thoughts on the karate kid

I just saw the remake of The Karate Kid the other night. Themes of globalization were front and center. An African-American single mother from Detroit has to move to China due to her job being transferred. The film was full of beautiful scenes of the Chinese countryside as well as city life. Temples, the Forbidden City, crowds of people doing Tai-Chi in the park. Plus there were a few obligatory humorous outcroppings of Western culture in the film: Spongebob Squarepants on television (dubbed and subtitled so that Jaden Smith's character couldn't understand). And the demure violin-playing Chinese girl getting her groove on to Lady Gaga.

Jackie Chan's performance was competent but I felt his own martial arts skills were wasted against the teenage bullies. I would have wanted to see at least one face-off between him and the head of this film's version of the Cobra Kais.

Jaden Smith's performance was also respectable. My main complaint: I wish his character was more likeable but he ended up acting like a brat for much of the movie, especially in the beginning. Also, his reluctance to learn Chinese in China was not a good look. (I mean, even the blond American kid who befriends Jaden's character early in the film manages to learn Chinese! Jaden's character doesn't speak any significant amount of Chinese until he needs to be nice to the cute girl's parents.)

In fact, that leads me to an intriguing question: Does the film end up being an (African-) American version of Avatar / The Last Samurai / Dances with Wolves where the (African-) American boy who knows nothing about Kung Fu (or Chinese) ends up beating the natives in a Kung Fu competition? Is this really an old story in blackface? Or is something fundamentally different because the character in this role is Black? (Some leftists might ask the same question about Obama and U.S. foreign policy) When I stop to think about it, previous martial arts films with black protagonists (Red Belt, The Last Dragon, Ghost Dog, etc.) tend to have a different sort of dynamic; the hero respectfully uses an Asian tradition against either white or black opponents.

Some other questions which are created by transposing the story to China: In the original film it was easy to argue that the Cobra Kais, led by a racist American Vietnam veteran, were teaching a distorted form of karate. But in the remake's portrayal of China, knowledge and practice of martial arts is shown as ubiquitous, and the "Cobra Kais" are quite popular. So are they practitioners of "real" Kung Fu? Also, in one key sequence Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) takes Jaden's character to a temple to learn the source of his Kung Fu and drink from the mystical dragon well. But again, they are in China, don't the other Chinese kids in the kung fu competition have teachers who can tell them where the dragon well is?

Wikipedia:
Chinese Martial Art
Karate

Hyphen Magazine: Pat Morita's Daughter Calls for a Boycott of the new Karate Kid movie

thoughts on helen thomas

Here is the exchange that got Helen Thomas into trouble and led to her "decision" to retire.

Rabbi DAVID F. NESENOFF (Founder, RabbiLIVE.com): Any comments on Israel? We're asking everybody today, any comments on Israel?

Ms. HELEN THOMAS (Former Columnist, Hearst News Service): Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.

Rabbi NESENOFF: Ooh. Any better comments on Israel?

(Soundbite of laughter)

Unidentified Woman: Helen has one.

Ms. THOMAS: Remember, these people are occupied, and it's their land. Not German. It's not Poland.

Rabbi NESENOFF: So where should they go? What should they do?

Ms. THOMAS: They can go home.

Rabbi NESENOFF: Where is their home?

Ms. THOMAS: Poland...

Rabbi NESENOFF: So the Jews...

Ms. THOMAS: Germany.

Rabbi NESENOFF: You think Jews should go back to Poland and Germany?

Ms. THOMAS: And America and everywhere else.

1. I believe in free speech. I'm even happy to live in a society where individuals are able to make bigoted remarks without legal repercussion as long as there is space for more progressive voices to call out bigots on their bs.

2. Unfortunately, in terms of mic access in the popular media, there is an imbalance and some voices are constrained while others are not. Most recently, of course, we see this in the recent situation involving Helen Thomas where she is "encouraged" to retire while on a regular basis (Patrick Buchanan, Mike Huckabee, and others are able to make bigoted comments, especially against Arab/Muslims, with a great deal of impunity.)

3. I actually didn't know that Helen Thomas was Lebanese-American until this controversy came up and I'm not sure how I feel about how it is being used now. Several of the articles, columns and pieces have been mentioning Thomas' background and one can argue that it is relevant to the subject matter. On the other hand, one could argue that it is an example of playing the "race card" in order to discredit her objectivity much in the same way that anti-Obama folks would emphasize his middle name.

4. Thomas' comments were so offensive, primarily because they evoked the memory of the Holocaust but in reality, that was entirely unintentional. TODAY, there is no Holocaust in Germany and Poland and there certainly isn't one in America.

5. In spite of the offense, I think there is something salvageable in what Helen Thomas said and it would be worthwhile trying to find ways to express it more diplomatically.

6. The simple question: Where are you from? can either be answered briefly with a country or city. Or it can be answered with a 5 minute historical ethnography. In the case of Jewish citizens of Israel, answering the question can involve a rather tangled story. The oversimplified version would be to say that Jews are originally from ancient Israel. They left for a while. And now they are back.

7. Of course, in most cases "a while" is the nearly 2000 year period book-ended by the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD and the founding of modern Israel in 1948. So the ancient Jews spent hundreds, if not thousands of years, in different countries, learning new languages, intermarrying into new nations, adopting new cultures, etc. In addition, some Jews are descended from groups like the Khazars who converted to Judaism in large numbers and actually have little physical connection to the people of ancient Israel.

8. So how many centuries does it take to be "from" somewhere? Is 100 years enough? 500? 1000? 1500?

9. At least in the case of Ashkenazi (literally German) and Sephardi Jews (literally from the Iberian Peninsula), at some point, they became European and have been that way for centuries. So Zionist project is arguably the last vestige of European colonialism in the region. This would especially be true in the case of Jewish settlement in the Occupied Territories which is actually a violation of international law (and is probably what Helen Thomas was referring to when she said that the Jews ought to go back home).

10. As a thought experiment, I wonder what the reaction would have been if , during apartheid, in the wake of some move by the South African government analogous to the flotilla attack, especially one where a US citizen was killed, an American journalist said that white South Africans needed to go back to the Netherlands. How would that have been received? How should that have been received?

(more thoughts later...)

Daily Kos: Helen Thomas Referring to Ashkenazi in "Poland', "Germany" Remark

Real News: Nader says reinstate Thomas

Huffington Post:
In Defense of Helen Thoms: On Apologizing to Apologists
If Helen Thomas, Then Why Not Pat Buchanan?
Good thing we've got a "free press" here

Haaretz:
Jews should leave Palestine and return to Europe, top U.S. journalist says

Guardian:
Helen Thomas went over the top, but why is she gagged in the land of the free?

Mondoweiss:
In Helen Thomas case, the world sees a taboo being enforced

Al-Jazeera:
The cautionary tale of Helen Thomas by Mark LeVine

100,000 Former Soviet Jews In Israel Return To Russia
Where Do France's Jews Belong?

