Jamaat Al-Muslimeen Statement on the Death of Ahmaud Arbery

It is disgusting, and a travesty of justice that an innocent black jogger can be shot like an animal by White vigilantes, who chase him down without any provocation. We, of the Jamaat al-Muslimeen (Islamic Peoples' Movement) demand justice in this evident murder.

Occupy for Mumia

Washington, DC

April 24, 2012

 

Activists marked political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal's 58th birthday and 29th year behind bars with a protest billed as "Occupy the Justice Department/ Occupy for Mumia." The action also nearly coincided with the April 23 birthday of Marshall "Eddie" Conway, a leader of the Black Panther leader in Baltimore who has been held political prisoner by the state of Maryland for 43 years, drawing some of his supporters to the rally.

 

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Background

Mumia was a member of the Black Panther Party until 1970, and a journalist of great integrity, known for reporting police brutality and other government abuses in the Philadelphia area. He was also a well-known supporter of the MOVE organization, a revolutionary naturalist group based in the heart of Philadelphia. MOVE  advocates a holistic existence for all people--a drug-free, alcohol free, environmentalist lifestyle, emphasizing self-sufficiency, self-respect, and discipline--something anathema to Philadelphia's ruling racists. As a consequence, the organization became the target of a very long-ranging campaign of annihilation by the Philadelphia authorities. That campaign culminated in the May 13, 1985 raid and aerial bombardment of the house habited by MOVE members on Philadelphia's Osage Avenue. The firebombings and police shootings resulted in the murders of 11 men, women, and children, and the jailing of Ramona Africa, the sole adult survivor. And it destroyed 61 surrounding homes.

 

Mumia's writings and his ongoing support for MOVE evidently propelled him into the government crosshairs, because in late 1981, he was linked to the shooting of a Philadelphia police officer, William Faulkner. In 1982, Mumia was convicted following very questionable trial proceedings, including the retention of the presiding judge, Sabo, who reportedly stated "Yeah, and I’m going to help them fry the nigger" (a reference to Mumia, reported in an affidavit by a court stenographer), and witnesses who later said they were pressured into testifying in a manner that favored the prosecution. Following three short weeks of jury deliberation, Mumia was sentenced to the death penalty. Undaunted, he continued to criticize U.S. government repression, authoring six books, hundreds of articles, and radio broadcasts from death row. Extremely well-informed and articulate, he spoke and wrote earnestly against U.S. imperialist adventures abroad, including the Iraq war and AFRICOM. He earned the support of Amnesty International, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Toni Morrison, and other notables, who variously called for inquiries into his unjust incarceration, appeals, or freedom for the jailed journalist. In 2012, after years of pressure from his supporters, Mumia's death penalty sentence was dropped, and the sentence commuted to life in prison.

 

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On the bright sunny morning of April 24, the International Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu Jamal (ICFFMAJ) and the MOVE organization spearheaded a rally for Mumia at the Department of Justice. Friends of MOVE, Decarcerate PA, Students Against Mass Incarceration, DC Troy Davis, the National Jericho Movement, Occupy DC, Occupy Baltimore, the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective, Workers World Party, the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition, the All Peoples Congress, the Baltimore Black Think Tank, Jamaat al-Muslimeen, Bradley Manning supporters, and many other groups and individuals came together in one of the most energetic actions for a political prisoner held in Washington, DC, to date. The protestors heard Johanna Fernandez (outspoken Mumia supporter and professor from Baruch-CUNY); King Downing (American Friends Service Committee); Pam Africa (Minister of Confrontation of MOVE, and Chairwoman of ICFFMAJ); Ramona Africa (MOVE); Br. Abdul (MOVE organization; he read Mumia's deeply poignant statement penned for the occasion); Chuck D, Dead Prez, Jasiri X, Rebel Diaz, and Jay Sun--all politically conscious hip-hop artists known for their support of Mumia and other political prisoners; Mauri Saalakhan (Peace and Justice Foundation); Laila Yaghi (Free Ziyad Yaghi Campaign); Imam Khalil Rahman (Imam Al-Jamil supporter); Mumia supporters from France; and others.Around 3:00 pm, protestors left the DOJ for a spirited march through DC's downtown, passing the FBI and CIA buildings, and other landmarks of state repression. The protest culminated in a second rally at the White House, where a police cordon was pulled tighter and tighter around the protestors as some activists, who had pledged to commit civil disobedience, positioned themselves for the action. Twenty-seven activists were arrested and removed to the Anacostia Prison Facility to be booked, protesting for Mumia's freedom.

