Growing up in the diverse black communities of Brooklyn, NY, being Muslim was not really a strange thing. And to a certain extent the same could be said for the rest of the city. For example, a few years ago I attended a bombazo in the South Bronx and while there, I needed to make one of the five daily prayers. In addition to an inconspicuous place to make salat, I needed to figure out the direction of Mecca, northeast. All I asked one of the event organizers, who was not a Muslim, was: "Do you know which way is east?" To which she immediately responded, "Oh, you need to pray?" and then led me to a quiet and clean place where I could do just that. This familiarity with Islam comes from the role that various everyday and prominent Muslims, like Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, have played in shaping black identity and fighting against racial inequality. And when hip hop took up Black Nationalism in the 80s and 90s, being Muslim was not only familiar but also cool. Even Ramadan, which incidentally began this week, had a cameo, albeit irreverent, in the hip hop track "Kick in the Door" where Biggie Smalls rhymes "quick fast, like Ramadan."
This is why I remain perplexed at the ascendance of African Americans who spew the rhetoric of anti-Muslim bias. Last year, there was Juan Williams' inextricable fear of Muslim garb (whatever that is). Then there was the surprising discovery that black residents are participating in the campaign against the expansion of a local mosque in Murfreesboro, TN. And then there were the most recent and egregious comments of Herman Cain, for which, to be fair, he later apologized.
Now even in my nostalgia about the Brooklyn of my youth, I can recall some hostility toward Islam and Muslims. This came from some black Christians -- for perhaps obvious theological reasons--and from certain Afrocentrists who espouse what University of Michigan Professor Sherman Jackson has termed "Black Orientalism," the reductive ideological position in which Islam is a synonym for Arab and therefore culpable in the East African slave trade and any and all forms of Arab "imperialism." Yet the anti-Muslim bias found in the statements of Williams and Cain is starkly different from these older hostilities. This is because today's anti-Muslim bias has its roots in America's history of white supremacy.
Like the anti-black racism that underpins white supremacy, anti-Muslim bias is a practice of discrimination, individual and systemic, that is fueled by a perceived threat. Black people threaten the [white] nation through their violent behavior, pathologies, and overall "bad" culture. Muslim people threaten the [yes, still white] nation through their violent behavior, pathologies, and overall "bad" culture. These similarities can be found in the private sphere: "Whites Only" signs in the Jim and Jane Crow south and "No Muslims Inside" signs in 21st century Alabama, as well as mid-century housing covenants to prevent black home ownership and current attempts to manipulate zoning ordinances to prevent the construction of mosques.
Critically, the similarities also extend in to the public sphere: practices of racial profiling that lead to parallel phenomenon of Driving While Black and Flying While Muslim (imagine if you are black and Muslim!) and the return of COINTELPRO-like tactics of surveillance and infiltration in today's Muslim communities.
In light of these and other parallels, how do some African-Americans come to jump on the anti-Muslim bias bandwagon? There are likely many answers to that question. One that I would like to suggest is that the bandwagon can be alluring to a community that is usually made to walk. Meaning that, some black people, consciously or subconsciously, take on anti-Muslim attitudes as a means to an end -- to access the privileges of being a full-fledged American that have been so long denied blacks in this country. Of course, this route toward full citizenship is peculiar when juxtaposed against reports like the recent one on the widening of the racial wealth gap; reports, which remind us that, on the whole, whites, and non-whites are living in very different Americas. And unfortunately, black American Islamophobes, blaming it on the Muslims -- who are also black -- won't change that. What the black American Islamophobe needs to realize is that the anti-Muslim bias is not a means to full citizenship. Rather, the "Muslim peril" is just the newest boogey man deployed to uphold the status quo and thereby distract our attention from demanding and making meaningful and equitable change for all Americans.
TheReligionofPeace.com - Islamophobia: Exposing the Islamophobes
Islamophobia And The African-American Muslim | News One
Imperialism, Islamophobia, and Torture « The Stanford Progressive
United States of Islamophobia? - CNN
America's rising tide of Islamophobia | Sarah Wildman | Comment is ...
John L. Esposito: Islamophobia in America: Where Do We Go From Here?
On the other hand, if you look at a map and see where the Arabian Peninsula is in relation to the Horn of Africa it should be obvious that the two regions are interlinked. And if you study the early history of Islam it is clear that tons of the early Muslims were Black. And according to Al-Jahiz (a Black Iraqi author from the Middle Ages) Muhammad (saaws) himself was of African descent. Then in later centuries Islam obviously spread south and became integrated into African life. And
Now let's see if Huffpo will post this response.
The radical Muslims have declared war against the west, and black folks live in the west. Sorry, but they aren't picking and choosing which westerners they will attack.
Do you think we need some kind of specialized statute, discussing religion, radicalization, and that kind of thing? The 1st Amendment says: Congress shall make no law...but that kind of leaves a Big Blind Spot where people could use/misuse religion as their vehicle to foment...stuff.
There's probably more religious malcontents out there, looking to start some trouble. But, if the government is wise to their stuff, and the public is wise to their stuff, and the congregants ask well-informed questions, maybe we can nip it in the bud, next time.
Back in slavery times, when the crops failed or a drought occurred, it was the slaves that paid the most. When ole massa had hard times, all his slaves had a harder time. Basic survival meant appeasement. This bowing and scraping never worked, many died, but those that licked boots good enough always seemed to make it. This scenario played out over the succeeding millennium. Every economic or social upheaval in America was accompanied by "racial strife" and boot-licking in the hopes of acceptance and survival.
