By the time you read this email, the U.S. will have endured many months of closure, isolation and social distancing, and over 103,000 people dead all due to COVID-19. To add to that, it has been 6 days since the killing of yet another unarmed Black man, George Floyd, protesting and rioting in over 3 dozen cities, curfews in many major cities and the National Guard patrolling our streets.
It is unreal.
Muslims for Progressive Values issued a press release last week to condemn this sadistic form of policing. You can read the press release here. But that is not enough. We need to overcome racism and we have to change the mindset of the culture that is deeply rooted in racism toward Blacks, and in our particular case, that from within Muslim societies. Muslims talk a good talk about Prophet Muhammad’s last sermon in which he called us out:
"All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black, nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action".
Let me ask you a personal question: would you allow your child to marry a Black person?
The local Los Angeles African American mosques have called on the non-Black mosques to stand in solidarity by preaching against anti-Blackness this June 5th—the #DayOfRage. For my part, I will be releasing a video on our YouTube channel.
With the distressing environment we live in, the social justice we are in dire need of, no other content feels worth sharing. Everything else seem petty.
I leave you with this positive video, one that you must watch, and one I long for as our reality for all people and for all society. A White policeman consoling a sobbing young Black protester.