 

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AfterwardThis Muslim writer marveled at the sight of the predominantly youthful protestors, particularly those conducting civil disobedience, who had come forth to take a stance for unjustly held captives, a command clearly laid out in Islam's Holy Book. It was in stark contrast to "Islam on Capitol Hill," a mass prayer held not so long ago at the U.S. Capitol a short distance away, by the gigolos of the Muslim community, who endeavoring to ally themselves with the power structure, induced their unwitting constituents to do "sajood" (genuflection) to that grotesque symbol of Babylon. As those with Muslim names clamored for ill-sought White House invitations and Presidential Council appointments, inviting the agents of repression into their Islamic Centers and Mosques, the youth at the White House gates on April 24, most of whom were not Muslim by title, walked the path of Christ (AS) and Muhammad (SAW), fighting for the rights of the most oppressed and downtrodden--the political prisoners. What will it take for the rest of us to follow?

 

©2012 by Nadrat Siddique

An Exchange with the Hillel Director

Last Thursday I had an interesting exchange with the Towson University (Baltimore) Hillel director, following an on-campus lecture by Imam Muhammad Al-Asi.

Hillel seems to carry some clout at Towson, as it does at UMBC, and other U.S. universities. At the University of Maryland College Park, the "flagship university of the University of Maryland system, the organization has its own student center, providing kosher meals for Jewish students. In years past, I watched Hillel and other zionist groups place a gargantuan Israeli flag just outside the Adele H. Stamp Union on Israeli "Independence Day," wondering how UMCP's Palestinian students might feel upon encountering the reminder of zionist power atop their student union. The lecture, organized by the Towson MSA, was by Imam Muhammad Al-Asi. For once, I was there to attend--and they were there to protest.

Here is the exchange (as close to verbatim as memory would allow):

Me: Is it true that Hillel offers students all expense paid tours of "Israel"?

Hillel Director: Yes, that's correct.

Me: Can Muslim students participate in such tours?

Hillel Director: No.

Me: I understand that Hillel's tours offer Jewish students an opportunity to visit or stay in a kibbutz. Does the tour also include a visit to a Palestinian refugee camp?

Hillel Director:     No.

Me: What is the primary aim of Hillel's tours to Israel?

Hillel Director: Propaganda.

I was rather amazed that the man was as blunt as he was. To be honest, he didn't seem like the brightest bulb in the.... so he could have conceded more than is typical for men of his position. Or not. Whatever the case, the dialogue revealed an overtly racist, exclusionary policy, meant to benefit only a select group.

Muslim students groups and their supporters need to consider organizing tours/exchange programs to Palestine for Muslim youth and students who are interested in going. It will make the Palestinian issue more relevant to the community.

Daily Racism on Baltimore's MTA

Ask virtually any Black person in the U.S., and he or she will tell you the police abuse Black people with impunity. Acts of police brutality are largely unreported for a variety of reasons, ranging from fear of reprisal and lack of faith in the System, to illiteracy and lack of awareness of legal options. Except within the Black community, the issue is rarely acknowledged or discussed. The notion that 9/11 was the first act of terrorism on U.S. soil is indicative of such tunnel vision. Centuries of lynchings, executions, rapes, and pseudo-scientific experimentation on Black people are somehow excluded from the rubric of terrorist acts on American soil.

I've discussed the issue of police brutality with a broad spectrum of Blacks and Whites. The difference in reaction is stark, and strictly divided along racial lines.

The reaction of Whites generally falls in one of four categories:

1. Don't you realize the predicament the poor cop is in? He doesn't know which suspect has a gun, and which one doesn't. If you were in that situation, you'd probably shoot first and ask questions later, too.
2. You deride them now, but I'll bet you'd call them in an instant if someone breaks into your house.
3. Oh, they pulled him over, searched his car, and held him for three hours? It happened to me, too.
4. He's in jail/dead/etc.? He must have done it.

Unfortunately, these reactions do not reflect the reality on the ground. The reaction of Black people is formulated through first hand experience. Nothing brings home reality quicker than being at the end of a police baton or stun gun. And judging from the number of Black men spreadeagled outside Jaguars and Lexuses in police stops, class offers little protection.

I'm not evidently Black, and am generally exempt from police harassment. As a Muslim, however, I feel strongly that I must speak out on this issue for three reasons:

1. Everyone living in the U.S. has profited from forced Black labor. We owe a debt to Black people. At the very least, we must oppose police brutality against the very people without whom this country's very infrastructure would not exist.

