Episode 33

full
Published on:

12th Sep 2025

Reflections on Civil Rights, Journalism, and Legacy with Ayesha K. Mustafaa

Reflections on Civil Rights, Journalism, and Legacy with Ayesha K. Mustafaa

In this episode of the American Muslim Podcast, host Imam Tariq El-Amin engages in a profound conversation with Ayesha K. Mustafaa, editor of the Muslim Journal and an assistant professor of Mass Communications. Ayesha shares stories from her upbringing in a civil rights-active family in Mississippi and discusses the pivotal roles of historic figures like Ida B. Wells and Emmett Till in shaping her path. She reflects on the responsibilities of journalism in recording history, the perpetual relevance of civil rights, and the need for fostering like-minded alliances. Ayesha also delves into the significant impact and evolution of black media and the crucial role of storytelling and truth in the age of 'fake news.' Finally, the episode touches on the importance of succession planning in movements and institutions to continue the fight for justice and equality.


00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:29 Guest Introduction: Ayesha K. Mustafaa

00:56 Formative Years and Family Influence

01:59 Civil Rights Movement and Mississippi's Impact

03:16 Odessa Hawthorne's Legacy

06:49 The Role of Newspapers in History

12:01 Ida B. Wells: A Legacy of Journalism and Activism

18:15 Journey to Journalism and Conversion to Islam

23:09 Challenges and Changes in Journalism

26:19 The Importance of Black Media

31:42 Fake News and the Pursuit of Truth

34:37 Navigating the Era of AI and Fake News

35:45 The Importance of Succession Planning

39:14 Media's Role in Social Justice

43:40 The Power of Independent Journalism

48:21 Historical Figures and Their Impact

55:02 The Role of Religion in Social Movements

59:20 Reflections on Personal and Collective Responsibility

01:02:00 The Legacy of African American Muslims

01:06:40 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Subscribe to the Muslim Journal at https://muslimjournal.net/

Learn more about the International Museum of Muslim Cultures at https://www.muslimmuseum.org/


Cover Art & Intro Music - Tariq I. El-Amin @ImamTariqElamin

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Transcript
Speaker:

Imam Tariq E: May the peace that

only God can give be upon you.

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Welcome to the American Muslim Podcast.

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I'm your host, Imam Tariq El-Amin.

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If you have not already done so, make

sure that you subscribe wherever you

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get your podcast, and you can keep up

with us on social media at the American

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Muslim Podcast on Facebook and Instagram.

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And you can also keep up with me at

Tariq El-Amin on those same platforms.

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Today I am pleased to bring to

you another great conversation.

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Our guest is Ayesha K.

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Mustafaa, editor of the Muslim

Journal, an assistant professor of

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Mass communications and an absolute

wealth of knowledge in history.

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So without any further

delay, so, all right, so.

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I really appreciate you taking the time

to come on to the American Muslim Podcast.

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Let's see where it all started at.

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Is there a moment that you can look back

to, whether it be as a teen, as a child,

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uh, in retrospect, as being a formative

part of where you are, uh, today?

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Ayesha K. Mustafaa:

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Well, you know, of course, respectfully,

and, and truthfully, I have to give

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credit to my mother and father, right?

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And, and mainly they gave me

birth, but also they gave me

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a sense of responsibility.

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I, I grew up in a, uh, Mississippi

family of civil rights activists and a

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mother who was a, um, career teacher,

elementary school teacher, and she would

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always say, those formative years in

your education is grade one through four.

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So that's what she said,

you need to target.

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Your education.

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So my, my family background gave me a

sense of stability as well as purpose.

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And even though they were staunch

Christians, devoted Christians,

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uh, the, the responsibility to the

community of course went outside

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the church because we lived in

Mississippi and this is ground zero.

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And what happens to us resonates

throughout the country.

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You know, we say, remember

Emmett Till, you know

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Imam Tariq E: That's right.

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Ayesha K. Mustafaa:

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Anderson died in Mississippi

with Emmett Till.

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And just a little caveat, you know, before

Emmett Till's murder was broadcast, uh,

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posted on the cover of, uh, jet Magazine,

there was another murder in Mississippi

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that jet magazine's, uh, editors, Simeon

Booker was down here to when the word

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broke out about Emmett Till's body being

found and everything shifted to that.

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So that's the kinda environment.

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That I grew up in, came out of,

and my foundation because, you

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know, you always had a sense of

responsibility to this, this place.

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It was the harshest place on the

face of the earth, but you still

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had a responsibility to it and you

couldn't quite disconnect from it.

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So that's, that's the starting point.

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Then I came, I had siblings.

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I, it is eight of us.

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Mm.

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And, um, my older sister just

passed and we just had her funeral.

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Mm.

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Uh, and the conversations about her, my,

I was five years old when she went to

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college, so I just had a sense of awe

about her, about, you know, the person who

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comes into our lives, and she's beautiful

and all this, but my older sisters

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and brother said she was their mother.

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They said, our mother, the school

teacher, she continued to work.

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She had children and her first

daughter, Odessa raised us.

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She said, my mother.

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But have us, and Odessa would raise us.

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So she was raising babies

when she was nine years old.

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She was the mother, you know?

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Mm-hmm.

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And with her, her funeral, just being

fresh and looking at her life, you,

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you realize that there's a serenity.

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Even out of the harshest conditions, a

person can maintain a certain certain

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sense of serenity and even handedness.

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She never came out of

being a, a just person.

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She went into social work as a profession.

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And at her funeral, one of the, uh, foster

children that she, uh, was, uh, assigned

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to as an adult came to the funeral and

she said, Odessa Hawthorne was my agent.

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And when she was emancipated, she went

into foster care at nine years old, and

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she was there until she was emancipated.

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And, and she said.

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When I was emancipated, I was able to

go get my records as a foster child,

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and she could read the entries from, uh,

her, her advocate, who, who was Odessa.

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And she said, I realized that she

was always in my corner as bad

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a child as she could have been.

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She said Odessa was always batting for me.

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And she said, the other thing was you

could read the, the date stamp and the,

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and the time when she was making entries.

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And she said would be in the wee

hours of the night, one o'clock

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in the morning, and Odessa would

be making notes in her records.

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And so we don't quite understand the

impact that we have on people, and we

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may never understand because, uh, I don't

know if she ever told USA that directly

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to herself, but she told it to us at her.

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I say janazah, she was

Christian at her funeral.

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And, um, just, just some tidbits,

you know, random thoughts.

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About growing up in the

family that I came out of.

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Imam Tariq E: Mm.

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You know, the further away that

we get from what we consider to be

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foundational events, particularly as

it relates to the Civil Rights movement

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Ayesha K. Mustafaa:

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mm-hmm.

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Imam Tariq E: The assassination of Medgar

Evers, Mississippi, the assassination,

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um, the, the brutal killing of

Emmett Till, as you just referenced.

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Mm-hmm.

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It becomes, I think, more difficult

for younger generations to

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really grasp what that, that time

looked like and what it meant.

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And you said something that has, uh,

resonates with me, said this, this feeling

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of being accountable and responsible

for a place that there's a lot of

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pain that's also associated with it.

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Ayesha K. Mustafaa:

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Right, right, right.

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Imam Tariq E: And we

don't necessarily have.

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Those same types of markers today,

how important has that been for you in

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terms of the, uh, the work that you've

done as the editor of the journal, as a

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professor and just , as an intellectual?

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Uh,

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Ayesha K. Mustafaa:

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well, bringing in the, the work of the

Muslim Journal, a newspaper, um, uh, I

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think about obligation to record history,

you know, like the Jet Magazine recorded

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the, the murder of Emmett Till and put

Emmett Till's photo, his abused mutilated

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body on the cover of that Jet magazine.

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And that was called a turning

point of the Civil Rights Movement.

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Once people saw that visual

picture, uh, nobody was the same.

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Uh, the, the funeral was held at

a funeral home in back in Chicago.

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His mother ma till brought

him back to Chicago for burial

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and they had threatened her.

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Don't open that casket.

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And she opened the casket and

the people came and they were

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lined up around the street.

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You know, there were lines and

lines of people around the funeral

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home who came through there to see

and witness Emmett Till's murder.

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So, um, those are markers.

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In terms of the Muslim John, we are

always conscious of, this is history.

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We are recording, we live stories,

but next year it'll be history.

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We are recording live stories.

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Two years from now it'll be history.

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And newspapers actually have a phrase that

newspapers are the rough draft of history.

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Mm.

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If you go back and look at a lot of

movies that have cropped up, they

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went back and researched newspapers.

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Even the movie Glory.

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Yeah.

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Uh, the, the 50 54th Massachusetts, I

might say the name wrong, but it was

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the African American Free Slaves in

Infantry in the Civil War, and I found

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out they want the first Black Infantry.

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They were the second.

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But their story, the character in the

movie, Gloria Gloria that was played out

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by Morgan Freeman, he walks up to a war

reporter and tells the reporter, please

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record what you see take place here today.

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Because they didn't expect to survive

that battle, and a lot of them didn't.

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And that war reporter's responsibility

was to, to, uh, report on

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that, that battle and how those

men fought and how they died.

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The war reporter wrote the story,

took it back to his newspaper.

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It was a page one story, but because

of the time that it was in, they

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put it on the obituary page and

people would go back and research.

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There was an in, there is another

scenario here in Mississippi.

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I don't know if you saw the

movie, free State of Jones.

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I did.

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Matthew McConaughey.

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Free State.

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Mm-hmm.

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Yeah.

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Well, the, the character that he

played, new Knight was a real person.

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New Knight was a Caucasian

here in Mississippi.

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Who, uh, farmer who was frustrated

because the Confederate army, uh,

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while they were fighting the union,

but they were taking the resources

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of the poor Mississippi White people.

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They were confiscating products

and, you know, they couldn't grow

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crop, they couldn't grow livestock.

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The Confederate would take it.

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So he got upset because

they couldn't live.

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And so he eventually formed a army

of this enchanted poor white people.

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And he was joined by runaway slaves,

freed slaves from the plantations

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who had had nowhere to go.

