more on immigration

To be honest, it is slightly surprising to me how much people seem to be coming together around issues of immigration. I've tended to think of immigration as an issue which (literally) evokes borders between people and sets up a dichotomy of "us" and "them". But recently, concerns about immigration seem to be a real galvanzing and unifying force across many different communities. Of course, it has been bringing Latino groups together, but it hasn't stopped there.

CNN: Marches may mark rise in Latino power
PNS: South Asians Join Immigrant Rallies Across Nation
PNS: Black Media Stress Human Rights Struggle of Immigrants

the lemba

As a part of my ongoing and vigorous discussions with Sondjata on Abrahamic religion and Afrocentritiy it had occured to me that it would be good to mention the Lemba people.

The Lemba (or Lembaa) are a group of people who live in southern Africa (mostly Malawi, Zimbabwe and the South African). And although they speak Bantu languages similar to their neighbours, they have specific religious practices similar to those in Judaism (e.g. prohibition of pork, male circumcision). On top of that, according to their oral tradition they are of Jewish descent dating back to the time of Solomon. Furthermore, some DNA evidence (specifically looking at markers on the Y-chromosome) strongly suggests their claims are true.

So here is just another example of how deeply the Abrahamic and African worlds overlap.

Haruth: The Lemba
Wikipedia: Lemba
NYTimes: Group in Africa Has Jewish Roots, DNA Indicates
The Jews of Africa: The Lemba of Southern Africa
The Freeman Institute: The Black Jews of Southern Africa
PBS/Nova: The Lemba, The Black Jews of Southern Africa
Wikipedia: African Jew

"one man's freedom fighter..."

In These Times: The Battle for Fred Hampton Way by Salim Muqakkil talks about the current struggle in Chicago to name one city block in honor of the Black Panther leader, Fred Hampton. Many of the city's Black politicians are supporting the measure but in a "surprise" move, the Fraternal Order of Police is objecting.

It reminds me of an earlier conflict, also in Chicago, where the local Puerto Rican community wanted to put a statue of Pedro Albizu Campos in Humboldt Park but faced opposition from the Park District.

From Z Magazine: Puerto Rican Community in Chicago by Melinda Power:

In the early 1990s, a fierce struggle over a statue of Don Pedro Albizu Campos, the fiery independentista and Nationalist Party leader, materialized in the Puerto Rican community. Aggressive opposition from pro-statehood Puerto Ricans, conservative Democrats, and real estate interests blocked placement of the statue in Humboldt Park, an expansive and beautiful oasis in the heart of the Puerto Rican community. As a testament to the strength of Puerto Rican nationalism, the City of Chicago agreed to the community's request to install two striking, 59-foot, steel Puerto Rican flags at the east and west entrances to the neighborhood. Spanning Division Street, the main thoroughfare, these flags clearly mark the community's boundaries. They also send a message to would-be gentrifiers: "Humboldt Park is Puerto Rican territory."

and

Space of Resistance: The Puerto Rican Cultural Center and Humboldt Park by Rachel Rinaldo:

La Casita's lot now includes a landscaped garden area, benches to sit on, and a space for performances. There are often barbecues here in the summer. When two of the freed prisoners returned to Chicago in September 1999, the welcome-home party was held there. In front stands a bronze statue of Pedro Albizu Campos, the Puerto Rican nationalist leader revered by the PRCC and by the Young Lords.

In the mid-1990s, the PRCC wanted to place the statue in Humboldt Park, but the Park District objected. The statue was eventually moved to La Casita, where it is a spot on the Paseo Boricua walking tours. It remains a sore point for the PRCC—one of the instances in which domination of space by the powers that be has prevailed. The Paseo Boricua Directory points out, "The placement of the Statue of Albizu needs to be resolved, since Humboldt Park has been denied to us. The Casita is therefore the most appropriate place for the placement of the statue."