2. To remain silent against the racist power structure is to acquiesce--indeed profit from--that power structure.

3. The Qur'an commands opposition to injustice. And racism (with all its economic implications) is the leading form of injustice in the U.S.

Only the most blatant acts of police terror--such as those involving Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima, or Sean Bell--garner corporate media attention, and that too, usually after massive public outcry. But terrorism of the U.S. Black population occurs daily, and at many levels. Some are immediately life-threatening, such as the dragging of James Byrd, Jr., behind a pickup truck in Jasper, Texas, or the deliberate ramming of Black suspects with police cruisers in South Carolina. Others are not immediately life-threatening, but rather confer long-range mental and physical health problems on the victims.

Take for example, the case of a close friend, who is Black. He was accosted by MTA police on the Baltimore light rail enroute to work. The events as he related them:

Between commuting by public transportation and time spent at work, he is away from home at least 14 hours a day. Since he is very strapped for time, he occasionally pays bills via cell phone during his long commute. Recently, he boarded the train, sat down, and was paying a utility bill, when three hulking MTA cops approached him. My friend is 5'4," slender and slight, with a very quiet manner. He does not engage in illegal or threatening behaviors in public. The approach by three cops seemed grossly misplaced.

They demanded to see my friend's boarding pass (checking of boarding passes is standard procedure on light rail, but generally conducted by a regular MTA employee). He took a few seconds too long to hang up the cell and produce it, so they verbally assaulted him.

He challenged their rudeness. They removed him from the train without warning. Then, they wrote him a citation for "disorderly conduct". Since he was forced to miss his train and had to wait for a later one, he was late for work--a very serious matter, since he is the only breadwinner for his family, and could be suspended or fired for tardiness. And he was saddled with the added burden of going to court to contest the bogus citation.

My friend said what he'd experienced was not at all unusual. Poor and working class Black people riding Baltimore's light rail are routinely accosted by cops. He'd witnessed an incident involving an elderly Black woman with dreadlocks. Probably hungry after a hard day's work and facing a long commute on the slow moving train, she committed the mortal sin of eating a piece of bread on the light rail (eating on the train is technically prohibited by MTA rules). "MTA police jacked her up," said my friend. "They put her in a choke hold, and took her off the train."

He relayed another such incident involving a young Black woman with her child. She was quietly sitting on the train, talking to her mate on her cell, when she was accosted by two MTA cops. It was not clear what "crime" she'd committed. MTA police demanded her ID, frisked and verbally assaulted her--all in front of her child. Then, the cops forcefully removed her and the child from the train. When her mate arrived at the scene, the cops threatened to arrest him, too.

By contrast, the Whites who board the same light rail in Hunt Valley, Falls Road, or other affluent Baltimore suburbs enroute to their plush offices in downtown Baltimore, or to BWI Airport encounter no such police harassment. White and Asian tourists traveling by light rail for an afternoon of frolicking around Baltimore's sordidly gentrified Inner Harbor are untouched by racist cops. The rich, white drunks overflowing light rail trains leaving Camden Yards (stadium site) following a baseball game (whose tickets are so expensive as to be unaffordable to most of Baltimore's Black majority) are not harassed. Frequently, their fares are not even checked, nor is their public drunkenness.

Indeed police harassment appears reserved for Baltimore's poor Blacks, who often spend hours trying to get to work on the city's highly inefficient mass transit, to earn slave wages which they dutifully turn over to bloodsucking slumlords. All of this occurs in a majority Black city. I watch both sides of it from where I sit at work, and it makes me sick to the stomach. A People's Tribunal--to record and eventually try everyday acts of police terror against the U.S. Black population--is needed.

African Presence in Early Asia:Runoko Rashidi Speaks

Having been the only practicing Muslim at my suburban, all-white high school, I developed an understanding of racism early on. Yet the recent Howard University lecture of renowned historian and scholar Runoko Rashidi on “The African Presence in Asia” opened my eyes to the fact that I, too, had unwittingly swallowed racist ideas. The standing-room only, primarily black audience exuded afrocentricity and political consciousness with their red, black, and green caps, locks, and politically astute questions. Regrettably absent—in light of the subject matter—was HU’s significant Asian student population.