Wikipedia:
Hebraization of surnames
Ashkenazi Jews
Sephardi Jews
Mizrahi Jews
Arab Jews

is lost racist? (part two)

For some more analysis of the tv show Lost, this time through an Asian/Asian-American lens, you might want to check out

Racialicious: Why I Still Watch Lost by Bao Phi
Into the Next Stage: Tragedy On ‘Lost’ by Guy Aoki

see also: is lost racist?

on critical self-definition

Washington Post
Guest Voices: On Faith
By Su'ad Abdul Khabeer
Department of Anthropology,
Princeton University

Critical Self-Definition is the most significant challenge facing American Muslim communities today. This challenge is the product of an all too popular conversation on "Muslim pathologies" i.e. a "culture of terrorism" created by institutions and individuals who benefit materially from demonizing Muslims. Unfortunately, under the pressure of this pervasive discourse many American Muslims have let this external narrative determine how they see themselves and what their communities' priorities should be.

Thus, the challenge before us is to reclaim our sense of who we are from those who believe the benefits of being American belong to only a chosen few. When Muslims engage in Critical Self-Definition we act in the world according to our own terms, rather than compelled by external threats of violence and marginality. What are these terms?

They are principles and values rooted in the Islamic intellectual tradition and the lessons we learn from the everyday work of being Muslim. Yet this process of definition on our own terms must be critical. It demands that we are serious about what it means to do the messy and difficult work of introspection. This means that Muslim communities must be open about our shortcomings, bound not by a fear of "airing dirty laundry" but by a deep commitment to eradicate social ills in our communities such as racism, misogyny, and elitism.

It also demands that rather than accept the "culture of terror" wholesale, we must critically examine the claims being made against us and stay alert to the way this narrative reinforces structural inequalities which bar not only American Muslims, but other historically excluded communities of Americans from engagement in all sectors our society. This type of consciousness allows Muslim communities, even while under the harsh glare of the spotlight, to resume the work of being human because at its root Critical Self-Definition is the refusal to relinquish our humanity.

This refusal to be anything less than fully human means the challenge of Critical Self-Definition is productive and as a result becomes one of American Muslim communities' greatest opportunities. Being fully human creates the possibility for creation and innovation, the room to take risks, to stumble and to try again, to work with passion and conviction toward the ultimate goal of humans everywhere: true emancipation.

Su'ad Abdul Khabeer is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Princeton University.

secret chords and qawalli

Over at Killing the Buddha, there is an interesting piece called A Cold and a Broken "Hallelujah" about the Leonard Cohen song 'Hallelujah' and how it has been appearing repeatedly in a sanitized form on American Idol and some of the other singing reality shows. To be honest, I'd only heard the song in passing before (primarily on a West Wing episode) and didn't really pay much attention to the lyrics until now but I have to say it really is a beautiful song.

The best version by far is Jeff Buckley's:


For me, the song raises a number of interesting questions about the sinlessness of prophets in Islam.

For those who aren't aware, both Sunni and Shia assert as a dogma that all the prophets were to some degree protected/prevented from sins. A common Sunni position is that prophets were free from comitting major sins but that prophets may commit certain minor sins or make errors in judgement. Shias, on the other hand, seem to go a little further and tend to assert that prophets are free from committing sins of any kind. In any case, Muslim polemics on the Bible tend to discount some of the more scandalous aspects of the Biblical accounts (Noah getting drunk, Lot getting drunk and committing incest, Solomon committing idolatry, David committing adultery, etc.)

At the same time, there are some Muslim scholars who have a looser perspective on this subject. For example, The Word of Islam edited by John Alden Williams quotes from a Maturidi creed which states: "Errors of the prophets are in the things they did before the revelation, such as the marriage of David to the wife of Uriah the Hittite". And apparently some of the early Muslim scholars accepted at least the broad outlines of the Biblical version of David and Bathsheba.

Another interesting perspective (which is arguably more in line with the paradoxical tension, implied by the Leonard Cohen song, between sinfulness and sanctity) comes from Abu Sulayman al-Darani who wrote: "David (saaws) did not perform an act more beneficial for him than a misdeed. He continued to flee from it toward his Lord until he reached Him. Hence, the misdeed was the cause of his fleeing toward Allah, away from himself and the world." I would suggest that this dynamic, a sinful minor fall followed by the major lift of repentance and forgiveness is precisely the "secret chord" which was so pleasing to the Lord.

This idea is also vividly expressed in hadith:

Muslim Book 37, Number 6620:
Abu Sirma reported that when the time of the death of Abu Ayyub Ansari drew near, he said: I used to conceal from you a thing which I heard from Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) and I heard Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Had you not committed sins, Allah would have brought into existence a creation that would have committed sin (and Allah) would have forgiven them.

The sexual aspect of the song Hallelujah (especially Buckley's version) got me thinking about Song of Solomon and Rumi and mystical love poetry generally. And surprisingly enough Buckley's own musical explorations led him to Qawalli and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Somehow it just makes a lot of sense that the person who sung "Hallelujah" would also say "Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is my Elvis."



from Grenada's past:
last man to enter paradise
kings (part one)

invincible - the emperor's clothes

Boycott. Divest. Sanction
Global BDS Movement

"drop the bomb"

This solution had actually occured to me way back at the beginning of the Deepwater oil spill but then I thought "I'm not a petroleum engineer so what do I know?"... More than I realized apparently. In a recent piece at The Daily Beast, Christopher Brownfield points out that the Soviets have been using explosives for years as a way to deal with runaway oil wells. The same thing was also pointed out by Jeremy Hsu over at the Christian Science Monitor. And what actually prompted me to blog on this idea is the fact that this morning I heard someone call into a radio show and make the same suggestion. Especially given the failure of BP's previous attempts to stop the leak, and the fact that even the current attempt at a "solution" will actually increase the flow of oil into the Gulf in the short term, and will at best merely slow down the flow of oil until August, perhaps we should look at a more radical solution which could shut the well decisively. Now, I'm still not a petroleum engineer so I still can't say if this approach has a good chance of working or not. But I do hope that the idea is given due consideration based on the technical/scientific merits and a concern for the environment without any regard for BP's bottom line or future profits. The Christian Science Monitor: Why don't we just drop a nuclear bomb on the Gulf oil spill? Crooks and Liars: Is it time to blow up the leaking Gulf oil well? BP doing its best to keep that option under wraps The Daily Beast: Nuke the Oil Spill Arran's Alley: Is BP Trying to Save the Well Instead of the Gulf? BP Oil News: Nuke the Gulf oil spill, says expert NPR: Placing Blame For The BP Oil Spill

"a gaffe is when a politician tells the truth" or why germany (and by extension, the rest of us) are in afghanistan, iraq, etc.

A country like Germany with a heavy reliance on foreign trade, Koehler said, must know that "in emergencies military intervention is necessary to uphold our interests, like for example free trade routes, for example to prevent regional instabilities which could have a negative impact on our chances in terms of trade, jobs and income."

