my #blackmuslimramadan is about bean pie, not baklava

People Are Tweeting #BlackMuslimRamadan Photos And Stories To Celebrate The Month

anarchist traditionalism

Anarchist Traditionalism: Hakim Bey is an old blog piece, but new to me. It makes me wonder about what other ways Traditionalism can be reconciled with leftist thought.

thoughts on tommy westphall fan fiction

For a while I've been fascinated by the Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis. The basic idea is that St. Elsewhere, an 80's hospital drama/comedy is television's version of Kevin Bacon, in other words, if you keep track of the various cameos, crossovers, spinoffs, and fictional allusions, it turns out that hundreds of tv shows arguably exist in the same fictional universe as St. Elsewhere. Furthermore, based on St. Elsewhere's final episode, it turns out that the show (and all the shows linked to it) are happening inside of the mind of an autistic boy named Tommy Westphall who spends his days staring at a snowglobe.

There are numerous sites/blogs maintained by folks keeping track of which shows are part of the universe, but I'm not sure how complete or up-to-date any of them are.

An idea that has been on my literary bucket list is to write stories (something in the ballpark of the League of the Extraordinary Gentlemen) which thoroughly broke down the boundaries between shows in the Tommy Westphall universe 

Some more specific notions:

1. A major protagonist would be Det. Munch (who has appeared in several different series, most recently, the Law & Order franchise).

2. A major antagonist would be a Conspiracy which uses Morley Cigarettes Inc. as one of its fronts. (Morley is a fictional brand which connects many shows: The Twilight Zone, Buffy, X-Files The Walking Dead) 

3. One of the conspiracies objectives is to find /exploit both Tommy Westphall and the snowglobe as a way of gaining power. 

4. Organized criminals / serial killers also connected to the Conspiracy might be a good way to connect different police procedural / legal type shows.

5. The Conspiracy also releases a series of infections which culminates in a Walking Dead style zombie apocalypse.  This might be a good way to connect the hospital / medical type shows.

6. UPS Drivers, Postal Carriers, Baristas, DMV workers, might provide an interesting perspective to connect any of the shows, especially the more mundane ones.

It would also be fun to imagine how to combine various genre shows into a coherent pastiche. although doing it consistently would probably be difficult.

7. Supernatural Shows

Addams Family, American Horror Story, Angel, Bewitched, Buffy, Early Edition, I Dream of Jeannie, Milenium, Reaper, Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Is the Conspiracy connected to the Millenium Group or the League of the Black Thorn? Is the snowglobe related to the newspaper in Early Edition?)

8: Sci-Fi (present)

Alias, Alphas, Dr. Who,  Eerie, Indiana, Eureka, Flashforward, Heroes, Journeyman, The Lone Gunman, Lost, Mork and Mindy, Quantum Leap, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Special Unit 2, Torchwood, Warehouse 13, X-Files (John Doggett and Monica Reyes from the X-Files might be a good duo to help Munch. Perhaps after Samuel Beckett disappears and Project Leap is mostly boxed-up, a happily married Al Calavicci is appointed to a Cabinet-level position overseeing the X-Files /Warehouse 13 / Special Unit 2 / CONTROL / Dharma Initiative / Department of Special Research)

9: Sci-Fi (future)

Battlestar Galactica (reboot), Caprica, Firefly, Red Dwarf, Space: 1999, Space: Above & Beyond, Star Trek  (Star Trek is too totalizing to reconcile with some of these other shows, but perhaps elements can be combined in reasonable ways. There is a Federation/Alliance but there are also Maquis/Brownshirts who want to secede. There is also a part of space where they send Space Marine types to fight a secret war against the Chigs? The Conspiracy, in this period might use Weyland-Yutani / Blue Sun / The ORion Syndicate as their main front.) 

10. It would be fun to explain the multiple roles played by the same actors through some kind of Orphan Black- style project. 

Just some thoughts. Who knows? Maybe this will become a sub-genre of fan fiction, in its own right?

The Tommy Westphall Wordpress blog

Tommy Westphall Wiki

Six Degrees of St. Elsewhere By Dwayne McDuffie

Six Objections to the Westphall Hypothesis

Eugene is Huge!: Almost all of TV is the imagined universe of an autistic child.

Tommy Westphall's Mind interview

Tommy Westphall live journal

Maps of Tommy Westphall universe

Oceanic Airlines

Morley Cigarettes

Finder-Spyder

Heisler Beer

Let's Potato Chips

John Munch

black loyalists (again)

For a rarely mentioned side of African-American history...