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They formed the army and he

literally fought, uh, in, in

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Jones County, Mississippi.

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And when he asked for help from the union,

they told him they couldn't send him in.

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There was none.

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So he said, well, I'm just going to

fight to free the state of Jones.

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So he had a whole war in and of himself

to free one county in Mississippi,

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and it was called Free State of Jones.

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Hmm.

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And he still, uh, people may, you know,

once the movie came out and people did

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more research, he still has a black

family and a white family in that area.

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Jones County, people can, they

still have stories about him, but

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these were things that were recorded

historically most times, captured in,

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in newspaper writing as the number one

reservoir resource for our history.

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So I feel an obligation to

let our newer generations know

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that these are real characters.

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You know, we, we glorified them in

movies, but these were real people who had

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real battles and they had real purpose.

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And we want John to acknowledge that,

not just because it's, uh, uh, has, uh,

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an appeal for the storyline, but for the

fact that somebody had to do these things.

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It, you know, somebody

had to lay the groundwork.

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Everybody laid a, a footprint

that we could walk into.

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Uh, that helped.

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Uh, till the soil, so we didn't

get to where we are by ourselves.

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Uh, there was a lot of endeavor,

a lot of death, a lot of sorrow, a

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lot of rejoicing, a lot of recovery.

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But, um, that's what

kept moving us forward.

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All of those forces kept pushing

us forward and, and we should,

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we should appreciate that.

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Mm.

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And once we lose that, then

we stop moving forward.

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Mm.

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Yeah.

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And one of the ways that we show our

appreciation is by continuing the

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work that has been done or we, we

see ourselves as a part of that work.

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A few names come to mind.

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Well, one in particular the Ida B.

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Wells and how instrumental she

was in spreading awareness about

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the horrors of lynching and for

what she was able to document.

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We're talking over, was

it over 4,000 lynchings?

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I believe that she was able to document,

and we can only imagine how many more

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went undocumented, but she was able to

bring this into the public consciousness.

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And, and she's a Mississippi girl.

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Oh, really?

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You know?

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Ida be she, she's, she's

revered in Chicago, you know.

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Yes.

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They have monuments in Chicago for Ida B.

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Wells.

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Mm-hmm.

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And then we have to explain

how she got to Chicago.

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Yes.

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Uh, but she was born in

Holly Spring, Mississippi.

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Mm-hmm.

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Ida b well was born in slavery.

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She was freed at nine months old.

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Mm.

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And nine months being the year that they

signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

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That's what freed her.

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Now she comes out of those circumstances

and she becomes a young lady.

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Her, her parents are poor,

her siblings are, are feeble.

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They're kind of like on the sickly side,

and she ends up being the mother to them.

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Mm-hmm.

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She

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reminds me of my sister.

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She, her mother had 'em,

and she raised them.

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Ia, be well raised them.

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But I, I still haven't tried, tried

to figure out, someone tried to

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tell me her, her family tenacity.

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How did she become so strong

out of those conditions?

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I mean, you freed, you, you were born a

slave and you, and you rose for freedom.

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You were born in a family of

illness and you were able to

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take care of other people.

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Then she rose the first African American,

HBCU, uh, established in Mississippi.

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She helped form Rust University.

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We called it Russell University.

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Now, she had formed that, but she

was such a, a figure to deal with

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until the, the president of Russ

wanted her to go somewhere else.

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It was good to go with, you know, she

always was a throwing on people side.

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Yeah.

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So

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she ended up going to FI in Tennessee.

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Mm-hmm.

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So she's in Tennessee and she,

uh, is on the train going back

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and forth and just like, um, the

Montgomery bus, uh, situation mm-hmm.

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Where you had to give up your seat for

any white, anyone that white came on it.

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Right.

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Um, she was told to give up her seat

for a white passenger, and she refused.

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And so they put her off

the pla off the train.

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Ida be well, goes back and

sues the, the, the railroad and

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she actually wins the lawsuit.

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But you know, Jim Crow being, what it

was, they couldn't let a, a black woman

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stand that's gonna sue a major company.

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So they, uh, it was

reversed in a, in a repeal.

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Her, her lawsuit was reversed.

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Yeah.

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But then she opened a

newspaper in Memphis.

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Mm-hmm.

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And those lynchings that she was,

uh, started to, uh, investigate, she

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started investigating them in Memphis.

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And she said, what, what good

is freedom if we can't bring the

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justice these, these murders?

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And at the beginning she had

three specific names, like people

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she knew that had been lynched.

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Yeah.

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And she wanted to know

what happened to them.

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And she wanted those people

to be brought to justice.

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Who murdered those men?

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Her newspaper was fire bomb.

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And we say she literally escaped to

Chicago because they intended to kill her.

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And she began to write for

the Chicago defender, and she

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ContEd continued her crusade.

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And these years later, you know,

uh, the Bobby do industry, they

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actually have a memorial do for Ida B.

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Wells.

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Really?

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It's made, it's made like a reporter.

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She's, you know, she's dressed in, in

long dress and stuff in that, that era.

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But she, she's, uh, she has a pad and pen.

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It is made like a report.

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It is a, a keepsake, it's like a, a,

you know, a, a, a special, uh, segment

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because at the time they did that, the

Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Ida B.

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Wills 80 years after she had passed.

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And the, and for those who don't know,

the Pulitzer Prize is the highest awards

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you can get in journalism, you know?

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Mm-hmm.

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Be, uh, bestowed on someone.

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So she was awarded the Pulitzer

Prize, and behind that, the Bobby

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do, uh, industry, what is it, Mattel?

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You can find it online.

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You can, uh, hopefully

you can still order them.

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Uh, yeah.

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They, uh, but that's, that's

another Mississippi girl, you know,

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this, this was fertile ground.

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Yeah.

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And

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the circumstances made

it even more fertile.

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And, uh, we can just go on and on about

the kind of people that came outta here.

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You know, another time we'll

talk about people like BB King.

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That's right.

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We talk

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about, we talk about how

Wolf, you know, we, we,

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yeah.

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And, and then we'll talk about, uh, um,

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is Muddy Waters from, uh, Mississippi?

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I, I think Mud Waters is.

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I think so.

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I think so.

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I have to look it up.

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I think he, he, he is, he was in

that, uh, movie Cadillac Records.

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Mud Waters.

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Yeah.

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Him, howling Wolf is in there.

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Um, yeah, they

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Mississippi.

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Yeah, he's, he's Mississippi.

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But, but everybody needs

to, um, Nina Simone.

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All people who are, who are of age.

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This is only if you are mature enough,

you go pull up about Mississippi.

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Yeah.

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And um, I actually have a college

class on rewrite Mississippi.

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Mm-hmm.

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And I, I asked, is everybody

here age 18 and over older Then

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have to play Nina Simone's,

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Mississippi.

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Got

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miss.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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You know, her calling us out.

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Yeah.

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She said, we just going too slow.

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Too slow.

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Yeah.

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Uh, so you got your master's degree

from Columbia in journalism, um,

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in Chicago.

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Yeah.

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What was it that drew

you towards journalism?

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You mentioned earlier on seeing Emmett

Till's face on that Jet magazine.

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Mm-hmm.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Was that, uh, an impactful moment for

you in terms of maybe putting a seed in

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your, your mind with regards to journalism

or was there, was there other things?

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Well, there, there were, uh, a mixture

of things, you know, in the middle of

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all of that coming out of Mississippi.

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Uh, I first went to the school

at, at Bucknell University

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in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

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That was my first experience

outside of Mississippi.

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Mm-hmm.

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And, uh, in that process of, of

going to Bucknell and graduating,

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and then I went to Atlanta, I

actually converted to Alice Islam.

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So this is 74, 75.

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Mm-hmm.

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And so that's the, the, the, the second

demarcation line in my life, next to

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birth was I'm going to be a Muslim.

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And remember, I come out

of family of Christians.

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Mm-hmm.

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I'm one of the younger kids, you know,

uh, southern families have a hierarchy.

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You don't break rank.

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Yeah.

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You know, everybody, everybody

older than you tell you what to do.

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You know, my older sister had

rank and then, but everybody

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else above me had rank too.

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So I go away to school.

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And I come back and I tell

everybody I'm gonna be a Muslim.

373

:

And they look at me like, who told

you you could change your religion?

374

:

You know, who told you

to change your religion?

375

:

So we, um, we go through that phase.

376

:

I'm so adamant and embracing

the faith that I wanna surround

377

:

myself with other Muslims.

378

:

So I, I actually moved out of Atlanta

and I had an opportunity to go to

379

:

Chicago to work with the community.

380

:

We then, IMWD Muhammad was in office.

381

:

He had just, that was 75.

382

:

Iman Muhammad was taken

office in February.

383

:

I got into Chicago around June, July.

384

:

Mm-hmm.

385

:

Seven, five.

386

:

So I'm, I'm working, I go to work for

the community and there are many things,

387

:

uh, you know, uh, tasks that we have.

388

:

My first task was to record, was to

transcribe the, uh, lectures of Al

389

:

Muhammad to develop the MAMs kit.

390

:

He was training the ministers to

transition into studying as imams.

391

:

Mm-hmm.

392

:

So that was my first job.

393

:

And I think it was one of the most pivotal

puns for me, because I got a chance

394

:

to be paid to listen to his lectures.

395

:

Mm.

396

:

And they

397

:

were reports.

398

:

I said, okay.

399

:

And, and during that early transition

of the Nation of Islam and into the

400

:

community under Imal Muhammad, we

had responsibilities and you had

401

:

what we would call in the committees.

402

:

And committees were set up the, to address

d different facets of community life.

403

:

And I was on the public information

committee and in that, uh,

404

:

public information committee,

we started with a newsletter.

405

:

And I was responsibility to, we

did, uh, interviews and articles

406

:

and get disseminate information.

407

:

So from that, it really had me focus on.

408

:

On media and journalism and

basically getting the word out, just

409

:

recording information, getting the

word out, passing information on.

410

:

Um, my original degree was in

psychology and political science.

