sweetest day / millions more march / erykah badu

I wonder if there is some cosmic significance to the fact that Sweetest Day coincided with the Millions More March (the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March this year. It is easy to find both positive and negative connections. Both events can be seen as sincere expressions of love. Both can also be seen as commercialized, exploited immitations of the same. (Can you tell I didn't have a Sweetie this year?)

I caught part of the Millions More March on CSPAN. Out of what I saw, the best part was definitely watching Erykah Badu doing her thing. Apparently she had been scheduled to sing "Time's a Wastin'", but after they introduced her and the music started playing, she stopped the music to give a speech! Her comments were eloquent enough to make me think she had written them beforehand, but "rough" enough to make me think she wasn't doing what the planners of the march had expected her to do.

I suspect that faced with the considerable temptation of being handed a microphone and a live television audience she decided to go the Kanye route and say whatever the hell she wanted to say. Although in contrast to Kanye, her words were simple, beautiful, powerful and eloquently delivered.

Towards the end she even said "I'm not going to sing. I'm not going to sing". And it would have been alot more appropriate if she had stuck to her guns and let her comments stand on their own. Unfortunately, she caved in and sang anyway... not that the song was performed badly, but it was anti-climactic given the quality of the comments which came before.

If I find a transcript of her comments, I definitely intend to add the text or a link to it.

guantanamo medics accused of abusive force-feeding

October 15, 2005
WASHINGTON -- US military medics have attempted to dissuade Guantanamo Bay detainees from continuing a hunger strike by forcing finger-thick feeding tubes through their noses without painkillers, lawyers for the detainees told a federal judge yesterday.
(for full story)

guantanamo hunger strikes serious

October 8, 2005 - 3:48PM
The Red Cross expressed concern today about the two-month-old hunger strike by Guantanamo Bay prisoners, some of whom are being force-fed, as the US military said 26 were on strike but their lawyers insisted the figure exceeded 200.

The strike that began on August 8 over conditions and lack of legal rights is the most widespread of a handful of such protests since the prison camp at the US naval base at Guantanamo in Cuba opened in January 2002, the New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) said.

US army Lieutenant-Colonel Jeremy Martin, a Guantanamo spokesman, said 26 detainees were taking part in a "voluntary fast", including 22 hospitalised for "involuntary feedings" involving food given through a nasal tube and fluids given intravenously. Some rights activists have criticised this force feeding.

Martin said the number peaked at 131 last month and has since steadily declined. "The detainees are all clinically stable, closely monitored by medical personnel to ensure that they don't harm themselves - and will continue to receive appropriate nutrition, fluids and excellent medical care," Martin added.

Amnesty International rejected Martin's account.

"Even the language that they're using is totally indicative of the fact they're trying to minimise this," said Amnesty International official Jumana Musa.

"What is a 'voluntary fast'? This didn't start because of Ramadan [the current Islamic holy month in which Muslims fast]. That's a voluntary fast. This is a hunger strike, which is basically people pledging to starve themselves to death."

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva underlined its concern.

"There is a hunger strike, the situation is serious, and we are following it with concern," said ICRC spokeswoman Antonella Notari.

The hunger strike is the latest flash-point between the US Government and human rights groups over the camp, which activists call a blight on the US human rights record.

The Centre for Constitutional Rights, along with affiliated lawyers, represents more than 200 of the approximately 505 detainees at Guantanamo.

CCR lawyer Barbara Olshansky said her group estimates about 210 prisoners are taking part in the hunger strike, and accused the military of deliberately understating the strike's scope.

Olshansky acknowledged her group had not been able to perform a systematic head count of participants at the secretive prison, and said the estimate was based on data gathered by lawyers visiting detainees in recent weeks.

Australian terrorist suspect David Hicks is among some 505 detainees being held in the prison. Human rights groups have denounced these indefinite detentions and treatment they say amounts to torture. Most detainees were picked up in Afghanistan after the United States invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban government and dislodge al-Qaeda bases.