Wikipedia: Black Loyalists
Black Loyalist Info
Black Loyalist Heritage Society
Canada Digital Collections: Black Loyalists
Canadian Encyclopedia: Black Loyalists

kyle baker on the fourth of july

by Kyle Baker

"they sold marcus garvey for rice"

Time for the US to pardon Jamaican national hero by Hisham Aidi

peru celebrates black history month

Peru celebrates black history month by Hisham Aidi

more from hisham aidi at al-jazeera

More articles from Hisham Aidi

Australia's 'history wars' heat up again
An unlikely celebration of North Africa's ethnic diversity
The sex-for-food scandal in Central African Republic
Podemos and the Catalan cause
Reviving Thomas Sankara's spirit

chicken or the egg

Rap and radicalism: Does hip hop create extremists? by Hisham Aidi

two stories on spain vs. the "muslims"

Spain still uneasy with the Moors and Spanish leftists join fight against ISIL both by Hisham Aidi.

"a love supreme" / "allah supreme"?

Did Coltrane say 'Allah Supreme'? by Hisham Aidi 

 The recording has long been understood to be a deeply spiritual, even devotional, piece. Its four phases - "Acknowledgement", "Resolution", "Pursuance" and "Psalms" - reflect what Coltrane described as a "spiritual awakening" in his overcoming of drug and alcohol problems. 

Yet, what was the nature of that "spiritual awakening"? The conventional view is that by 1964, Coltrane had moved away from his Methodist upbringing, adopting a "pan-religious" outlook with a particular interest in Eastern mysticism. In spite of that, "A Love Supreme" is still described as laden with Biblical symbolism: the title "Psalm", and the rising cadences, reminiscent of black preachers' style, are offered as evidence that Coltrane was still rooted in Christianity. But ask one of the jazzmen or Muslim elders who knew Coltrane, and you get a different answer. 

The saxophonist Yusef Lateef, who died at the age of 93 earlier this year, worked closely with Coltrane between 1963 and 1966. In his autobiography , "A Gentle Giant", Lateef says: "The prayer that John wrote in 'A Love Supreme' repeats the phrase 'All praise belongs to God no matter what' several times. This phrase has the semantics of the al-Fatiha, which is the first chapter or sura of the Holy Quran. The Arabic transliteration is 'al-Humdulilah…' Since all faithful Muslims say the al-Fatiha five times a day or more, it is reasonable to assume that John heard this phrase from [his Muslim wife] Sister Naima many times." 

Lateef is referring to the poem Coltrane wrote and included in the liner notes of the album. Coltrane wrote: "No matter what … It is with God. He is gracious and merciful" and ends with "All praise to God..."

What Lateef and others have noted is that "gracious and merciful" is a translation of "rahman raheem", the opening lines of the Fatiha. Moreover, say the elders, when Coltrane begins chanting the album's title for half a minute it sounds like a Sufi breathily repeating "Allah supreme".

The relationship between Islam and jazz is almost a century-old. It was in the 1920s that the Ahmadiyya movement, a heterodox Islamic movement that emerged in 19th century India, began sending missionaries to US cities, building a substantial following among African Americans in the decades to come. In a trend that still intrigues historians and music critics, after World War II, scores of jazz musicians embraced Ahmadi Islam.

When Coltrane arrived in Philadelphia in 1943, the Muslim presence in the "city of brotherly love" would rattle the young man. As he told an interviewer in 1958: "This Muslim thing came up. I got introduced to that. And that kind of shook me." 

The saxophonist was surrounded by Muslims: his drummer Rashied Ali was Muslim, as was his pianist McCoy Tyner (Suleiman Saud), and saxophonist Lateef. Coltrane then married Naima Grubbs, an observant Muslim. Even Coltrane's band members have pondered his relationship to Islam. If Lateef suspected that Coltrane's art was influenced by the Quran, the drummer Rashied Ali thought that the saxophonist was "a real country boy" and that "he was into being a Muslim and everything like that". One also hears the argument that Coltrane wanted to title his composition Allah Supreme - instead of A Love Supreme - but was worried about a political backlash, given the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. "Back then jazz and Islam were intertwined - the first time I heard the adhan on Temple University radio, I thought it was a Nina Simone song," says Imam Nadim Ali, a celebrated jazz deejay and community leader who spent his youth in Philadelphia. "Artists were deeply influenced by Islam - sometimes publicly in their art, sometimes privately." 