411

:

My intent was to go into, I, I

guess we would've been calling

412

:

it at that time, criminology.

413

:

Hmm.

414

:

Um, when, as years passed in the

newspaper, the editor became ill and

415

:

there was a time where, uh, things

basically were run out of the temple

416

:

on, on Stony Island, and they were

saying, what, what do we have to do

417

:

now to, to fill that void that they

see coming in with the editor passing?

418

:

Um, and.

419

:

It, it is kind of funny.

420

:

Everybody look around and say, get Aisha.

421

:

It's like, it's, it's kinda like, get

Micah, he take, he didn't do anything.

422

:

Get Micah, send him over.

423

:

So you

424

:

got drafted.

425

:

He take on enter tag, you know, whatever

you throw out him, they take it off.

426

:

Yeah.

427

:

So I, uh, they actually asked me out

of the, out of the Mosco and Stone

428

:

Island to go to the newspaper and

take care of things and they really

429

:

hadn't decided what they were gonna do

in terms of leadership at the paper.

430

:

And I was there about six months to a

year where Mayor Muhammad may have talk

431

:

down in Atlanta and said, looks, looks

like she's doing a pretty good job.

432

:

I don't see why they don't just leave her

there talking about me in the position.

433

:

Mm.

434

:

And of course, after that, thumbs up,

nobody could get me out the chair.

435

:

Right.

436

:

There was nobody in the chair.

437

:

And, um, these many years later.

438

:

But being in journalism, you, you always

wanna be at the top of your field.

439

:

So I went back into graduate school for

journalism at, in Chicago, uh, Columbia.

440

:

And I, I got my master's in journalism at

Columbia, uh, because I wanted to really

441

:

know how to push this profession forward.

442

:

Hmm.

443

:

You know, here I am now, and now

I'm teaching journalism at Tougaloo

444

:

College back in Mississippi.

445

:

Mm.

446

:

Full circle.

447

:

Yeah.

448

:

Yeah.

449

:

Like I said, back when you started.

450

:

Yeah.

451

:

What are some of the changes that you

have noticed within journalism from the

452

:

time you started to the present day?

453

:

Oh, I, I, I think the, um, credibility

of journalism is at stake, at risk.

454

:

I think the credibility of the,

the old time journalists, uh, you

455

:

don't see those figures anymore.

456

:

Like Walter Cronkite, you

know, Walter is credited with

457

:

bringing the, the Vietnam War in.

458

:

Hmm.

459

:

Because he was reporting on, uh,

uh, scrapes and, uh, wartime things,

460

:

soldiers coming back home and he

didn't like what he was hearing.

461

:

He didn't like what he was seeing.

462

:

I said, I, I pictured in my own

mind, Walter Re is not satisfied with

463

:

what he's was being reported to him.

464

:

So he gets up from his desk, he

goes out to the airport, gets on a

465

:

plane and flies himself to Vietnam.

466

:

He looks around, he

said, this ain't working.

467

:

He comes back home, sits back at

his desk in front of a mic, and

468

:

he says, we can't win this war.

469

:

Mm-hmm.

470

:

And when he said that publicly, um,

I think it was Johnson that said,

471

:

uh, we can fight the vie Vietnam,

but we can't fight Walter Ra.

472

:

Hmm.

473

:

And they brought the Vietnam War

in, in essence, in a, in a state

474

:

that the, the US didn't win.

475

:

You know, we couldn't win that war.

476

:

We were losing soldiers, everything

they threw at it and threw at us in

477

:

the meantime because, you know, our

soldiers were subject to Agent Orange.

478

:

They were trying to be foliage

to the forest and, and make

479

:

things where they could fight.

480

:

But they, they were killing us too,

killing us in that they were our men.

481

:

Lot of African Americans fought in

Vietnam, you know, and they were

482

:

coming back with illnesses from age

in orange and, uh, drug problems.

483

:

And the sad part about it is our

country didn't even give them a parade.

484

:

They didn't come home, even acknowledge

the sacrifices that they made.

485

:

And you come across veterans to

this day, still trying to get their

486

:

benefits, uh, still trying to get their

home loans that they were promised

487

:

that they could get as a veteran.

488

:

So it, you know, it, the tentacles

just spread out of things.

489

:

All these things that we need to

address that, that weren't resolved.

490

:

Uh.

491

:

And you just make notes.

492

:

You got notepads and notepads.

493

:

I gotta get back to this.

494

:

We need to talk about this.

495

:

It it, it may not be addressed

today, but it, it is, it's on the

496

:

back burner, but it still exists.

497

:

These are issues that

need to, uh, be addressed.

498

:

And so I have notebooks of things

that I know I won't, I won't

499

:

get through in my lifetime.

500

:

I have to acknowledge that now.

501

:

Um, God willing, we have some, someone

we can pass those notes on to that

502

:

can continue to continue the effort

because the struggle hasn't stopped.

503

:

You know, it takes new forms and

new shapes, but we, one thing we

504

:

realize is, uh, it's not a right.

505

:

It, it's not time.

506

:

It's no time to rest.

507

:

Now,

508

:

you know, the media, black media,

uh, in, in particular historically,

509

:

um, it has played a tremendous part

in being able to create a collective

510

:

sense of consciousness and awareness.

511

:

Um, I was just watching a document.

512

:

About how the, um, the brotherhood

of sleeping car, porters, how

513

:

they would take, um, the defender,

514

:

Chicago defender was theirs.

515

:

Yeah.

516

:

Yeah.

517

:

And they would take them into

the south places like Mississippi

518

:

Yeah.

519

:

And share, you know, information.

520

:

So people, they had a sense

of, of, of, of connection.

521

:

Now we are in a time, as you said,

the credibility of journalism.

522

:

And I would go a step further and say

the credibility or the veracity of, of

523

:

truth itself is under, is under attack.

524

:

And I can only imagine what it, what

it might have looked like if the same

525

:

type of scheme were being deployed.

526

:

Like what they could have done

in terms of destabilizing folks.

527

:

How does black media, Muslim media,

black Muslim media, what is the

528

:

proper response to pushback against

what we're seeing right now?

529

:

Let, let me give a little bit

more historical background

530

:

on what, how we got started.

531

:

Sure.

532

:

African Americans in the news.

533

:

Mm-hmm.

534

:

Uh, 'cause you mentioned

the Chicago Defender.

535

:

There was no small feat.

536

:

No.

537

:

Uh, but before the Chicago Defender,

the first African American newspaper

538

:

was called Freedoms Journal.

539

:

Mm-hmm.

540

:

And it was started by two freed slaves

who, who mass head read for too long.

541

:

Someone else has been speaking for us.

542

:

Now it's time for us

to speak for ourselves.

543

:

And remember this is a people who,

it was illegal to teach them how to

544

:

read, to teach the slave how to read,

could get a white person in trouble.

545

:

You know, it was, it was an illegal act.

546

:

So these men come out of a sense

of slavery and write a newspaper,

547

:

the word, putting a word on paper

that appeals their own case.

548

:

And they call it freedoms journal.

549

:

After that, there are a few

newspapers in between, but

550

:

then called Frederick Douglass.

551

:

Frederick Douglas starts a

newspaper called The North Star.

552

:

Mm-hmm.

553

:

And it's the abolitionist movement,

uh, and it's time for people, the

554

:

free slaves to start moving out of

areas that they've been enslaved in.

555

:

So he calls it the North Star, the

North Star being the one point in the

556

:

sky that would give you direction.

557

:

And along with, uh, Harriet Tubman,

that North Star was your direction

558

:

north to be freed from slavery.

559

:

And, and it has trickled down throughout

the causes of having newspapers.

560

:

John Abbott started the Chicago Defender.

561

:

He came up out of Georgia into

Chicago with his mother and started

562

:

a newspaper on his mother's kitchen

table, the Chicago Defender.

563

:

He started on his mother's kitchen table.

564

:

He would put the paper together,

get it printed, and take it over

565

:

to those, um, trains mm-hmm.

566

:

And the porters, and give

them bundles of papers.

567

:

And they would take those papers on

the train south with them and drop them

568

:

off at different locations going south.

569

:

The people would pick them up

and they were reading them.

570

:

And this actually con, uh,

accredited will the great migration

571

:

of African Americans movement.

572

:

Mm-hmm.

573

:

The greatest movement of

people within this country.

574

:

And one particular era was the

great migration from the south

575

:

to the north of freed African

Americans coming outta Jim Crow.

576

:

Abbott was telling them,

you're still being lynched.

577

:

Um, sharecropping is not working.

578

:

You still not free.

579

:

You can work all year long.

580

:

You still don't have a dollar to your

name from the sharecropping system.

581

:

So he was talking to those sharecroppers

just, just start moving north and the

582

:

people literally started moving north from

John Abbott's appeal in his newspaper.

583

:

And there in Chicago over

there like 22nd and King, right

584

:

before you get to McCormick.

585

:

Mm-hmm.

586

:

There's a tall statue of a black man.

587

:

And when you get up on it, you see that

the, the, it is, it is a bronze statue,

588

:

but it is, it is made up like, uh, uh,

he's in a suit, suit, jacket, suit, pants.

589

:

But when you get up,

it's made like Shoe sos.

590

:

The fabric is, is is designed like

Shoe sos the bottom of your shoe

591

:

sos He has a small short grm hat on.

592

:

And I've seen my father

wear those kind of hats.

593

:

And I, you could actually see the sweat,

you know, the hat has a sweatband.

594

:

You can literally see the sweat

in the sweatband in that stature.

595

:

And he's holding a suitcase

and the suitcase is halfway

596

:

open in his, tied with a rope.

597

:

And it is a, it is, it is a, it is a,

maybe a harsh monument, but it was a

598

:

monument to the African Americans who

were coming into Chicago from the South

599

:

with whatever little meese they had.

600

:

And again, that was,

that was the movement.

601

:

Uh, John Abbott.

602

:

Started

603

:

with the

604

:

Chicago Defend newspaper.

605

:

Uh, I forgot what your other question was.

606

:

Well, no, thank you so much

for that, that history.

