 to borrow from Maya Angelou's I Rise |
America Rises
In aftermath of Trade Towers Attack, September 11
to borrow from Maya Angelou's I Rise |
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Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan at Mosque Maryam in Chicago Sunday, September 16. "... though the pain that black people have suffered in America has caused me to be angry with the country of my birth," Farrakhan says, "I know that with all of America's problems, she's the greatest nation on this earth." |
In the 2000 election, Bush's rival, Al Gore, the Democratic
presidential nominee, won 90 percent of the black vote to Bush's 8
percent, and black suspicion of Bush only grew after reports of voter
irregularities and allegations of black voter disenfranchisement in
Florida. In the opening months of his presidency Bush tried to counter
widespread African American mistrust by making minority political
appointments and backing policies most African Americans support, such
as educational reform. But these overtures did little to win over most
blacks.
And when the Bush Administration decided to pull out of the United
Nations' World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa in
August, the move solidified the suspicion among black leaders that
Bush was not serious about issues of concern to African Americans.
"Black leadership was geared up to make a stand against Bush after the
UN conference on race," said Dr. Robert Smith, a political scientist
at San Francisco State and the author of "We Have No Leaders," which
discusses black leadership in the US.
But all that changed as a result of the September 11th terrorist
attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In the wake of the
deaths of more than 6,000 people, and at a time of fear and
insecurity, black political leadership has been largely supportive of
President Bush.
Following the President's national address two weeks ago, a CNN/USA
Today Gallup poll reported that 90 percent of Americans approved of
President Bush, the highest presidential job approval rating ever
measured by Gallup. While specific statistical black support for
President Bush and his performance is not known, black leaders have
expressed their support for Bush or have muted their previous
criticism of him. Within Congress, only US Rep. Barbara Lee, a
Democrat from California, voted against granting President Bush the
authority to strike back at the alleged perpetrators of the terrorist
attack.
"I am convinced that military action will not prevent further acts of
international terrorism against the United States," said Lee from the
House floor. "This resolution will pass, although we all know that
the President can wage a war even without it."
But Lee's colleagues Maxine Waters, Juanita Millender-McDonald, Jesse
Jackson, Jr. and Bobby Rush, all of whom normally vote with her on
defense and military issues, disagreed with Lee's position and chose
to support the president. "Black leadership has been with Bush,
because this was an attack on us [America]," explains Smith. First
of all, there were a lot of blacks killed in the terrorist attacks.
Many also feel that the persons involved in the attacks have to be
punished for this.
The unified, and unifying, sense of outrage has led Congressional
leaders who are usually the president's fiercest critics to speak
favorably on his resolute handling of the crisis.
"The president has done an adequate job in terms of leadership," said
Millender-McDonald, adding that she would give Bush a 75 to 85
percent approval rating for his handling of the crisis. She said his
sternness in the face of adversity has calmed the nation, and she
praised the way in which he has stressed the theme of national
togetherness.
In a similar reversal, black civic and religious leaders have also
expressed support and encouragement for Bush.
At the NAACP convention in July, Julian Bond, the Chairman of the
NAACP, was highly critical of the Bush administration, saying that
Bush's top judicial nominees hailed from the "Taliban wing" of the
Republican Party, whose "devotion to the Confederacy is nearly canine
in its uncritical affection."
But since September 11, Bond has changed his tune.
"We praise President George W. Bush for his visit to Washington's
Islamic Center and his forthright stand against hate crimes and racial
and ethnic profiling," Bond said. Even Nation of Islam leader
Minister Louis Farrakhan, known for his relentless criticism of US
governments and American foreign policy, struck a supportive note in
his remarks on the attacks and the Bush administration's response.
Speaking at a September 16 press conference at Mosque Maryam in
Chicago, Minister Farrakhan noted that an America once sorely divided
after the 2000 election had been united by the unprecedented tragedy.
"The Congress has been deeply divided, and no amount of political
skill or political money could unite America behind its President, but
tragedy did," said Minister Farrakhan, who spoke while flanked by
American flags. "No amount of political skill could unite the
Democrats and the Republicans, but tragedy did. No amount of preaching
by all of us who preach could make the many diverse elements of
society come together as brothers and sisters in a unified expression,
but tragedy did."