It's not inconceivable that "A Love Supreme" could have been inspired by the Quran. After all, as the elders will observe, "Celebration", that great funk hit by Kool & the Gang, was inspired by a Quranic sura. 

"The initial idea came from the Quran," says Ronald Bell (Khalis Bayyan), the group's saxophonist and musical arranger. "I was reading the passage, where God was creating Adam, and the angels were celebrating and singing praises. That inspired me to write the basic chords, the line, 'Everyone around the world, come on, celebration'."

This song inspired by Islam - and released in 1980 - would become an international hit heard at ball games and political rallies in the US, and ironically was played by the Reagan administration on February 7, 1981, to welcome home the hostages held by students in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

us churches and divestment from israel

EI: Will US churches help bring down Israel’s prison walls?

phase 2: polygamy

For a long time I've actually thought that once gay marriage was legal, laws against polygamy would probably declared unconstitutional as well, based on similar legal reasoning.

Even Chief Justice John Roberts basically said as much in his dissenting opinion to Friday's Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage:

It is striking how much of the majority’s reasoning would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage. If “[t]here is dignity in the bond between two men or two women who seek to marry and in their autonomy to make such profound choices,” why would there be any less dignity in the bond between three people who, in exercising their autonomy, seek to make the profound choice to marry? If a same-sex couple has the constitutional right to marry because their children would otherwise “suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser,” why wouldn’t the same reasoning apply to a family of three or more persons raising children? If not having the opportunity to marry “serves to disrespect and subordinate” gay and lesbian couples, why wouldn’t the same “imposition of this disability,” serve to disrespect and subordinate people who find fulfillment in polyamorous relationships?

Here are a range of other voices weighing in on the relationship between gay marriage and polygamy.

Some more recent:

Politico: It’s Time to Legalize Polygamy

Informed Comment: No, GOP, biblical Marriage was not between one man and one woman

And some from a while back:

 Vice: After Gay Marriage, Why Not Polygamy?

NPR: Would Gay Marriage Lead To Legal Polygamy?

obama coffee?

Mondoweiss: ‘Obama coffee’ is black and weak — racist tweet from wife of Israel’s vice premier

Informed Comment: Wife of Israeli Cabinet member tweets Racist Obama Joke, had called for Innocent Palestinians to be Punished 

we're all connected

 People all over the blogosphere are making connections between Dylann Roof's acts of violence and  hatred  against Muslims elsewhere:

 Loonwatch: Dylann Roof: The Nexus Between White Supremacy’ s Anti-Blackness and Islamophobia
 Informed Comment: European Islamophobic Networks influenced Roof to Kill in Charleston
 Mondoweiss: Charleston: Do Black and Palestinian lives matter?

a secret history of coffee, coca and cola

An interesting discussion from CSPAN-2, around the book A Secret History of Coffee, Coca and Cola by Ricardo Cortes. A perspective you do not often hear articulated. More information about the book can be found at the Akashic books website.

ello, the anti-facebook

Ello, the so-called anti-Facebook is actually on the interesting side. Ad-free. Nice design. Original content. It is still in its beta phase so they are still gradually rolling out its features.  And the community is still growing. Nevertheless, It should be a nice alternative to Facebook.

Iag.me: Quick Guide to Ello

game of thrones vs. brave new world (part two)

I had last worked on this over two years ago (Thursday April 18, 2013) and left it as a draft, but given recent events, I thought I should probably dust this off and publish it.... and think about a part three.... Another element of the popular culture which has gotten me thinking about Game of Thrones vs. Brave New World is the show Switched at Birth. The show is a drama on ABC Family which (as the title implies) involves two girls who, as babies, were switched at the hospital and went home to the wrong family. One grew up as Daphne Vasquez and was raised by a Puerto Rican Latina single mother. (The mother's Italian-French-Arab boyfriend had been in the picture but then left when a paternity test confirmed that Daphne was not his daughter). Also a childhood bout with meningitis has left Daphne deaf. The other girl grew up as Bay Kennish, who was given a fairly comfortable upbringing, raised with a younger "brother" by a retired major league baseball player and a stay-at-home mom. The show has gotten a bit melodramatic lately, but it is surprisingly thought-provoking for a teenage drama; raising issues of nature vs. nurture, class, race, ethnicity, privilege, deaf culture, and the nature of family obligation. The reason why I bring it up in the context of Game of Thrones vs. Brave New World is because of the surprising way the show seems to deal with issues of custody. Even after the hospital's mistake is discovered by the two families, the girls don't simply go back to their natural families but instead the two families move in together (the wealthy Kennishes happen to have an empty guest house) and form a complex blended arrangement. 