607

:

No, I was saying, in your estimation,

how should media, uh, and I'm situating

608

:

this, uh, particularly with black Muslim

media, Muslim media, uh, black media,

609

:

how does it respond to the attack on

just the foundational element of truth?

610

:

You, you, you know, we got this

new phrase now that I didn't

611

:

have when I was growing up.

612

:

I, I'd never heard it before.

613

:

They call it fake news.

614

:

Yeah, yeah.

615

:

All of a sudden, all of a sudden

we are in an era where there's

616

:

a thing called fake news.

617

:

And the funny thing about the term

fake news, if somebody doesn't like

618

:

what you are saying, uh, they can't

deal with what you are saying.

619

:

The, their defense is, that's fake news.

620

:

Yeah.

621

:

It, it could be true or not,

but that's, that's the scenario

622

:

now that we have to deal with.

623

:

That's the, that's the pool

that we have to swim in.

624

:

We have to swim in a

pool where we have to.

625

:

Definitively define what

is truth and what is fake.

626

:

And for the Muslim, I, the truth

just, just sticks in our car because,

627

:

you know, we have the term El hot

and we have the Quran that's el hot.

628

:

And, and we supposed to have a, a

dedication, uh, commitment to, and

629

:

so in media, if you are a Muslim in

media, you have to pursue the truth.

630

:

And the court says whether it

is for you are against you.

631

:

That's right.

632

:

You

633

:

know, you have to pursue the truth.

634

:

So we have to hold on to that concept

of a hop and this pool that we are

635

:

swimming in now called fake news.

636

:

And I, I say it is critical times

because all of it may not be

637

:

fake news, but it's distorted.

638

:

It's, we, we, we've lost a, a

term that media used to glorify

639

:

itself with call objectivity.

640

:

Right?

641

:

Now it is ownership who owns this.

642

:

Therefore, I will report

according to my owner's desires.

643

:

I may not tell you a lie, but I

just won't tell you the truth.

644

:

I won't give you the whole story because

I have a owner in the other room who

645

:

says, I can't report that, and I'm not

going to get into it in any detail.

646

:

But anybody who's interested just go

back and, uh, chronicle the coverage of

647

:

Palestine and Israel and, and, and the

things that are happening and understand

648

:

what, what media's recovered is reported.

649

:

What, just go back and look

at a few media stories.

650

:

You, you can see people literally

dying and they will say, yeah, but

651

:

Right

652

:

it to what about Im, you

know, well, what about ism?

653

:

Mm-hmm.

654

:

Because, you know, I see a baby starving.

655

:

Are you sure?

656

:

Starving?

657

:

Yeah.

658

:

No.

659

:

Yeah.

660

:

You want me to convince you

that the baby's starving?

661

:

They say that's doctored.

662

:

So that photo's doctored or

that video, that's not real.

663

:

Yeah,

664

:

it's not real.

665

:

So that, that's the point.

666

:

We are right now, the media and it

is so prevalent and like everybody

667

:

has access to getting a word out.

668

:

So you really have to be careful.

669

:

And now that we are entering into

the arrow of ai, you have to learn

670

:

how to even look at videos to tell

whether they've been fabricated.

671

:

Um, man manipulated, uh, there

are too many people in that crowd

672

:

for actually to be on that one.

673

:

You know, you got a thousand

people standing on a needle pen.

674

:

It's, it is something wrong

with this picture, you know?

675

:

Right.

676

:

Uh,

677

:

so you have to, you have to train

your own eye to catch, uh, and

678

:

some people say, well, does the

hand go with the facial or color?

679

:

You know, so you have

to do all these things.

680

:

Now, the research to try to decipher fake

news from real news and all the tools

681

:

are given to everybody to use at will.

682

:

So it, it is, it is a trying time.

683

:

Uh, but I, you, you know,

you have to say a prayer.

684

:

Sometimes it has to be a, it, the

heart, a prayer or, or a, I just, yeah.

685

:

Gimme what I need.

686

:

And if I'm asking for

too, too much, forgive me.

687

:

Just show me.

688

:

Mm-hmm.

689

:

You know?

690

:

So we have to dedicate ourselves in

our professions and in our religion,

691

:

and un understand why it's important.

692

:

Uh, because now we see that if we

don't keep pushing forward, somebody

693

:

would turn back the hands of time.

694

:

I actually heard a person the other

day say, you were born a criminal.

695

:

I heard that same person.

696

:

You can't do anything with them.

697

:

They were born criminal.

698

:

Yeah.

699

:

And then after that they, uh, there

was an incident with a young, uh,

700

:

Ukraine lady was murdered on the train.

701

:

Yeah.

702

:

By a person of color

703

:

with mental illness, a

history of mental illness.

704

:

Yeah.

705

:

And then that, that's used as evidence.

706

:

They born criminals.

707

:

Mm-hmm.

708

:

But

709

:

three months ago, nobody said that

Caucasian was born criminal, who killed

710

:

four young white people in their dorms.

711

:

Right.

712

:

Stabbed them to death.

713

:

Four, three beautiful girls

and a young man, but nobody was

714

:

walking around saying he was born.

715

:

He was obviously insane too.

716

:

You had to be insane to murder like that.

717

:

Right.

718

:

But nobody pulled it.

719

:

Got this picture up and, and

referred to it as you come from

720

:

people who are born criminals.

721

:

And so that, that's where we are now.

722

:

Yeah.

723

:

So no one can, we haven't arrived.

724

:

The battle is there, you know, as the

Quran tells us, they will come at you

725

:

from your for forefront and from your

back, from your left and your right.

726

:

You know, all of those things

represent different influences.

727

:

You know, your left and your right, how

they would, uh, seek into your, choose

728

:

certain things, certain influences.

729

:

Yeah.

730

:

So we had to be on guard for all of those.

731

:

But at the same time,

we have to constantly be

732

:

preparing someone to step up.

733

:

No one person can do this alone.

734

:

Mm-hmm.

735

:

You know, this is not a, this

is not a one person's race.

736

:

You gotta be ready to, to hand off

to somebody because you, you might

737

:

get tired, you might get sick, you

might get targeted, but you don't

738

:

end the, you don't end the race.

739

:

You just hand it off to whoever is ready.

740

:

And that's where we are now.

741

:

We are actually looking around and say

who's ready that we can hand this off to.

742

:

In my generation, that's,

that's where we are.

743

:

Anybody with some sense in my

generation, you looking to hand off.

744

:

Yeah.

745

:

And whatever we can do to support,

uh, uh, give them the background that

746

:

they need or, you know, whatever,

you know, I'll babysit for you.

747

:

You know, I, I'll be the grandma.

748

:

Do what you gotta do.

749

:

I, I'll take care of the kids.

750

:

Right.

751

:

Gotta be ready to hand off.

752

:

I like, just like I iby wills, you know.

753

:

Uh, she just warms my heart because

again, she's a Mississippi girl, you know?

754

:

Yeah.

755

:

And I would say to that point, if we

have learned anything, uh, African

756

:

American, black folks in, in particular,

it's been that often our movements

757

:

that have been headed by, uh, singular

figures, they have not had the

758

:

opportunity to develop a succession

plan because they were assassinated.

759

:

You think about, uh, Malcolm, you

think about Fred, uh, Hampton,

760

:

Dr.

761

:

King was 39 years old,

762

:

Dr.

763

:

King.

764

:

I think there's a lesson in that

fuzz, not just individually,

765

:

but also institutionally, if.

766

:

We don't make sure that there's a

succession plan in place, then the

767

:

institution dies with one or two people.

768

:

Well, let me make this, uh, for the

benefit of our non-A speaking listeners,

769

:

so Aha, that's the truth, or the Sure

reality as we refer to, uh, also one

770

:

of the names that we refer to, uh,

the attributes of, uh, of, of God.

771

:

Another thing was the fairness doctrine.

772

:

If you're not aware of the fairness

doctrine, its removal was pivotal

773

:

and ushering in these polarized quote

unquote news outlets, the bright barks

774

:

and the, the foxes and all of them.

775

:

So yeah, acquaint yourself with that.

776

:

Do you own research?

777

:

You think about how important it

is, name recognition, and the trust

778

:

that has been built up over time for

people in a time where so much is

779

:

questioned and people will get exhausted

trying to figure out, you know, is

780

:

this ai, is this, is this a lie?

781

:

So, so institutions like

the Muslim Journal Theater.

782

:

Built up credibility, decade after decade,

become that much more, uh, important.

783

:

Can you, uh, yeah.

784

:

Just kind of speak to, you

know, what does that mean?

785

:

How important is that to continue?

786

:

Well, it is, it is important on a

lot of levels, you know, not just

787

:

the job that it performs of the, of

the, the, uh, service that it gives.

788

:

But again, what has been put into

it to make it successful, uh, you

789

:

know, the Muslim Journal is the

success of the Muhammad Speaks.

790

:

That's right.

791

:

And Muhammad Speaks was, uh,

initiated, started by Malcolm, and

792

:

before Malcolm started the Muhammad

speech, Malcolm was a newspaper man.

793

:

He was a media man.

794

:

Malcolm in the fifties gave speeches about

support black media, and he actually gave,

795

:

uh, uh, he, uh, wrote a article that was

put in the other black newspapers where he

796

:

called the media the big Guns, you know.

797

:

Uh, and this was around an incident

in New York where the Muslims

798

:

were maligned and the mainstream

media went against the Muslim.

799

:

And so Malcolm was telling the

black newspapers, y'all have to,

800

:

y'all have to be our support.

801

:

Y'all have to represent us.

802

:

And he was telling the people, and

y'all have to represent the newspapers,

803

:

y'all have to buy black newspapers.

804

:

He said, I don't care which one you buy,

just buy a black newspaper every week.

805

:

And he said, because when the

big guns downtown, talking about

806

:

the mainstream media turn against

you, who's going to defend you?

807

:

And he put into those black newspapers

as their sense of their defense.

808

:

And so he, he initiated that

concern that we have a media

809

:

responsibility as well as during Dr.

810

:

King's era in the civil rights movement.

