual and systemic. I hate the game, not the players. I love the suburbanites, not the suburbs. I believe that evil is real but good is real too! I believe in God and evolution and I believe it is our moral obligation to protect God’s creation. I believe that all life is sacred and that right now humans are out of balance. I believe that a society that worships material wealth cannot be reconciled with the Ten Commandments. I believe humans are trying to play God, and that genetic engineering, robotics and nano-technology are radically altering the fabric of human life into a scary science fiction novel.

I believe we need to change the game, re-invent the game, get together, hold hands, take a big deep breath, and come up with a new game where there are more winners and fewer losers. I want to see a happy ending in which humanity ultimately survives. I believe that whether the glass is half-full, one-quarter full or one-tenth full, we’ve gotta play the cards we are dealt. I believe in big baby steps.

racism and the mcain-palin campaign

For a while I've been meaning to do a post about how the McCain-Palin rallies have been starting to reveal an uglier, more bigoted side to the far-right's resistance to Obama. Of course, that was before Obama was lynched-in-effigy on a Christian College campus and before a McCain volunteer mutilated her own face and made up a story about how she was attacked by a big black Obama supporter. The McCain camp may try to distance itself from the behavior of its supporters but in reality, such extreme behavior is really just a natural reflection of the top of the ticket. It just seems like their real face is coming out now that their campaign seems to be in its death throws.

Capitol Hill Blue: McCain: racist, bigot & homophobe

Grenada's past;
mccain camp silences muslim organizer or "with friends like these..."
sarah palin on obama's winning the democratic nomination for president : "sambo beat the bitch!" (what ?!?!?!)
more on mccain's racially problematic politics
mccain, racism and religious bigotry
mccain - romney ?
mccain's spiritual advisor hates muslims and islam
should john mccain reject and denounce minister john hagee?
john mccain: "i hated the gooks. i will hate them as long as i live."

afro-latinos to declare columbus day as "the day of atonement"

Blacklatino.net: Day of Atonement: Afro-Latinos to declare Columbus Day as "The Day of Atonement" by Christopher Rodriguez

the n-word is flourishing among generation hip-hop latinos

The Village Voice: The N-Word Is Flourishing Among Generation Hip-Hop Latinos by Raquel Cepeda

president obama and afro-latinos

Blacklatino.net: Will President Barack Obama make a difference for Afro-Latinos? by Christopher Rodriguez

obama redraws map of religious voters

NPR: Obama Redraws Map Of Religious Voters by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

mccain camp silences muslim organizer or "with friends like these..."

CNN host Rick Sanchez said he was "mystified" by a last minute decision by the McCain campaign to pull a Muslim grassroots organizer from appearing on his show.

The aide, Daniel Zubairi, had been scheduled to appear on Sanchez's mid-day program after he was caught on video talking down an anti-Muslim protester outside a McCain rally in Woodbridge, Virginia. But, even after telling the network that an interview was "good to go," the McCain shop pulled Zubairi at the last minute, leaving Sanchez in limbo on live TV.

"Wouldn't you think they would have wanted him to come on?" the CNN host would later tell the Huffington Post.

CNN Host "Mystified" By McCain Camp Silencing Muslim Organizer

obama roasts mccain at the alfred e. smith dinner

submachine 5: the root

I've talked about the submachine games before. Here is Submachine 5: The Root by Mateusz Skutnik.

the collapse of the monetarist system

As I mentioned previously, the Murabitun take a pretty hardline stance against usury and the current system of paper money. So it shouldn't be surprising that their leader, Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi has written a series of pieces on The Collapse of the Monetarist Society.
Read Part 1
Read Part 2
Read Part 3

For another Muslim's perspective on the crisis you can check out Robert D. Crane's somewhat pessimistic (and surprisingly right wing) piece Are There Islamic Solutions for Economic Justice: Or Is the Insanity of Faux Money an Incurable Western Disease?

an exemplar of reconciliation

In the article An Exemplar of Reconciliation Salim Muwakkil shares his own thoughts on the passing of Imam W.D. Mohammed and the significance of his legacy. To provide a little bit of context, Muwakkil himself was a past member of the Nation of Islam (but his current religious beliefs are unclear).

Planet Grenada and Salim Muwakkil

register to vote!

www.maps.google.com/vote
Rock the Vote!
Declare Yourself!

Remember, in many locations the deadline to register is only days away.

btw, is Jamie Foxx wearing a kiffeyeh?

"if money is the root i want the whole damn tree" (the remix)

I'm no economist but I've been thinking about the current crisis in the US credit markets along with the Wall Street bailout and have wondered how the situation could be viewed through an Islamic lens.

For example, many of the practices and approaches which are currently deemed responsible for the crisis (e.g. predatory lending) are clearly prohibited in Islam (see Islamic Perspective on Meltdown in American Markets by Liaquat Ali Khan).