  game of thrones vs. brave new world (part one)

this is unity

From Puerto Rican / Ethiopian Orthodox Jewish rapper Y-Love (Yitz Jordan)

capers funnye

For a different look at the relationship between Blackness and Jewishness, we can consider Rabbi Capers Funnye, a long time leader in the Black Jewish community, and a cousin of Michelle Obama.

BETH SHALOM B’NAI ZAKEN ETHIOPIAN HEBREW CONGREGATION 

The New York Times: Obama's Rabbi 

 Huff Post: Jewish Voices of Color Must be Heard 

Killing the Buddha: Meet Black Judaism

anti-african racism in israel

An eye-opening series of links on some of the deep racial problems in Israel.

muslims in cuba

BBC: What is it like to be a Muslim in Cuba?

a turn

Weird day, virtually speaking. I will try to find the silver lining... e.g. more time to read Quran, work on myself, work on the novel, more time to get my thoughts down here.

the real hunger games: starting soon

record number of muslims converting to hispanic

Record Number of Muslims Converting to Hispanic

hip-hop for palestine times ten

Electronic Intifada: Ten hip-hop tracks that demand freedom for Palestine

somos sur (again)

I had links to this song before but this is video of Ana Tijoux's Somos Sur (featuring Shadia Mansour): Lyrics: Somos Sur Democracy Now!: Chilean Musician Ana Tijoux on Politics, Feminism, Motherhood & Hip-Hop as "a Land for the Landless"

be careful what you wish for

don't cashcrop my cornrows

Amandla Stenberg, who played Rue in the film Hunger Games, shares some incisive thoughts on cultural appropriation and hip-hop. Amandla, we salute you.

the end of sabado gigante

Stunned fans say farewell to 'Sabado Gigante,' Don Francisco

more parking problems

first thoughts on chapel hill

New Idea: Instead of calling people "Islamophobic" we should say that they are "serious about their parking space".

america is like a bad boyfriend

hamza yusuf on isis

when "yes massa" starts getting old

When “Yes Massa” Starts Getting Old by Imam Zaid Shakir

this land is mine

This Land Is Mine from Nina Paley on Vimeo.

the more things change....

"i'm so hungry"

happy virginia tech muslims

happy boston muslims

happy muslims around the world

YouTube Playlist: Pharrell Williams Happy Muslims, Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Muslim World by Megan Reif covers alot of the same ground I have with my various blog posts of Muslims doing "Happy" videos. I think I've gotten a few she missed and vice-versa.

happy singapore muslims

happy dutch muslims

happy dallas muslims

dear white people... (hopefully coming out this october)

Initial Trailer:

Longer Trailer:

Dear White People Concept Trailer from Justin Simien on Vimeo.

Democracy Now! on Dear White People:

kemal amin kasem - inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un

The voice of Robin on the Super-friends, Norville "Shaggy" Rogers in the Scooby-Doo franchise, and most famously the long-time host of American Top 40 and related/similar shows. (see Wikipedia)

top 3 white terrorist attacks in america this week

Informed Comment: Top 3 White Terrorist Attacks in America this Week

wow, another syrian happy video

From the video: "Back in March 2014, Maiko went to Iraq as a Volunteer to help Syrian refugees. She thought it would be wonderful and powerful if she could make a Happy song with syrian refugees living in the camp. The life in the camp is of course, not easy, everyone has lots of burdens and have lost many things back home in Syria But they are not only grieving They celebrate their birthdays, or new born babies, or someone's wedding in the community They always try to have something to have fun with. they are really living their lives. She told them about this idea of a Happy clip, They were so thrilled that they made one.. ;o) I helped them remotely by doing the editing. You can see that they are happy even though they are living a tough situation. Thanks Maiko for your volunteering and your great help. Good luck to all those Syrian refugees !!!! Stay happy, whatever the circumstances."

"somos sur" - ana tijoux (featuring shadia mansour)

Third world solidarity by sisters rapping in Spanish and Arabic.

maps for language and religion

There have been some interesting maps circulating on the internet recently.