811

:

The civil rights movement really

didn't take off and get traction.

812

:

One was Emmett Till, but the other

one was when the media showed up.

813

:

Mm-hmm.

814

:

Like, uh, the Edmund Pettus Bridge and

that, that stampede against the marches.

815

:

The media were the ones that

broadcast nationwide, worldwide.

816

:

The Kennedys were in office, but

the Kennedys had not done anything.

817

:

They knew how brutal

and harsh the South was.

818

:

They hadn't done anything to change the

conditions until the images of that brutal

819

:

attack on those marches hit world news

and was actually broadcast worldwide.

820

:

And then they said, oh, they making

us look like fools over here.

821

:

They really making us look

like a horrible people.

822

:

And so then the Kennedys got

involved and started moving that

823

:

they do things different in South.

824

:

Actually, there's a report

that the Kennedys called, uh.

825

:

Uh, the, the governor in Mississippi

told him, told him, can't y'all

826

:

just keep things quiet down there?

827

:

Mm-hmm.

828

:

And the governor told him, well, you

know what I'm dealing with, you know,

829

:

so it was the, the, the, the lens this,

the, the light, the bright light of the

830

:

media shining on those atrocities and

showing margins being, uh, hosed down

831

:

with powerful water hoses and, and,

and, and do being unleashed on them.

832

:

When those images began to break,

it's when, uh, uh, the tide began

833

:

to change against what was happening

to African Americans in the South.

834

:

And, um, that glaring eye of

the media can be the difference.

835

:

And when you have media blackouts, you

really begin to worry about what is being

836

:

done in the place of a media blackout

when they start blacking out things, then.

837

:

You don't know what's happening and

what you will wake up to tomorrow.

838

:

So the, the good thing about the

technology that we have now, it is

839

:

practically in everybody's hands.

840

:

It makes it a little bit more dangerous

for everybody if you really, uh,

841

:

reporting on some serious things.

842

:

Uh, but you may not have been

professionally, uh, trained for the

843

:

media, but you might have a professional,

uh, a personal responsibility to

844

:

record history as you see it unfolding

so that it can be, uh, preserved.

845

:

Another interesting, uh, report, um,

in Chicago, the young African American

846

:

brother who, what was his name?

847

:

He was walking down the street with

a knife and all these police Oh,

848

:

yeah.

849

:

Rolled

850

:

up on him.

851

:

Shout him.

852

:

Laquan McDonald.

853

:

Laquan.

854

:

Yeah.

855

:

Laquan was walking down the street.

856

:

He was mentally disturbed.

857

:

You, you could tell he

had a mental problem.

858

:

Yeah.

859

:

All the cops are following him just to

see, make sure he doesn't do anything.

860

:

He has a knife in his hand.

861

:

Then you have one officer that

drives up around all those

862

:

police officers that are behind.

863

:

This young man pulls

out his gun and emps it.

864

:

16 shots.

865

:

Yeah.

866

:

And you know, that's what they

call the, the, the video about it.

867

:

16 shots into Laquan.

868

:

Mm-hmm.

869

:

And he lays down on the street.

870

:

Your mayor at the time, your police off,

uh uh, at the time, covered that up.

871

:

Yeah.

872

:

They literally didn't report

what happened to that young man.

873

:

They also knew it was a wrong for death.

874

:

They literally paid off the family.

875

:

His family, they gave them a settlement.

876

:

I don't even think they

had filed for a settle.

877

:

They just gave him a settlement because

he had been through foster care.

878

:

He had been in foster care.

879

:

They gave them a settlement and

told them to go on their way.

880

:

They didn't even know

how he had been killed.

881

:

You had one freelance reporter, a

freelance reporter in Chicago, was given

882

:

a tip about how that murder, and it

was murder, how that murder went down.

883

:

He went to get the police reports and

they wouldn't give it to him, which

884

:

supposed to be public information, you

know, police reports you can file for

885

:

public information, and that's a tool

that really, uh, broke the ice for us.

886

:

The public information?

887

:

Yeah.

888

:

For you?

889

:

Mm-hmm.

890

:

Yes.

891

:

He went to get the report.

892

:

They wouldn't give it to him.

893

:

He went to get the reports

and they were empty.

894

:

They had confiscated, the police

officer had confiscated all

895

:

the videos along that street.

896

:

They had pulled up all the videos

from Line the street, so it wasn't

897

:

no videos that they could get.

898

:

He went to court.

899

:

This was a freelance writer went to court.

900

:

He didn't have no institution behind him.

901

:

We didn't have the big papers behind him.

902

:

And, and one, the appeal that made the

police department hand over those records.

903

:

And that's when it came out how that

officer had pulled up behind him.

904

:

And then it was after then that they

filed murder charges against that officer.

905

:

And I heard that he only did so many years

and he's up for seven years, I think.

906

:

Something like that.

907

:

Yeah.

908

:

He's up for parole and he's gonna be on

the streets with somebody else's kid.

909

:

Mm-hmm.

910

:

So it just again, shows the, the, the

responsibility and the weight to, to,

911

:

to be a witness as, as a reporter,

you're basically being a witness, fight

912

:

yourself out against yourself, being a

witness and, and, and speaking the truth.

913

:

Yeah.

914

:

You know, division has always

been a part of, uh, control.

915

:

Uh, but mm-hmm we find ourselves now

in a hyper polarized environment.

916

:

And a lot of that at its root, it is

how the media has been manipulated, how

917

:

cultural expression has been manipulated.

918

:

And we have something, of

course, you know, familiar

919

:

with, uh, confirmation bias.

920

:

You know, people are looking

for things that confirm what

921

:

they, what they thought, right.

922

:

What they've been programmed to think.

923

:

Uh, some of our listeners may be

aware of this and some may not.

924

:

We are reflecting on 50 years of Imam

Martin Muhammad's leadership, and one of

925

:

the things that I look at as a tremendous

achievement was his ability to reconcile

926

:

nationality, ethnicity, and faith.

927

:

It's an opportunity for America to

be able to overcome some of these

928

:

divisions, all of that to say what do

you see as a potential opportunity,

929

:

opportunity within Muslim media to.

930

:

Help to develop or promote a

collective consciousness, you know,

931

:

which I kind of referred to earlier

on, in, with, with black media.

932

:

Is there an opportunity to do that?

933

:

Yes.

934

:

And, and tying into our, our lady, maam,

WD Muhammad, I, um, one of the greatest

935

:

things that he did for us was, showed

us a way to live in this country that

936

:

we've talked about all these terrible

things that have happened to us, but

937

:

he showed us a way to navigate this

landscape and still move forward.

938

:

And I used to say, uh, when he came

in the office and you listen to other

939

:

speakers, we had, we had all these

issues and these concerns, but the

940

:

ma never, uh, rub salt in our wounds.

941

:

Mm.

942

:

You know, he didn't, he didn't inflame us.

943

:

He didn't, he didn't keep us so, so upset

with the country and with ourselves that

944

:

we couldn't, we got blinded by hate.

945

:

Mm.

946

:

He didn't, he wouldn't let us get blinded.

947

:

A sidetracked by what we really

should have been angry about.

948

:

You know?

949

:

And some people said, well,

that that's a detriment.

950

:

It's not a detriment if you're

trying to advance forward.

951

:

You know?

952

:

And, and like the prophet

told us, do not get angry.

953

:

You know, when the prophet said

it, he just said it just like that.

954

:

Do not get angry because you

can become consumed in anger

955

:

where you, you will not advance.

956

:

And the amount put us on that trajectory

to not let your anger consume you.

957

:

And then the other thing he did was find

a way to, uh, use the word manipulate

958

:

this country where it'll benefit you.

959

:

And the one thing he pointed

to was the constitution.

960

:

You, you, the thing the men

around you may disappoint you.

961

:

The leaders around you

might disappoint you.

962

:

But there's a piece of paper that's been

written that it had to be God's will that

963

:

was directing the hands that wrote it.

964

:

'cause yes, we know the

founding fathers had slaves.

965

:

Mm-hmm.

966

:

But they wrote that all men are born free.

967

:

With a creator.

968

:

Mm-hmm.

969

:

So it was, it was God's will

that they put that the paper and

970

:

that we can still refer to it.

971

:

And I always say now, if they started

changing the Constitution, then we

972

:

gotta go back to the drawing board.

973

:

Yeah.

974

:

So

975

:

when you have that, uh, that, uh, those

first amendments, uh, and they give you

976

:

all these rights and, and the Declaration

of Independence, uh, all these things

977

:

are given to you and it's written in the,

in the way that this constitute, this,

978

:

this, this country is to be constituted.

979

:

That gave us opportunity.

980

:

If we didn't have the freedom

of religion, I wouldn't have

981

:

been able to change my religion.

982

:

If we didn't have a free press, we

couldn't have a independent newspaper.

983

:

And, and if we didn't have the right to,

uh, protest, we couldn't get out on the

984

:

street with our signs and, and protests.

985

:

All the Freedom Rights

movement was protests.

986

:

We wouldn't be able to do those things

and draw attention to the injustice.

987

:

And it was the amount that brought us

back, you know, being quote unquote,

988

:

quote unquote black Muslims who

were originally taught, um, we gonna

989

:

separate, just gimme six states and

we we'll take care of ourselves.

990

:

You know, I'll be like, right,

I'll solve your black problem.

991

:

Just gimme six feral states.

992

:

I'll take all the black people with

me over here in these six states

993

:

and we'll solve our own problem.

994

:

Uh, the amount said is he, he actually

said once he knew his father was

995

:

laughing because he said, remember

the white man killed each other before

996

:

they let this, this country be divided.

997

:

You know, the Civil War, what you had

50,000 white people killed each other

998

:

mm-hmm.

999

:

Uh,

:

00:52:05,289 --> 00:52:08,157

before they would let

this country be divided.

:

00:52:08,515 --> 00:52:11,743

So he say his father knew

that wasn't gonna happen.

:

00:52:11,743 --> 00:52:14,971

That was his, that was

his stance, you know?

:

00:52:14,971 --> 00:52:15,330

Right.