The hunger strike began after the military reneged on promises given to detainees to bring the prison into compliance with the Geneva Conventions, CCR said. Detainees were willing to starve themselves to death to demand humane treatment and a fair hearing on whether they must stay at the prison, it said.
Link

guantanamo action center

If you want to learn more about what is happening to detainees in Guantanamo, Cuba and what you might be able to do about it, you can also check out the Center for Constitutional Rights: Guantanamo Action Center

fast for justice

In another example of the muslim like me phenomenon, the Center for Constitutional Rights is trying to promote a Fast For Justice on November 1 on behalf of the hunger striking detainees in Guantanamo, Cuba. A vigil is also planned in Washington, DC for the same day.

black orientalism

Here is an exerpt from Jackson's latest book It is the chapter on Black Orientalism from Islamica Magazine.

If you are a Muslim of African descent living in the West just read this. It's good for you. It's food for your brain. Better than a bean pie. (I'm not a very subtle salesman) I am actually not certain that I have the words to adequately convey my thoughts about this stuff. For a very long time, orthodox Muslim discourse on race and racism in the United States has been extremely superficial. It mainly consists of a pamphlet about how Islam is anti-racist (and it is), a pamphlet about how when Malcolm X went on hajj he was treated really well by Muslims of different races (and he was) and a pamphlet about Bilal (the Ethiopian companion who used to be a slave but was freed by the Muslims and had a beautiful voice). And in some circles that's pretty much as deep as it goes. As a result, it is incredibly and intensely refreshing for me to read or hear from orthodox Black/Latino Muslims who talk about race and racism in an in-depth intelligent way. Hopefully, in some small way, Planet Grenada helps fill that vacuum.. although I don't think of myself as some kind of deep expert. But in any case, I'm just glad Jackson is out there talking about these issues, and if you are a fan of Planet Grenada then you'd probably enjoy his subject matter as much as I do.

review of islam and the blackamerican

Here is one blogger's recent review of Sherman Jackson's Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection. It is a really good description of at least one future trajectory for African-American Islam

Here is the meat of the review:

I was in Atlanta in 1991 when I heard a Louis Farakhan tape in which he said something like, “We did not stop riding the back of the bus to get on the back of the camel!” And, later, around that time frame, I remember reading a line condemning African Muslim hujjaj (pilgrims to Makka) passing the bones of their ancestors to worship at Arab shrines. (I think it was from Molefi Asante’s book Afrocentricity: The Theory of Social Change.) Lastly, I remember reading an article by Louis Brenner about the manner in which a scholar taught the attributes of God to common people in West Africa. And Dr. Jackson wrote a book which brought together all of these experiences for me.

The existence of a large group of indigenous Muslims in the United States is not duplicated in other countries ruled by Europeans and their descendants, in the Americas, western Europe, the Republic of South Africa, Australia and elsewhere. Dr. Jackson sets out to explain why this developed in the United States and not elsewhere, and at the same time project a path that Blackamerican Muslims must tread if they hope to preserve their Islam and succeed in overthrowing white supremacy. As it turns out, giving up the goal of overthrowing white supremacy would in fact end Islam among the Blackamericans.

A confluence of factors allowed Blackamericans to own Islam. The first was the imperative of Black Religion, a primordial, fitra-like belief in a just God who would not tolerate His people’s abuse and Who would Punish their oppressors. The second was that fact that their oppressors identified themselves as Christians, not Muslims. The third was that Muslim immigrants to the United States and white American converts were too few to define Islam in the United States. The fourth was the leadership of the proto-Islamists such as Noble Drew Ali and The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who allowed their Muslim followers to appropriate White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) values without identifying their oppressors as the source of those values. The fifth was an early twentieth century crisis in Blackamerican Christianity, which inculcated those WASP values yet could not articulate them without surrendering moral supremacy to whiteness. The sixth was features in Islam which met Blackamericans’ needs. These were Islam’s theology, which is simple relative to that of Christianity, Islam’s Protestant-like absence of institutionalized ecclesiastical authority and the Qur’an’s frequent references to the God’s aiding the believers against their unbelieving oppressors.

Elijah Muhammad used the term “resurrection” to describe his movement’s impact on the Blackamerican. Dr. Jackson borrows this term and identifies Elijah Muhammad’s period as the First Resurrection. Blackamericans’ embrace of Sunni Islam since the 1970s is the Second Resurrection. And the challenges facing Blackamerican Muslims today require a Third Resurrection.