 Here is one: Gizmodo: The Most Common Languages Spoken in the U.S. After English and Spanish 

and here is another: 

Washington Post: The second-largest religion in each state (and county) 

In the first link I was surprised at the appearance of Hmong, Vietnamese and Navajo on the map. While on the second I was surprised by the number of states where the second largest religion was either Islam or Buddhism (I suppose I just expected Jews to appear as the number two religion in more states... I mean, even in Florida, the second largest religion was Islam) I was also surprised that the Bahai Faith was actually the second largest religion in any of the states (they got South Carolina).

aamer rahman on reverse racism

pawel kuczynski

More Paintings by Pawel Kuczynski

yasiin gaye: the return (official teaser)

happy (at least until they go to jail) in tehran

NYT: ‘Happy in Tehran’ Video Spurs Harsher Censorship

muslims give most to charity

Muslims 'Give Most To Charity', Ahead Of Christians, Jews And Atheists, Poll Finds in the UK

syria (restore) happy?

Published on May 26, 2014 Despite the heavy toll of the ongoing Syrian conflict on the lives of Syria's most vulnerable population, its children remain resilient. (RESTORE)Happy contains footage from Zaatari refugee camp and a Syrian refugee school inside Jordan. We traveled to Jordan in April of 2014 equipped with coloring books, crayons, soccer balls, hula hops, jump ropes, and toys and "Happy" by Pharrell Williams blaring on portable speakers... We made this video with hopes to encourage people to support Education and Mental Health programs that work with Syrian refugees and internally displaced Syrian children. Please visit: www.love4syria.com to find an organization to support. Produced by: Hazami Barmada Omar Al-Chaar Rameen Aminzadeh A project of: Beats, Rhymes & Relief: www.beatsrhymesandrelief.org Join us in the Fall of 2014 One World Syria, A Celebrity Benefit Concert for Syria. Learn more: www.oneworldsyria.com

50 facts about muslims

50 Actual Facts That Challenge What You've Been Told About Muslims is a nice little round-up of information, some of which I actually didn't know myself.

yasiin bey banned from re-entering united states

American Born Hip Hop Artist Mos Def Banned From Re-Entering America Due To “Immigration Issues”

dr. mufti abdur-rahman ibn yusuf on the happy british video

on the serious side:

inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un

Omid Safi: Shaykh Nazim, a giant in spreading Sufism in the West, passes away

happy from tafraout (morocco)

happy from fez, morocco

happy german muslims

happy from khartoum, sudan

(wow, never thought i'd see) happy from saudi arabia

happy from abu dhabi

happy from kuwait

another "happy" muslim video.... this time american

300 (the mexican version)

happy chicago muslims

the boondocks comes back tonight

Colorlines: Aaron McGruder (Sorta) Explains Why He Left ‘The Boondocks’

happier without women?

This is the "halal" version of the British Muslim "Happy" video (without instrumental music or "provocative" images of women dancing). I like the fact that they did an acapella cover, but it is somewhat disturbing that apparently some people seem unable to distinguish between smiling hijabi girls walking happily down the street and porn.

fbi uncovers plot to just sit back and enjoy collapse of united states

Given the last entry, this story is more sad than funny... The Onion: FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States

it's official: the us is no longer a democracy, but an oligarchy

From Slashdot

"Researchers from Princeton University and Northwestern University have concluded, after extensive analysis of 1,779 policy issues, that the U.S. is in fact an oligarchy and not a democracy. What this means is that, although 'Americans do enjoy many features central to democratic governance,' 'majorities of the American public actually have little influence over the policies our government adopts.' Their study (PDF), to be published in Perspectives on Politics, found that 'When the preferences of economic elites and the stands of organized interest groups are controlled for, the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.'"

happy (#gazaversion)

more happy middle easterners

From: Alaa Wardi & Hayajan (who also brought you "No Woman, No Drive").