:

00:52:15,330 --> 00:52:18,557

Just gimme some states

and we'll, we'll go away.

:

00:52:18,557 --> 00:52:18,916

Right.

:

00:52:19,275 --> 00:52:24,296

Uh, but the amount showed us how to

keep moving forward with all the hate.

:

00:52:24,296 --> 00:52:28,599

And experiences that we had that

should have, should have shaken us

:

00:52:28,958 --> 00:52:33,979

to our court and, and hold onto the

democracy in its purest form that was,

:

00:52:33,979 --> 00:52:39,000

that was etched on the pages of the

Constitution that they could not have

:

00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:43,304

written without God's hand being on

their hand because everything they did

:

00:52:43,304 --> 00:52:45,814

was contrary to what they were writing.

:

00:52:45,814 --> 00:52:46,173

Yeah.

:

00:52:46,173 --> 00:52:51,552

You wrote this as, as all men are

created equal while you got slaves, it

:

00:52:51,911 --> 00:52:57,291

is God's writing you, you can on it,

you can put all the signatures and the

:

00:52:57,291 --> 00:52:59,801

John Hancocks behind it that you want.

:

00:52:59,801 --> 00:53:04,105

That was God's hand on the hand

of whoever was writing that.

:

00:53:04,105 --> 00:53:04,464

Yeah.

:

00:53:04,464 --> 00:53:09,843

And so it's left a, for us, as the

mouth show to look and identify

:

00:53:09,843 --> 00:53:12,354

what we have and work for that.

:

00:53:12,354 --> 00:53:17,733

And he also know as a world traveler

that there was some benefits here that

:

00:53:18,092 --> 00:53:19,885

we weren't gonna get anywhere else.

:

00:53:19,885 --> 00:53:24,189

There were countries that were

not going to give us our freedoms.

:

00:53:24,189 --> 00:53:26,341

Were not gonna give us access.

:

00:53:26,341 --> 00:53:30,286

And so he felt that our best

opportunity to still advance

:

00:53:30,286 --> 00:53:32,438

was here in the United States.

:

00:53:32,796 --> 00:53:37,817

We are angry with the US now for

a lot of things, but still, I'm

:

00:53:37,817 --> 00:53:39,969

not gonna give up my citizenship.

:

00:53:39,969 --> 00:53:42,480

That might hurt some people's feelings.

:

00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:47,501

I thought you were going to gonna

throw it away and, and, and walk away.

:

00:53:47,501 --> 00:53:49,653

Now I'm gonna fight with it.

:

00:53:49,653 --> 00:53:53,956

You know, this, this gonna be

my, my shield and my defense.

:

00:53:53,956 --> 00:53:54,315

Mm-hmm.

:

00:53:54,674 --> 00:53:54,675

If

:

00:53:54,675 --> 00:53:57,901

they start changing the

Constitution, then we gotta talk.

:

00:53:57,901 --> 00:53:58,619

Right?

:

00:53:58,619 --> 00:54:03,640

I, I, I, I've done my ancestry

test, so I know where I came from.

:

00:54:03,998 --> 00:54:03,999

So

:

00:54:04,357 --> 00:54:06,867

we might have to do a reverse ship.

:

00:54:06,867 --> 00:54:07,226

Right.

:

00:54:07,585 --> 00:54:09,737

It would be time to move out.

:

00:54:09,737 --> 00:54:11,171

They changed the constitution.

:

00:54:11,171 --> 00:54:14,040

You got a whole different story going on.

:

00:54:14,040 --> 00:54:17,627

You know, you hear now,

this is a Christian nation.

:

00:54:17,985 --> 00:54:20,137

It don't say that in the constitution.

:

00:54:20,496 --> 00:54:20,497

No.

:

00:54:20,497 --> 00:54:24,082

You got all these special things,

all these special caveats.

:

00:54:24,082 --> 00:54:26,593

Now, that ain't what the constitution say.

:

00:54:26,593 --> 00:54:29,462

You change the constitution,

you change the country.

:

00:54:29,462 --> 00:54:33,048

But right now, we still

got something to work with.

:

00:54:33,048 --> 00:54:38,428

One of the other things that the

mam urged us to do, he said, work

:

00:54:38,428 --> 00:54:40,580

with like minds, find like minds.

:

00:54:40,580 --> 00:54:45,242

And he said, that is not exclusive

to Muslims or to African Americans.

:

00:54:45,601 --> 00:54:49,905

He said, find like minds people

who have the same ethical, uh, and

:

00:54:49,905 --> 00:54:53,850

moral sensitivity that wanna see

good being done and are considered

:

00:54:53,850 --> 00:54:55,643

about the whole of society.

:

00:54:55,643 --> 00:54:59,947

Can you give me, uh, an idea of

what that means institutionally?

:

00:54:59,947 --> 00:55:02,098

What are your thoughts on that?

:

00:55:02,098 --> 00:55:07,119

Well, the, the first thought that

comes to mind is the Quran says that

:

00:55:07,119 --> 00:55:09,630

the closest to you are the Christians.

:

00:55:09,630 --> 00:55:09,989

Mm-hmm.

:

00:55:09,989 --> 00:55:14,292

And he said, because they

stand up in the middle of the

:

00:55:14,292 --> 00:55:16,444

night and call on their Lord.

:

00:55:16,444 --> 00:55:21,106

And you see tears coming from their

eyes that they mention of God.

:

00:55:21,465 --> 00:55:26,486

So we can say a lot of things

and we, we, us we come from

:

00:55:26,486 --> 00:55:27,921

Christian families, you know.

:

00:55:27,921 --> 00:55:28,638

That's right.

:

00:55:28,638 --> 00:55:29,355

Muslim convers.

:

00:55:29,355 --> 00:55:34,735

But we all came out of, out of a

church experience, you know, so

:

00:55:34,735 --> 00:55:36,169

I understand that sincerity, uh.

:

00:55:36,169 --> 00:55:41,190

And we might think that they are

missing the mark in many ways.

:

00:55:41,190 --> 00:55:46,211

I, you know, the, the, the Jesus factor

of identifying, uh, Trinity and all that.

:

00:55:46,211 --> 00:55:51,591

But we know that going back to the civil

rights movement, some of those diehard

:

00:55:51,591 --> 00:55:55,895

Christians were the staunchest fighters

on, on the battlefield for, for justice.

:

00:55:55,895 --> 00:55:56,253

Mm-hmm.

:

00:55:56,253 --> 00:55:57,329

Case point, Dr.

:

00:55:57,329 --> 00:55:57,688

King.

:

00:55:58,047 --> 00:56:01,633

So we, we acknowledged that

we were waiting on all the

:

00:56:01,633 --> 00:56:03,068

Muslims to get together.

:

00:56:03,426 --> 00:56:08,806

We weren't going make it, we weren't

gonna get to the front of the, the front

:

00:56:09,165 --> 00:56:13,827

of a lot of these things that have taken

place without this Christian movement.

:

00:56:14,186 --> 00:56:19,207

So the number one was the crime said

the Christians are the closest to you.

:

00:56:19,207 --> 00:56:19,565

Mm-hmm.

:

00:56:19,565 --> 00:56:24,228

And so you have to look around

and say, who among these other

:

00:56:24,228 --> 00:56:27,814

religious groups have my same

ideals and my same convictions?

:

00:56:27,814 --> 00:56:31,759

And willing to put that

all and all on the line.

:

00:56:31,759 --> 00:56:36,421

Like we are willing to put

our all and all on the line.

:

00:56:36,421 --> 00:56:40,725

And it didn't just start when

we were, we converted to Islam.

:

00:56:40,725 --> 00:56:44,312

You know, other things, other

factors moved us towards Islam.

:

00:56:44,312 --> 00:56:46,105

But the conviction was there.

:

00:56:46,463 --> 00:56:48,257

It was even born with us.

:

00:56:48,257 --> 00:56:53,995

And you can go way, you can go

further back than just more than day.

:

00:56:53,995 --> 00:56:58,299

I always talk about when I'm, when

I'm, we talk about Newt Knight

:

00:56:58,299 --> 00:56:58,657

mm-hmm.

:

00:56:59,016 --> 00:57:04,037

As an unlikely, uh, hero in the African

American history, being that he was

:

00:57:04,037 --> 00:57:07,982

a southern white farmer who fought

against the Confederate all by itself.

:

00:57:07,982 --> 00:57:12,644

But I go back further than

that and I think of John Brown.

:

00:57:12,644 --> 00:57:13,362

That's right.

:

00:57:13,362 --> 00:57:15,872

And John Brown was a devout Christian.

:

00:57:15,872 --> 00:57:20,893

John Brown's, um, mutiny per se, Harpers

Ferry, Kansas, they began to call Bloody

:

00:57:20,893 --> 00:57:25,555

Kansas because he was so convinced

that slavery was wrong until he put

:

00:57:25,555 --> 00:57:28,066

all of his resources into the revolt.

:

00:57:28,066 --> 00:57:33,446

His sons, his property, his own life,

and he was going to fight the fight.

:

00:57:33,446 --> 00:57:37,749

The free slaves himself, his sons

were killed, his property was taken.

:

00:57:38,108 --> 00:57:41,336

He was, he was captured

and later be, uh, hang.

:

00:57:41,336 --> 00:57:45,639

But he, um, gave a, a warning that

resonated throughout the country

:

00:57:45,639 --> 00:57:50,302

that you can even find in movies,

just, just the census, John Brown.

:

00:57:50,302 --> 00:57:56,399

And it is also said that Abraham Lincoln

would not have had the fortitude to start

:

00:57:56,399 --> 00:58:02,137

a civil war had it not been for John Brown

having the fortitude to, to, to break

:

00:58:02,137 --> 00:58:05,006

the ice with his revolt and his losses.

:

00:58:05,365 --> 00:58:10,744

Uh, so we, I know that we can't just

do it by ourselves as, as Muslims.

:

00:58:11,103 --> 00:58:15,407

Uh, and then there's so many

others that are so seasoned in the

:

00:58:15,407 --> 00:58:17,917

fight that we have to look around.

