Summary Of Racism In The Nation Of Islam

On September 11th of 2001, more than 3,000 people died during the terrorist attacks. The event changed the lives of not just the people whose loved ones died on that day, but also of those who belonged to the Islamic world. The experience of Muslims who lived in America in 2001 and those who were yet to come here would never be the same again. After 9/11, the number of hate crimes against Muslims in the United States increased and their everyday lives changed forever due to the rise of islamophobia and the vicious influence of the American media.

satisfied requirements put before us by Allah and His Messenger that qualify you to enter amongst us. Your persistence in doing so has awarded

Racism is a socially constructed concept used by multiple groups of people and creates a hierarchy of sorts based purely on the color of a person’s skin or their cultural origins. It has been an idea that has existed since the beginnings of civilization. A more modern iteration of this concept was made prominent in the 16th century as European settlers began to explore different areas of the world, specifically areas in or around Africa. But slavery can be seen back in the 1500s all the way to 1880 and was most likely a leading example of what helped define racism up to the 20th century. In Ali Rattansi’s book, “Racism: A Very Short Introduction” , the author connects how slavery and race are closely tied together. European explorers would ignore the cultures the invaded in order to see these people as nothing more than native groups that were meant to be seen in a subservient role. Slavery would continue to grow across the Atlantic and seen as an institution that created large amounts of wealth for those who could reap the benefits from it. As long as money was being made, slavery persisted and was justified. Race and racism was conceived the way it was because the slave owning system was controlled by European colonizers.

Growing up in an African American Muslim home, education was taken very seriously. My mother was the only one in her family that graduated from college, so she had high expectations for her children and wanted us to achieve in education. My parents not only believed in acquiring a good education, but they also believed in the Nation of Islam concept of “one should be self-sufficient.” Elijah Muhammad, the leader of Nation of Islam said “Life means you have activity in accord with your nature. If you are poor in spirit, then you are not doing for yourself what the energy of life would call you to do. When you are a living person, you don’t ask others to feed you, clothe you, shelter you, educate you, and give you a job.”

Whether past or present, there is no denying the fact that we humans have created an existence in which it is not uncommon to subject other breathing human beings to conditions of separateness and extreme oppression. The societies we create aid in participation of these conditions in a way that some deem acceptable, even if threatening to the moral norm. “Going to Meet The Man,” a melancholy story written by James Baldwin, sheds light on the tragic problem of racism that has afflicted our world and how this racism came to be. By examining the past and present life of a racist sheriff in a southern town, this tragic story epitomizes the terrible truth of reality and exemplifies the tragedy and problem of moral knowledge, alienation from others, and the tragedy of morally conflicting demands.

Since 1955 James Baldwin’s essay “Stranger in the Village” has become a legendary work which raises questions about racism, its history and nature. It is usually understood as a classic model which maps the obstacles that African Americans have encountered in white society; also the essay can be interpreted as a lens through which American blacks could perceive the world around them as a result of American slavery. Yet, these speculations fail to take into account the groundlessness of “white supremacy” which is evident from the author’s description of a godforsaken village where people are ignorant and literally entrapped. Moreover, it is unjustified for the protagonist to feel villagers’ dominance since it is inconsistent with circumstances that he presents to readers as well as the apparent advantages that he has over the villagers. And so, if we continue to see the story as simply discriminatory against blacks, we miss an important message of that there is something (values) beyond racial advantages, what the nature of genuine supremacy is (which could be based on other values rather than on color of the skin), (what are the things that are more important than the race) and we fail to make objective judgments of one’s unfeigned domination. In his essay “Stranger in the Village” Baldwin forces readers to confront their cultural assumptions about racial superiority and come to a new understanding of genuine supremacy through extoling contemporary American society over