Rashidi’s first act, upon taking the podium, brought to light the unconscious eurocentricity of most of us living in the West. Employing a long-neglected Africanism, Rashidi recognized the elders. He asked their permission to speak. Only then did he begin the lecture. How often do we, Muslims, Africans, and others—whose religions and cultures emphasize respect of the Elders—bother to do this? In one stroke, Baba Rashidi, as he is respectfully called, returned us to our roots.

A solidly built, dark-skinned brother with bald head and gold frame glasses, he spoke in a no-nonsense manner devoid of rhetoric. “I’m tired of hearing of a black history which begins with slavery,” he began. “A perfect example is the popular black history book, From Slavery to Freedom.”

“I differ in my view of history. I don’t view it as Africans waited around for some white man to come and take them captive,” he told the appreciative audience.

Nuclear DNA polymorphisms have been used to study the origins and relations between ethnic and racial groups, said Rashidi matter-of-factly. “Mitochondrial DNA, inherited from the mother, is more important [in demonstrating relatedness]. This indicates that Africa is the mother country.”

Rashidi’s research focuses on black people in Asia and the Middle East. To this end, he has traveled to Syria, Jordan, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, and a litany of other countries. “Israel,” explained Rashidi, “Is the only country I haven’t visited—for political reasons.”

Denial by Local Officials

At the start of each visit, Rashidi was invariably told: “There are no black people here.” Undaunted, he headed straight to the national museum. Almost without exception, he found artwork—often centuries old—depicting people with unmistakably black (Africoid, in archeological terms) features. Then, traveling the countryside, to remote and inaccessible areas seldom frequented by tourists—he found black people. The pattern repeated itself in nearly every country he visited.

Beyond his extensive travels throughout Asia, Rashidi has visited Africa 20 times. “Wherever I go, I meet Africans who are literally dying to leave Africa,” he said. Twenty-five hundred people line up at the [U.S.] embassy in Ethiopia each day. This is because things are so bad. They are the new boat people.”

The implication is that such was not always the case. As Ivan Van Sertima (with whom Rashidi co-authored African Presence in Early Asia) wrote in They Came Before Columbus, there was a time when Africans were leaving Africa because—as the ruling power—they had the wealth, resources, and naval capability to explore what was then uncharted territory.

Rashidi launched into his slide presentation. It is a small sampling of the thousands of slides of artwork from museums across Asia and the Middle East he has painstakingly collected through decades of research. There are black natives of the Andaman Islands, whose inner radar, said Rashidi, allowed them to flee just before the tsunami; an African nobleman from Laos; a 2,000 year-old bust of a Syrian African nobleman; and Antara the Lion. All have clearly Africoid features.

Then there is the tomb of Bilal (RA).

African Presence in Early Islam

“Bilal [RA],” Rashidi told the predominantly black, non-Muslim audience, “had an Ethiopian mother. He was one of Muhammad’s [PBUH] closest companions. His tomb was found in Syria.”

“There was an African presence throughout early Islam,” said Rashidi. “Ishmael [AS] was a black man, as was the grandfather of Prophet Muhammad [PBUH]. A well known saying of the Prophet is: ‘He who brings an Ethiopian man or woman into Islam, brings his house blessings.’”

Rashidi described a mural he’d observed at the Pantheon (burial site of Rousseau, Voltaire, Marat, Victor Hugo, and other notables) in Paris: “It is a painting of a very handsome black man. This is an African crusader.”

Other slides depict not artwork, but photographs of indigenous black people across Asia and the Middle East, which Rashidi has collected in the course of exhaustive field work: photographs of a black Saudi cabinet member, who held the position in 1954; black men of Kuwait’s Sabah family; and a black Iraqi.

Black Iraq

This last is perhaps the most astonishing. The black Iraqi is holding a submachine gun. This is not a U.S. soldier, Rashidi emphasized, but an African Iraqi.

“There was a population of Black captives in Southern Iraq, called the Zanji,” Rashidi explained. “They engaged in three major insurrections, with some success. Iraq has a 10 - 15 % African population in the South, but you don’t see them on TV,” he told the mesmerized audience.

At this point, Rashidi could have seized the occasion to bash Arabs/Muslims. But, he uttered barely a word on the Arab identity of the slavers. I wondered if this was due to a consciousness of a common oppressor, who today subjugated Arabs and Africans alike. Or was it perhaps in recognition of the efforts of the young Muslim graduate student, Sharron Muhammad, who’d worked hard to organize the Howard lecture?