And while the NOI rhetoric has not historically embraced a sense of
American patriotism, Farrakhan seemed proud to claim and defend his US
citizenship and heritage. "I was born in this country in New York
City, he said. And though the pain that black people have suffered
in America has caused me to be angry with the country of my birth,
however, in my maturation, I know that with all of America's problems,
she's the greatest nation on this earth. And in spite of America's
problems, America has the potential to become the greatest nation
ever."
Farrakhan said he supports President Bush's effort to bring to justice
the individuals or governments responsible for the attacks. "We stand
with President Bush, the government and the people of the United
States in their desire to hunt down those responsible for this heinous
crime against humanity," he said.
Similarly, immediately after the attacks, the Rev. Jesse Jackson
quieted his criticism of Bush.
Political analysts like Smith believe that
most black leaders and citizens will remain behind Bush as long as he
is focused on apprehending and punishing the perpetrators of the
terrorist acts.
Bush has a free hand to retaliate any way he wants to, in regards to
bin Laden and Afghanistan, said Smith. But, he added, this could
change if such retaliation develops into extended military action in
other regions of the Middle East. If he goes beyond that, in terms of
attacking Syria or Iraq, then I think you will see some objections
from black leadership, added Smith.
While most blacks regarded George W. Bush with skepticism as a
presidential candidate in 2000, as the US prepares to launch a
military strike on Afghanistan, African American leaders, like most
Americans, have rallied to support the Commander-in-Chief.
Nation of Islam - Official Website Here
Ungodly white hypocrisy - pious white liberals?
George W. Bush - whither the Republicans?
*Islam yes, Terror no!* - an apology to America
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Abdel Rahman al-Rashed wrote a startling article that turns out to be less sensational than the title, (A Wake-up Call : Almost all terrorists are Muslims). He wrote: It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists these days are Muslims. more. |
"It was a rude awakening for the Muslim world, after the phenomenal success of the earlier centuries, to find itself by the early twentieth century on what looked like the losing side of history. It was even more difficult to explain the decline, bearing in mind the Kuranic promise that the Umma consisted of the best of all people. The many weaknesses produced the sense that something had gone terribly wrong, but it did not result in creative self-examination. The question never was 'What have we done?' but always 'What have they done to us?' [resulting in blame of western imperialism, Jews, etc]" [Page 185]
What was the phenomenal success of earlier centuries? Trifkovic quotes John Docker, who specifically references the Judeo-Islamic culture of pre-1492 Moorish Spain, which permitted and relished a plurality, a convivencia, of religions and cultures. There was an inclusiveness, a cosmopolitanism. [Page 182]
While pretending to deny that there was ever a Golden Age of Islam, Trifkovic even tries to call such a Golden Age "mythical," he nevertheless concedes that "There have been times ... when some Muslim lands were fit for a cultivated man to live in. Baghdad under Harun al-Rashid, ... or Cordova very briefly under Abd ar-Rahman in the tenth century, come to mind." Trifkovic seems unable to deny the achievement of the second dynasty of the caliphate, that of the Abbasids, who succeeded the Umayyads and ascended to the caliphate in AD 750. Sharing the spotlight for this exceptional period, Trifkovic mentions by name the three Persians al-Kindi, al-Farabi, and Avicenna. [193] And in Spain, Averroes, as well as the Jew Maimonides, and Ibn Khaldun. "A Christian, Constantine 'the African' and a native of Carthage, translated medical works from Arab into Latin, thus introducing Greek Medicine to the West." (He translated Hippocrates and Galen)
He seems almost to want to praise Farabi (the author of The Ideas of the Citizens of the Virtuous City).
Trifkovic refuses to give Islam any credit for the insights of Sufism, in fact, he calls Sufi mysticism to be quite un-Islamic. "Sufism was a mystical rebellion against the spiritual rigidity of Islam." It "sought to find divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of Allah...... It is akin to mystical sects everywhere." [Page 194]
Trifkovic conveniently ignores the fact that Sufis themselves most certainly regarded themselves as fully Muslim, fully true to Islam.
But much of Trifkovic' book is absorbed with the innumerable atrocities of Islam, its oppressions of women, its enslavement of black Africans, its Christian-slaying and Jew-hating, the Caliph Umar's burning of the Alexandria library, the barbarity of today's Wahhabism or Shi'ite radicalism.