You win some, you lose some. But then what really shows the hypocrisy of this whole situation is that a major Chicago street is already named after an honest-to-"goodness" Fascist: Streetworthy? The case for and against Italo Balbo

The cliches are overused but apt: One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. History is written by the winners. Or as Obi Wan said: "Luke, you will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

gattaca: so this is how it starts...

NYTimes: Seeking Ancestry in DNA Ties Uncovered by Tests by Amy Harmon shows how DNA testing is being used in order make and establish claims of political and economic significance.

when is a terrorist not a terrorist?

Miami Herald: Patriot Act bars Cuban rebels from asylum Supporters of an old anti-Castro rebellion are having difficulties getting asylum in the United States because the Patriot Act labels them terrorists.

"i never ever ran from the ku klux klan and i shouldn't have to run from a black man cause that's..."

Self-destruction by the Stop the Violence All-Stars. I was just thinking about that lyric earlier today. The song takes me way back. I almost feel like rehashing my past posts on different examples of black-on-black pathology. For some reason, some folks have a really deep urge to be HNIC (even some white people) and will stop at nothing to get there.

dave chappelle on npr

Last Laughs 2004: NPR interview with Dave Chappelle

pretty white girl singing

This is another personal/cryptic post: If I could find the transcript, I would post it... has anyone out there seen the Dave Chappelle segment where he says his views are so radical the only way he could get his opinions expressed on tv is to have a pretty white girl sing them? (And then for the rest of the segment, he actually hands a series of note cards to the singing white girl standing next to him) I'm not sure I want to get into the details, but if you have the means, I would highly recommend that the brothers out there get a singing white girl from time to time. It might make your life easier. I'm being serious.

brown berets

Thanks to Adisa for the heads up. This link is from the Watsonville Brown Berets. For those who don't know, in the 60s and 70s the Brown Berets were the Chicano analogue of the Black Panthers. And the Watsonville chapter is a contemporary group which was inspired by the Brown Berets of the past.

representin' the west (bank)

HindustanTimes: Arab-American rappers find new voice in political hip-hop music focuses on two of the Arab-American rappers, Omar Offendum and Ragtop of Los Angeles who are on the forefront of this trend.

Reading about them reminded me of the Suheir Hammad poem, Taxi, which starts off...

urban warrior i think we're
too used to bottled water and soft ass wipes
street soldier not gettin' taxis and little white ladies
claspin purses ain't all it's about

Hip-hop is definitely spreading and finding different things to say. You also might want to check out the Iron Sheik, a Palestinian-American rapper who I've seen in concert before. His page has song samples, lyrics, show information, and other goodies.

growing anger among blacks as latinos take over

April 7, 2006
BY ERIN TEXEIRA

NEWARK, N.J. -- The men both stood in a busy hardware store parking lot, but their lives were far apart.

On one end, Oscar Bautista of El Salvador said he had been waiting more than three hours for a job. Across the lot, Art Jackson loaded potting soil into his Dodge Durango. He complained that immigrants are making it harder for Americans to keep good jobs, especially blacks.

''You need to take care of home first,'' said Jackson, an African-American phone salesman from northern New Jersey.

Blacks and Latinos are often united on social and political issues. But they often differ when it comes to immigration.

Newcomers make black progress harder, said Wesley Crawford, who works at Source of Knowledge, a bookstore in Newark. ''It's a misconception that they're taking jobs we don't want. If you give people a good job, they will work.''

While Hispanic immigrants have protested a proposed crackdown on illegal immigration, the nation's most prominent black leaders have all been to New Orleans to try to stop the upcoming local election. Shortly after the storm, Jesse Jackson and others complained that Latino workers seemed to have more access than blacks to rebuilding jobs.

Bruce S. Gordon, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said that African-American and Latino bonds are strong and that his ''spirit was there'' at the immigration marches.

Most of the immigration protests have focused on a bill passed by the U.S. House that would make illegal immigration a felony, and all but one black voting member of Congress, Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Tennessee, was against it, according to the Congressional Black Caucus.

Still, many blacks feel threatened, said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, a black writer in Los Angeles.