Whatever the case, I was struck by the stark contrast between the attitude of this strong afrocentric brutha, actively engaged in uplifting his people, and that of the “Free Darfur” movement—Zionists who contributed nothing to black liberation, but were quick to spoon-feed black people news of their Arab “enemy,” feigning common ground with black people, while both blacks and Arabs continued to suffer and die disproportionately under the Zionist/capitalist/imperialist agenda.

Rashidi’s next few slides depicted women: “An Israeli sister” wearing hijab (“She looks very African”); an African-Palestinian woman, who attended Howard University (“The Black Panther Party was established among Palestinians”); and a group of African Turkish women. [All quotes describing Rashidi’s slides are his—editor]

Rashidi, who displays few pictures of himself, appears with the latter group. “These are African women of Southwest Turkey,” he explained. “Their husbands are dead, and they are discriminated against.”

There are so few blacks in Turkey, he continued, that these women had never seen a black man other than one from the Sudan or Chad. “I knew it was time to leave when one of the ladies started stroking my arm, and telling me I reminded her of her late husband,” he quipped.

There is a painting of black slaves standing in a line behind their Ottomon regent (“The Ottoman Empire had many blacks, but this is not acknowledged”); and a bust of an African-Afghan (“probably destroyed by the Taliban”). I longed to ask the scholar the reason for his latter supposition.

Indus Valley—A Great Black Civilization

Then there is the figurine of a black woman from the Indus Valley (“We know she is a sista--from the hand on the hip” joked Rashidi); and a painting of a black woman with long braided hair pinned up in a bun.

Amazingly, museum officials tried to convince Rashidi that the beaded appearance of the woman’s hair in the latter painting was not African hair in a braid, but “snails” which crawled on to the woman’s head!

“I am a very patient person,” said Rashidi, “So I spent the next 48 hours reclining under the same type of tree she was under, in the very same area, and no snails crawled on to my head.”

Rashidi’s main research interest is India. “In Greater India, more than a thousand years before the foundations of Greece and Rome, proud and industrious Black men and women known as Dravidians erected a powerful civilization....the Indus Valley civilization--India's earliest high-culture, with major cities spread out along the course of the Indus River,” says a handout accompanying the lecture. “The Indus Valley civilization was at its height from about 2200 B.C.E. to 1700 B.C.E.”

I thought back to discussions of the Indus Valley civilization in my high school world history classes. As in the treatment of Ancient Egypt, “they schools” somehow managed to overlook the minor detail that the Indus Valley civilization was a black civilization. But, they did not mind discussing blacks and slavery, slavery and blacks, I mused.

“The decline and fall of the Indus Valley civilization has been linked to several factors, the most important of which were the increasingly frequent incursions of the White people known in history as Aryans—violent Indo-European tribes initially from central Eurasia and later Iran,” Rashidi’s handout continued.

Oppression of Dalits

As the lecture reached its peak, Rashidi hit upon the major focus of his research: Dalits, or “untouchables” in India. Dalits—who are black—“are victims of Hinduism,” he explained. They are literally treated as untouchable—in other words, unclean. Even the shadow of a Dalit is believed to be polluted, and Dalits must announce themselves by beating drums or making loud noises, to allow others to avoid them. They live under apartheid-like conditions.

Then, Rashidi offered a startling statistic: Three hundred million people are Dalits in India. The significance of this? “This means there may be more black people in India than there are in Africa.”

Rashidi is a powerhouse of knowledge, dropping facts at lightening speed.

As the lecture wrapped up, he showed slides of a black Brahmin (“Very unusual”), and an early depiction of a black Krishna (“Initial depictions of Krishna were always black”), before moving on to speak briefly of his travels to the far east.

The Far East

Rashidi had no desire to visit China, and said he traveled there only for the completeness of his research. Predictably, he was informed by Chinese officials: “There have never been black people in China.” Rashidi had difficulty traveling around China, and, for once, did not encounter black people. However, in the course of his research, he found that one of China’s earliest dynasties, the Shang, were said to have “black and oily skin.”

In Japan, he found proverbs with references to African roots (“For a samurai to be brave, he must have a bit of black blood”); in Angkor Tom, Cambodia, he found bas reliefs depicting black people (shown on the cover of his book, Africans in Early Asia); in Central Vietnam, he discovered an entire living population of black people; and everywhere in the far east, he found black Buddhas (“All early depictions of Buddhas were black, and this did not change until much later”).