Unlike DiAngelo’s White Privilege essay, a group of religious authorities under the umbrella of Christian Churches Together in the U.S.A. wrote a response letter to Dr. Reverend King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” First quoting a portion of Dr. King’s letter then responding to the quote, the group takes a Biblical stance on the racial issues that continue to preside in modern day American culture. Beginning the essay, the group differentiates between merely acting upon the symptoms of racism. “... (a) superficial kind of social analysis…” and discovering and fixing the root of the racial. By investigating the racial issues at hand and striving towards Dr. King’s dream of a community of equal opportunities for all races, then the conversation of racial inequality can begin. Realizing that fostering a multiracial community centered around radical love that forsakes “safety of our social order,” we, as the Christian body need to develop a society that eliminates the social prejudices currently penetrate into every aspect of

The first essay is about James Baldwin's personal perspective of being black in racist America. The second essay goes on to how religion and Christianity allowed the segregation and oppression of blacks to grow between both whites and blacks of the United States (Baldwin, 1963). Christianity in the United States can be easily be compared to the opiate of the masses. Religion controlled the lives of the whites and forced the blacks to live under the oppressive rule of the whites.

In spite of Baldwin?s sympathetic response to the villagers, there is no sympathy toward the white man?s ideas of religion. I believe Baldwin feels that these religious villagers, who have preached about God for years, are simply hypocrites. How could these vague white supremacists believe in the same religion as Baldwin and his ancestors when the Negro supposedly used to be ?identified with the devil? (Baldwin 134)? So the suppressed Negro must

Baldwin opens his argument acknowledging the distortion of segregation for the segregationists. According to Baldwin, people who, since birth, have been taught to think a certain way towards the African American race. “The white South African or Mississippi sharecropper or Alabama sheriff has at bottom a system of reality which compels them really to believe when they face the Negro that this

The roots and manifestations of Anti-Black racism can be traced far back in western history and cultural practice. Needless to say its continuing impact and repercussions in our modern day public, private, Judaeo-Christian and social institutions and practices, while perhaps, not always understood or openly acknowledged, is

The End of Racism is a highly controversial piece of literature because of some the views race relations in America, but as challenging as it is to accept there are many valid points discussed in its reading. The author is a critically acclaimed best seller and a well-respected conservative Christian figure. His views in the end of racism, at times, seemed extremely one sided, but at other times provides valuable insight form a different perspective. Dinesh D’Souza and some of his views in this book are an excellent example for why I’m writing on this topic.

Instead of power and violence, Baldwin suggests love as an approach to solving the human oppression epidemic. For him, this solution would work better than other methods that he had talked about in his books such as the complete separation of Blacks and Whites as advocated by the Nation of Islam. The problem with using violence as retaliation against those who have been oppressive for Baldwin is that it leads to an endless cycle of vengeance which he describes as a

Rather than pushing both races to blur the line between whites and blacks, the religion seems to further distinguish this line. Baldwin gives a compelling reason for stating that Americans must separate themselves from Christianity in order to progress into a world where everyone can live free. The Christian religion keeps its members in a prison of blind faith. While the blacks lack freedom because of society's treatment of them, whites lack freedom in their blind following of the belief that they possess superiority over blacks because of skin color. Despite the initial comfort that religion wrapped around Baldwin, he saw its hypocrisy that ensnared the other members and continued the long chain of hate among Americans of every color. Americans’ interpretation of the message of Christianity may lead them to judge others, but Baldwin takes the true message of love and applies it to his plea to have hope. Baldwin states that he and believers like him will “force [their] brothers to see themselves as they are, to cease fleeing from reality and being to change it” (8). In opening their hearts to the Christian commandment to love one another and applying it to their actions, Americans will be able to save themselves from drowning in a flood of their judgments and bring peace to the

In the novel The Fire Next Time Baldwin address the Nation of Islam and its effect on the civil rights movement. The Nation of Islam was a religious movement in the mid-1900s, led by Elijah Muhammad. The religion focused on Black power and taught ideas such as white people are the devil and black people are the original person. Second in command, Malcolm X, was a key figure in the movement and arguably led The Nation of Islam as a political movement. Malcolm X believed in taking control of one’s life; consequently, “Malcolm X’s message was that blacks should accept themselves as they are rather than trying to emulate white people and assimilate into European culture” (Jahn). His ideas of taking matters into one’s own hands and enough waiting around resonated with many and allowed Nation of Islam movement to grow.