The other day I asked where the smart stories were about American Islam as it is practiced in non-immigrant communities, especially among African-Americans. I mean, is it just me, or is it significant that the United States is embroiled in baiting the Islamic world abroad, while our own most historically fraught ethnic group at home - blacks - have been turning to Islam in greater numbers? Isn't this... news?
The AP came through with a few insights. The headlines read along the lines of, Black Conversions to Sunni Islam Rise Since Sept. 11 Attacks. There's a meaty story here.
Unfortunately this piece doesn't quite come through. But here's what's relevant:
Following what appears to be a trend in cities nationwide, religious leaders in Pittsburgh say there has been a rise in black conversions to Sunni Islam since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
No national surveys have been taken to confirm the increase, but Islamic religious leaders in Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit have also reported growth, said Lawrence Mamiya, a professor of religion and Africana studies at New York’s Vassar College. Experts estimate that 30 percent of the 6 to 7 million Muslims in the U.S. are black, with only South Asians making up a larger number at 33 percent.
But... why? The story largely sidesteps any analysis in favor of focusing on the growth of black Islamic communities in Pittsburgh and New York. A few coy stabs, though, are telling:
A growing number of Muslims in America, especially blacks, are building mosques that offer a variety of community services, partly because the federal and state governments do not answer to many of their social needs, Islamic experts say.
These complexes take the religion back to its roots before the modern-day state began providing services to the population.
Sure - African-Americans feel ignored by the government. There's probably some truth there. But Islam doesn't have a corner on intra-community support. Plenty of Christian assistance programs in and out of the black community.
The last few grafs are, I think, what the story should have been about:
After the [9/11] attacks, [Muslim] immigrants — subject to FBI surveillance, police raids and other scrutiny — began to reach out to black Muslims in Pittsburgh, whose persecution they could suddenly relate to, said Sarah Jameela Martin, 64, an active member of the city’s black Muslim community....
Now, as immigrant and black Muslims in Pittsburgh try to improve the religion’s image and separate it from global terrorism, blacks are paving the way, Martin said.
Black women, for example, have long worn the traditional head-covering, or hijab, to work, while immigrants have been reluctant to do so, she said. Today, Muslims in Pittsburgh are far more visible, she said.
“Because of our social tag … we didn’t mind,” Byrdsong said, pointing to his dark skin as an explanation to why being openly Muslim has never been a problem for blacks in America. “We can’t hide it.”
A strange way to end the story, isn't it? “Because of our social tag … we didn’t mind.” What exactly does this mean??? We don't mind the stigmas of wearing the Islamic faith on our sleeve. We have had it tougher just wearing the colors of our race.
There are a lot of issues here. As the Church of England is discovering this week the horrible legacy of slavery is a moral blot on the history of the west that resists easy solutions - that religious body is looking at the financial ways it profited from the slave trade and what, if anything, can be done to come clean again.
That's the moral story of America, writ large. It's why the story of faith in our African-American communities is so important. The introduction of Christianity to Africa was wrapped up in the introduction of chains and slavery. Perhaps today - and I'm not the first one to say this - African-Americans are drawn to Islam in the wake of 9/11 BOTH because it is not Christianity AND because it is instead a faith that bears the burden of a misunderstood stigma, something that blacks can relate to?
I want more. This is the next chapter in a story that, in the end, is the most important story of our nation. Sin, repentance, the impossible hope of forgiveness.
Am I off base? The door is open to anyone with a keener analysis.
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