“Wherever there is humanity, you find black people,” said Rashidi, concluding the lecture. “I want all black people to embrace their African-ness. Why is this important for us? Because we are trying to become whole again. What you do for yourself, depends on what you think of yourself. And what you think of yourself depends on what you’ve been told.”

During Q&A, the question of Dalits came up again, as many audience members seemed shocked by what they’d heard. Elaborating, Rashidi told of a Dalit woman being paraded through the village naked, because she stole some vegetables to feed her family, and of a Dalit boy forced to drink urine in punishment for some very minor infraction.

“There is an affirmative action policy in India,” said Rashidi. A Dalit headed India’s Supreme Court for a time; another was President of India. The appointment of these token black people, like the appointment of Clarence Thomas and Condoleezza Rice to high positions in the U.S., evidently had little impact on the condition of the majority of their people. Clearly U.S. foreign policy makers—in their embrace of the Hindu-dominated Indian government as a foremost U.S. ally—were unfazed by the apartheid-like conditions experienced by 300 million black people.

Reflections

The lecture was the most thought-provoking I’d attended in recent memory. Afterwards, I greeted Baba Rashidi with “As-salaam alaikom” and extended him my solidarity as a Pakistani and a Muslim. I told him that were it not for his book, I, like most Pakistanis, would be woefully ignorant of the African contribution to our subcontinent, and that the incredible history he’d presented was completely absent from schools across Pakistan and India. His lecture, coupled with my reading of New Trend coverage of the Dalit struggle greatly added to my awareness of the specter of racism and classism plaguing the Indian Subcontinent. The lecture brought me to the realization, that Bollywood’s (Indian cinema’s) acute racism closely paralleled that of Hollywood. Both popularized negative and de-humanizing stereotypes of black people, targeting them for genocide. Remarkably, Indian cinema is hugely popular in West Africa.

Like many Indo-Pak households, my childhood home featured Indian movies blaring in the background every evening. Although the sexism of Indian cinema sickened me even then, its racial intonations initially escaped me. Most of the movies featured Milky White Indian Hero and Milky White Indian Heroine, frolicking through gardens and fields in their glorious courtship dance--paragons of goodness and morality. Adivasis—a major black Indian ethnic group—were, almost without exception, depicted as savages, drumming and dancing around an open fire in remote areas far from “civilization,” encountered by Milky White Indian Hero only when he came to rescue Milky White Indian Heroine from their evil clutches. Dark-skinned actors were frequently cast as villains of various sorts, usually bent on raping the Milky White Indian Heroine. In addition to his work with Dalits, Rashidi worked closely with Adivasis, and he listened with interest as I mentioned this to him.

As I left the program, I started thinking how I would explain the relevance of the African presence in early Asia to Muslims. I knew a good many brothers and sisters would try to convince me that racism is an American problem; that Muslims don’t think along racial lines; that in Islam, the sole relevance of skin color is “so that ye may know one another;” and that one is judged solely on taqwa (level of Allah-consciousness). They would try to convince me that it is a waste of time to ponder the question of who settled where and when, and that these things were in the past.

The Pakistani sister who secures her coach bag walking through the garage because “a black man may be lurking there;” the Arab/Indian/Pakistani man looking for an arranged marriage whose stated criteria is “anyone but a black woman;” the Nigerian parents who teach their son or daughter not to hang with African-Americans, because “they no good”—all these, as well as others afflicted by more subtle and subconscious racial notions, reveal that racism has penetrated our oh-so-pious Muslim consciousness, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Racism is cemented by a myth which refuses to acknowledge the immense and positive contributions of powerful African civilizations throughout history, insisting that black people be viewed only in the context of slavery and its aftermath. As Baba Rashidi stated in his closing remarks, “The people of Sumer lost their history, so they died.” For Muslims to maintain the myth is to assist in the oppression and cultural genocide of black people. A Muslim, by definition, bears witness to the truth, even that truth which is discomfiting.

For more information on the Dalit struggle, Africans in early Asia, and related topics, visit Runoko Rashidi’s website:
http://cwo.com/~lucumi/runoko.html

Protest Calls Attention to Bush Regime's Racism in New Orleans

On September 7, a Jamaat al-Muslimeen supporter and I joined protestors at the White House decrying the racism of the authorities in dealing with the New Orleans situation. The protest was called by A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). The small but spirited group was led in chants by Eugene Puryear, a student activist from Howard University. “From Iraq to New Orleans, Fund Peoples’ Needs, Not the War Machine,” we chanted in the direction of the Rose Garden.

