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Is It Nation of Islam Time Again in Hip-Hop?
In the late ’80s and early ’90s, a wave of commercial hip-hop artists, like Public Enemy, Poor Righteous Teachers, Brand Nubian, Eric B. & Rakim, Paris, Gang Starr, Ice Cube and MC Ren, used their platform to promote political awareness, community uplift and cultural self-determination. They drew their inspiration in part from Islam—as culture, ideology…
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How Nicki Minaj Photoshopped Malcolm X’s Legacy
Nicki Minaj’s just-released single “Lookin Ass Niggas” is a grandiloquent takedown of black men who have failed to live up to her personal standards of manhood—defined in terms of drug using and dealing, sexual prowess, employment (or lack thereof), wealth and other measures of material status. The lyrics alone raise important questions about the values…
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A Muslim-American Take on the Case for Obama
While President Obama has not presented a perfect candidacy for Muslim Americans, Zaheer Ali argues at the Islamic Monthly that his domestic policies, unlike those championed by Mitt Romney, have benefited all Americans and he has created the discursive space within which to challenge policies that are disagreeable. … THE PRAGMATIC CHOICE In the nearly…
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What About Poor White Kids?
Recent discussions of poverty have revealed themselves to be, in fact, coded conversations about race. When Newt Gingrich talks about poor kids having no work ethic and Donald Trump agrees, they discuss poor kids interchangeably with black or inner-city youths. For years politicians, policy wonks and others have used “disadvantaged,” “underprivileged,” “inner-city,” “urban” and “poor”…
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Crisis in Egypt: Their Problem Is Our Problem
When protesters in Egypt called for a “Million Man March” to mark the one-week anniversary of their Jan. 25 uprising against Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year autocratic rule, they did what many African-American public figures have yet to do: draw on the history and example of the black freedom movement to express support for the ongoing global…
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Skipping Over Slavery in the Constitution
When the Republican-led Congress took to the House floor to read the entire U.S. Constitution, it omitted several provisions in the document, including two that allude to slavery: the “three-fifths compromise” and the fugitive-slave clause. While leaders like Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) objected to such redactions that ignore the “long history of improving the…
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It Will Take More Than a 'Muslim Cosby Show'
Last week on her Web-based show, Katie Couric highlighted the rise of Islamophobia as one of the more disturbing news stories of 2010. In a discussion that included The Root’s Sheryl Huggins Salomon, Couric suggested that America needs a Muslim version of The Cosby Show to fight the fear and ignorance that exists about Islam…
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Islamophobia Did Not Start at Ground Zero
Last week the newly formed Coalition of African American Muslims held a press conference to express support for the Park51 Community Center (the so-called Ground Zero mosque, which is neither a mosque nor at Ground Zero) and, more broadly, to condemn the spread of Islamophobia. The group represented a wide array of prominent African-American Muslims,…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