The Blackamerican Muslim today has lost control of the definition of Islam to Immigrant Islam in the United States, not because immigrant Muslims and their descendants practice a “purer” Islam but because of their relative affluence, their ideological self-assuredness and weaknesses in Black Religion. I would add to this list the foreign policy imperatives of the United States as it embarks on the re-colonization of the Muslim world. Immigrant Islam, by devaluing “the West”, prevents Blackamerican Muslims from contributing positively to Blackamericans’ struggle against white supremacy. The psychological dislocation of abandoning theirs own selves in exchange for a foreign, identity-based Islam leaves Blackamerican Muslims ineffective in both the secular and religious spheres.

The Third Resurrection of the Blackamerican Muslim must center on personal piety, mastery of usul al-fiqh, the bases of jurisprudence, to derive judgments on what is permissible and forbidden for Blackamerican Muslims, and an unwavering commitment to fight white supremacy. The Blackamerican Muslim will at that point be self-authenticating, needing the approval of neither white supremacists nor other Muslims. Blackamericans would be in the position of the African teacher and his pupils whom Louis Brenner described for me, neither colonizing nor colonized, with knowledge of this religion being treated as a public good and not a personal inheritance.

I’ve summarized in just a few paragraphs a densely written book, and of course I recommend reading it to understand Dr. Jackson’s arguments for why this is necessary.

bokononism

On the occasion of Kurt Vonnegut's 83rd birthday, In These Times recently decided to put together Kurt Vonnegut’s In These Times Opus which is a collection of links to various contributions which Vonnegut has made to that periodical over the years. Enjoy!

But also, since I obviously like to emphasize the spiritual/religious side of issues, I thought it would be also good to include information about Bokonism, which is a fictional Carribean-rooted religion which appears in the Vonnegut novel, Cat's Cradle.

Bokononism is surprisingly thought out for a fictional religion, especially one limited to a single novel. It would be hard to find a belief system created for print/ film/ tv which was more thoroughly fleshed out. You'd probably have to look to the Dune series (based on several novels and short stories) or the Star Trek universe.
The Books of Bokonism
Bokononism

two percent approval rating

2% Of African-Americans Give President Bush A Positive Rating... Daaag! I heard even Jefferson Davis got 5%.

seeking submissions for book on latino muslims

Latinos Journey to Islam: A Rebirth of an Experience

The co-authors, Juan Galvan and Samantha Sanchez, are accepting Latino Muslim conversion stories. Contributing authors will have the opportunity to have their story appear in Latinos Journey to Islam: A Rebirth of an Experience. The tentative book title was "Latinos Revert to Islam: What's Old is New again." The new title more accurately reflects the many paths Latino Muslims have taken on their journey to Islam. This book will touch the hearts of millions and help them see the beauty of Islam, insh'Allah.

"Thus does God make
His Signs clear to you:
That you may be guided"
Qur'an 3:103.

For More Information: Check Link

muslim like me

In her article, Why Americans Should Observe Ramadan Carol Wolman suggests that Americans (specifically non-Muslims) who want to protest American foreign policy in the Middle East and want to express their solidarity with Muslims (who are often at the receiving end of that policy) should fast during the month of Ramadan. It is an intriguing thought. To be honest, I have some reservations about the idea which I might try to articulate in a future entry. But I still don't think it would be a bad thing if any non-Muslims reading this thought seriously about Wolman's suggestion and, if it made sense for them, followed her advice. I would only hope that anyone making that decision also have a good understanding of the spiritual/religious significance of fasting in Ramadan and did not just do it for narrow political reasons.

As I was trying to make up my own mind about her suggestion, it occured to me that the idea isn't totally new. Or more specifically, that I had already seen other examples of non-Muslims expressing solidarity with Muslims by temporarily adopting some Muslim practice.

For years now, the National MSA (Muslim Student's Association) has encouraged a Fast-a-thon program where non-Muslims are encouraged to fast for one day during Ramadan and raise money for various good causes.

And in the period immediately after 9/11 there was a small movement of non-Muslim women called Scarves for Solidarity who took up wearing hijab in support of the hijab-wearing Muslim women who were facing heightened discrimination during that time.