The protest reminded me of the many Jamaat al-Muslimeen protests I’d attended as a teenager. But where were all the other Muslims?

Caneisha Mills, ANSWER’S youth and student coordinator, spoke at a forum following the protest. She had just returned from a fact-finding trip to New Orleans. Tall and slender with beautiful, dark skin and a proud walk, she brought to mind some of the Panther women. With no makeup, her hair simply done, she might have been a Muslim. Most striking was her seriousness.

Caneisha is in her senior year at Howard University, yet she took time off from her classes to go to New Orleans, along with filmmaker Gloria La Riva, and photographer Bill Hackwell. They took as many relief supplies as they could for the people of New Orleans.

Caneisha’s anger at the injustice in New Orleans was evident, yet she was able to speak articulately and confidently. Her main points were: 1) the military is in place in New Orleans, but only to protect property, not to help the people evacuate, nor to provide for their needs; 2) supplies and volunteers are available, but they are not being allowed to reach where they are needed; 3) supplies brought in by the government are strictly for government personnel, not for the people who are in need.

She traveled through seven police/military checkpoints before arriving in the district of Algiers, where she, La Riva, and Hackwell were to be hosted at the home of community leader, Malik Rahim.

Malik Rahim is a former member of the Black Panther Party. Some activists suggest that if the BPP with its original platform been around today, the suffering in New Orleans might have largely been averted.

Malik is an example of grassroots leadership at its best. Algiers, where he lives, sits on higher ground than the rest of New Orleans. It was not as badly damaged as other areas, and much of it would still be habitable, were it not for the lack of electricity, food and water. Malik suggested using parks, schools, and other parts of Algiers to set up camps for people displaced from other parts of New Orleans, but so far, his efforts in this arena have fallen on deaf ears.

Malik told Caneisha: “Imagine being in a city, poor, without any money and all of a sudden you are told to leave and you don’t even have a bicycle. Ninety percent of the people don’t even have cars.”

Malik, along with three of his friends, go door-to-door three times a day, taking food, water, and ice to the people. When he returns from his “rounds” he is on the phone with community organizations, religious groups, and reporters, amassing more food and supplies to deliver the next day. His street is the only one with telephones still working, and black and white neighbors alike come in periodically to use his phone.

Malik spoke of white vigilantes riding through Algiers in pickup trucks, gunning down any blacks they thought didn’t belong there. His friends and neighbors feared for his safety, and many parked their cars in front of his house to fortify its entrance.

Caneisha remarked on the extraordinary hospitality of the Rahim family, despite the long-term difficulties facing them.

She spent considerable time walking around the Superdome and interviewing people. Most stories pointed to the abject disregard of the authorities for the predicament of the people. One black woman she interviewed tearfully recalled the trauma of waiting on her roof for days with her entire family, thinking they would all die there, as they were repeatedly bypassed by helicopters. The woman and her family remained on their roof until they were finally rescued by relatives. Only later did they learn that the helicopters had orders not to take larger families.

Caneisha interviewed a group of five young black men, who had taken it upon themselves to rescue people stranded in the flooded areas. Their leader, a handsome young man with shining eyes, told her “By the grace of Allah, we were able to commandeer a boat.”

He and his friends filled the boat with twenty-five people each trip. They would ask for volunteers who had the strength, to cling to the outside of the boat, and leave the seats for the weaker ones. Thus they were able to evacuate as many people as possible each trip. Many of the people had already been stuck their attics or on their rooftops for days with very little food or water, so they tried to get to them as quickly as possible. After the young men had been at this a couple days, they finally saw some official rescue boats bringing in people, but never more than five or six people at a time. “We did not bring our own families in till last,” he said.

Such stories of the peoples’ heroism abounded; one report that particularly inspired this writer was that of prisoners who broke into stores and got food out for the elderly and weak.

Caneisha and the ANSWER delegation returned from New Orleans and immediately set to work on the September 24 anti-war protest in Washington, DC. Few thinking people can miss the connection between the racism evident in the Bush Regime’s reaction to Katrina and the racism of the illegal war on Iraq. Appropriately, the original anti-war theme of the march was modified to: “From Iraq to New Orleans, Fund peoples needs, not the war machine.”

Baltimore’s Abu Ghraib

This Tuesday, I found out what it feels like to look into the eyes of a mother whose son has been beaten to death while in custody. Joey Gilbon's mother walked proud, carrying a picture of her son. She had beautiful dark brown skin, a crown of white hair, and deep contemplative eyes, which would make you cry if you looked into them long enough. I hugged her, hardly knowing what to say. "Your son will not be forgotten," I managed to mumble.

