#BlackMuslimReads
A mainstream African American women's magazine finally decides to feature a Muslim woman in hijab on the cover. They can't find one Black Muslim woman -- even though hundreds of them purchase their publication.
A prominent non Black Muslim organization questions a prominent non Black Muslim leader on issues about Black American life and trauma and police brutality only for the non Black American Muslim leader to spew the criminalization of blackness as he tried to White wash away White privilege.
A major non Black American Muslim organization moves their major conference into a metropolitan area that is over 63 percent Black American and schedules a conference the same weekend as the largest Muslim women's conference that has been running for over 30 years and run by Black American Muslim women.
A group of Muslim leaders gather together to protest DACA on Capitol Hill and are arrested in their support of young immigrant Dreamers. Boom - It Goes Viral!
Young African American Muslim girl in Philadelphia prevented from playing in a school basketball game because of her hijab. No one knows her name!
Do you see where I am going with this? Too many times these types of situations occur in our communities and we either disregard it or get mad, Twitter fight over it, and forget about it until the next upset occurs.
But what if we jumped out of that matrix? What if we stopped reacting to negativity? What if we beat a new path where we controlled our own narratives?
#BlackMuslims have the numbers and efforts to lead! If we just looked to see the positivity in our own communities, we would have enough stories to write about for the whole year!
We have sent many community members to study abroad and learn not just secular studies, but many in our communities have traveled to study Islam and Arabic. It is important that we write about these young scholars and honor their pursuits. It's important for us to support them and give them opportunities to share and speak and have a place at our tables.
We have many Black Muslim sisters in our communities raising and rearing Muslim children successfully. Many of our sisters who have birthed five or more children go unnoticed and uncelebrated in our communities as if birthing one child is easy, let alone five or ten! They are a wealth of knowledge and experience and love that we have to take the time and energy to care about. We have to write their stories! We have to validate and cherish their experiences. We have to make room for these sisters in our communities to share and teach other young expecting Muslim women what they know.
We have so many Black Muslim entrepreneurs in our communities across the United States. Many of these talented and creative brothers and sisters make clothing (that always gets copied), clean houses and businesses, cook halal meals and desserts, tutor the youth, design websites, teach the Qur'an online and in their own store fronts and they deserve their story to be told!
We have so many Black Muslim educators, Alhamduleelah! They are sharp-minded academics, dedicated teachers, professors, paraprofessionals, researchers, administrators in every type of school/college/university in the States and abroad. They get up before Fajr and they go bed way after Isha five days a week making sure their lesson plans are on point and that their students will be well prepared. They spend their own money to provide the essentials for their students and many of their students are our own children! We have to write their stories! We have to support and champion their works. We have to create and support tables for Black Muslim educators to come together and network. We have to be proud of them and encourage them to continue teaching.
We have so many dedicated Black American Muslim fathers mentoring their children and other children in our communities. These brothers are our Abus, Babas, Daddies, Stepfathers, uncles, brothers and grandfathers, too in the communities who volunteer at every event, encourage and cheer on all the community, help and love up their wives without being asked, work hard and tirelessly to support their families and give sadaqah. These brothers need their stories written.
As you can see we have important stories in our communities! We don't need to sit around and wait for something foul to happen to us. We can and should happen to us! We have to support us and raise up our leadership. We have to empower our youth and children to feel good about the good they do without others from outside of our community clapping. We have to right our wrongs by writing our good stories. And don't stop at just writing! We have to be proactive. We have to gather to support each other. We have to create, engage, and work on being the best community we can be to each other!
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