happy british muslims

From: The Honesty Policy

List of participants (Rough order of appearance): Laith, Adam Deen, Safiah, Alia, Ghalia, Julie Siddiqui, Salma Yaqoob, Fuad Nahdi, Khalid Ahmed & Ruqaiya, Myriam Cerrah, Hannah Habibi Hopkins, Tanya Muneera Williams, Faisal, Izzi Hassan, Asiyah Juma, Abdul-Hakim Murad, Rukea, Nadir Nahdi, Mizan, Yaz, Sadiya Chaudhory, Kübra Gümüsay and Ali Gümüsay, Fareena Alam, Rahim Jung, Waqaas Ahmed, Saleha Islam, Mo Ansar, Rabie, Edris Khamissa, HP Team, LSE ISOC, Kifah Shah, Aisha and Tahiya, Rumi’s Cave, Thawab and Basma, Omar, Mecca2Medinah, Marwan, Bentley Wood, Remona Aly, Majid Khan, Na’eem Raza, Shama, Zainab and Nuri, Abdul-Rehman Malik, Malaysian family, Asim Siddiqi and kids, Asiyah and Juveid, HP, Omareeto, Rizwan, Bilal Hassam, Nuri, Humera and Khalida Khan, Anwar, Nazli and Jayde, HP team.

"america: number one warmonger" - president carter

Salon: “America as the No. 1 warmonger”: President Jimmy Carter talks to Salon about race, cable news, “slut-shaming” and more

yasiin bey (mos def) + marvin gaye

 Amerigo Gazaway's *Soul Mates* series continues the theme of his previous work in creating collaborations that never were. On the series' latest installment, Amerigo unites Brooklyn rapper Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) and soul legend Marvin Gaye for a dream collaboration aptly titled "Yasiin Gaye". Building the album's foundation from deconstructed samples of Gaye's Motown classics, Gazaway re-purposes the instrumentation into new productions within a similar framework. Carefully weaving Bey's tangled raps and Gaye's soulful vocals over his new arrangements, the producer delivers a quality much closer to an authentic collaboration than a lukewarm "mashup" album.

governments push for moderate muslim hip-hop

Colorlines: The U.S. and European Push for ‘Moderate’ Muslim Hip-Hop

"music hath charms..."

Salon: Hip-hop propaganda: How the U.S. enlists rap music to fight “jihadi cool” by Hisham Aidi

npr interview with hisham aidi

NPR: 'Rebel Music': When Hip-Hop Met Islam

#beingblackandmuslim

Al-Jazeera: Faith and race in Muslim America

a new generation of afro-latinos tackles race and identity

Fox News Latino: New Generation Of Afro-Latinos Tackles Race And Identity

rebel music by hisham aidi

 I haven't read this yet but it will probably find its way to my booklist:

 From Amazon:

This fascinating, timely, and important book on the connection between music and political activism among Muslim youth around the world looks at how hip-hop, jazz, and reggae, along with Andalusian and Gnawa music, have become a means of building community and expressing protest in the face of the West’s policies in the War on Terror. Hisham Aidi interviews musicians and activists, and reports from music festivals and concerts in the United States, Europe, North Africa, and South America, to give us an up-close sense of the identities and art forms of urban Muslim youth. 

 We see how the current cultural and political turmoil in Europe’s urban periphery echoes that moment in the 1910s when Islamic movements began appearing among African-Americans in northern American cities, and how the Black Freedom Movement and the words of Malcolm X have inspired the increasing racialization and radicalization of young Muslims today. More unexpected is how the United States and some of its allies have used hip-hop and Sufi music to try to deradicalize Muslim youth abroad. 

Aidi’s interviews with jazz musicians who embraced Islam in the post–World War II years and took their music to Europe and Africa recall the 1920s, when jazz inspired cultural ferment in Europe and North Africa. And his conversations with the last of the great Algerian Andalusi musicians, who migrated to Paris’s Latin Quarter after the outbreak of the Algerian War in 1954, speak for the musical symbiosis between Muslims and Jews in the kasbah that attracted the attention of the great anticolonial thinker Frantz Fanon. Illuminating and groundbreaking, Rebel Music takes the pulse of the phenomenon of this new youth culture and reveals not only the rich historical context from which it is drawn but also how it can foretell future social and political change.