Reuters: German President Defends Military Action

israel vs. freedom flotilla

Al Jazeera: Deadly Israeli raid on aid fleet
Al Jazeera: Previous activists killed by Israel
Huffington Post: Israeli Raid: 'Bloody, Bungled Takeover' Deepens Israel's Isolation
Huffington Post: Israel Boat Raid Sparks International Outcry

it ain't my fault - mos def

I have to wonder if there are solutions to the oil spill problem which are effective but aren't being tried because of the effect they would have on BP's bottom line. To my naive ear: Supertankers Could Clean up The Gulf Oil Spill, BP Won’t Listen makes sense, at least once the actual leak stops.

In related news...

"It Ain't My Fault" performed by Mos Def, Lenny Kravitz, the Preservation Hall Band, Trombone Shorty, and Tim Robbins came out of a 12-hour jam session in order to help Gulf Aid, a non-profit organization created to respond to the Deepwater oil spill off the Louisiana coast


Oh Lord, Oh Lord
It ain't my fault
Mama no don't you say
oil and water don't mix
petroleum don't go good with no fish
Awww, it ain't my fault
BP
Big Pimpin'
Big Pile of
Bad Presses
Billionare Pirate
Boiling Point
[?]
Awww, it ain't my fault
Say man: Who pushed the marshes back?
It's where the hurricane shelter
and the gardens at
Awww, it ain't my fault
Said: from the Gulf of Mexico to the broke levee wall
Something's going on and its somebody's fault.
Awww, it ain't my fault.
Scripture say:
Said they go to the rock to hide they face
Said the rock cried out "no hiding place" (3x)
Oh Lord, oh lord, it ain't my fault

There is also a live recording of the song from the subsequent benefit concert. The quality of the recording isn't as good but there are subtitles (and slightly different lyrics) along with some comments by Mos Def.




Text "GULFAID 10" to 27138 to donate $10 to Gulf Aid. Replace "10" with the number of US dollars (no $ sign) you'd like to pledge, donate as little or as much as you like. Donors will receive an automated call the next day to fulfill their pledge over the phone via credit card.

The fund will ensure all proceeds are distributed to organizations focused on supporting wetlands/coastal environmental issues & the well-being of fishermen, and the regional seafood industry.

Donations may also be sent to the
Gulf Relief Foundation
A 501 C3 Non-Profit Corporation
P.O. Box 61035
New Orleans, LA 70161
PH 504-841-2380

is lost racist?

For a show which started off as multi-racial/cultural/national as Lost, it is a bit disappointing to think about how it ended. (Spoilers abound if you haven't seen the end.) Just a few random thoughts, comments and questions:

-The African-American father and son: Michael Dawson and Walt Lloyd
Even in a TV Guide interview, Harold Perineau (who plays Michael) had some critical comments to make about how this storyline got "resolved":

TV Guide: Were you disappointed Michael and Walt didn't reconnect before your character died?

Perrineau: Listen, if I'm being really candid, there are all these questions about how they respond to black people on the show. Sayid gets to meet Nadia again, and Desmond and Penny hook up again, but a little black boy and his father hooking up, that wasn't interesting? Instead, Walt just winds up being another fatherless child. It plays into a really big, weird stereotype and, being a black person myself, that wasn't so interesting.

-Speaking of Sayid and Nadia, it seemed unbelievable that in the "sideways" afterlife timeline, Sayid's "soulmate" was the blond Shannon instead of his childhood sweetheart. We saw his love and devotion to Nadia drive him to incredible lengths both before and after the crash (shooting himself so that Nadia could escape prison, working for the CIA, working as a hit man for Ben, etc.) but he's going to spend the next level of eternity with Shannon?

-The African drug-dealer Mr. Eko's stay on the show was relatively short-lived and he didn't even come back for a cameo in the last season, but that seems to have more to do with behind-the-scenes constraints of the actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje rather than the writers and producers of the show.

-Also a bit disappointing was the 6th-season episode "The Candidate" where the last few major brown and yellow characters (Sun, Jin and Sayid) were killed off all at one go.

-Given all the emphasis on Aaron, what happens to Sun and Jin's baby?

-What's the story behind the big statue of Taweret and the hieroglyphics everywhere? In my mind I imagine that some ancient African alchemist/numerologist/scientist/mystic was trying to find the elixir of life or a perpetual motion machine and inadvertently discovered/invented the Light at the heart of the island. A side-effect was that the land surrounding his laboratory/temple, including the statue, was transported out to the Pacific to the island. Of course, I'm not a writer for Lost so for all I know Allison Janney's crazy mother character built the statue single-handed.

-I'm still thinking about how to process Hugo "Hurley" Reyes and Richard Alpert/Ricardo/Ricardus in terms of the racial dynamic of Lost but basically they are white (and Hispanic).

See also:

BlackNerdComedy.com
Lost (&Heroes) Hate Black People


Bitch Media: The Numbers–Lost and Race and Death on the Island looks at the body count on Lost through a racial lens.

Hollywood Insider: Harold Perrineau on his departure from Lost: "I was disappointed... I wouldn't say I'm bitter" which follows up on Perrineau's comments to flesh them out and give them more nuance (i.e. walk them back).

race to fame

SF Weekly has an interesting article called Race to Fame on the up and coming comedian W. Kamau Bell. He mostly does thoughtful race humor.

see also: w. kamau bell - ending racism in about an hour

our enemy is not terrorism

"Our enemy is not terrorism, because terrorism is but a tactic. Our enemy is not terror, because terror is a state of mind, and as Americans we refuse to live in fear. Nor do we describe our enemy as jihadists or Islamists, because jihad is a holy struggle, a legitimate tenet of Islam," -John Brennan

I heard this on NPR a few hours ago before going to work and I was so surprised I could not wait to come home and post a link. By law, each White House administration is supposed to issue statement regarding its National Security Strategy. The Obama administration is set to officially issue theirs tomorrow. But today, John Brenan gave a speech at the Center for International and Strategic Studies which is presumably a sneak preview.

Highlights: As suggested above, there is greater clarification that the enemy is Al-Qaedah rather than "Islamism" or Islam. There is also an increased focus on domestic terrorism.

Politics News: Transcript of Brenan's remarks
NPR: Obama's New Security Strategy To Stress Cooperation
AP: Obama's new security strategy breaks with Bush

and in a surprise move...

I don't know if I'm just a pessimist at heart or if I've just been watching too much FOX News lately (e.g. Pamela Gellar's bigoted tirade on Mike Huckabee's show) but I was pleasantly surprised to read on Huffington Post that a NYC Community Board gave its overwhelming support to building a mosque at Ground Zero.

rajae el mouhandiz and malcolm lateef shabazz

BonTon: Grandson of Malcolm X in Rajae El-Mouhandiz’s latest video

h/t to Lantern Torch

"even my conditioning has been conditioned"

CNN: Updated version of the famous 1947 Doll Study
CNN: Home influence on kids and race
CNN: Race in America
CNN: Doll Study Reactions

Scene from the 1989 independent film, "Chameleon Street" (I'm going to have to see if this is on Netflix or something)

ok how about now?