This suggests that Shariah-compliant financial institutions could be insulated from some of the effects of the crisis and in fact, this seems to be supported empirically to some degree (see Asia's Islamic finance sector weathering storm well)

It will be interesting to see if after the dust settles, we will see more growth in the Shariah-compliant sector of the economy (e.g. Islamic bonds could give London leg up in growing sphere of Shariah finance)

I also wonder if some of the more radical voices (like members of the Murabitun who hold that U.S. paper currency is based on usury and advocate bringing back the Islamic dinar) will also gain support in the wake of the crisis.

For some articles on their views see:
Building Sound Economic Foundations (part 1)
The Role of the Market in any Future African Economy
Zakat-The Fallen Pillar
The Islamic Money System

Finally, for a previous post on Islamic finance see:
"if money is the root i want the whole damn tree"

eid mubarak!

Is it just me or are more and more communities deciding to use "calculation" to determine the start and end of Ramadan? (See moonsighting.com for more articles)

sarah palin on obama's winning the democratic nomination for president : "sambo beat the bitch!" (what ?!?!?!)

From Chickenbones Journal: Palin Is "Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, And Mean" by Charley James

"So Sambo beat the bitch!"

This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama's win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat's primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.

"It was kind of disgusting," Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the "lower 48" about life near the North Pole.

Then, almost with a sigh, she added, "But that's just Alaska."

Racial and ethnic slurs may be "just Alaska" and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.

Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N'-Fetch-It, "darkie musical" swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska's Aboriginal people as "Arctic Arabs"—how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description—as well as the more colourful "mukluks" along with the totally unimaginative "f**king Eskimo's," according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.

Wow. I thought things were already pretty bad back in April when I did my post: mccain, racism and religious bigotry. But the right wing has been able to sink to new depths.

See also:
The Progressive Curmudgeon: Sarah’s Own Words: “I Don’t Do Black Guys.”
Z-Net: This is Your Nation on White Privilege by Tim Wise
Huffington Post: Gergen: McCain Using Code Words To Attack Obama As "Uppity"
La Times: Southern GOP Congressman Lynn Westmoreland literally calls Obama "uppity" but pleads ignorance to its racial connotations.

So why doesn't the multi-faceted, multi-actor McCain-Palin race/racism story get the same kind of sensationalistic coverage that the Rev. Wright story got?

imam w.d. mohammed and the third resurrection

From The Manrilla Blog, here is, Imâm W. D. Mohammed and The Third Resurrection, an article by Dr. Sherman Abd al-Hakim Jackson on the passing of Imam W.D. Mohammed. The piece discusses some of the distance and separation between Imam Mohammed's community and the rest of the Blackamerican Sunni community (along with the larger immigrant-dominated Sunni Muslim community in America)

reflection on the passing of the imam

Here is a collection of links on Imam W.D. Mohammed and his passing. The numbered links are borrowed shamelessly from Akram's Razor. But the first half-dozen or so are "extra".



The Best of Dr. Marvin X: Muslim Leader Imam Warithdin Muhammad Makes Transition
My Islamic Perspective: Remembering Imam W. D. Mohammed (UPDATED)
The American Muslim: Remembering Imam W. D. Muhammad by Abdul Malik Mujahid
Chicago Tribune: Thousands gather in Villa Park for funeral of Imam W. Deen Mohammed by Margaret Ramirez and Noreen Ahmed-Ullah
Detroit Free Press: Hamtramck-born Islamic imam who led thousands dies

Islamosphere:

1. Zahed Amanullah. "The Imam Cares" (alt.muslim)
2. Seeker's Digest: "Passing of Imam WD Mohammed - The Death of a Great Leader of Islam in the West"
3. 
   
4. Islamicate: "Warith Dean Mohammed is Dead"
5. SaqibSaab at Muslim Matters: "Thoughts After Attending The Janazah of Imam W. D. Mohammed"
6. Rickshaw Diaries: "RIP: Imam W. Deen Muhammad"
7. Koonj: "Imam Warith Deen Muhammad: a leader among leaders"
8. Just Another Angry Black Muslim Woman? "Death of a Pioneer: Warith Deen Muhammad October 30, 1933-Sept.9, 2008"
9. SunniSister: Imam Warith Deen
10. ThirdResurrection: w.d. mohammed dies
11. Tariq Nelson: "W Deen Mohammed 1933-2008"
12. Akram's Razor: "Imam W.D. Mohammed has left us"
13. Azhar Usman: "An Apology: Heartfelt reflections on the passing of a legendary Blackamerican Muslim leader"
14. Dynamite Soul: "A word about Imam Warith Deen Mohammad"
15. Imam Zaid Shakir: "Imam Warith Deen Muhammad (1933-2008)"
16. Sisterdoc: "Peace and Blessings Imam W.D. Mohammed-R.I.P."

