here is not like there

"What happened in France would never happen here, not because the United States is less racist, but because the class and demography of the Muslim community here bear almost no resemblance to its counterpart in Europe." -Ali Moossavi

Detroit Free Press: Metro Detroit Arabs don't feel France's alienation
NewAmericaMedia.org: American Muslims Not Like Those of France

The above two pieces are careful to distinguish the Muslim community in America from the rioting Muslims in France. To me it is pretty clear that they are motivated by a desire to reassure the American public that "we're okay" but that doesn't make the claims any less factual. Objectively, the demographics of the Muslim populations on each side of the Atlantic are rather different. In the United States, much of the Muslim population is highly educated; lawyers, engineers, doctors, etc. Many have grown up in the US, or have traveled here from abroad in search of training, education, or good jobs.

In Europe, the Muslim population is generally less educated, and less affluent than their counterparts in the US. They play a much different role in the European economy. In fact, I had a conversation with some Germans about a year ago and when they got around to discussing the Muslim (in this case, mostly people from Turkey and also some North Africans) I was struck by how much their stereotypes were reminiscent of those attributed to Mexicans and African-Americans in the US.

So the riots are pretty clearly not the result of religion or a clash-of-civilizations. In this case race and class are more salient.

are muslims a race?

The Production of the Muslim Race by Nassim Mobasher is an excellent piece, also from Hot Coals, on how Orientalism "racializes" Muslims.

Books such as The Arab Mind authored by anthropologist Raphael Patai, and used by the Pentagon as a comprehensive source of information about Arabs/Muslims, depict ‘Muslimness’ as an ontological and inescapable way of existing. In the logic of orientalists like Patai (and the neo-conservatives who read his book ‘like a bible’ ), ‘Islam the culture’ is passed on and inherited, from generation to generation, impervious to change and essentially inferior. This racial conception of culture, codified in pseudo-biological terms, produces the ‘Muslim’ as a racial category.

Once "Muslim" becomes a "race", you can then go on to make sweeping generalizations about Muslims as a whole regardless of class, culture, education, or even level of observance. The move also tends to justify profiling as well as the oxymoronic construction of "secular Muslim".

"pretty sneaky, Sis"

willie perdomo online

From Norton Poets Online: Willie Perdomo, one of the first writers to even give me a hint that a space like "Grenada" existed.

third resurrection blog

Okay, to all those who want to participate in Third Resurrection (or whatever this Blackamerican Muslim group blog will end up being called), could you e-mail me at abdul.halim2005@gmail.com. I have ideas but would prefer to get input and have a discussion before just diving in.

islam and the black american: still reading...

So this is a continuation of: islam and the blackamerican: finally reading it. As I'm getting more into the book I'm starting to feel that it would be too hard to summarize what I'm reading and do it justice. So I'll just pull out one nugget which seems worth pointing out, especially in the light of the recent events in Oakland.

In most religious conversations, debates and discussions in which I find myself, I often take the position of holding up an idealized Islam which contrasts with the various imperfect practices, vices, flaws and scandals which exist in the Muslim world. And so any flaws are attributed to culture, economic conditions, educational levels, political manipulation, lingering effects of colonialism, neo-colonialism and globalization, etc. Islam is perfect, but its implementation is always a work in progress.

Many Muslims make the extra step of identifying an idealized universal Islam with the particular understanding of Islam which they have from "back home" in Muslim countries, and this becomes the scale against which Islam in America is measured. (And of course, the American understanding of Islam will necessarily be found wanting. I've even heard the comment from one person: "There is no Islam in America, just good intentions"). But as Jackson points out, this way of thinking fundamentally sets up immigrant Muslims from "over there" (even medical doctors and engineers) as religious authority figures while it disadvantages American Muslims (no matter how well-read). Ethnicity and immigrant status can effectively become a proxy for religious learning.

Jackson goes on to suggest that instead of speaking of a single universal Islam, it makes more sense to think in terms of multiple culturally and historically conditioned Islams. More specifically, just as one can speak of Black Religion which is born out of Blackamerican history one can also speak of Post-Colonial Religion which comes out of the formerly colonized developing world's experiences with the West. And where Black Religion has been a liberating force and a form of resistance to domination, according to Jackson, Post-Colonial Religion "seeks first and foremost to reverse the sociocultural and psychological influences of the West, either by seizing political power as a means of redirecting society or through and ideological rejection of all perceived influences of the West." And so immigrant Islam isn't more pure or more universal, it is just conditioned by a different set of circumstances.