Excerpt:

Prologue
One muggy afternoon in July 2003, I headed up to the South Bronx for the Crotona Park Jams, a small festival that is little-known locally, but manages to draw hip-hop fans from around the world. The annual event is organized by Tools of War, a grassroots arts organization that invites artists from across the country and Europe to perform in the Bronx, hip-hop’s putative birthplace, and to meet some of the genre’s pioneers, figures like Afrika Bambaataa and Kurtis Blow. I arrived at the park and asked around for Christie Z, a local promoter and activist. Christie, who has blue eyes and a ruddy complexion and wears a white head scarf, is the founder of Tools of War and a smaller group called Muslims in Hip Hop. She is married to Jorge Pabón (aka Fabel), a well-known dancer and master of ceremonies (MC), who appeared in the classic 1980s hip-hop film Beat Street and currently teaches “poppin’ ” and “lockin’ ” dance styles at NYU. The two—Christie Z & Fabel, as they’re known—are a power couple on the East Coast’s hip-hop scene, but they’ve become significant players internationally as well, organizing shows in Europe and bringing artists from overseas to perform in America.

Christie’s story is unusual. “People always ask me,” she says with a laugh, “how did a white girl from central Pennsylvania become a Muslim named Aziza who organizes turntable battles in the Bronx? I say the lyrics brought me here. I was in high school when I heard ‘The Message,’ ” she says, referring to the 1982 breakout song by Grandmaster Flash, which vividly described life in the ghetto during the Reagan era, and was one of hip-hop’s earliest mainstream hits. “I heard that track and I followed the sound to New York.”

I had arrived early hoping for a pre-show interview with the French rap crew 3ème Œil (Third Eye), who had flown in from Marseille to perform that evening. The rap trio is known in France for its socially conscious lyrics. Since the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the group had become even more political, rapping about what they call the West’s “stranglehold” on the East. I stood around the stage waiting. A circle had formed with a group of boys clapping and dancing, as the DJ on duty that evening—another pioneer, DJ Tony Tone of the Cold Crush Brothers—spun rap and Latin soul classics. Soon Third Eye’s manager, Claudine, a brown-haired woman in her early twenties, appeared and led me backstage. I explained that I was a researcher at Columbia writing about global hip-hop. Her face lit up. “We’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while,” she said, as she walked me through a backstage tent and out into the open. Later I found out Claudine had thought I was a representative of Columbia Records, about to offer her group a contract.

The sun was setting, a blue glow had enveloped the park, and I walked up to the four young men lounging on a bench facing the spectacular Indian Lake, which sits at the park’s center. Soon I was chatting with the rappers—Boss One (Mohammed) and Jo Popo (Mohammed), both born in the Comoros Islands off the coast of East Africa, but raised in Marseille—and their DJ, Rebel (Moustapha). They were dressed similarly in sagging denim Bermudas, eighties-style Nike high-tops, and baseball caps. Jo Popo gave me a copy of their new hit single, “Si Triste” (So Sad). I told him I’d already seen bootlegged copies at African music stands in Harlem. He nodded and gave me a fist bump. The song, popular among West African youth in New York, offers social commentary over a looping bass line, decrying police brutality and mass incarceration (with a special shout-out to the American death-row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal). I asked them how the French press responded to their lyrics, and about the anti-immigrant National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen’s claim that hip-hop was a dangerous musical genre that originated in the casbahs of Algeria.

Boss One shook his head, “For Le Pen, everything bad—rap, crime, AIDS—comes from Algeria or Islam.” This was mid-2003; the War on Terror was in its early years. “The more Bush and Chirac attack Islam and say it’s bad,” said Boss One, “the more young people will think it’s good, and the more the oppressed will go to Islam and radical preachers.” His tone became a little defensive when talking about the banlieues, the poor suburbs that ring France’s major cities, stating that life in France’s cités was better than in the American ghettos. “Life is hard in France, but we have a social safety net. Here there is no such thing”—he stood up to emphasize the point—“and it will get worse with Bush, the cowboy, le rancheur!”

Their bluster disappeared when I asked what they thought of the Bronx. They grew wistful talking about the Mecca of hip-hop. Jo Popo smiled describing their meeting the day before with hip-hop legend Afrika Bambaataa. “C’était incroyable!” Bam, as he is known, is particularly loved in France, where he was instrumental in introducing hip-hop in the early 1980s. The group’s music mixer, DJ Rebel, who previously hadn’t said a word, suddenly spoke up. “I have dreamed of visiting the Bronx for all thirty-six years of my life. This is where hip-hop started, this music which has liberated us, which has saved us,” he said with apparent seriousness. “Yesterday we met Bambaataa and Kool Herc. I thanked them personally for what they have done for us blacks and Muslims in France—they gave us a language, a culture, a community.” His voice broke a little.