Rest of the Blogosphere:

1. Mata H at Blogher: "The death of Imam W. Deen Mohammed and 'A Summit on Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul'"
   
2. David Waters: "W.D. Mohammed's Spiritual Maturity"
   
3. Marc Lamont Hill: "R.I.P. Warith Deen Muhammad"
4. John Esposito: "W.D. Mohammed: A Witness for True Islam"

MSM:

1. Michelle Gallardo. "Prayer services for Imam W. D. Mohammed" (a Chicago TV station)
2. Margaret Ramirez and Noreen Ahmed-Ullah. "Thousands gather in Villa Park for funeral of Imam W. Deen Mohammed" (Chicago Tribune)
3. Margaret Ramirez, Manya A. Brachear and Ron Grossman.
   
4. "Muslim America's rebellious son" (The Chicago Tribune)
5. Sophia Tarteen: "Former Nation of Islam leader W.D. Mohammed dies" (Associated Press)
6. Niraj Warikoo: "Muslim leader Warith Deen Mohammed dies" (FREEP)
7. Patricia Sullivan: "W.D. Mohammed; Changed Muslim Movement in U.S." (Washington Post)
8. Time Online: "Imam W. D. Mohammed: influential US Sunni Muslim leader"
9. Malise Ruthven: "Imam who succeeded his father as leader of the Nation of Islam" (The Guardian)

Misc.

1. A guest book dedicated to the memory of Imam W.D. Mohammed
2. An audio recording of the Muslim Journal's press conference
   
3. "This Far by Faith: Warith Deen Muhammad" , an episode of a PBS series on great religious leaders dedicated to WDM
4. Taylor Branch: "The Anointed Son: The story behind W.D. Mohammed's momentous break with his father and his alliance with Malcolm X." (Beliefnet)
5. A bio of WDM at an Atlanta mosque.

juan cole on sarah palin

Blogger and Middle East Affairs expert, Juan Cole has a couple of interesting sets of remarks on controversial Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin.

Palin on World Affairs: Just not Ready for Prime Time reflects on Palin's interview with Charlie Gibson.

Eyewitness: "No Way it was Rhetorical." addresses Sarah Palin's repeated inquiries into removing "objectionable" books from the public library (along with a few other aspects of her administration in Alaska.

And finally, in a piece which was recently published at Salon.com. Cole reviews Palin's positions on abortion, censorship, homosexuality and creationism and considers the question: What's the difference between Palin and Muslim fundamentalists? Lipstick?

For a while now I've been thinking of trying to put together a post on the range of Islamic views regarding abortion (which is actually more liberal than the standard Catholic/Evangelical position). Until then, I'll just share what Juan Cole wrote:

The GOP vice-presidential pick holds that abortion should be illegal, even in cases of rape, incest or severe birth defects, making an exception only if the life of the mother is in danger. She calls abortion an "atrocity" and pledges to reshape the judiciary to fight it. Ironically, Palin's views on the matter are to the right of those in the Muslim country of Tunisia, which allows abortion in the first trimester for a wide range of reasons. Classical Muslim jurisprudents differed among one another on the issue of abortion, but many permitted it before the "quickening" of the fetus, i.e. until the end of the fourth month.

more sleeper cell

Thanks to Netflix I finally finished seeing the second season of Sleeper Cell (definitely less engaging and realistic than the first). The first season was kept going by the conflicting challenges faced by the protagonist (Darwyn) to do his job as an FBI agent and to hold on to his integrity as a Muslim all while not blowing his cover. In the second season, Darwyn's faith was de-emphasized and the pressure to maintain his cover was less intense (since he had established his credibility as a terrorist in the first season). So now, after simply doing his job, Darwyn seems primarily motivated by his affection for the two (white) women in his life, his handler and his girlfriend. As I said before, Traitor was a lot more interesting to watch.

NPR: Don Cheadle's Spy Turn on Traitor

a moment of silence before i start this poem

Before I start this poem, I'd like to ask you to join me
In a moment of silence
In honour of those who died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last September 11th. I would also like to ask you To offer up a moment of silence For all of those who have been harassed, imprisoned, disappeared,
tortured, raped, or killed in retaliation for those strikes, For the victims in both Afghanistan and the US

And if I could just add one more thing...

A full day of silence
For the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died at the hands of US-backed Israeli forces over decades of occupation. Six months of silence for the million and-a-half Iraqi people, mostly children, who have died of malnourishment or starvation as a result of an 11-year US embargo against the country.

Before I begin this poem,

Two months of silence for the Blacks under Apartheid in South Africa, Where homeland security made them aliens in their own country. Nine months of silence for the dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Where death rained down and peeled back every layer of concrete, steel, earth and skin And the survivors went on as if alive. A year of silence for the millions of dead in Vietnam - a people, not a war - for those who know a thing or two about the scent of burning fuel, their relatives' bones buried in it, their babies born of it. A year of silence for the dead in Cambodia and Laos, victims of a secret war .... ssssshhhhh.... Say nothing ... we don't want them to learn that they are dead. Two months of silence for the decades of dead in Colombia, Whose names, like the corpses they once represented, have piled up and slipped off our tongues.

Before I begin this poem.

