Obama Scolds Black Fathers, Gets Bounce in Polls
ISHMAEL REED
It’s obvious by now that Barack Obama is treating black Americans like one treats a demented uncle, brought out from his room to be ridiculed and scolded before company from time to time, the old Clinton Sistah Souljah strategy borrowed from Clinton’s first presidential campaign when he traveled the country criticizing the personal morality of blacks and wooing white voters by objecting to what he considered anti -white lyrics sung by rapper Sistah Souljah. (more…)
Fear of a Muslim Planet:Hip-Hop’s Hidden History
Naeem Mohaiemen breaks down hip-hop’s Islamic roots
Originally published in FORUM: http://www.thedailystar.net/forum/2008/june/fear.htm
(Amin) Pray Allah keep my soul and heart clean
(Amin) Pray the same thing again for all my team
– Mos Def, “Love”
(Black on Both Sides, 1999)
Camoflouged Torahs, Bibles and glorious Qurans
The books that take you to heaven and let you meet the Lord there
Have become misinterpreted, reasons for warfare
We read ‘em with blind eyes I guarantee you there’s more there
The rich must be blind because they didnt see the poor there
– Lupe Fiasco, “American Terrorist”
(Food & Liquor, 2006)
JOURNALIST Harry Allen once called Islam “hip-hop’s unofficial religion.” This theme is echoed by Adisa Banjoko, unofficial ambassador of Muslim hip-hop, who says: “Muslim influence was at the ground floor of hip hop. Hip hop came from the streets, from the toughest neighborhoods, and that’s always where the Muslims were.” (more…)
Martin Luther King, Jr., Barack Obama And The Fate Of America
IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
ILLUME MAGAZINE
http://www.illumemagazine.org/magazine/publish/features/martin_luther_king_jr_barack_obama_and_the_fate_of_america.php
As we celebrated the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on a national holiday dedicated to his honor, many people point to the surging presidential candidacy of Barack Obama as evidence of how far this country has come in terms of race relations since the days of the Civil Rights struggle led by Dr. King. Many see Obama’s campaign as the fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream. As they would point out, here is a man who is being judged based on the content of his character, and not on the color of his skin. Could anything be more representative of the fulfillment of Dr. King’s dream than that? (more…)
An Open Letter to Certain White Women Who Are Threatening to Withhold Support from Obama in November
THE PERPOOSE STORY
THE PERPOOSE STORY
THE MINORITY PRESCHOOL EXPERIENCE
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The Calm Before the Storm Spotlight On: A five-year-old Pakistani American kid speaking Urdu with an assortment of English words to pepper his rhetoric. Those words were limited to three:
1) “Shut up!” A phrase commonly deployed by the dictator, my mother, to silence all of my unruly verbal dissent.
2) “Uh oh Pasghettio” A fobby butchering of “uh oh spaghettio” by a portly child, which was deemed “cute” during my youth and “disturbing” as I became older.
3) “Idiot”: A loving term of endearment used by the dictator to admonish the portly Pakistani American child after any and all perceived wrongdoings.
ASCENT to Purgatory
I awoke one day to find my parental units, mother and father, casually taking me for “a ride” to a “nice place”… or so they said.
Ice cream store? No. Toys R’ Us, where a kid can be a kid if he has access to a platinum visa card? No. Comic Book Store? Sorry, but no Spiderman today. Instead, we pull into a foreboding driveway of a large, ominous brown building. Since I was a 5-year-old Fob near illiterate I missed the sign, which glared, “Child’s Hideaway.”
My spidey sense hits 3. (more…)
