Universally Speaking
Message to the Black Community
Rahim Islam is a National Speaker and Writer, Convener of Philadelphia Community of Leaders, and President/CEO of Universal Companies, a community development and education management company headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. Follow Rahim Islam on FaceBook(Rahim Islam) & Twitter (@RahimIslamUC)
Rahim Islam
The association of terrorism with Islam is an old dirty trick to glorify white supremacy and the religion of Christianity.
Two very important points I would like to make in writing this article: 1.) We need to expand the concepts of terrorism and terrorist. 2.) We need to stop making the association with terrorist acts and religion.
White America doesn’t have the moral right to spew such nonsense given that they are far from unblemished. I know
Donald Trump is only one person, but he represents the prototypical white male image and the fact that he continues leading in the polls means he is representing a significant number of people who think and feel the same way he does. White America, from the far left to the far right (all of them), benefits from the highest level of white “privilege” with the most significant outcome of privilege being the worst form of amnesia.
I consider selective amnesia as another form of racism.
Did Donald Trump and White America forget about the Native American Holocaust and the annihilation of nearly 100 million Indians?
Did Donald Trump and White America forget about the Black Holocaust and the absolute terror that heaped on the black community by America by “so-called” God-fearing, God-loving American Christians?
I would love to hear any white person call those Christians terrorists.
Like those who deny the existence of the Jewish Holocaust, it’s time for the white community to stop denying the existence and impact of their ancestors’ acts against our ancestors and begin to recognize and accept the “massive” benefit and privilege these acts have afforded them.
Even though white slave owners and the barbaric, criminal and terroristic chattel enslavement of blacks that lasted for over 300 years no longer exist, they must be placed in the forefront because America’s greatness is not in the past, but lies in the future. T
he most lucrative American institution was the enslavement of back people and it represents one of the saddest commentaries on man’s terrorism to man in modern history (est. 6000 years).
This history is so brutal and morbid that all of America has tried to hide and cover it up and for the most part, remove it from history books.
As cruel and painful as chattel slavery was, it was exceeded by the capturing of black peoples’ minds by imprisoning motivation, perception, aspiration, and identity in a web of antiself-images, language, art, and religion.
How convenient for White America to forget about the enslavement of black people, but also the terrorist groups like the Klu Klux Klan and Jim Crow laws that supported and perpetuated the physical and psychological abuse of blacks for nearly 75 years after slavery.
The struggle against terrorism has never ended for the black man in America.
After countless struggles, marches, riots, demonstrations, and the passing of civil and voting rights legislation, black Americans have entered the new millennium the same way they entered the previous four centuries – impoverished.
Blacks still bear nearly ten times their proportional share of poverty and its nasty derivatives (i.e. broken homes, drug abuse, incarceration, unemployment).
The redistribution of wealth and power has never been achieved nor has any compensation been given to blacks for nearly 300 years of free labor.
What we really have seen in America is social integration, not economic integration.
As Dr. Claude Anderson stated, “It is extremely difficult for black people to progress when same hands that held the whip still hold all of the wealth and power.”
I liken the current benefits of slavery (white privilege) to the person who is criminally charged in a theft even though he or she didn’t “directly” participate (i.e. didn’t do the actual stealing).
What they did was receive and currently use the stolen property and therefore they are “conspirators” in the crime – their actions have significantly contributed to the massive level of poverty engulfing the majority of the black community.
Today, nearly 50 years after the Civil Rights legislation, the economic conditions and structural poverty for too many black people threaten every aspect of life that continues for untold black generations – isn’t this terrorism?
I contend, like wealth, poverty is inherited and where one’s start in life is extremely important, black people have never had the opportunity to not only inherit wealth, but to create wealth because they were enslaved and their labor was never compensated.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once stated the worst form of terrorism is poverty and all “right” minded people can no longer be silent and remain part of the silent majority.
I believe Donald Trump has forfeited his rights to seek the highest office in the world as President of the United States of America.
Why? His views are inconsistent with the core of what America is about. America is represented by nearly every nationality and religion in the world and to be president, you must have the ability and fortitude to protect and serve all Americans, especially the minorities. This is the real demonstration of democracy.
At a minimum, the Republican Party should disqualify him and not allow him to run.
Hasn’t the Republican Party gotten the message about not holding their members accountable for espousing racist views?
I don’t want to absolve democrats either, because the loyalty of the majority of blacks to them hasn’t produced any positive results. However, democrats at least act like they understand; we can’t even get to first base with republicans.
We must not remain silent about the bigoted statements and media description of terrorists. Terrorists are terrorists and nothing more.
Terrorists are criminals and the only other adjective we need to place on them is “insane.”
Those who use religion to undertake the killing of innocent people are still terrorists and if they are part of an organization, the organization is a terrorist.
If Americans want to connect the Islam religion with acts of terror and with acts of terror and use phrases like “extreme Islamist” or Islamic Jihadist,” I say that’s hypocritical because we can make the same argument for what “so-called” Christians have done in causing terroristic acts.
I don’t believe the religion of Islam or Christianity condones acts of terror –nothing is wrong with the religions.
Instead, the insane people who want to disguise themselves under the cloak of religion are unconscionable.
Terrorism is terrorism and terrorist organizations and individual terrorists are criminal and evil.
WE CAN NO LONGER BE A MEMBER OF THE SILENT MAJORITY – FOR EVIL TO TRIUMPH IT REQUIRES THE SILENCE OF GOOD PEOPLE AND IN SPITE OF AMERICA’S BLEMISHED HISTORY – I BELIEVE IN THE GOOD PEOPLE OF AMERICA AND THE MAJORITY WILL REJECT RACISM OF ANY TYPE.