An hour of silence for El Salvador ...
An afternoon of silence for Nicaragua ...
Two days of silence for the Guatemaltecos ...
None of whom ever knew a moment of peace in their living years. 45 seconds of silence for the 45 dead at Acteal, Chiapas 25 years of silence for the hundred million Africans who found their graves far deeper in the ocean than any building could poke into the sky. There will be no DNA testing or dental records to identify their remains. And for those who were strung and swung from the heights of sycamore trees in the south, the north, the east, and the west...

100 years of silence...

For the hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples from this half of right here,
Whose land and lives were stolen,
In postcard-perfect plots like Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Fallen Timbers, or the Trail of Tears. Names now reduced to innocuous magnetic poetry on the refrigerator of our consciousness ...

So you want a moment of silence?
And we are all left speechless
Our tongues snatched from our mouths
Our eyes stapled shut
A moment of silence
And the poets have all been laid to rest
The drums disintegrating into dust.

Before I begin this poem,
You want a moment of silence
You mourn now as if the world will never be the same
And the rest of us hope to hell it won't be.
Not like it always has been.

Because this is not a 9/11 poem.
This is a 9/10 poem,
It is a 9/9 poem,
A 9/8 poem,
A 9/7 poem
This is a 1492 poem.

This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be written. And if this is a 9/11 poem, then: This is a September 11th poem for Chile, 1971. This is a September 12th poem for Steven Biko in South Africa, 1977. This is a September 13th poem for the brothers at Attica Prison, New York, 1971.

This is a September 14th poem for Somalia, 1992.

This is a poem for every date that falls to the ground in ashes This is a poem for the 110 stories that were never told The 110 stories that history chose not to write in textbooks The 110 stories that CNN, BBC, The New York Times, and Newsweek ignored. This is a poem for interrupting this program.

And still you want a moment of silence for your dead?
We could give you lifetimes of empty:
The unmarked graves
The lost languages
The uprooted trees and histories
The dead stares on the faces of nameless children
Before I start this poem we could be silent forever
Or just long enough to hunger,
For the dust to bury us
And you would still ask us
For more of our silence.

If you want a moment of silence
Then stop the oil pumps
Turn off the engines and the televisions
Sink the cruise ships
Crash the stock markets
Unplug the marquee lights,
Delete the instant messages,
Derail the trains, the light rail transit.

If you want a moment of silence, put a brick through the window of Taco Bell, And pay the workers for wages lost. Tear down the liquor stores, The townhouses, the White Houses, the jailhouses, the Penthouses and the Playboys.

If you want a moment of silence,
Then take it
On Super Bowl Sunday,
The Fourth of July
During Dayton's 13 hour sale
Or the next time your white guilt fills the room where my beautiful
people have gathered.

You want a moment of silence
Then take it NOW,
Before this poem begins.
Here, in the echo of my voice,
In the pause between goosesteps of the second hand,
In the space between bodies in embrace,
Here is your silence.
Take it.
But take it all... Don't cut in line.
Let your silence begin at the beginning of crime. But we, Tonight we will keep right on singing... For our dead.

-Emmanuel Ortiz, 11 Sep 2002

"first writing since"

Here's one of my favorite 9/11 poems. I've posted links to the text before but they have since expired. Here is a clip of an actual performance. To be honest, when I read the poem I imagine a more lively delivery in my head, but it is still powerful to see Suheir Hammad recite her own work. Here is "first writing since".

w.d. mohammed dies

Associated Press: W.D. Mohammed dies; son of Nation of Islam founder
12 hours ago

CHICAGO (AP) — A nephew says Imam W.D. Mohammed, the son of Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad, has died.

Sultan Muhammad says his uncle died Tuesday. He didn't immediately give further details but says the family will issue a statement.

W.D. Mohammed moved thousands of blacks into mainstream Islam after breaking with the group his father founded. He went by both Warith Deen Mohammed and Wallace Muhammad.

The Cook County Medical Examiner confirmed receiving the body of a 74-year-old Wallace Mohammed.

aaron mcgruder is a "prophet"

I caught part of the Republican Convention on Tuesday night and it reminded me of an old Boondocks strip:

Caesar [holding a newspaper]: Joe Lieberman say's he's the only Democrat who could beat George Bush.
Huey: He's right - wait - did he say "beat" or "be"?
Caesar: Beat.
Huey: Oh, never mind. He's crazy

Grenada's past:
an old but timely boondocks strip from 2003
al sharpton and strom thurmond
old boondocks

judas / traitor

So today for the third week in a row I've unsuccessfully tried to see the local production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. (Once it was due to a misunderstanding about the date, but the other two times the show was canceled altogether). (Unfortunately today was the last potential show so I'm basically out of luck for now... maybe later on I'll write a reflection piece on the position of Judas in Islam)

Instead, this afternoon I went to a multiplex to catch Don Cheadle in Traitor. I don't want to give any spoilers but I will say that I mostly enjoyed the movie. In fact, except for the swearing and a few other bits, I might even recommend it as a great movie for Muslims to see in Ramadan. In many respects it covered some of the same ground as the television series Sleeper Cell... although Don Cheadle's performance was far superior to Michael Ealy's, and the other terrorist characters in Traitor (at least, those with lines) were more realistic and less cartoonish than those in Sleeper Cell.

