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09 March 2011 By
El-Hajj Mauri' Saalakhan
Assalaamu Alaikum
(Greetings of Peace): I
begin with congratulations to The Community
Mosque of Winston-Salem for the successful
"Social
Justice Workshop" that was
held at the masjid on Saturday, March 5. The forum,
which lasted for the better part of the day, was
attended by Muslims and non-Muslims and featured the
following speakers:
Imam Khalid Griggs,
who leads The Community Mosque, delivered introductory
remarks. He was followed by Sr. Tahira
Abdullah - a veteran community activist and
organizer - whose interactive and
thought-provoking address was titled, "Developing
the Mentality for
Social Justice."
Our
sister was followed by
Darryl
Hunt, founder of the Darryl
Hunt Project for Freedom & Justice. This
brother was wrongfully imprisoned for 19 years (and
almost executed!) before being exonerated on DNA
evidence. To his credit, and by ALLAH's mercy, he has
channeled his bitter experience toward a very positive
end; becoming a passionate advocate for those who
suffer the disparities of justice in America. He
delivered an eloquent and informative address that was
well received by everyone in attendance.
Attendees also heard from Junaid Sulahry
- a J.D. Candidate at the Wake Forest School of Law
-who delivered an informative presentation on the
importance of social media in the
struggle for social and political justice. The forum
also showcased the valuable expertise of Gerald
Taylor, S.E. Regional Director of
Industrial Areas Foundation. Mr. Taylor
delivered an insightful presentation on community
organizing. Yet
another insightful and animated presentation was
delivered by Mustapha Abdullah, a
community organizer with an organization called
CHANGE. Br. Mustapha, Gerard
Taylor, and a number of other local activists will be
convening a very important follow-up
to yesterday's program in the very near future - i.e.,
a day-long workshop at the same location, The
Community Mosque, on Saturday, April 9th. (Additional
information will soon be forthcoming, insha'Allah.) In my
own presentation as the keynote speaker, I focused on
a list of recommendations that the community could use
to advance a spiritual-based agenda for social
change, while safeguarding the interests of our
community (and some of its most vulnerable members) in
the process. The
program was videotaped to allow others who could not
be present to benefit as well. I strongly recommend
that mosque leaders in America consider duplicating a
similar effort in their own locality; you can contact
Imam Khalid Griggs (or this writer) for advice on how
this can be done. Imam Khalid can be reached at: scribe51@aol.com
Before closing I would also
like to congratulate (and express my appreciation for)
the Muslim students who organized the valuable
conference at Duke University on Feb 18-20. I will
have more to say on that effort later, insha'Allah. On a
somewhat related note, a
recent development
in the case commonly known as The Raleigh
7 provides
a stark example of what can happen when families of
the accused, and the Muslim community as a whole, fail
to respond to this type of challenge in the manner
that they should. The lead defendant in the case,
Daniel
Boyd, clearly under duress (in my
opinion), has entered into a plea agreement with the
government. I
would not be surprised to see (in the coming days)
that Boyd's decision to "plea
bargain" with the government has a
snowball affect on his co-defendants in the case;
that others under the influence of their lawyers,
frightened family members, and compromised
"leaders" in the Muslim community, end up opting for
the same type of "deal." An
even greater tragedy, however, would be for those who
insisting on their innocence - and insisting upon
their constitutional right to a trial before a "jury
of their peers" - discover that their brother(s) in
Islam are made to testify against them (even if it
means fabricating testimony as part of their
plea agreement with the government). We pray that this
will not be the case; but if past is prologue, we
should prepare ourselves for the worse. On a
final note, as a result of Boyd's plea agreement, we
can expect that the islamophobes in America - with the
all two often uncritical support of mainstream media -
will begin to cite the "Raleigh 7" as yet another
proof of the existence of a "homegrown terrorist
threat" in America. With
that said, Br. Ali Asad Chandia is expected to be back
in court in Northern Virginia this coming Friday, to
hear the result of his petition for a more just
re-sentencing (see below). The Muslim community needs
to pack the courtroom again. In the
struggle for peace thru justice, |
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