This is the root of today's ridiculous statements and the sad mindset by Cain and others. To me it’s as insane as the centuries old conflict between Islam and Judaism. Islam, Judaism and Christianity all sprang from the same well or family, if you will. I could be wrong, but aren't Abraham, Mohammed, David, Ishmael and Jesus all related.
Sorry, but the radical Muslims didn't ask black folks to get off the planes before blowing them up. I served in Iraq. The radical Muslims didn't ask black soldiers to leave the area before blowing themselves up there either.
Therefore, I can understand when black folks are on a plane and see Muslims and COMMON SENSE kicks in.
also, the reason for islamaphobia is two-fold. firstly, when 9/11 happened, the bush administration told us that we were at war with islamic extremists, and bin laden in particular. but when he chose to abort his hunt for bin laden to capture and kill saddam hussain, it appeared through the media that we were at war with all of islam. in addition, he changed his reasoning for starting the iraq war from saddam 'tried to kill my daddy,' to 'liberation of a people.' that certainly didn't help matters. secondly, islamic extremists were either attacking or attempting to attack not only the u.s., but the u.k., france, other islamic/muslim countries, and anyone who didn't believe in allah or practice islam, and justified all actions through the qu'ran. to sum it up, the media has also heavily driven the message that we are at war with islam.
We really should be more sensitive than we are towards Muslims. We are all in the same boat here in America. As long as one culture control most of the pie, all minorities should be working together to get our collective piece.
As for your second paragraph, I would say that you might be partially correct, but I don't think the vast majority of black people were picking up with Bush was putting down. Frankly, I always thought the man was a fool. I think the stronger reason for islamophobia is strong Christian beliefs amongst many black people. Clearly race isn't a factor, but more so, I posit, it's the "strangeness" of Islam. Personally, as a black woman, I don't care for any religion, though I don't demonize any particular religion over others either.
as for the 'strangeness' of islam in relation to blacks, i wholeheartedly agree. but if more research was done, they would know that many of our ancestors in slavery were practicing muslims before they were introduced to christianity.
i'm a black woman too, and i have a difficult time accepting many aspects of religion, especially in relation to how women are treated. and on that aspect, neither can claim superiority on that.
Islam does not respect the equality of women, nor the equality of gay people, nor the right to self determination.
I cannot for the life of me understand why a Western liberal would defend a doctrine that is so opposed to Western liberal values. We have no issues being critical of Catholisism in regard to abortion, birth control or gay rights, or the equality of women. We are routinely critical of Evangelicals for their oppression of women and gays, as well as their penchant for censorship. But somehow, Islam is given a free pass by American liberals. Why is that?
Further, the anti-liberal dogma of islam is not only published, it is institutionalized as the state religion in many parts of the world.
In many muslim countries, crowds cheer while gay teenagers are hanged or beheaded, or castrated, or sexually mutilated.
It is not a "few radicals" who have published contracts on the life of Salman Rushdie. It was not a few fringe imams who called for the death of Theo Van Gough. It was not a small crowd in one city that rioted over a Danish cartoon. It is not an exaggeration to say that Saudi women are arrested for driving.
My read on the American liberal support for islam is a simple knee-jerk reaction to the GOP's "freedom fries" and "Islamo-fascism" rhetoric....... which was equally ridiculous.
Should I believe them all liars?
1) Constant war
2) Discrimination of various groups that hover around the white Protestant center.
Rather than a racial hierarchy, there is a ethno-racial gravitational field in US culture where all spin around a White and Protestant center. While different groups deviate from their orbit and become targets at different times, the ones that spin closer to the white center pick on the roles of the white rulers to FIT IN. This is what we see with some members of the rising black middle class.
Truthfully, multiculturalism is underwritten by this racial planet system as the market homogenizes people into one bland Americanism.
America is a majority white, majority Protestant nation. Is there something inherently wrong with that?
Other nations have racial and religious majorities; are the same things wrong with them? If not, why not?
And white majority? perhaps but not for long, this is the fear that drives the Tea Baggers, that soon they will not be able to have it all their own way.
By the way, there are 73 different Islamic sects, and similar to christian sects many of them can not accept that any of the other 72 could be correct.
http://www.alislam.org/library/73divisions/73-09.html
Further to your last point, the United States started as a country where religious freedom was the rule, not the exception. We seem to have strayed from that view-wonder why.
In the past, nations with racial and religious majorities have done much that could be construed as 'wrong' as seen through the eyes of history. National Socialist Germany is too easy an example, but there have been others.
That said, as with my fellow Americans who are christian or jewish or druid or.... I say live and let live. But I feel free to be critical of Islam as I am of Catholisism or any other superstition.
Muslim terrorism isn't any more indicative of mainstream Islam than Christian or Jewish terrorism is, of the mainstream teachings of those religions, and the lives of the majority of believers.
Muslim terrorists aren't terrorists because they are Muslim -- if that was the case, we'd see a LOT more terrorism from the world's 1.6 Billion Muslims.
Muslim terrorists are fighting a war in horrible, heinous and unconventional ways, and they are attempting to justify it via their custom-distorted version of their religion.
http://cpost.uchicago.edu/index.php
Here's what one of the most widely-respected Muslim clerics in the world had to say about extremist distortions of Islam, via a 600 page fatwa against terrorism (published last year).
http://clarifyingislam.com/2011/04/30/600-page-fatwa-condemning-terrorism-by-internationally-respected-islamic-legal-scholar/