Given the current political situation, I suspect that we have seen neither the last nor the best of such stories in tv and film. In fact, I think it would be amazing to see a film along the lines of No Way Out which had an African-American Muslim central character whose ultimate agenda wasn't as clear as the protagonists in the previous examples.

sleeper cell (part 2)
miami and the seas of david
the departed

And in a more Grenada-esque turn, here is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Traitor from the Jimmy Kimmel show:

ramadan mubarak

Wow, I don't feel ready. It will either start tomorrow or the day after. I think I need to do some thoughtful grocery shopping tonight along with some spiritual inventory-taking.

some brother must have really done her wrong...

or at least that was my first impression of Anne Price-Mills, the Black female delegate who was interviewed after Hillary Clinton's speech at the Democratic Convention.



She intends to vote for Hillary Clinton at the convention, but isn't sure if she'll vote for Obama in the general ?!?!?

heru: barack obama is septimius severus

I haven't posted anything from Heru in a while, so here is something new:



Planet Grenada and Heru
"i've seen ethiopians knocking out rome"
Wikipedia: Septimius Severus

I should say that I still definitely plan on voting for Obama and I think that some of Heru's criticisms are a bit misdirected. On the other hand, I often think that the United States would be better off with with a parliament so that other voices (for example, like those represented by Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente) could have a voice in the government.

At the same time, it is a bit unclear to me how things would shake out after all the political dust settled under a parliament: There would be Greens and Socialists but there would also be Libertarians. The Democratic Party might clarify its status as a center-left labor party. But then Republicans would probably break-up into an economic and a social conservative group. And you'd also see a more vocal (possibly separate) role for anti-immigrant voices, the hawks, the theocrats and others. More later?

here's another thing i don't get...

I don't believe that all those "Clinton supporters" are really defecting over to McCain... some of those have to be Republicans who are just trying to mess with the polls. After all, why wouldn't the angry progressive left-of-center women (other than Rosanne) go over to Cynthia McKinney & Rosa Clemente?

Shoot, if Hillary had gotten the nomination and I didn't feel cool about how it went down and I lived in a "safe" state, I would totally vote for them. An African-American woman for prez with an Afro-Latina for VP running on a totally progressive platform?

McKinney & Clemente: 2008
All Things Cynthia McKinney
Rosa Clemente's MySpace Page
Green Party



Planet Grenada:
who is black?
political bits

sufi breakdancing

I just added a number of posts to Third Resurrection which you might like to check out (including the one below) and I'll probably put a few more up in a couple of days.

I recently discovered the blog Fire of Ashk which posted a clip of some Naqshbandi followers of Shaykh Nazim doing dhikr in a circle, where one excited brother starts to breakdance:



See also:
planet grenada and islam and hip-hop

unfit for publication: obama nation vaccination

You may have heard of Jerome Corsi's Obama Nation which represent's his attempt to "Swiftboat" the Democratic presidential candidate. If so you might also be interested in checking out the pdf of Unfit for Publication which is a point-by-point rebuttal of many of the dishonest claims in Corsi's work. Corsi himself seems to be a pretty foul kind of bigot who compares Islam to a virus and makes a number of negative comments about "rag heads" and Catholics.

zombie jamboree (part two)

With the help of Netflix and the bargain bin at Blockbuster I've finally finished seeing the George Romero zombie oeuvre (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead plus their remakes, along with the more recent Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead).

In my opinion, the remake of Night of the Living Dead is the best of the lot, followed by Diary of the Dead. I think the original versions of Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead were better than their remakes. (The social commentary is more effectively delivered and I prefer the original "slow zombies" to the new "fast zombies").

Land of the Dead is somewhere in between. To be honest, it was a bit disappointing but mainly because I had hyped it up in my mind (it was the last Romero movie I had left to see and it was a bit hard to find) but still, it was an interesting allegory of the Bush administration (at least that was Romero's stated intention) and in some ways, quite Grenada-esque.

To be continued...

here's what i don't quite get...

John Edwards isn't running for president and currently does not hold any public office while the media seems to be paying a lot of attention to this whole John Edwards adultery story (either that or I'm watching too much FOX) On the other hand, John McCain is running for president and does currently hold public office and yet there seems to be very little discussion of the character questions raised by McCain's treatment of his first wife.

Alternet: How Is John McCain's Affair Different from John Edwards'?
MailOnline: The wife U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind
DailyIntel: L.A. ‘Times’ Questions McCain’s Divorce Timeline
PensitoReview: McCain’s Extramarital Affair with Cindy Ended His Friendship with Reagans
Daily Kos: Next Anti-McCain Ad: From Rick Warren?!?!? (on Adultery)

And then on top of that you have Cindy McCain's own issues... I don't mean her drug addiction (which is basically a medical question) but stealing drugs from her own charity in order to get satisfy that addiction is a serious ethical lapse.