(to be continued...)

the pre-columbian presence of muslim africans

From Hot Coals (a new blog I found about recently and I'm getting into): THE PRE-COLUMBIAN PRESENCE OF MUSLIM AFRICANS IN AMERICA IS NO MYTH! by Imām Al-Hājj Tālib ‘Abdur-Rashīd. It is an interesting contribution to an ongoing historical debate about what was going on this side of the pond before Columbus.

vamos a rapiar: latinos and hip-hop

From a blog called The Fallout Shelter: Vamos A Rapiar: Latinos and Hip-Hop Music A survey of the contribution of Latinos to the genre along with interesting discussions of the line(s) and connections between black, white and Latino identity.

more hispanics turning to islam

From NewAmericaMedia.org courtesy of Hispanicon:
El Diario/La Prensa, Nov 29, 2005
NEW YORK, New York -- Islam, the religion with the most followers after Christianity, is growing rapidly in the United States – and the majority of new followers are minorities, especially Hispanics, according to New York’s El Diario/La Prensa. In 1997 the American Muslim Council counted approximately 40,000 Hispanic Muslims. Recent studies estimate there are 75,000 followers most of them in big cities like New York and Miami.According to Juan Galván, vicepresident of the Latin American Dawah Organization and Census Bureau, the majority of Hispanics practicing Islam in the New York metropolitan area are Puerto Rican and Dominican.

the green party supports divestment

Press Release: The Green Party calls for divestment from the state of Israel.

dave chappelle is alive and well

Originally From the New York Times: Dave Chappelle Is Alive and Well (and Playing Las Vegas). If you recall from on the beach with dave chappelle recently converted Muslim comedian Dave Chappelle walked away from his show on comedy central and turned up in South Africa getting spiritual guidance. Now he's apparently touring and playing comedy clubs.

ecological crisis

The Truth Laid Bear blog ecosystem is in the middle of being revamped. On the one hand, Grenada seems to be getting more traffic, more links, and my rankings have actually gone up (currently #1538... but think about how many blogs are out there). And what is really amazing to me is finding out that when I do a Google search on certain topics I'm interested in, it is not infrequent that a Planet Grenada post will be in the top 10! But on the other hand, I still went from a Large Mammal to an Adorable Little Rodent. Confusion.

insignificant microbe?
intelligent design
waiting for the sun to set
on the truth laid bear

new blog idea

An idea recently occured to me: Start a Blackamerican Muslim group blog. It could be called "Third Resurrection" after Sherman Jackson's use of the term. The first resurrection occured when the Nation of Islam and similar groups appeared and offered Blacks an alternative to mainstream Christianity. The second resurrection occured after Elijah Muhammad passed away and Warithdeen Muhammad brought the Nation of Islam more in line with the teachings of Sunni Islam. The third resurrection is occuring now as Blackamerican Muslims continue to negotiate their relationship with Black Religion, the immigrant Muslim community in the US, and the broader traditions and movements of the Muslim world.

The different groups which look to Elijah Muhammad (The various incarnations of the Nation of Islam and the Five Percenters) definitely have a strong virtual presence. It is odd to me that African-American Sunnis, in spite of having larger numbers, don't have that same identifiable presence online.

Thoughts? Interested?

which makes more sense, a muslim-owned liquor store or a rastafarian barbershop?

In recent news, in at least two Oakland liquor stores, a group of African-American men wearing suits and bowties have gone into the stores and commited acts of vandalism. But the story is like an onion, with several layers.

Firstly, the liquor stores are owned by Arabs/Muslims but obviously Islam prohibits buying and selling alcohol.

Secondly, the African-American men were at first assumed to be from the Nation of Islam, but it turned out that they were from a different group of black Muslims (who may or may not be believers in Elijah Muhammad).

So thirdly you have the irony that orthodox Muslims often accuse certain "Black Muslim" groups of being disbelievers on theological grounds (for believing in a prophet after Muhammad or for believing that Fard was God) but now the Black Muslim group is criticizing the immigrant Muslim group for not following a basic element of Islamic practice.

Fourthly, this could just be seen in racial terms, just another non-Black group making a profit by selling harmful/low-quality/negative products in the Black community. The fact that its being done by Muslims who according to their own religion shouldn't be selling this stuff anyway is basically just salt in the wound.