I was struck by the emotion and sincerity of their words, and I had a few academic questions to ask: Why was the Bronx so central to the “moral geography” of working-class kids in Marseille? Where did this romantic view of the American ghetto come from? Why were they more fascinated by Bronx and Harlem folklore than by the culture of their parents’ countries of origin? Claudine suddenly reappeared and asked them to return to the tent. Grandmaster Flash, the legendary DJ and another iconic figure of global hip-hop, had arrived, and they were scheduled to meet him. “Flash invented scratching—I get paid to teach scratching in France,” said DJ Rebel getting up to leave. “A bientôt,” and the rap trio and their thoughtful DJ walked off. Half an hour later they were on the stage, waving their arms: “Sautez! Sautez! Sautez!” Boss One translated: “That means, ‘Jump! Jump! Jump!’ ”

---

how to tell a mexican from a muslim

Raw Story: How to tell a Mexican from a Muslim: A guide for the panicky American

why's / wise - amiri baraka

aitzaz hussein

BBC News: Aitzaz Hasan: Tributes to Pakistan teenager killed when he stopped a bomber LaunchGood: Aitzaz - Honoring a Real-life Hero

a puerto rican catholic's journey to islam

Taqwa: A Puerto Rican Catholic’s journey to Islam

"somebody blew up america" - amiri baraka

aishah, rebeccah and young marriage

From time to time I've been caught up into highly-polemical religious discussions on the internet. At times I've found such discussions personally useful as a way to clarify for myself what I believe. Other times, the discussions are a source of aggravation and a waste of time. One of the more hot-button issues in the context of such discussions is the fact that Muhammad (saaws) married Aishah (ra) when she was relatively young. Alot of the time, my main response would be to point people to  The Young Marriage of Aishah by Abû Imân cAbd ar-Rahmân Robert Squires, which provides a fairly well reasoned discussion of the subject.

Recently my mind has been blown after reading the article: Child Marriage in Ancient Israelite times which, among other things, cites the "respected" rabbinic opinion that Rebecca was only three years old when she got married to Isaac, and that in general, child marriage was INCREDIBLY widespread in the ancient Jewish world

Huff Post: Three-Year-Old Bride In Bible Kids' Book 

Also see: Our Mother A'isha's Age At The Time Of Her Marriage to The Prophet which presents a fairly detailed argument for Aishah being older than is usually stated, while at the same time making it clear that young marriages were not at all atypical for the time (for example, Aisha herself was almost engaged to someone else).

someone is wrong on the internet

yusef lateef 1920-2013

Official website: Yusef Lateef 1920 - 2013

amir sulaiman: "come to the hills (we must win)"

lorde's royals and the people's revolt

For some reason I find the minor controversy over Lord's song, "Royals" and whether it is racist or not really intriguing. I'm especially interested in seeing how different artists of color have engaged with the song through covers and remixes, with varying degrees of creative and political sophistication. (There are even a few white artists who add new levels of appropriation in the mix as well). Feministing: Wow, that Lorde song Royals is racist Feministing: A little more on Lorde, Royals, and Racism The Guardian: Lorde's song Royals deserves nuanced critique XXL: Five Best Rapper Remixes of Lorde’s “Royals”

ROYALS REMIX LORDE FT VA DRIVE from IN FOCUS on Vimeo.

(Ghetto from my head to my toe cover) by Vamsi ft. Ace

celebrities discussing being black and latino/a

Boriqua Chicks: 5 Quotes from Hollywood Celebrities who discuss being Black and Latino/a

more on muslim hipsters from a ronin imam

muslim hijabi hipsters in america + reactions

 Tumblr: Muslim Hipsters (Mipsterz) 

Buzzfeed: Can A Veiled Muslim Woman Also Be An American Hipster? 

Dr. Suad: On "Somewhere in America" and Mipsters 

Struggling Hijabi: Somewhere in America, Ish is Complicated 

The Islamic Monthly: Somewhere in America, Muslim Women Are “Cool” 

I am the Poppy Flower: While I was Sleeping

the end of totally biased

Unfortunately, the show Totally Biased has been cancelled. But hopefully it will lead to bigger and better things for W. Kamau Bell. W. Kamau Bell: A Baker’s Dozen of My Favorite “Totally Biased” Clips see also: zain malik on w. kamau bell's totally biased

the fate of afro-turks: nothing left but the color

Qantara: Nothing Left but the Color

crusader subculture in the us military

Loonwatch: Exclusive: The Crusader Sub-Culture in the US Military