Alternet: As Long As We're Talking About Michelle Obama, Did You Know That Cindy McCain Was a Drug Addict?
WizbangBlue: Cindy McCain's Battle Back from Drug Addiction and Charity Theft

i don't want to sound ign'ant...

... but with all the news reports about Russia attacking Georgia, has anyone else been thinking about renting Red Dawn at the videostore? While we are on the subject, does anyone else remember the mini-series Amerika?

r.i.p for bernie mac and isaac hayes... and could someone check on samuel jackson?

From the upcoming film: Soul Men

another bit

McCain:
This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.

I was just thinking about this statement the other day. Even if we grant that McCain is willing to adopt unpopular stances regarding the Iraq Waq it definitely doesn't follow that he is making objective decisions based only on what is best for the United States. McCain is also a Vietnam veteran with a son currently in Iraq. So his emotional investment in the conflict is certainly sufficient to explain some of his positions as well.

political bits

1. After Obama's FISA vote I'm finally starting to wish that McKinney had a chance of winning this election. Obama's still my choice but his vote took some of the shine off. Before this I basically viewed him as someone whose ideals I strongly agreed with, but who occasionally had to make some difficult pragmatic compromises with current political reality in order to get elected. Now I'm slightly less certain of where his real convictions lie.

2. This mantra that "the surge worked" seems really silly to me. From the perspective of anyone who opposed the Iraq War on philosophical or ideological grounds (e.g. because they are pacifists, because the conflict didn't satisfy their particular conditions for a just war, because they don't believe the US should be an empire, etc.) the surge's "success" just demonstrates our own technical proficiency in doing the wrong thing. It's like complimenting the DC sniper for his marksmanship.

marlon unas esguerra

I've previously mentioned Anida Yeou Esguerra on Planet Grenada (see the day after and anida esguerra. And also check out atomicshotgun.com). Here is a spoken word piece, "Morning Papers" from Marlon Unas Esguerra on Def Poetry Jam. I don't know about specific theologies but it is my understanding that both identify as Asian American and Muslim spoken word artists.



e-poets: Marlon Esguerra
www.yellowfist.com

zombie jamboree (part one)

The Kingston Trio: Zombie Jamboree


And, if you are in a time-and-zombie-killing mood, you might want to check out Sean T. Cooper's simple, but entertaining series of free online Boxhead Games.

Also, you may have seen some of the books in Open Court Publishing Company's series on Popular Culture and Philosophy which brings together a group of authors to philosophically unpack the content behind the Harry Potter novels, South Park and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm in the middle of checking out The Undead and Philosophy: Chicken Soup for the Soulless. (I'll probably do a review in part two of this blog entry once I'm done)

For some reason zombies and zombie movies have been more on my radar these days. Both Shaun of the Dead and the remake of Romero's Dawn of the Dead were on tv earlier today. And a few weeks back Land of the Dead (starring John Leguizamo) was on. And during the days in between I've been making ample use of the bargain DVD bins at Walmart and Blockbuster in order to further explore the genre.

To begin with, I would argue that George Romero's 1990 remake of his own Night of the Living Dead is actually one of the all-time greatest films (one of my favorites in any case). It is a well-crafted story centering around seven personalities who arrive at a farmhouse while being threatened by zombies all around them. In spite of the small cast (not counting the zombies of course) and minimal setting, Romero manages to pack a surprisingly rich set of interactions and relationships, invoking issues of race, gender, age, family into a story full of suspense, conflict, social commentary and irony.

Most subsequent zombie films are similar in the sense that they explore zombie outbreaks in the confines of a specific (even if large) area such as a shopping mall (Dawn of the Dead), an army base (Day of the Dead), in and around a graveyard/mortuary/medical warehouse (Return of the Living Dead) and an airplane (Flight of the Living Dead... which could have just as easily been called Zombies on a Plane).

An interesting exception is George Romero's Diary of the Dead. The somewhat self-referential movie follows a group of film students and their professor who were working on a horror picture out in the woods when they get news of the zombie outbreak. But since the group has at their disposal a Winnebago full of gasoline and video equipment, the characters are able to travel to different locations and settings sense of the impacts of the zombie phenomena. (a hospital, a militia headquarters, a middle-class home, an upper-class home, etc.) which gives a more varied and global sense of the scope of the zombie problem. In fact, unlike many zombie films which portray localized outbreaks caused by some mysterious virus or chemical spill, in the Diary of the Dead the cause leans more to the theological. The basic rules of life and death seemed to have changed all over the world simultaneously. As one of the characters in another Romero zombie film explains, "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth." In any case, Diary... contains a bit more social criticism and philosophical reflection than most of the other films in the genre, and I would argue that after Night... it is the second-best zombie film I've ever seen.

to be continued...

boy crisis

Shameless plug for my cousin's band.