Fifthly, I don't want to sound like a vigilante, but there is crime and then there is crime. This reminds me of past occasions when I'd hear news of some frustrated but well-intentioned community member burning down their local crack den... or Rev. Pfleger, a white (but very "down") priest in Chicago who has been arrested in the past for vandalizing alcohol and tobacco billboards in Black neighborhoods (but aquitted of the charges by the jury). The case in Oakland is definitely more severe since it involved kidnapping as well as arson. But still, not everything which is legal is right. And not everything which is right, is legal.

Sixthly, I would say the ultimate responsibility (or at least complicity) for all this rests in a number of different places. Obviously, the brothers who vandalized the store are responsible for their actions. But (from a religious and social perspective) the brothers who owned the store should have made different business decisions. But at the same time, the zoning laws and economic and financial conditions are set up so that setting up such stores in poor communities is an attractive proposition (from a profit-making perspective).

And finally, the seventh layer I would want to mention is the question of tactics. Even if we can sympathize and understand the feelings of the people who vandalized the store, what should the most constructive effective response have been? I honestly don't have a perfect answer. But it should be possible to organize collectively and more peacefully to address some of those other levels. Work through the political system to work change zoning laws and liquor licensing. Work on the community level and perhaps organize boycotts. And also locate, create, and nurture alternatives. For example, if a Muslim opens a halal grocery store (or other kind of business) in the community, make sure to support them.

That's basically all I have to say about it, right now. But you might also want to look at...

what other bloggers have said about the issues:
Izzy Mo: racial tensions in the ummah... again
Adisa Banjoko: Hip-Hop Predicted Liquor Store Trashings Long Ago
Ihsan:Alcohol smashed in Oakland, California
Sunni Sister: Pops

what news sources have reported:
ABC NEWS: Nation Of Islam Furious With Police
Inside Bay Area: Oakland liquor stores under siege
San Francisco Chronicle: Nation of Islam, store owners slam vigilantes
San Francisco Chronicle: Liquor store owner's ordeal- Arson, kidnapping in Oakland -- 6 sought in previous attack
MSNBC: 2 surrender to police in liquor-store vandal case
Kron4: Police Arrest Two Men in Liquor Store Attacks (videos)
MIPT: Two arrested in attacks on Oakland liquor stores
MIPT: Liquor store clerk found safe after kidnapping; shop had been vandalized for selling to blacks

why you bringing up old stuff? (some previous Grenada posts loosely related to the Black/immigrant divide in the United States):
racial tensions in the american ummah
in the ghetto
arab-american demographics
arabs and the racial lessons of 9/11
racial jujitsu or the more things change...
new spirit in the mosque
"asalam-alaikum , akhi. could you get me a lottery ticket?"

zaid shakir and adisa banjoko

From Holla at a Scholar: An interview of Imam Zaid Shakir with Adisa Banjoko.

the revolution won't have a video

Don't Believe the Hype by John McWhorter, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, is an LA Times Op-ed piece which makes the long overdue point that hip-hop (whether "conscious" or not) is not a substitute for real serious political activism.

africa and islam

Just a brief and general overview.
BBC: The Story of Africa: Islam

but that's the story y'all

I told the niggaz please let us pass, friend
I said please cause I don't like killing Africans
but he wouldn't stop and I ain't Ice Cube
but I had to take the brother out for being rude
and like I said before I was mad by then
It took three or four cops to pull me off of him
But that's the story y'all of a black man
acting like a nigga and get stomped by an African

"People Everyday", by Arrested Development
more on arrested development

From The Black Commentator: Knowing the Difference between a Conscious Black, a Negro and a Ni**a by Anthony Asadullah Samad.

In a similar vein, also from The Black Commentator is: Pro-Black Thugs, Pimpin' Revolutionaries & Alien Conspiracies: Navigating the Underbelly of the 'Conscious' Community by Morpheus Reloaded

Both are necessary exercises in healthy self-criticsm. Who is a thug? Who is "conscious"? Or more precisely, how do we all manifest a little bit of both?

I'm just in that kind of mood.

the life and legacy and malcolm x

By Any Means Necessary: The Life and Legacy of Malcolm X is a brief talk given by Manning Marable at Metro State College, Denver, Colorado, February 21, 1992.

white mexican racism rears its ugly head

From The Black Commentator: White Mexican Racism Rears its Ugly Head Again by Abdul Karim Bangura is a brief but fresh and up-to-date article which discussing the African (Afrikan) presence in Mexican culture and society. It also includes a number of good links to materials (many of which have appeared on Planet Grenada before).

afro-peruvians

From The Black Commentator: In Peru, Afro-Descendants Fight Ingrained Racism, Invisibility by Angel Paez