Mark Williams, Tea Party Leader, Says Muslims Worship "Monkey God"
Mark Williams Apologizes To HINDUS For Saying Muslims Worship 'Monkey God'

More Mark Williams on MSNBC

okay now can we say the tea party is racist?

"It's just a few bad apples."
"They don't speak for all of us"
At least that's what the Tea Party leadership would say when confronted with the clear presence of bigots and racists at their rallies. Ok. Fair enough. But what will they say now when Rand Paul, who recently won the Kentucky Republican primary under the Tea Party umbrella publically expresses his reservations with respect to the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960s? I think I understand Paul's point that he is "opposed to discrimination", but still, what good is that if deep down he also believes that private businesses are perfectly within their rights if they choose to racially discriminate? He's got some explaining to do. (He also made a terrible appearance on Rachel Maddow... even if he is going to take the radical libertarian stance on the Civil Rights acts, he could have gotten much better preparation on answering those questions.)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rand Paul Underscores the Tea Party's Connection to Race
Rand Paul On 'Maddow' Defends Criticism Of Civil Rights Act, Says He Would Have Worked To Change Bill
Rand Paul On Civil Rights Controversy: I Shouldn't Have Talked To Rachel Maddow

mos def and k'naan on austin city limits

Austin City Limits: K'Naan/ Mos Def (Full episode)

I once wrote a poem about how Black musical forms would continually change and evolve so that by the time the next new thing came out, present-day cutting edge hip-hop would be considered ancient history; associated with elevator music and museum pieces. I even threw in a line about Yo! PBS Raps which apparently has started to come true.

Both Mos Def and K'Naan are Muslim.

america 2001 - long hairz collective

Just continuing my Michigan musings... here is one of the few clips I could find online with music by the Long Hairz Collective. I've blogged about them before (see "i've seen ethiopians knocking out rome" and also water warriors). I could be wrong but I think they've basically broken up but the members are still out there performing and putting positive messages out there in the atmosphere.



You can download their album Dread Locks & Pony Tales over at CD Baby

never mind...

TMZ: Miss USA Champion Pole Dancer

arab-american (muslim?) crowned miss usa

LAS VEGAS -- Lebanese immigrant Rima Fakih says it was a certain look from Donald Trump that tipped her off that she had won the 2010 Miss USA title. The 24-year-old Miss Michigan beat out 50 other women to take the title Sunday night, despite nearly stumbling in her evening gown.

She told reporters later that she believed she had won after glancing at pageant owner Trump as she awaited the results with the first runner-up, Miss Oklahoma USA Morgan Elizabeth Woolard.

"That's the same look that he gives them when he says, 'You're hired,'" on Trump's reality show "The Apprentice," she said.

Fakih took top honors at the pageant at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip after strutting confidently in an orange and gold bikini, wearing a strapless white gown that resembled a wedding dress and saying health insurance should cover birth control pills.

Fakih, an Arab-American from Dearborn, Mich., told pageant organizers her family celebrates both Muslim and Christian faiths. She moved to the United States as a baby and was raised in New York, where she attended a Catholic school. Her family moved to Michigan in 2003.

Pageant officials said historical pageant records were not detailed enough to show whether Fakih was the first Arab American, Muslim or immigrant to win the Miss USA title. The pageant started in 1952 as a local bathing suit competition in Long Beach, Calif.

Huffington Post: Rima Fakih, Miss Michigan & Arab-American, Crowned 2010 Miss USA

you don't fight terrorists the same way you fight rumpelstiltskin

I saw this exchange on CSPAN and thought it was pretty bizare and frustrating. Admittedly, Holder should have been a bit more confident and smooth, but Lamar Smith (and other folks of a similar mindset) are downright ignorant and dangerous.

For me, the basic question is about how the US should respond to terrorism. Should there be a targeted and defined effort with a relatively clear endgame (e.g. dismantle Al-Qaedah and capture/kill OBL). Or should there be vaguely defined war without any clear limits (e.g. a War on Islamic Terrorism or "Radical Islam")

As a Muslim and an American I can totally get behind the first approach. But in the second case I'm not sure I would trust someone like Lamar Smith to be able to distinguish between "radicals" and the rest. I'm not going to pretend to be able to see into Smith's heart but I have to wonder if he simply hates Muslims and is using the word radical as a figleaf. In any case, if folks like him end up framing the terms of the US' anti-terrorism response, we will probably end up fighting the Crusades for 1000 years or so.



Huffington Post: Lamar Smith Wants Eric Holder To Say 'Radical Islam' Or He'll Cry

And if you have the time, here is the whole hearing:
House Judiciary Cmte. Hearing with Atty. Gen. Eric Holder on the Attempted Times Square Bombing

the definition of insanity...

Times Square bombing in retaliation for U.S. drone attacks, No connection to Islam
U.S. avenges Times Square bombing by killing more Pakistani civilians

loonwatch roundup

RAND report: Threat of homegrown jihadism exaggerated, Zero U.S. civilians killed since 9/11
Muslim Americans Must Obey U.S. Laws; Nidal Hasan Disobeyed Islamic Doctrine
Fathima Bary Needs to Read Her Bible; Final Word on Islam and Apostasy
Sarah Palin supports stoning and slavery?

the ex-muslim industry

For a couple of months now, I've been watching this controversy get hashed out in YouTube but apparently it has recently boiled over out of the blogosphere and into more mainstream news outlets.

The issue: Ergun Caner is the current Dean of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and in some respects is a "star" in Baptist circles. A large portion of his charisma is rooted in his biography; he converted to Christianity as a teenager after having been raised in the Muslim world, in a devout Sunni household. In some versions he has even claimed a "jihadi" background. And after 9/11, based on the "authenticity" of his experience he received a great deal of notice in Christian circles while speaking and writing on Islam.

The problem: On further examination, many of the details of his biography appear to be inconsistent, false or totally manufactured. The controversy extends to where he was born, when did he learn English, when did he convert to Christianity, the depth of his Islamic upbringing and even his name (Ergun Michal Caner before 9/11 but Ergun Mehmet Caner after.)
Other bloggers and reporters have already done an excellent job of tracking many of the lies and inconsistencies. I would just add that. based on clips I've seen, Caner makes some pretty big mistakes related to basic facts about Islam (like confusing the bismillah and the shahadah or saying Ramadan has 40 days) I simply don't believe he got an Islamic education of any depth.