''The civil rights leaders say we're all united, but the average person on the street is taking great offense at this group coming in and essentially taking over,'' he said.
AP

the fear of a free black intellectual

Black Electorate: WANTED: The Non-Threatening Negro – The Fear Of A Free Black Intellectual

According to The Urban League Institute’s report, "Sunday Morning Apartheid: A Diversity Study of the Sunday Morning Talk Shows" only 8 percent of the guests on the major Sunday morning talk shows over the past 18 months – or only 176 times out of more than 2,100 opportunities - were Blacks. 122 of those 176 appearances were made by Juan Williams, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice. Why is there such a limited black presence among the "talking heads"? Cedric Muhammad suggests that it is not just a matter of political bias or simple racism but something more complex.

azad slide

Following up on the issue of religion and cultural appropriation, I found a Persian livejournal blogger who wrestles with the question: How do you all feel about white American folks wanting to participate in spiritual/cultural things that are not their own?

"green is the new red"

Check out the newish blog Vegan Kid: Words in Resistance and especially check out the Carnival of Empty Cages #1 where he shows Grenada some link-love to two prior entries related to vegan/vegetarian issues. (One on Ron English, the painter who created much of the artwork shown in the film Supersize Me, and a second on Sean Muttaqi, the band Vegan Reich and the Hardline Movement).

In general, he has some interesting posts on "green" issues. And a couple of his posts give examples of how in the current political climate, green groups (environmentalist/animal-rights) are more and more under suspicion. So "first" they came after the Muslims and Arabs. "Then" they came after the pacifists and Green folks. Who is next?

conference on islamic african civilization

Saturday April 8th, 2006
12:45 pm - 10 pm
The Fourth Annual Conference on Islamic African Civilization
Public Health Auditorium, Rm. 23
(located on Fifth Ave. bet. Bouquet St. and Oakland Ave.)
University of Pittsburgh

Lectures Include (in order of schedule):
The U.S. Constitution: Reading Between the Lines
An Analysis of African Muslim Resistance to European Colonialism
The Historical Relationship between Muslim Spain and Islamic Africa
Keynote speaker: Jihad Abdul-Mumit, former Political Prisoner, Black Panther Party Member, and Black Liberation Army Member, speaking on "Self Determination"

the anti-imperialist left confronted with islam

International Viewpoint: An interview with Tariq Ali

Tariq Ali is an interesting kind of person. A secular Pakistani intellectual (so a "cultural Muslim"... as much as I dislike the term). But in a lot of ways his anti-imperialist perspective resonates very well with the interests of the Muslim world (Perhaps we could call him a "political Muslim")? In the above-mentioned interview he makes an interesting distinction between himself and someone like Hirsi Ali.

I travel a lot both in the Muslim world and in the rest of the world, but I have never yet felt threatened. Why is that? It is no doubt because people who don’t agree with me about religion know that I am an enemy of imperialism. I unceasingly criticize imperialism and all its works, more than the believers do. Whereas Hirsi Ali and people like her in the United States and in Europe make a profession out of attacking Islam. There are other important questions in the world.

Why do these people concentrate endlessly on Islam? In the way that they attack Islam, they go along with existing prejudices. And for that they are hated. There is no excuse or justification for acts of violence against these people. It is necessary to discuss with them. But these acts are a sign of despair: people are so much at the end of their tether that they have recourse to violence.

It reminds me of the distinction I made a long time ago between Irshad Manji and Me'shell Ndegeocello (Me'Shell Suihailia Bashir Shakur). All non-Muslims, (or Muslims for that matter) are not made from the same cloth.

damocles re-revisited or "gone fishing"

This post will be more on the cryptic and personal side but I still feel like "sharing". My own time under the sword will be ending soon. I think I've managed to come out a little bit wiser, with only a few nicks and scrapes for my trouble. Damocles said to himself "It is good to be the king" and thought it would be mostly fun and games. But the king knew better and realized that Damocles was his chance to go on vacation. Sometimes I've felt like Damocles. Most of the time I feel like Dionysius the king. Occasionally, I've even felt like the sword. It all depends on your point of view.