I stood with her and the mothers at the entrance of Baltimore's Central Booking Facility on Falls Way and Madison Street. They were there to protest the deaths of their loved ones in custody. So they were in jail in Iraq, you say? Nope, right here, in AmeriKKKa.

Twenty-seven people, mostly black, have died in custody at Central Booking and City Jail in recent months, while waiting to go to trial. Many of them were locked up for very minor, non-violent offenses, like non-payment of child support, or loitering.

Baltimore's zero tolerance law prohibits assembly in certain areas. Although the law ostensibly is aimed at drug dealers, it means that a city resident who steps outside his house, if it happens to be in an area targeted by "law enforcement," may be arrested after one or two warnings. (The zero tolerance laws are also an attack on the First Amendment freedom of assembly of some sectors of society--but that is a separate issue.) So, in effect, some of the detainees held at Central Booking were locked up for standing outside their own homes. And while there, they could be the target of murderous prison guards.

One of the recent murders was of 52-year old Raymond Smoots, who was beaten so badly by guards that his family could barely recognize his body. But, his mother was determined to fight for justice in her son's case. In the days leading up to the protest, she stood on a West Baltimore street corner with activists handing out leaflets with the heading "Is Baltimore's Central Booking our Abu Ghraib?" It was from her that I learned of the protest.

The protest was called by the Emergency Coalition for Justice, an umbrella organization which included many of the families of the victims, the All-Peoples Congress, the Million Worker March Movement, the Nation of Islam, the Troops Out Now Coalition, and others. I found out about the protest too late, otherwise, I'd have recommended that Jamaat al-Muslimeen add its endorsement.

At the start of the rally, the organizers symbolically wrapped yellow police tape around the front steps of the Central Booking facility, calling it a crime scene, and demanding the prosecution of the prison guards and police responsible for the deaths in custody. They charged that prisoners were forced to lie in their own vomit and that essential medicines were withheld from other prisoners. One, who had AIDS, was denied anti-retroviral medication, and another, a diabetic, was refused his insulin. A female detainee, Debby Epifanio, died after being denied her medicine.

Despite the heat advisory, nearly 300 people showed up for the rally. Most were people of color. I was pleased to see there was a significant youth continent--mostly anarchists and predominantly white.

Some of the mothers spoke. Other speakers included an NAACP representative in stunning African garb, a Nation of Islam representative, a Christian minister, and others. Notably absent were the "Sunni" Muslims.

Strange, I thought, the NOI Muslims don't pray (formally). But they work for justice. The Sunni Muslims pray. But they (with notable exceptions) don't work for justice. Shouldn't one lead to the other?

A particularly interesting speaker was a prison guard, who decried the abuses of his co-workers, and apologized to the families for what they had endured. He wore shades and a hat to disguise himself so that he would not be fired from his job.

While the speakers blasted prisoner abuse and police brutality, I ran up and down the road handing out fliers explaining why we were there to passing motorists. An hour handing out fliers was like a Racism 101 class. Many of the motorists were leaning out of their car windows, clearly intrigued by the protest. Nearly all the black motorists to whom I offered the flier took it; the only black people who refused the flier were prison guards who were getting off work. But the majority of white motorists refused to take the flier. A white ex-convict, who said he'd spent twenty-five years in the facility we were protesting, helped me pass out the fliers. He said, "Sh--, the white people, they won't take it. They all close-minded." It seemed a willful ignorance of injustice.

The rally over, it was time to march.

"Stop the killing, stop the lies, Raymond Smoots didn't have to die!" we chanted as we marched around Central Booking. The facility is a veritable modern day dungeon, encompassing several city blocks, with thick concrete walls protected by cameras and electronic gates.

On the next block, we found ourselves strolling along side the City Jail. It is a dilapidated old brick structure with grates and barbed wire covering the windows on every floor. We turned the corner, chanting, "Tear down the walls," and "No justice, no peace!" The prisoners could hear us, and some of them yelled back words of appreciation and encouragement. I could almost hear some of my reactionary relatives and colleagues saying, "Would you prefer if these common criminals were running the streets?"

But, the real criminals fill the corporate boardrooms, the halls of Congress, and the Oval Office; they are never the ones to be warehoused when they can't afford bail or a good lawyer.