Huffington Post: Liberty University To Probe Seminary President's Muslim Background
Alternet: Christian Right's Favorite Muslim Convert Exposed as Jihadi Fraud
Right Wing Watch: Is Religious Right’s Star Ex-Muslim a Serial Liar?

consequences of muslims targeting civilians

Consequences of Muslims Targeting Civilians by Imam Zaid is not a response to the attempted Times Square bombing as much as it is a historical reflection on the principle of civilian immunity in warfare. And even though I generally like what Imam Zaid Shakir writes and he made some important points here, I think in some respects the article almost inverts a common Western/Christian fallacy by comparing Western/Christian reality with Islamic ideals. One would probably need to write a whole book to do this topic justice, but the piece would have been enriched by a few more examples of the idealistic parts of the Christian Peace tradition (if only to locate it is a minority view) and some of the more pragmatic Islamic views on civilian casualties.

more on muslim hero

Democracy Now!: Muslim Vendor Gets No Credit in Helping to Foil Times Square Bomb Plot

saladin ahmed

Continuing my Detroit/Michigan state of mind I just thought to look up Saladin Ahmed, I didn't really know him but when I lived in Michigan I'd seen him perform his poetry at an event or two and we had some friends in common. Apparently since the last time I'd seen him he's gotten married, has two kids, and has been nominated for a Nebula Award. From his blog you can find links to his biography and bibliography. I honestly don't know if he identifies as Muslim per se but some of his fantasy stories deal with Muslim identity in interesting ways. Its worth checking out.

invincible / emergence

Thinking about Mooz-lum put me in a Detroit state of mind and made want to shout-out the Detroit MC, Invincible who was recently declared #5 on a list of top 13 female MCs (after Jean Grae, MC Lyte, Lauryn Hill and Queen Latifah). Never heard of Invincible? Maybe it is because instead of selling out she turned down a million dollar record deal and went the harder route of starting her own label, Emergence Media where she and her labelmates had creative control.



Thinking about Invincible also makes me reflect on the economic and political factors in the music biz (the music industrial complex?) which constrain what kind of messages are circulated and promoted in popular culture. In other words, there is definitely a pool of intelligent, creative, talented positive performers out there. Why aren't more of their voices heard? If there has to be only one white Detroit rapper to make it big, what kind of a person would pick a misogynist who raps about killing his baby mama and date raping underage girls (Eminem) over Invincible?!?!? What are music executives thinking when they choose to support one artist over another?

see: yo! pbs raps

times square vendor was a senegalese muslim

I first saw this fact mentioned over at the Goatmilk blog, but I think it bears repeating. (Especially since I just saw some random conservative talking head use the recent incident to defend profiling and bigotry). The vendor who brought the smoking truck in Times Square to the attention of police was a Muslim from Senegal.

The Examiner: Times Square terrorism attempt thwarted by Muslim vendor

mooz-lum, coming soon!

Pulled between his strict Muslim upbringing by his father and the normal social life he's never had, Tariq Mahdi enters college in a state of confusion. New relationships with Muslims and non-Muslims alike challenge his already shaken ideals, and the estrangement with his mother and sister troubles him. Slowly, he begins to find himself with the help of new friends, family and mentors, but when the attacks of 9/11 happen without warning, he is forced to face his past and make the biggest decisions of his life.

Should be an interesting film. The cast includes Danny Glover and Nia Long. And it is apparently an expanded version of a short film I've included on the blog before.

Myspace: MOOZ-lum
IMDB: MOOZ-lum
YouTube: Making "MOOZ-lum"
Examiner: 'Mooz-lum' a movie, not a person

juan cole on borders, both ancient and modern

Over at Informed Comment, Juan Cole had an interesting perspective on the new Arizona immigration law:

The [new] Israeli law resembles the one recently enacted in Arizona in one respect. Recently-arrived European Jews are demanding that Palestinians, who have inhabited the West Bank for thousands of years, must be able to show their papers in order to stay. In the same way, some of the Latinos who will be hassled by police in Arizona with demands that they ‘show their papers’ will be Hispanics, i.e. the old pre-US elite from the days of the Spanish Empire and early Mexico. The Arizonan yahoos who made this racist law to harass Latinos are recent, uncultured immigrants from the point of view of proud old Hispanic families. Others so hassled will be of mixed Latino and Native American heritage, so that some of their ancestors were in Arizona perhaps 10,000 – 16,000 years ago, but ignorant Euro-Americans are now demanding proof that they belong there.

Racism everywhere tells itself the same transparent lies about blood and soil, and makes the same sleight-of-hand exclusions on the basis of ‘purity’ of blood.

(original entry: Aparthied in Israel, Showing Papers om Arizona)

on writing post-obama afrofuturistic latinocentric islamic poetry...

I went to an open mike earlier this week. I want/need to get more connected to the local slam scene... at the very least I want to get back into the habit or writing again. Finding an audience should be interesting...

mayda del valle - "tongue tactics"

liza garza - "my guitar"

Liza Garza jamming on her guitar... and her husband Amir Sulaiman pops in towards the end...

mayda del valle at the white house poetry jam

Wow, I can't believe I missed this... I'm going to have to do some more exploring on the white house YouTube channel... it's not just dry political stuff, there are actually some beautiful performances up there, poetry, music and otherwise...

liza garza and gritz & jellybutter - "swift's song"

liza garza - changes of atmosphere

In the name of the Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Let her ask in faith nothing doubting
For she that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed
Everything in this world cursed and lost in our forgetfulness
Why do we choose to ignore the obvious in wishful places far to distant
If we could awaken we would truly listen to meledy's they are so divine
Witness life blooming colors not apparent to our earthly eyes all the joys connected to our earthly lives are but a glimpse to what awaits
So this time i say im finally given rewind relove for the sake fully livin and desperate hope of fully dying in a pure state
My only desire but to forgive and stay
My only hope that you would do the same
Our only mercy that the Most Gracious would remember our name and with this change we begin this gracious dance, this wholesome trance
Foundation so solid nothing shakes or bothers whats rooted so deeply
We witness these mercys rescue us
We remember the Best of guides is guiding us
And with the firmness of this very step
And with our certainty of death we know that this is the most intimate carress
A kiss from the inside out
So close to truth we are now strangers to doubt
And now wether wrote in triumph or defeat
We throw our hands up in victory
This great nearer to me than the arteries in my neck
Than my heart beating
In my chest we are filled with the most gracious very breath
And finally you will kiss the truth just by kissing you
You will witness your love, loving you
And i will kiss the truth just by kissing me
I will witness my love loving me
We will kiss the truth just by kissing us
We will witness our love loving us in awe as loves descent from beneath us
Souls satisfaction, seven heavens await in atmosphere
change in change of atmosphere

2009 Changes Of Atmosphere (DWM / Fat Beats / PadBleM)
Changes Of Atmosphere EP ( Fat Beats )
Jazz Lib & Fat Lip - My Style Is Fly REMIX (KIF)

featuring Liza Garza:
A rare soul that brings in the best of spoken word & soul. A true Latina that represents her all encompassing culture with her Islamic devotion.

For more music & poetry:
http://www.myspace.com/dela
http://www.lizagarza.com

also...

