We Still Fight for Justice Within a System

For Martin Luther King fought for the civil rights of African American minorities from 1950s-1960s. The civil rights movement was an act performed by African Americans in order to seek equal rights as citizens and end racial segregation under one nation. Exactly 50 years have passed since the civil rights movement has ended and yet minority groups such as African Americans and Muslims are still fighting for justice. After the 9/11 attacks in 2001 located in New York City, the lives of Muslim Americans became just as difficult as African Americans living in the United States.

Muslims and African Americans share a common experience of high levels of discrimination, living in a country where they work to achieve the same goals of success. Not only is it difficult being one or the other but its even more difficult to be both in a society as such. During the 1930s, the Nation of Islam was founded, an “African American movement and organization...known for its teachings combining elements of traditional Islam with black nationalist ideas,” according to britannica.

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com. In fact, as expressed by britannica.com, Islam was actually brought to the US through Muslim African American slaves. This explains how the association between Islam and African Americans go way back into history.

Significant leaders that were part of the civil rights movement were also part of the Nation of Islam such as Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, and Sonia Sanchez. Speaking of famous poet Sonia Sanchez, women were also important activists of both the Nation of Islam and the civil rights movement.

One story, in particular, was that of Ana Karim. Ana Karim was “An SNCC activist carrying out voter registration work in poor, rural areas near Tuskegee Institute, where she attended college, Ana witnessed grave atrocities against African Americans,” as expressed by fromthesquare.org. Women devoted to the nation of Islam seeing the confinements they had in the society at the time and witnessing the terrible acts of terror against African Americans. As Jamillah Karim stated in her article, “men and women who converted to Islam to boldly protest racism and advance opportunities for African Americans.” Not only does this portray the African American women at the time, but also how Muslims were portrayed before the 9/11 attacks. September 11, 2001, was a day that most people refer to as 9/11 when “19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism,” according to history.com. This was the attack that changed the lives of Muslims in America forever.

Muslims all around the US began to be treated with utter racism and discrimination just for being Muslim, whether it was a woman wearing a hijab or a man named Mohammed. People were discriminated against everywhere physically, verbally, and emotionally. Not only was it just the general public, but government based workers like TSA agents made it even more difficult for Muslims to travel and get through security. As stated in the huffingtonpost.com, “Riaz said when she travels with her family, there’s always at least one person in the group with an SSSS-stamped boarding pass...The Secondary Security Screening Selection subjects passengers to additional inspections.” People began to perceive “ Muslims, Arabs and anyone who looked like the terrorists responsible,” for the attacks as stated by huffingtonpost.com and using them as a “scapegoat.” Not only were adults inhumanely, but children were also severely mistreated in school as they got bullied for their own identity by other students and even some from their own teachers.

However, while people are too busy misjudging Muslims, they are overlooking “how vocally most Muslims stand against terrorism, extremism, and violence,” as expressed by religionnews.com. There are many organizations that are led by Muslims as religionnews.com expressed, such as “organizations like the Muslim Public Affairs Council and Islamic Society of North America,” etc. Muslims are using their voices to condemn violence and terrorism all around the country but even while doing so people still question why they are not doing more. The United States has suffered a great ordeal of hate crimes which resulted in many unjust deaths of African Americans and Muslim Americans, especially in the last few years.

Raising awareness to prevent such incidents the Black Lives Matter movement was founded July of 2013. #BlackLivesMatter has become a trending hashtag that covers a broad spectrum of racial incidents against African Americans globally. It brings attention to those events occurring that are not broadcasted by news channels in order for every story to have a chance to be heard. It also brings people together in times of need to make change happen whether that is through protesting or signing a petition. This compares to the events that occurred during the 1950s in America. Even after 50 years, since the civil rights movement has ended, African Americans and other minorities like Muslims are still victims of inequality in this country. The highest mortality rate in the US is that of African American males.