:

00:58:17,917 --> 00:58:19,710

But, um, and it's historic.

:

00:58:19,710 --> 00:58:21,504

It's not just this era.

:

00:58:21,504 --> 00:58:24,014

It's, it's historic and

people are conscious.

:

00:58:24,373 --> 00:58:28,318

We realize that people have a

conscious that you will find, some

:

00:58:28,677 --> 00:58:30,470

of 'em don't even express religion.

:

00:58:30,470 --> 00:58:31,187

That's right.

:

00:58:31,187 --> 00:58:36,925

You know, they may not even have a

religion, but you see that they have a

:

00:58:36,925 --> 00:58:43,022

sense of conscious and a sense of right

and wrong, and those are the ones that you

:

00:58:43,022 --> 00:58:48,402

look for and you forge relationships with

because they, they will be the ones that,

:

00:58:48,402 --> 00:58:50,912

that will help you, uh, carry forward.

:

00:58:51,271 --> 00:58:53,423

As we should also be their defendants.

:

00:58:53,423 --> 00:58:58,803

You know, we say Muslims are the friends,

the Muslims and the, and the supporters

:

00:58:58,803 --> 00:59:01,313

for Muslims when the Muslim is there.

:

00:59:01,313 --> 00:59:01,672

Mm-hmm.

:

00:59:01,672 --> 00:59:07,410

But if Muslim is not in place and

not there, then you look for who can

:

00:59:07,410 --> 00:59:12,072

you form a relationship that can help

you get through these hard times.

:

00:59:12,072 --> 00:59:17,452

And if they're having a hard time

that you can back up also and, and

:

00:59:17,452 --> 00:59:19,604

they're endeavor and in their fights.

:

00:59:19,962 --> 00:59:19,963

Mm.

:

00:59:20,321 --> 00:59:20,680

To luck.

:

00:59:21,038 --> 00:59:24,266

Um, I want to ask you

to complete this prompt.

:

00:59:24,625 --> 00:59:27,135

Uh, the one lesson I keep learning is,

:

00:59:27,135 --> 00:59:32,156

well, well, actually, the one lesson

I keep learning is, is not about me.

:

00:59:32,515 --> 00:59:32,516

Mm.

:

00:59:32,516 --> 00:59:33,591

It's one lesson.

:

00:59:33,591 --> 00:59:36,101

This ain't about, it ain't about you.

:

00:59:36,101 --> 00:59:41,840

And I, I, I look back through history,

you know, 'cause sometimes we want to, we

:

00:59:41,840 --> 00:59:48,295

want to get props and we wanna get pats

on the back and we want to get accolades

:

00:59:48,295 --> 00:59:51,523

and we get upset when we don't get them.

:

00:59:51,523 --> 00:59:56,544

And then you have to remind yourself

it isn't, it is not about you.

:

00:59:56,544 --> 01:00:01,924

You know, that's all well and good,

but, um, a lot rewards whom he pleases.

:

01:00:01,924 --> 01:00:06,586

You may see your rewards and you

may not see your, your rewards.

:

01:00:06,945 --> 01:00:09,814

So you have to get over

yourself, you know?

:

01:00:10,172 --> 01:00:11,248

Uh, get over yourself.

:

01:00:11,248 --> 01:00:11,607

Yeah.

:

01:00:11,607 --> 01:00:12,324

You know?

:

01:00:12,324 --> 01:00:16,987

And then when you start looking

back in history, it's not about you.

:

01:00:16,987 --> 01:00:18,421

There are prominent figures.

:

01:00:18,421 --> 01:00:23,801

And one that I look to all the

time, I realize it is not about

:

01:00:23,801 --> 01:00:25,594

you, it's John the Baptist.

:

01:00:25,594 --> 01:00:25,953

Hmm.

:

01:00:26,311 --> 01:00:29,539

I only did John the Baptist

live in his ministry.

:

01:00:29,539 --> 01:00:34,919

Think back, I think it was about three

years as an adult, John the Baptist.

:

01:00:35,277 --> 01:00:39,222

He, his ministry was about three

years long and his ministry was

:

01:00:39,222 --> 01:00:43,168

for, to direct through one thing,

the coming of Christ Jesus.

:

01:00:43,168 --> 01:00:46,037

His baptism of Christ

was his sole purpose.

:

01:00:46,037 --> 01:00:46,395

Yeah.

:

01:00:46,395 --> 01:00:50,699

But it was a very important link

in the progression of humanity.

:

01:00:50,699 --> 01:00:55,003

And then, you know, we talk, we

think about the, the prophets

:

01:00:55,003 --> 01:00:56,437

ascension, the night ascension.

:

01:00:56,437 --> 01:00:56,796

Mm-hmm.

:

01:00:56,796 --> 01:01:02,534

When he, he, uh, visits all the prophets

and he comes down the chain, each one

:

01:01:02,893 --> 01:01:05,045

of them had a responsibility to fulfill.

:

01:01:05,045 --> 01:01:08,990

And each one of them passed

on and the link continued.

:

01:01:08,990 --> 01:01:10,066

And you realize.

:

01:01:10,424 --> 01:01:11,500

We, we love them.

:

01:01:11,859 --> 01:01:15,804

We remember them, but it was

not about, we didn't stop there.

:

01:01:15,804 --> 01:01:17,597

You know, we don't stop.

:

01:01:17,956 --> 01:01:21,542

We, we revere and love Abraham,

but we don't stop there.

:

01:01:21,901 --> 01:01:24,411

We love Moses, but we don't stop there.

:

01:01:24,770 --> 01:01:27,281

We love Jesus Christ, but we don't stop.

:

01:01:27,639 --> 01:01:28,715

We keep moving forward.

:

01:01:29,074 --> 01:01:30,150

We keep moving forward.

:

01:01:30,150 --> 01:01:35,888

And then of course they tell us the

prophet is the last one in the chain.

:

01:01:36,247 --> 01:01:40,550

So the responsibility on us is we

really have to push this forward.

:

01:01:40,550 --> 01:01:45,571

And in the prophets, um, last sermon

when he looked out at the believers

:

01:01:45,571 --> 01:01:51,310

and he said, I want you to take this

message and deliver it to those who

:

01:01:51,310 --> 01:01:55,972

are not here, and perhaps they will

understand it better than you do.

:

01:01:55,972 --> 01:01:56,331

Mm-hmm.

:

01:01:56,331 --> 01:02:00,634

And about us is we are the

farthest outposts from the prophet.

:

01:02:00,634 --> 01:02:03,862

And I say that physically,

mentally, historically, we African

:

01:02:03,862 --> 01:02:05,655

Americans who were enslaved people.

:

01:02:05,655 --> 01:02:08,166

Who would thought that we were dead.

:

01:02:08,166 --> 01:02:10,676

People thought we were just mentally dead.

:

01:02:10,676 --> 01:02:13,187

Called us three fifths of a man.

:

01:02:13,187 --> 01:02:13,546

Mm-hmm.

:

01:02:13,546 --> 01:02:16,056

They thought we had no coming back.

:

01:02:16,415 --> 01:02:18,567

We woke up to our genetic memory.

:

01:02:18,567 --> 01:02:21,077

The man was called it genetic memory.

:

01:02:21,077 --> 01:02:21,436

Yeah.

:

01:02:21,436 --> 01:02:21,794

And

:

01:02:22,153 --> 01:02:22,154

Dr.

:

01:02:22,154 --> 01:02:25,381

Sierra Lincoln outta Duke

University called it genetic memory.

:

01:02:25,381 --> 01:02:25,739

Mm-hmm.

:

01:02:26,098 --> 01:02:31,119

We woke up to our genetic memory

that had Islam in it, and we began

:

01:02:31,478 --> 01:02:33,630

to rekindle our faith and our growth.

:

01:02:33,988 --> 01:02:38,651

We were resuscitated and our Islam

after all of that 300 years of slavery

:

01:02:38,651 --> 01:02:41,161

where we didn't even know our names.

:

01:02:41,161 --> 01:02:46,541

And, you know, you can go back and

look, the movers with Come to Kente.

:

01:02:46,541 --> 01:02:49,410

How they beat the name out of him.

:

01:02:49,410 --> 01:02:49,768

Yeah.

:

01:02:50,127 --> 01:02:52,279

To, until he couldn't do it anymore.

:

01:02:52,279 --> 01:02:56,583

How, uh, they switched us up

from our mothers and slaves and

:

01:02:56,583 --> 01:02:58,376

put you on another plantation.

:

01:02:58,376 --> 01:03:03,755

They had slaves who, they switched them up

so they couldn't speak the same language.

:

01:03:03,755 --> 01:03:06,625

Humiliated us, tried to put fear in us.

:

01:03:06,625 --> 01:03:12,004

And they thought they had killed our souls

with that one little inkling of fire,

:

01:03:12,004 --> 01:03:17,384

that little burning shoot that came back

up in, up in your genetic memory reminded

:

01:03:17,384 --> 01:03:22,764

you that once you heard this wrong,

you said, oh, that's what it is about.

:

01:03:22,764 --> 01:03:23,122

Mm-hmm.

:

01:03:23,481 --> 01:03:24,557

Oh, I, I remember.

:

01:03:24,557 --> 01:03:28,502

And, and here in Mississippi

we had, uh, the slave, um,

:

01:03:28,502 --> 01:03:30,295

that was on Natch Plantation.

:

01:03:30,654 --> 01:03:31,371

Uh, Ibrahim Abdulrahman.

:

01:03:31,371 --> 01:03:32,447

Abdulrahman Ibrahim.

:

01:03:32,447 --> 01:03:34,240

I might put the first name.

:

01:03:34,240 --> 01:03:35,316

First to last.

:

01:03:35,316 --> 01:03:39,261

Abdurahman Ibrahim was a

slave, was made a slave on a

:

01:03:39,261 --> 01:03:40,696

plantation in Natch, Mississippi.

:

01:03:41,054 --> 01:03:42,848

He was well versed in Arabic.

:

01:03:43,206 --> 01:03:44,641

He was a hot culturalist.

