Archive for May 2009
Some Muslims rethink close ties to law enforcement
Afsheen Shamsi of CAIR
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Mohammad Qatanani’s mosque was full of FBI agents the night before he was to find out if he would be deported.
But even though the federal government was trying to link Qatanani to foreign extremists, the agents weren’t there to keep an eye on him. They wanted to show their support for a Muslim leader they considered a valued ally for the relationships he helped forge between the FBI and Muslims in the wake of 9/11.
Across the nation, such grass-roots relationships between Muslims and the federal government are in jeopardy. A coalition of Muslim groups is calling for Muslims to stop cooperating with the FBI — not on national security or safety issues but on community outreach. Read the rest of this entry »
What the Pakistani people would tell Obama
Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images
A girl runs through a Peshawar camp for Pakistanis displaced by fighting in the surrounding areas between the army and Taliban militants.
‘Everyday people’ interviewed on the street cite deadly drone attacks and the struggles of the poor as their top concerns. Obama is to meet with the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan this week.
By Mark Magnier
May 5, 2009
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan — Many Pakistanis welcomed the election of President Obama as an opportunity for some fresh thinking about their troubled region.
But the honeymoon hasn’t lasted long. As Obama prepares to meet with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai this week in Washington, Pakistanis from different walks of life say they’d give the U.S. leader an earful if they, rather than their president, had a seat at the White House table. Read the rest of this entry »
“Facing Race: Muslims and Islam” Series
GOATMILK continues its original and exclusive month long series entitled “Facing Race: Muslims and Islam” featuring diverse Muslim writers from around the world discussing race, ethnicity, prejudice, stereotyping and multiculturalism in the post 9-11 world
Muslims Facing Race
Br. Dawan Muhammad
Under the regime of Caucasian Americans the most ridiculous yet compelling justification for racism continues to be the idea that power is somehow based on physical characteristics, with skin color being at the top of the list. Class and status also rank high in the pecking order, which is why racists also need to believe that they are superior, and need to make others believe that they are inferior. Simply put, a racist has an obsessive compulsion to degrade and dominate others. Every so-called ethnic group in America experiences a unique brand of racism usually related to some aspect of each group’s physical characteristics or cultural tradition. Read the rest of this entry »
New media, new Muslim voices
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/01/wolfe.new.media/index.html
Special to CNN
Editor’s note: Michael Wolfe is co-founder of Unity Productions Foundation, a nonprofit organization that has produced six documentary films for national broadcast. He edited the Wilbur-award-winning book “Taking Back Islam: American Muslims Reclaim their Faith,” and his television work has been nominated for Peabody and Emmy awards.
(CNN) — “The media is dying.” It’s the title of a Twitter page and a prime topic of conversation among reporters.
Enter a room full of journalists, and you’ll hear constant anxious chatter about dying newspapers and massive layoffs at print publications.
Just one example: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently became the first major newspaper to cease its print edition and go exclusively online, after more than 150 years of chronicling the city’s history.
As a writer who’s been in the game for years — over 30 and counting — I’m challenged by all there is to learn and at times overwhelmed as I watch old media gradually head toward extinction. Yet, as a Muslim writer, I am excited by the world of new possibilities. Why? Because I recognize that mastering the online world can unleash a great force to promote understanding among people. Read the rest of this entry »