the sword of damocles
damocles revisited

immigrant rights

In the spirit of Latino/Muslim unity, Ihsan (the excellent Muslim group blog) has put together an informative and useful collection of links on the subject of Immigrant Rights

Also, on Alternet a brief piece called Viva la Immigration Debate adds a nuance of complexity to the current situation by looking at how Cesar Chavez (born a U.S. citizen) approached the issue of immigration.

white people and native religion

In her entry, Native Peoples and Cultural Genocide Brownfemipower (who almost considered dropping out of the blogosphere but has fortunately decided to grace us with her presence for a while longer) at the Woman of Color Blog looks at the relationship between the New Age movement and Native American spirituality. I'm generally sympathetic to the argument but had a different set of reactions and thoughts to some of her points. She says:

At no time did New Agers do any of the hard work of researching their own indigenous pasts to reclaim their own religious roots despite the fact that many European tribes were strongly based in earth-centered beliefs. No, New Agers went the easier route of "stealing" bits and pieces of other religions and claiming them as their own. For example, if you walk into a store catering to New Agers, you can find books and other memorabilia based in religions as far ranging as Buddhism to Taoism to the Kabbalah.

Although it's not good to appropriate any religion, the various religions that New Agers generally like to meddle with do manage to retain a large measure of control simply through their relative size. That is, a group of New Agers in Ann Arbor are not going to control how Hinduism changes or manifests itself in India. It simply isn't going to happen.

For Native peoples, however, this isn't the case. Representing only about one percent of the overall population of the United States, Native peoples are grossly outnumbered by New Agers when it comes to dealing with them on a tribe-by-tribe basis.

Firstly, I would say that some "New Age" folks, for example, followers of Asatru, Celtic Reconstructionism, or modern Druidism actually do look at spiritual paths associated with Pre-Christian Europe. So just to be fair, not all white New Agers are blatantly stealing from non-Western peoples. Some of them, really do try to stick to "their own" traditions. (But then that comes with its own problems as well. For example, some modern pagan groups have connections with white supremacists. They are pagan because they want to connect to a pre-Christian Europe "untainted" by Jewish or other influences.)

Secondly, in general, I would tend to question the implied link between ethnicity and religion. (e.g. see robert karimi) Even though it is important to avoid fanaticism, and one should cultivate a great sense of humility in terms of our own individual interpretations of texts, or our own specific understanding of the truth, nevertheless, religion still deals with matters of ultimate concern and absolute truth. (see not spiritual but religious) If Buddhism, or Islam, or Christianity are true, then they say something which is valid for all human beings; not just Asian people, or Arabs, or Africans. And similarly, if a non-Native or non-Indigenous person decides that the spiritual teachings of the the Australian Aborigines or Native Americans are meaningful for them, then I would think that people should have room to explore that possibility regardless of their background.

For me, the problem isn't in whether white people should try to practice non-Western religions. The real problem is that in general, whatever spiritual path we have chosen, we should all try to follow it thoughtfully, seriously, deeply, and self-critically. And there are obviously certain challenges, pitfalls, traps and temptations which will make it hard for anyone to follow a given path properly. The problem of white "New Agers" dabbling in non-Western cultures and co-opting them is only one temptation and one flavor of superficiality. (And someone in a different situation will face different obstacles). But I wouldn't want to rule out the possibility that a white person is capable of sincerely, thoughtfully self-critically following a non-Western path.

That said, I'm sure that Brownfemipower's criticisms apply to a large number of people in the New Age movement and I don't intend any of the above discussion to take away from that validity.

cuba & pakistan

From Left I on the News:

I've written about the 2260 health care professionals that Cuba sent to help Pakistani earthquake victims, and about how they had treated 1,043,125 patients, but even that didn't prepare me for the latest statistic: 73% of the earthquake victims who received medical care, received it from Cuban doctors and paramedics.