"i guess, michael jackson was right, you are not alone" (part two)

This isn't superdeep but it still weirded me out... I recently used Mapquest to get directions somewhere and on a whim clicked on "street view" to look at locations around my apartment. It turns out I could see a side view of my car online! It makes me wonder where the images are coming from. Black helicopters? Unmarked surveilance vehicles driving through my neighborhood Anyone know?

see "i guess, michael jackson was right, you are not alone"

angels and demons: the film

I just found out that they are making a film version of Dan Brown's angels and demons set for release next year. (It came up for me because an actress who plays one of the characters in Vanishing Point also has a role in Angels and Demons). In theological terms it probably won't be as controversial as The Da Vinci Code, but apparently the Catholic Church has still refused to give permission for filming at the various historical Italian Churches which are part of the story's original setting.

vantage point

I just finished watching the film Vantage Point last week. The central idea behind the film is how ones perception of reality radically depends on ones point of view. It demonstrates this idea by telling and retelling the story, from different perspectives, of a terrorist attack in Salamanca involving the President of the United States (POTUS).

The movie was good and generally entertaining. I just have a few comments and nits:
1. There was at least one discrepancy between the stories: During the iteration which follows Forrest Whitaker's character (an American tourist with marital problems back home), there are two secret service agents who appear at the end at a crucial moment but are absent from the corresponding scene in the final iteration of the story.

2. A second slight weakness in terms of the construction of the story: At a crucial point, the main terrorist leader who has clearly established his callous disregard for human life during the rest of the film, makes a surprise move actually swerves to avoid hitting a little girl.

3. Finally (and here is the "Grenada-esque" bit) maybe this is just as further example of how everything depends on perspective but the terrorists' motivations aren't made totally clear in the film. In one iteration, a member of the President's staff says that a group called Mujahideen Brigade with connections to Morocco is planning an attack on the President. But when we follow the terrorists, there are few, if any, clues to their ideology and all of them, even the sleeper agent, speak nothing but Spanish.

Anyone else see this movie?

planet grenada and islam and hip-hop

Over at Goatmilk, Wajahat Ali recently posted an in depth piece entitled: Fear of a Muslim Planet:Hip-Hop’s Hidden History by Naeem Mohaiemen on the historical connections between Islam and hip-hop. It made me want to do put together a sampling of Grenada posts on the same subject.

Pieces range from

a simple list:
an old list of rappers and their religion

to specific peeks at particular Muslim hip-hop artists:
digging below the underground
more on lupe fiasco
one.be.lo - s.o.n.o.g.r.a.m.
de la soul
ali shaheed muhammad
whatever happened to q-tip?
boricua rappers drop anti-imperialist album

to discussions of Islam's presence in pre-hip-hop African-American music:
the last poets
muslim roots of american blues
all that jazz...

to broader more "sociological"discussions of the phenomena of Muslim hip-hop across different musical groups:
verily, there is only one hip-hop umma
al-ahram does a story on muslim hip-hop
more on muslims and hip-hop
hisham aidi

to pieces which focus more on the Muslim community and speak about the music in mostly general terms:
new age jahiliyyah
islam and hip-hop
traditional islam for the hip-hop generation

to more regional-based posts...

on African Muslims doing hip-hop (whether in Europe or the Continent)
in bleak projects, emerging culture
daara j brings rap back to its african roots

or Arab and Arab-American hip-hop:
rap the casbah
(global) southern girl
representin' the west (bank)

or Asian-related hip-hop:
an african american muslim convert as the founder of chinese hip-hop
afro-asian crosscurrents in contemporary hip-hop

Enjoy.

superman in the nursing home

Thinking about Wanted for the last post reminded me of the following poem which gives a whole other spin to the superman myth:

Superman in the Nursing Home
by Rusty Russell


It started with the flying.
I just had to get away.
I thought I was going crazy, hearing things –
voices, sirens, water running behind walls,
and the crying, someone always crying behind closed doors.
It was that super hearing. I had it then.
So some nights I'd fly out of the city
until I couldn't hear them anymore,
way out over the ocean where I could see the earth turning
and the sun rising over the edge of the next day.
Miraculous, made me feel like the only man on earth,
but I wasn't a man. I was a freak.
Then came all those years
of changing clothes in dirty phone booths;
chewing gum on the floor getting stuck in my pants,
cigarette butts, and the smell of winos and urine.
Sometimes the phone would ring while I was in there
and it always gave me the creeps.
Think about it – an anonymous telephone
in the middle of the night on a deserted street
and it's ringing for someone. Anyone.
I never picked it up. I didn't want to hear it –
lives pulled thin over a phone wire,
stories of pockets with holes,
bad breath whistling through bad teeth.
What could I do?
Someone sobbing and sloppy drunk in a bar somewhere
picks up a phone, dials a number at random
and gets Superman
with his pants down in a phone booth.
Believe it or not, this Superman thing started out modestly:
no cape, no tights.
Just lifting automobiles off trapped motorists,
or catching falling babies before they hit the sidewalk.
But it felt so good, the applause,
the way the Earth girls looked at me,
and it all got out of hand.
I should have stopped after the first bank robbery.
There would never be any cash reward in this
for an indestructible guy like me.
Just "Thanks, Superman,"
and the bankers smiling as I flew away.
All the time they were thinking,
"What a fucking tool," and they were right.
Hell, it was all insured.
If I'd quit then and done something with myself –
forgotten this superhero thing and gotten a realtor's license
or just a full time job with benefits,
maybe I wouldn't be waiting for the TV hour
here in the dayroom of the County Home.
I never saved anyone from this. No one could.
But in a way, it's true, what they say,
that every moment lasts forever,
because I still dream about those first nights
when I was young, before it all started,
flying out of Metropolis in my pajamas
with the moon overhead and the silver ocean below,
and the billboards left behind
like a cry for help I can finally ignore.