The old Afrofuturism site has been redone... and will apparently shift to a more blog-like format.

the occasional free-associated afrofuturism roundup...

- One of these days I want to get reconnected to the poetry slam / spoken word scene out here and get back into the habit of writing. When I reflect on my older pieces I tend to view some of it as "Afrofuturistic" (whatever that means) but this summer I want to make the time to develop that more and flesh it out...

- Over at the Manrilla Blog, the post Nafs Ammarah points to some interesting connections between the film They Live and the lessons of the Quran. The post also alludes to some links between Terminator 2 and some events from the biography of Muhammad (saaws).

- Over at Post Black there is a nice interview: What is Afro-Futurism?: An interview with artist/education D. Denenge Akpem

- From the Liberator Magazine: Kodwo Eshun and Afro-futurism



- Above is a clip from the film "The Last Angel of History", an interesting documentary/surreal narrative on Afrofuturistic themes. Maybe by blogging I'm aspiring to be a "data thief"?

- The new Iron Man movie is coming out soon. I wonder how they are going to handle War Machine? Judging from the previews I've seen it seems like he is a fairly small part of the film but maybe I'll be surprised.

- Philosophical question: Is Morris Chestnut's character on the re-imagined V series Black? I mean, he's one of the reptilian Visitors so technically he's not even human but he experiences the world in a Black body. He is also a part of the subversive Fifth Column which has developed human emotions and is in solidarity with the human revolutionaries. I guess you could ask the same question about J'onn J'onzz (played by Phil Morris) or the occasional random "black" Kryptonian characters which have appeared on Smallville (see Vathlo Island). Come to think of, we could even ask the same about the unnamed title character of the film "The Brother From another Planet".


- And just for fun, a different take on Hermes Conrad from Futurama...

my name is still not khan

more info on the ongoing story (hat-tip to islamicate)

An Open Letter from MPAC About Honoring 'My Name is Khan' APRIL 18, 2010
Response from My Name is Not Khan Collective April 26 2010
Further Response (w/ signatures)

For some other perspectives you might want to check out the review roundup on Sepia Mutiny

south park, the "four morons" and cnn

From Loonwatch: South Park, the “Four Morons” of Revolution Muslim, and CNN’s Epic Fail provides still more important background to the South Park controversy. Including:

1. The founder of Revolution Muslim (Yusuf al-Khattab born Joseph Cohen) wasn't just a typical young modern secular young adult who happened to be Jewish but he was living in Israel as a Zionist settler and a member of the right-wing Shas party. Then in less than three years he and his family converted to Islam and he went back to the US to found Revolution Muslim.

2. Even in the Muslim world, images of the prophet are not unheard of and the ruling on their impermisability is neither universal nor absolute. (Although it is obviously dominant).

3. The Salman Rushdie Affair was partially exacerbated by political contests between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Similarly the Danish cartoon controversy wasn't just about depicting the prophet but the fact that many of the depictions were caricatures which relied on racist imagery or contained underlying messages which were bigoted towards Muslims. (And hate speech is illegal in much of Europe).

4. Christians have their sacred cows too. For example, the play Corpus Christi which depicted Jeuss as a homosexual has been cancelled several times due to Christian death-threats. And apparently witch hunts are on the upswing in some of the Christian parts of Africa.

south park, censorship and depictions of muhammad (saaws)

1. First, to put the issue in perspective: over the run of the series there have been 5 South Park episodes to deal with images of Muhammad (saaws). The first came out before the Danish cartoon controversy and was irreverent but still basically positive. (Muhammad along with other major religious figures were part of a superhero team called the Super Best Friends which fought against the suicide cult of Blainetology.)

2. The other 4 episodes (two 2-part stories) were written after the Danish cartoon controversy. And even though controversies around depicting the prophet Muhammad formed a central element of both plots, neither story actually showed Muhammad on-screen.

3. Let me emphasize: The recent South Park episode (both as originally intended by the South Park creators and after Comedy Central chose to modify the episode) never included images of Muhammad in the first place. If Comedy Central was purely concerned for the safety of their employees they could have emphasized this fact in some kind of disclaimer and pointed out that they actually didn't break the taboo regarding images of the prophet. Instead they decided to draw attention to the episode by bleeping out every mention of the name of Muhammad and then extensively censoring an entire speech (on free speech no less) which didn't even include Muhammad's name.

4. The New York-based Revolution Muslim (the "radical" Islamic group serving as catalyst for the current controversy) never actually threatened the creators of South Park or the staff at Comedy Central.

Their actual message reads:

We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.

5. Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR has apparently suggested that Revolution Muslim is part of a conspiracy to make Muslims look bad. I wouldn't necessarily go that far but I have noticed that the only members/spokespeople from the group which I've seen on tv or online have been young white converts (mostly Jewish) and I can imagine how they might feel extra pressure to prove their Islam by adopting radical positions.

6. It is also important to view this issue in a larger context. There is not a simple dichotomy between a "free" Western world and a non-free Muslim world. We should note the "sacred cows" which exist in the West and the constraints on speech.

7. In previous posts I've already mentioned how Comcast quietly censors some of the content it provides to subscribers or how the corporate media in general doesn't always give important stories the attention they deserve.

8. And in Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky, Chomsky actually argues that in the US full freedom of speech isn't really achieved until the late 1960s or the early 1970s. Before then, laws like the Alien and Sedition Acts and the Smith Act put limits on even peaceful speech. For example, Eugene V. Debs spent 10 years in jail for speaking out against the Wilson administration.

Even the famous "clear and present danger" test was really more a matter of the glass being half-empty. The test comes from the case Schenck v. United States. The ruling from this case is also the origin of the statement "the most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and causing a panic." But what most people (myself included) don't always realize about this case is that in it, the Supreme Court actually upholds the conviction of Charles Schenck for distributing leaflets against the draft. In other words, merely expressing the political opinion "Hey, maybe the government shouldn't draft its citizens" was viewed as the clear and present danger.

It wasn't until 1964 that the Alien and Sedition Acts were explicitly ruled as unconstitutional. And it wasn't until 1969 in Brandenburg v. Ohio that the Supreme Court rules that the government cannot punish inflammatory speech unless it is directed to inciting and likely to incite imminent lawless action. (btw, this is a line that Revolution Muslim is careful not to cross.)

9. In Europe, of course, one of the sacred cows is the Holocaust and so many European countries make compromises with freedom of speech through laws against Holocaust denial.

10. My point with the last few items is just that every society (including the West) is struggling with free speech and its limits and in no society is the right to free speech pure and absolute. Even in the West, we are moving along a continuum and the most we can say is "this is where we are".

Alt.Muslim: South Park and the freedom to blaspheme By Aziz Poonawalla
TAM: South Park Cartoon and the Muslim Lunatic Fringe by Sheila Musaji
No freak-out over South Park by Zahed Amanullah
On the Danish cartoons from a while back: the dirty dozen

by the time i get to arizona...