Even prior to 9/11 I remember reading an account of a non-Musilm woman who wore hijab as a kind of experiment to see what it would be like. (It is called "Unveiling Oppression" by Kathy Chin and is a very interesting piece in its own right)

In the end, I think it is heartening and encouraging to see non-Muslims make such warm gestures towards Muslims and Islam, especially in the current cultural/political climate where Muslims are often very misunderstood. The empathy and understanding forged by these sorts of interactions and experiences can be invaluable. I would just hope that these efforts would continue in a respectful way, and with Muslim input, participation and support.

pimpin' ain't easy

Pimpin' Ain't Easy: The New Face of the Black Church is a most disturbing piece. In the past, the Black church served an important role in terms of being the conscience of the nation when it came to important issues of social justice. But this article suggests that in modern-times, a significant portion of the Black Church has basically sold out and lost its way.

al-qaeda: where are they now?

from the Onion

accepting the slurs

Accepting the Slurs by Salim Muwakkil is another article which seems very apt for Columbus Day. It looks at the offensiveness of using Native American imagery in the names and mascots of sports teams.

I have to admit that this is probably an issue I have the least PC feelings about. Don't get me wrong. It seems fairly obvious that many Native American political organizations are opposed to the practice, and so out of a sense of resepct for their feelings, and solidarity with their cause, it makes sense to follow their lead. But it is also pretty clear that it would be hard to defend a general claim that teams should never be named after ethnic groups. After all, no one is complaining about the Boston Celtics, the Trojans, the Spartans, the Fighting Irish, the Minnesota Vikings or the New York Yankees. But my guess is that when you are busy running the world, you are probably going to be more willing to let a couple of things slide. On the other hand if you used to have free run of two continents but are now limited to a few reservations and casinos, you are going to be less willing to roll over and accept one more indignity, no matter how slight.

From a certain point of view, I should probably be more worked up about this issue. I went to a school where the team was called the Maroons. (There are actually a couple of sports teams which still use the name). It seems pretty obvious that the original reference was to Black runaway slaves (which would have had associations with being strong, independent, fierce fighters). Fortunately we didn't have a mascot and the school colors were white and maroon so in some respects the original meaning was more or less sanitized out of collective memory. But even if that hadn't been done, I could still imagine scenarios where could feel good about being on a team called the Maroons. (e.g. if the mascot wasn't a caricature or a cartoon)

In the end I would say that there isn't a universal principle one can really appeal to which explains why the Fighting Irish is "ok" but the Fighting Illini is "not ok". But since it is clear that many Native Americans are offended by many of these actions, then by definition, such practices are actually offensive, and we should take rapid reasonable steps to limt the use of such imagery by sports teams.

Another article by Salim Muwakkil on the same topic was published by In These Times last year and is called Racist Slurs Taint U.S. Sports.

letter to an african muslim

Letter to An African Muslim by Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi ad-Darqawi is a large text (not just a few pages) which discusses Islam's potential role in freeing Africa from external control and improving the condition of African people. I wouldn't necessarily endorse everything in it. I have my own reservations about the author and some of the positions he adopts. But if you are interested in the subject, it might be worthwhile to at least take a look at what he has to say. But at the same time I would try to think: Are there other ways to understand the situation in Africa? Are there other models for Islam's role in addressing those problems? What are the non-religious factors play in African society? etc.

an interview with ralston x

Gus Westcott's interview with Ralston X (Uthman Malik Abdal Hakim) was originally broadcast in December 1993 and consists of a brief discussion on the relation between the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X and Pan-Africanism, along with other related themes.

racial amnesia

Racial Amnesia is an interesting page discussing the African heritage of Puerto Rico and Mexico and the ways in which it gets "forgotten".
Thanks to Sha-King Ceh’um Allah who writes Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil

cornel west on katrina

From Tikkun magazine, here is a summary of an interview with Cornel West on the larger implications of Hurricane Katrina

indigenous activists and columbus day

An interview with Robert Mucaro-Borrero, President of the United Confederation of Taino People on the "discovery" of the New World.

guantanamo hunger strike

A hunger strike at the U.S.-run prison camp at Guantanamo Bay has entered its third month. At least 22 detainees have been hospitalized and are being force fed through nasal tubes and IVs. The number of detainees taking part in the hunger strike is in dispute. The Center for Constitutional Rights estimates 210 detainees are on hunger strike. The U.S. military says that as many as 130 took part in the strike but that only 26 are still refusing to eat.
from Democracy Now!