wanted

While we are on the subject of graphic novels, I also recently read Wanted written by Mark Millar and which has also been adapted into a film staring James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie.

I haven't yet seen the movie, but I have the definite impression that a large amount of the original story's significance has been lost in the transition from graphic novel to the film. The graphic novel takes place in a thinly-veiled analogue of the DC comic universe. The premise is that back in 1986 the various super villains came together and formed a unified army to decisively defeat the superheroes. In the present-day, super villains run the world with impunity through a secret society known as the Fraternity. (It is interesting to note that in a very small way, DC Comics moved in this direction when it made Lex Luthor president.) In the film, the secret society is made up of badass assassins who are still basically good but in the graphic novel, the organization is unambiguously evil. The main philosophical difference between the villains in the graphic novel lies in whether they are motivated by ruthless greed or a sadistic nihilism.

Professor Seltzer:
Shouldn't that be every one's aspiration Mister Rictus? The loot without the leg breaking?

Mister Rictus:
Personally I always saw the loot as just an added bonus, Professor Seltzer.

In addition to this basic moral vacuum, the other major element of the graphic novel which is presumably absent in the film is the rich relationship to the DC Comic Book mythos. One of the most interesting moments along these lines is an exchange between Wesley [the protagonist[ and Professor Seltzer [a clear Lex Luthor stand-in]:

Wesley:
I don't understand how come this isn't in the history books? Even if there had been one superhero wouldn't that have been all over the news and stuff?

Professor Seltzer:
Ah, but it wasn't enough just to beat them, Wesley. We had to strip them of their memories and make sure that even their greatest fans didn't remember them.

Such science might seem comical in this new world that we molded for you, but believe me when I saw that reality itself can be rewritten if we desire it, boy.

Seven dimensional imps [Mr. Mxyzptik] and alien super-computers [Brainiac] are among our ranks, you know. There's really nothing we can't do if we always stand united.

Now, your father's old nemesis [only referred to as "The Detective" but obviously Batman] is just a camp pudgy joke who signs autographs for money. The Warrior Princess [Wonder Woman] is a menopausal drunk who thinks she was a tv personality. And as for my own arch-foe [Superman]...

Well according to the newspapers, he needs someone to help him defecate now and spends his long dull days staring into space, trying to remember where it all went wrong. [the panel shows a man in a wheelchair sitting by a window, clearly recalling Christopher Reeve]

In other words, there is the strong suggestion (which is incredibly tragic when you stop to think about it) that Adam West, Christopher Reeve and Lynda Carter really are the defeated remnants of the heroes they portrayed on tv and film. (Along similar lines, the Vixen [a Catwoman stand-in] is definitely modelled on Halle Berry) So maybe the novel is meant to describe our own universe and we actually live in a world run by super villains?

In any case, based on the promotional material I've seen, the movie essentially ignores the comic book aspects of the novel. I wonder to what extent that was a freely-made creative decision and to what extent it was motivated by the likely legal hurdles due to copyright issues.

Basically, I expect that the movie will be an entertaining experience full of sci-fi/action candy but will be missing much of the mythological richness of the graphic novel.

Goatmilk: WANTED - MOVIE REVIEW

pride of baghdad

I recently read Brian K. Vaughan's graphic novel Pride of Baghdad (art by Niko Henrichon) and was really impressed. The story is a political allegory with talking animals so it obviously screams to be compared to Animal Farm but it manages to give the Orwell classic a run for its money. The plot focuses on a group of lions (Zill, Safa, Noor and Ali) who escape from the Baghdad Zoo during a US bombing attack but from another perspective the novel is an engaging meditation on the meaning of freedom and autonomy in general, but especially in the context of modern-day Iraq. I definitely recommned.

Dorkgasm: CRITICAL ANALYSIS: PRIDE OF BAGHDAD

latin kings gang leader calls for peace

Fox: Latin Kings Gang Leader Calls for Peace by Caron Myers