Resources for Action:

Educational Material:

Popular Education Version of SB 1070/La 1070 Versión Popular (in Spanish), PDF

Websites:

America's Voice
Border Action Network
La Frontera Times
Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF)
National Immigration Forum
Presente.org
Puente Movement
Reform Immigration for America
Restore Fairness
Tonatierra Community Development Institute
United Farm Workers of America

some interesting comments from suad abdul khabeer

when is a conservative not a conservative?

For a while now I've been thinking about political labels and how we use them.

1. Firstly, our public language for describing the range of political opinion is pretty impoverished. Right/Left and Conservative/Liberal is too simplistic. For example on the "right" we have a number of different partially-overlapping groups: conservative, neoconservative, paleoconservative, social conservative, fiscal conservative, fascist, Republican, libertarian, Neo-Confederate, etc. You also have some on the "right" aren't really advocating for a vision of society with any depth, they are basically just anti-liberals (e.g. The Party of No),

2. On the "left" you have liberals, Democrats, Greens, progressives, different flavors of Anarchism and Socialism, pro-labor types. You also have folks who want to level the playing field, especially around certain issues: gender, race, orientation, religion, etc.

3. In the past I've argued that in some basic ways Islam leans to the left (see take a step to the left) especially if you focus on race and class. The community of Muslims is in principle a transracial brotherhood and the ideal Muslim government is a kind of welfare state which, while allowing private property, puts a number of ethical constraints on the use and abuse of wealth.

4. On the other hand, I was recently reading about the more traditional wings of the conservative movement (e.g. Paleoconservatives) and was struck by how one could argue that in a philosophical and abstract sense Islam is "conservative" as well. The idea of following the sunnah of Muhammad (saaws) in ones personal life, building society on the pattern of Medina, following a madhab and other forms of traditional scholarship are basically conservative moves.

5. When Muslims look to the past, we mainly mean precolonial times, e.g. Andalusia or the Ottoman Empire.

6. Another positive kind of "conservativism" which is often connected to Islam is Perennialism / Traditionalism

7. Of course when modern American "conservatives" look to the past for models of an ideal society they generally mean pre-Civil Rights era, or pre-New Deal, or in some cases pre-Emancipation.

8. Even on the Right, I would argue that very few are genuine conservatives in original sense of following Edmund Burke's thoughtful criticism of the French Revolution. In fact, the self-identified "Conservatives" on Fox News and in the Tea Party probably shouldn't even go under that name. They are more accurately described as anti-liberals.

9. I'm in the middle of reading a collection of Chomsky talks and interviews called "Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky" and I'm intrigued by how he calls himself a libertarian (among other things). That's actually a part of what sparked this post. We should try harder to understand the precise meanings of various political terms and use them correctly. Terms like "libertarian" and "conservative" should be appropriated by the Left when they apply.

10. On the other hand it is bizarre to me how multiple voices on FOX have been arguing that Fascism is a left-wing ideology. Even less coherent is the term Islamo-Fascism. It is like they don't care about what words mean and have basically resorted to name-calling.

r.i.p. guru ... " a star growing bright among dim lights... restructuring... the metaphysics of a jazz thing..."

my name is not khan

Dear Concerned Muslim American Community Member:

As Salaamu Alaykum. In February of this year, a new Bollywood film, My Name is Khan, opened in U.S. theaters. Although it is claimed that the film promotes tolerance and understanding, My Name is Khan presents our diverse and dynamic American Muslim community through a "Good Muslim/Bad Muslim" lens that does an injustice to our community and reproduces racist stereotypes about African Americans. For a cogent review of the film, please read Su'ad Abdul Khabeer’s article “Khan Breaks New Stereotypes (but Reinforces Old Ones)” featured on Altmuslim.com.

Despite the problematic depictions of Muslims and non-Muslim African Americans in My Name is Khan, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has decided to honor this film by awarding it the prestigious Voices of Courage & Conscience Media Award at the 19th Annual MPAC Foundation Media Awards on May 1, 2010. This is particularly alarming because of MPAC Foundation’s stated goal of honoring media and artists committed to positive portrayals of Islam and Muslims, promoting diversity and social justice issues, and inspiring action. Yet, it is precisely because of the trust many Muslim Americans have placed in MPAC that we cannot let this kind of dehumanization and historical erasure go unchallenged.

Yesterday, April 14th 2010, a letter was sent to MPAC's Executive Director, Staff, and Board of Directors by a collective of concerned American Muslims to express disappointment with their choice and urged the MPAC Foundation Board to rescind the award. Please see the attached letter to review the detailed critique of the film, the reasonable demand made of MPAC, and the list of Original Signatories. MPAC’s leadership has stated its willingness to seriously consider the letter’s contents and the support it garners. If you would like to add your name to the list of Signatories, please email your name and organization (or location) to MyNameIsNOTKhan2010@gmail.com. We will periodically update MPAC with the extended list of new signatories.

We have been informed that the MPAC Foundation Board will be convening within a couple of days to make a formal decision on their response to the film critique and the reasonable demands, which we believe to be both morally and ethically correct. Leading up to the Board decision, we invite like-minded individuals to contact the MPAC Los Angeles Office to express their concerns with MPAC Foundation's decision to honor My Name is Khan and for them to reconsider their actions. You can contact MPAC by calling (213) 383-3443 during business hours (PST), or email the MPAC Communications Director at Communications@mpac.org. Our expectation is that the force of our collective voices will empower MPAC to make the choice that reflects their broader organizational goals and legacy––to rescind the Award. Insha’Allah, this will also present an opportunity for some much needed consciousness-raising around issues of race, class, media and civic engagement in the Muslim American community.

FiamanAllah y Pa’lante,

Su’ad Abdul Khabeer
Princeton University

Arshad I. Ali, Ph.D.
Lecturer
UCLA Graduate School of Education

Jihad Saleh Williams, MPA
Congressional Muslim Staffers Association

queloides / keloids

Queloides/Keloids is an art exhibit that seeks to contribute to current debates about the persistence of racism in contemporary Cuba and elsewhere in the world. The exhibit will be hosted at the Centro Wifredo Lam in Havana (April 16-May 31, 2010), then transferred to the Mattress Factory Museum in Pittsburgh (October 8, 2010- February 27, 2011). The twelve artists invited to participate are renowned for their critical work on issues of race, discrimination, and identity. Several of them collaborated in three important exhibits in Havana between 1997 and 1999 (titled “Keloids I”, “Keloids II”, and “Neither Musicians nor Athletes”). The last two were curated by the late Cuban art critic Ariel Ribeaux. All these exhibits dealt with issues of race and racism in contemporary Cuba, issues that had been taboo in public debates in the island for decades.

