I have a piece up on “Lessons From the Life of Malcolm X” over at Muslim Matters.
http://muslimmatters.org/2011/06/29/lessons-from-the-life-of-malcolm-x/
Tagged: Blackamerican Muslims Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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abunoor
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abunoor
The Department of Justice confirms it has launched an investigation into the killing of Imam Luqman Abdullah, but says it is “routine” and connected with the receipt of the FBI’s own internal investigation, the contents of which are not public, and not the result of any pressure from Rep. John Conyers or the public.
Also, the Imam’s wife, who is from Tanzania, claims that the government is seeking to deport her from the United States.
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abunoor
CAIR is continuing to raise questions about whether the FBI had set up cameras in the warehouse and has demanded any video of the incident under a Freedom of Information Act request.
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abunoor
3 months after he was killed, the autopsy of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah is scheduled to finally be released on Monday. The autopsy has been complete since December, but was withheld from the public at the request of the Dearborn Police.
Dawud Walid is quoting a Detroit reporter on his blog (who is quoting a confidential source) indicating that the autopsy will confirm what has long been rumored: that the Imam was shot 21 times, including in the back, and that he was handcuffed.
The Detroit Free Press reports on a forum that took place Thursday where the special agent in charge of the FBI office defended the actions of the FBI in the case, although from the story it seems like he defended it with platitudes (“We did what we had to do”) rather than explaining what happened.
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aziz
Dean tries to provoke a discussion about the term “Black”, arguing that it’s a term that only applies to the African Americans in the US and not to Africa. It’s similar to debates we’ve had here at TI in the past, especially this one.
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razib, murtad fitri
dean should visit south africa
or sudan. or egypt.-
razib, murtad fitri
or iraq. point is, there are self-conscious black communities in many parts of the world.
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Otto Kerner
I think it’s pretty much unavoidable that the meanings of words are almost always going to be determined by usage, and I don’t think there’s a precedent in usage to limit “Black” to black Americans (or, more broadly, black U.S. persons / Canadians). Consider, for example, the old The Onion bit, “Nigeria Elects Black President”: the joke is that everyone in Nigeria is black, and everyone knows it.
I do agree completely that, ideally, we should have a term to distinguish the American black subculture and its members from various other “black” people. My inclination is to use “African American” that way, (i.e., affirming the statement, “Barack Obama is black, but not an African American), but it would be hard for that to catch on, since it is quite at odds with the way other “XYZ American”-type phrases are formed.
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abunoor
Keith Ellison is No. 56 on the Telegraph (UK) list of 100 Most Influential U.S. Liberals. (As far as I can tell from a quick glance the only Muslim on the list. Top 20 haven’t come out yet.)
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abunoor
Sorry, here’s the link.
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Conrad Barwa
Abunoor the link seems to be broken
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abunoor
Thanks…should be fixed now. The top 20 is out as well…no muslims.
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Conrad Barwa
Thanks, will go through the list with interest, I think there might be more Muslims if a similar list was compiled for the UK
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abunoor
Conrad, that was exactly my thought.
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johnpi
Black men are now officially lumped in with Arabs and Muslim men around the world as potential terrorists and dangers to the West in the wake of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s attempted Christmas day suicide bombing.
It looks like America is getting rid of its Civil Rights so that the government can actively profile all persons who are as General McInerney said on Fox News, “are Muslim and between the ages of 18-24.” Both he and Newt Gingrich won’t say stop all people brown or black skinned; the majority will draw this conclusion on their own. The operative words are “discriminating based upon behavior.”
As much as people willfully fool themselves into thinking that the “stepped up” efforts by security agencies will be spent on reviewing the suspicious actions of passengers, there is not enough time management resources to properly train and educate TSA employees to become astute observers of suspicious behavior. Instead TSA workers will revert to the easier way to stopping “the enemies” – discriminate based upon name, religious affiliation, race and ethnicity.
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abunoor
Imam Zaid Shakir “Remembering Imam Luqman Abdullah”.
On Wednesday, October 28, 2009, Imam Luqman Abdullah, a humble servant of America’s underclass, was killed by a fusillade of bullets fired by government agents, some of whom had played an integral role in helping to stage the crimes he was accused of committing. His story, like that of all humans is a complicated one. Unfortunately, most people in this country will never learn of Imam Luqman Abdullah, the complicated man. The complexity of his life will be drowned out by the simplistic images of the homegrown Muslim extremist –a caricature.
The nuances of his story, his dedication to family, friends, and community; and his struggle to live a dignified life despite the crushing weight of poverty, will all be lost. With their loss, America loses yet another opportunity to attain a small part of the understanding so vital to move this country towards the sort of policies it needs to pursue, both domestically and internationally, if it is to avoid the consuming trap of imperial hubris and the inevitable ravages her twin sister, who is never too far behind her -Nemesis.
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abunoor
This piece that appeared on Huffington Post about Imam Luqman was probably linked previously, but if anyone has not read it, you should.
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johnpi
USA Today: ‘Blacks still drawn to Islam despite FBI raids.’
Sekou Jackson is used to the questions: Why does he need to leave a work meeting to pray? Don’t black Muslims convert to Islam in jail? Why would you even want to be Muslim?
“It’s kind of a double whammy to be African-American and Muslim,” said Mr. Jackson, who studies the Navy at the National Academy of Science in Washington. “You’re going to be judged.”
Mr. Jackson’s struggle may have gotten harder when the FBI on Wednesday raided a Detroit-area warehouse used by a Muslim group. The FBI said the group’s leader preached hate against the government, trafficked in stolen goods and belonged to a radical group that wants to establish a Muslim state in America. The imam of the group’s mosque, a black American named Luqman Ameen Abdullah, was killed in a shootout with agents. The FBI says he resisted arrest and fired a gun.
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abunoor
This should probably go without saying, but everyone should be reading Umar Lee’s series on “Working Class Muslim Families.”
abunoor and 
aziz are discussing. 
Otto Kerner and 
Conrad Barwa are discussing. 
aziz 10:00 am on June 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
excellent.
abunoor 12:51 pm on June 29, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Thanks Aziz.