:

01:03:44,641 --> 01:03:49,662

They say that plantation thrived because

of his knowledge of how to grow things.

:

01:03:50,020 --> 01:03:53,607

He made appeal after an appeal

to be returned to Africa.

:

01:03:53,607 --> 01:03:58,628

And actually one of the slave ship

captains was in the area and he

:

01:03:58,628 --> 01:04:00,062

recognized Abdul Rahman Ibrahim.

:

01:04:00,062 --> 01:04:02,932

And he knew his father back in Africa.

:

01:04:02,932 --> 01:04:06,877

And he said the slave, uh,

captain, uh, ship captain said

:

01:04:06,877 --> 01:04:08,670

Your father treated me well.

:

01:04:08,670 --> 01:04:12,615

And he was gonna work to

get him back to Africa.

:

01:04:12,974 --> 01:04:16,919

He actually went to DC to make

a pill on Ibrahim's behalf

:

01:04:17,277 --> 01:04:19,070

to take him back to Africa.

:

01:04:19,070 --> 01:04:20,864

They gave him his freedom.

:

01:04:20,864 --> 01:04:23,016

They told him you could leave.

:

01:04:23,374 --> 01:04:28,037

Uh, when he got ready to pack

up and leave, they told him, uh,

:

01:04:28,037 --> 01:04:30,188

but you can't take your children.

:

01:04:30,188 --> 01:04:33,058

They property you can't

take, you know, family.

:

01:04:33,058 --> 01:04:34,133

They a property.

:

01:04:34,133 --> 01:04:35,927

They have to stay here.

:

01:04:35,927 --> 01:04:39,872

They say if you want them,

you have to purchase them.

:

01:04:40,230 --> 01:04:44,175

So you're telling a slave that

you gotta come up with money

:

01:04:44,534 --> 01:04:45,969

to purchase your own children.

:

01:04:45,969 --> 01:04:46,327

Right.

:

01:04:46,327 --> 01:04:51,707

And he worked to do that, but they, uh,

it wasn't completed in his lifetime.

:

01:04:52,066 --> 01:04:54,935

He died before he could raise that money.

:

01:04:54,935 --> 01:04:58,521

I actually lived to see, uh,

African family come from Africa.

:

01:04:58,521 --> 01:05:01,032

Two Mississippi down in

Natchez, Mississippi looking

:

01:05:01,032 --> 01:05:02,108

for Ibrahim's offspring.

:

01:05:02,108 --> 01:05:02,466

Really?

:

01:05:02,466 --> 01:05:02,825

Right.

:

01:05:02,825 --> 01:05:05,335

They didn't come for any other purpose.

:

01:05:05,694 --> 01:05:06,770

It wasn't any fanfare.

:

01:05:06,770 --> 01:05:12,508

They said, we are coming to find, they

knew the, the slave names that they had,

:

01:05:12,508 --> 01:05:15,019

they were under the names like Foster.

:

01:05:15,019 --> 01:05:15,377

Mm-hmm.

:

01:05:15,736 --> 01:05:20,398

He said, and they knew his mother was,

their, their mothers were called Isabelle.

:

01:05:20,757 --> 01:05:22,550

So it was Ibrahim and Isabelle.

:

01:05:22,909 --> 01:05:26,495

We wanna find the, the, the

lineage of Abraham and Isabelle.

:

01:05:26,495 --> 01:05:30,082

They were coming to look for

those, those those names.

:

01:05:30,082 --> 01:05:31,516

Did they find 'em?

:

01:05:31,516 --> 01:05:32,234

And, uh,

:

01:05:32,234 --> 01:05:35,461

they, they found quite

a few, uh, connections.

:

01:05:35,461 --> 01:05:40,124

I don't know the physical people, but

that I didn't follow through since then.

:

01:05:40,124 --> 01:05:40,482

Yeah.

:

01:05:40,482 --> 01:05:44,786

Because they really didn't make

it a lot of fancy about it.

:

01:05:44,786 --> 01:05:50,166

And it wasn't like, uh, we coming

to, to, they came to the museum, the

:

01:05:50,166 --> 01:05:51,959

International Museum of Muslim culture.

:

01:05:52,318 --> 01:05:54,111

Uh, they came to the museum.

:

01:05:54,111 --> 01:05:56,621

And then they went down to Natches.

:

01:05:56,621 --> 01:06:02,001

And, um, after that, I haven't followed

up on them yet, but their purpose was,

:

01:06:02,360 --> 01:06:04,870

we come, we come to find this lineage.

:

01:06:04,870 --> 01:06:07,381

They, they were the lineage from Abraham.

:

01:06:07,739 --> 01:06:12,760

So just, just sometimes quietly, I, I

say to myself when I'm in the Natches

:

01:06:12,760 --> 01:06:19,216

area, I just wish, but I, I say to

the, the, we speak out of the Muslim is

:

01:06:19,216 --> 01:06:22,444

dead, you know, so we say we are back.

:

01:06:22,444 --> 01:06:23,161

You know,

:

01:06:23,161 --> 01:06:23,878

we're back.

:

01:06:23,878 --> 01:06:24,954

I'm the lie.

:

01:06:24,954 --> 01:06:28,182

I'm, and we pray that

they're smiling like that.

:

01:06:28,540 --> 01:06:31,410

We want them to have

that kinda smile Yeah.

:

01:06:31,768 --> 01:06:32,486

On their face.

:

01:06:32,486 --> 01:06:35,713

Because speak out of the

believers dead, you know.

:

01:06:35,713 --> 01:06:36,072

That's

:

01:06:36,072 --> 01:06:36,431

right.

:

01:06:36,431 --> 01:06:37,148

That's right.

:

01:06:37,148 --> 01:06:40,376

Hopefully we warm that

heart that we are back.

:

01:06:40,376 --> 01:06:40,734

Yes.

:

01:06:41,093 --> 01:06:45,755

Um, well, sister Dia, I really appreciate

you taking some time to, uh, have

:

01:06:45,755 --> 01:06:50,776

conversation and to share a bit of

your journey, uh, and your insights.

:

01:06:50,776 --> 01:06:55,797

I hope to be able to talk to you

again, um, because you just, you

:

01:06:55,797 --> 01:07:00,460

just mentioned at the very end we

didn't even mention you serve on

:

01:07:00,460 --> 01:07:02,970

the board for the, uh, the museum.

:

01:07:02,970 --> 01:07:04,404

I'm on the board.

:

01:07:04,404 --> 01:07:05,122

Yes.

:

01:07:05,122 --> 01:07:09,784

I, I'm, I'm, I'm one of the latecomers,

you know, the museum, uh, started

:

01:07:09,784 --> 01:07:13,729

and it's a very interesting museum

because the, the co-founders of

:

01:07:13,729 --> 01:07:17,675

the museum, one is Palestinian

American and one is African American.

:

01:07:17,675 --> 01:07:18,033

Yeah.

:

01:07:18,392 --> 01:07:20,902

So it's a, a very, very rich history.

:

01:07:21,261 --> 01:07:25,206

Uh, and the museum is, uh,

is one of the special places.

:

01:07:25,206 --> 01:07:25,565

Mississippi.

:

01:07:25,565 --> 01:07:25,923

Mm-hmm.

:

01:07:25,923 --> 01:07:26,641

Jackson, Mississippi.

:

01:07:26,641 --> 01:07:27,358

Jackson, Mississippi.

:

01:07:27,358 --> 01:07:27,717

Yeah,

:

01:07:27,717 --> 01:07:28,792

we're back home.

:

01:07:28,792 --> 01:07:29,151

Yeah.

:

01:07:29,510 --> 01:07:33,813

So I'm gonna put links for the

journal, the Muslim Journal as well.

:

01:07:33,813 --> 01:07:34,172

Alright.

:

01:07:34,172 --> 01:07:38,834

Thank you for joining us for this

conversation with Aisha k Mufa, editor

:

01:07:39,193 --> 01:07:42,421

of the Muslim Journal and Assistant

Professor of Mass Communications.

:

01:07:42,421 --> 01:07:47,083

That concludes our program for today,

but we'll be back next week with

:

01:07:47,083 --> 01:07:49,235

another engaging discussion in s Shaah.

:

01:07:49,235 --> 01:07:50,311

With God's permission.

:

01:07:50,311 --> 01:07:55,691

Make sure to subscribe so you never miss

an episode and stay connected with us

:

01:07:56,049 --> 01:08:01,070

on social media at the American Muslim

Podcast and with me at Imam Tarin.

:

01:08:01,070 --> 01:08:07,885

I leave you as I greeted you as KU may the

peace that only God can give be upon you.

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About the Podcast

The American Muslim Podcast
The voices, stories, and perspectives shaping the American Muslim Experience
The American Muslim Podcast is your gateway to exploring the diverse and dynamic stories shaping the American Muslim experience. Hosted by Imam Tariq I. El-Amin, this podcast shines a spotlight on the voices of leaders who are making a profound impact in their communities, and in the public square.

From imams and chaplains to Islamic school leaders, teachers, scholars, and non-profit pioneers, we celebrate those who dedicate themselves to serving others. These inspiring individuals include masjid leaders, community activists, and youth mentors who exemplify the values of faith, compassion, and resilience in their work.

Through insightful conversations and authentic narratives, we explore how these leaders navigate faith, identity, and service, offering a unique perspective on the evolving role of American Muslims in shaping society.

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Tariq El-Amin

Imam Tariq I. El-Amin serves as the Resident Imam of Masjid Al-Taqwa in Chicago, IL. He is the founder of the Chicago Black Muslim History Tour and the former host of Sound Vision's Radio Islam, a nightly talk radio program that aired in the Chicago market. Tariq is a recipient of the Muhammad Ali Scholarship and earned a Master of Divinity in Islamic Chaplaincy from Bayan Islamic Graduate School in 2022. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry in Islamic Community Leadership at Bayan, with expected completion in 2026. Tariq is also a producer of the award-winning UIC Black Excellence podcast, hosted by Dr. Aisha El-Amin, and lends his voice to narrating audiobooks.