“Keloids” are wound-induced, pathological scars. Although any wound may result in keloids, many people in Cuba believe that the black skin is particularly susceptible to them. Thus the title evokes the persistence of racial stereotypes, on the one hand, and the traumatic process of dealing with racism, discrimination, and centuries of cultural conflict, on the other hand. Queloides/Keloids includes several art forms--paintings, photographs, installations, sculptures, videos--and offers novel ways to ridicule and to dismantle the so-called racial differences.

claim that all terrorists are muslims ignores history

The American Muslim: Claim that all terrorists are Muslims ignores history - updated 4/7/2010 by Sheila Musaji is a pretty extensive and varied set of links on non-Muslim religious violence and/or terrorism.

malcolm x assassin granted parole after 40 years

Alternet: Malcolm X Assassin Granted Parole After 40 Years

who are "they"?

Who Are ‘They’? by Imam Zaid Shakir

To a large extent, “they” are simply a microcosmic mirror image of the extremist violence perpetrated by a hegemonic state dominated by elites that have reserved the right to use high-tech military machinery to systematically decimate countries, rip apart their social fabrics and directly or indirectly kill hundreds of thousands of people, as has happened in Iraq.

In that country, “they” might be the relative of someone who died of typhoid or diarrhea from drinking sewage-contaminated water because “we” thought it a noble stratagem of war to destroy that country’s sanitation system during the 1991 Desert Storm operation. “They” might be someone whose home was blown away during the “Shock and Awe” campaign that inaugurated the current war in March 2003. Maybe “they” know of Abeer Hamza al-Janabi, the 14-year-old Iraqi girl who was gang raped by a company of US Army soldiers, who then murdered her and her entire family, including her 6-year-old sister, Hadeel, and burned their bodies to hide the evidence of their gruesome crime.

Perhaps “they” are from Afghanistan. Maybe the callousness “they” display toward life is a reflection of the callousness we displayed when we built the “Jihad” movement to repel the Soviet invaders of that land during the 1980s, and after accomplishing that mission callously walked away, leaving the country to endure almost a decade of murderous anarchy that culminated in the rise of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. Perhaps the alienation “they” display is a pathetic parody of the Mujahideen “we” created.

Maybe “they” are rotting in a slum in Casablanca or Cairo, or festering in a classroom in Lagos or Lahore, and “they” have seen images from Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Gaza. When “their” anger is combined with the angst generated by globalized economic forces “they” cannot understand, forces that have marginalized and in some cases rendered irrelevant their lives and their religion, the two sources of meaning in the world “they” thought “they” had inherited from “their” forefathers, “they” are easy prey to skilled recruiters who promise “them” both meaning in this world, and a free pass to Paradise in the next by mindlessly striking out at what “they” are led to believe is the source of “their” misery.

“They” probably have never stopped to reflect on how violence is used by neofascist pundits and politicians to advance a climate of fear and misunderstanding that makes it more likely that even ordinarily well-meaning Americans will support policies that will lead to more bombing, maiming and murdering of Muslims—and eventually others—all around the globe. For this small minority, “their” obsession with Islam as a political ideology probably renders “them” totally oblivious to the religious message of Islam as a historical world religion that advances the sanctity of life, especially the life of innocent, noncombatant peoples, the refinement of the spirit and patient, dignified, principled resistance when confronted with the usurping vagaries of “their” fellow humans.

see also:
In These Times: Why Do They Want to Do Us Harm?
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

haki madhubuti forced from chicago state university

Chicago Sun-Times: Infighting, injustice at Chicago State by Mary Mitchell.

Based on what I've read above and elsewhere there is more than meets the eye in this particular conflict so I'm not taking sides except to say that it is sad that someone of Haki Madhubuti's status is leaving Chicago State. I used to work there myself many moons ago and have thought about going back. But reading about the above situation is making me feel a little less positive about the climate on campus.

obama guantanamo escape

Obama Guantanamo Escape is a silly point-and-click game which is part of a series (available in both English and Spanish) by Inka Games. Apparently, Bush the Second dons an Obama-mask an is running the country while the real Obama has been thrown into Guantanamo and has to figure out how to get out.

islam on the rise in brazilian favelas

thoughts on the hutaree

I wanted to be eloquent at first but now I think I should just speak:

1. I don't like guns. I've seen the bad side of having them around in my family and probably wouldn't have one in my home.

2. That said, I can see the theoretical value of militia-like organizations. For example, Robert F. Williams' classic Negroes With Guns gives a persuasive argument for the importance of Black armed self-defense in the racist South. Later, inspired by Williams' example, the Black Panthers add to the argument in their own way. However, in 2010 Post-Obama America, it doesn't seem like guns are a necessary tactic in terms of African-American empowerment.

3. The problem with the Hutaree and the other Christian militia groups is not that they are into guns but that they have an unrealistic narrative of American history which is basically patriarchal, jingoistic and racist (and on top of that, they have guns).

4. Some American Christians want to distance themselves from the Christian militias and say that the Hutaree are non-Christian. I think this is ridiculous. Of course the Hutaree are Christians. So are the other Christian militias (racist or otherwise). So is the Klan. So is The Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. Of course, in 21st Century United States the views of such groups aren't representative of mainstream Christianity. But every family has their black sheep.

5. Like any living thing, Christianity changes and develops over time and the line between extreme and mainstream changes with it. For example, the beliefs held by the Klan may seem extreme now, but they were probably fairly typical in the pro-segregation, pro-slavery Christian churches during the earlier part of this country's history.

6. In a similar way, the Crusaders, who were certainly approved by mainstream Christianity in their day, are not all that different from the Hutaree in the sense that their concept of Christianity has been combined with a literal physical preparation for military conflict.

7. The Bible is a rich book and is complex enough that one can use it to almost defend any position. One can certainly make an argument that the central message of Christianity is love and not violence. On the other hand it is also easy to point to the genocidal commandments of Deuteronomy which were vividly executed in the book of Joshua or Samson's suicide attack against the Philistines/ Palestinians described in the book of Judges to find messages with a more martial content.

afrolatinos: the documentary

This is a trailer for an upcoming documentary on the Black diaspora in several Latin American countries. Judging from the trailer, the documentary seems like it is probably well-made but I honestly doubt if much of it will be terribly surprising. What seems more interesting (at least to me) is that the production company behind the film , Creador Pictures seems tao be behind a number of smaller projects (videos and documentaries) which focus on specific examples of Afrolatin culture (e.g. Panamanian reggae, Colombian hip-hop, etc.)

excerpt from the acts of john

Thus, my beloved, having danced with us the Lord went forth. And we as men gone astray or dazed with sleep fled this way and that. I, then, when I saw him suffer, did not even abide by his suffering, but fled unto the Mount of Olives, weeping at that which had befallen. And when he was crucified on the Friday, at the sixth hour of the day, darkness came upon all the earth. And my Lord standing in the midst of the cave and enlightening it, said: John, unto the multitude below in Jerusalem I am being crucified and pierced with lances and reeds, and gall and vinegar is given me to drink. But unto thee I speak, and what I speak hear thou. I put it into thy mind to come up into this mountain, that thou mightest hear those things which it behoveth a disciple to learn from his teacher and a man from his God.

Acts of John, 97