Police brutality going hand in hand with gun violence has become a leading cause of these deaths. According to the statistics provided by CNN.com, “Compared with white men, the researchers found that black men experienced 27 more firearm homicides per 100,000 people annually nationwide (29.12 for black men vs. 2.1 for white men). The states with the highest rates of firearm homicide among black men in the data -- namely Missouri, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana -- also had the largest disparities between blacks and whites, the researchers found.” There were on many accounts when our 44th President Barack Obama expressed his concerns about the homicides that take place in the US through firearms. As abc.com states, “‘It is absolutely true that the murder rate in the African-American community is way out of whack compared to the general population,’ Obama said. ‘And both the victims and the perpetrators are black, young black men.’” Not only that but President Obama had also explained the meaning of Black Lives Matter after asked by a police officer on his challenge to protect Africans Americans in the society while they hold this prenotion of all police being racially biased. The President replied, “‘I think it’s important for us to also understand that the phrase 'Black Lives Matter' simply refers to the notion that there’s a specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed,’ he said. ‘It’s not meant to suggest that other lives don’t matter. It’s to suggest that other folks aren’t experiencing this particular vulnerability.’”

Similar to Martin Luther King’s speech, President Obama expressed his concerns as well as recognized the ongoing issues in today's society regarding race and brutality. Not only that but he is also bringing awareness to the movement of Black Lives Matter and educating others on what it stands for. As of 2018, there are several Muslim and African American activists that are using their platforms and voices to make a change in this society. One such activist includes Hasan Minhaj, a Muslim-American comedian that is formerly known to be on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” as he poked jokes about the political state of this country, sometimes even in a satirical way. According to time.com, he also performed on stage during the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2017 discussing our first amendment rights especially freedom of speech and freedom of the press. He expresses how the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump is very disobedient of the first amendment itself as he was not even present at the dinner. Not only that but he discusses the issues spiraling the travel ban and the poor treatment of immigrants ever since Donald has become president.

Therefore this is an example of a Muslim-American comedian taking what he is best at and using it to raise awareness for current issues following minorities. Hasan Minhaj along with Ibtihaj Muhammad, Nailah Lymus, Rep. Keith Ellison, Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, State Rep. Ilhan Omar are only some to name that was part of cnn.com’s “25 Influential American Muslims” list. These individuals, amongst many, are also African American, are breaking barriers in today's world as they excel tremendously in their own fields. Ibtihaj Muhammad was “the first Muslim-American to wear a hijab in Olympic competition, where she won a bronze medal in the team sabre event.” She uses her position as an Olympian to talk about “tolerance and diversity.” She is also of African American descent as is Nailah Lymus, Su’ad Abdul Khabeer and State Representative Ilhan Omar who is also “country’s first Somali-American Muslim lawmaker,” according to cnn.com. Even though minorities are finally leveling up in the work field especially women, prejudice such as Islamophobia, Xenophobia, and racism still exists in America.

Donald Glover , also known as Childish Gambino, released a song called “This is America,” on May 5th 2018 from his album “CG4”. In his music video he showed many accounts of incidents that occured in the past few years. According to genius.com, the music video “appears to be a commentary on black life in America and American culture as a whole. It contrasts popular culture’s perception of black experience and its often brutal reality by juxtaposing happy, carefree choruses and dark, aggressive verses.” Glover also holds different positions in the video that ties back to possible references to history such as the Jim Crow caricature, around the time interval 0:50-0:53 in the music video available on youtube.com. He also expresses current day incidents that are occurring like deaths of African Americans through police brutality and the use of gun violence. Salon.com expresses how “a new study showed that many Americans view Muslims in the United States as insufficiently ‘American,’ and almost 20 percent would deny Muslim citizens the right to vote.” This is what is wrong with America. Even at this time an age, people are so close-minded to the point that they are willing to take away the right to vote from citizens, something they have fought for decades ago.

Democracy is our system of government in the US that allows citizens to vote for who they choose to run our country. As minorities, if we get this right taken from us what is the purpose of our 15th Amendment that, according to constituteproject.org, states, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude .” Muslim Americans along with African Americans are fighting for their rights to live and prosper in this country every day. When one thinks about it, it is actually mind blowing how they are still having to fight for rights that they lawfully earned after half a century ago. The purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was to end segregation amongst race, nationality, ethnicity, sexuality, and color. However, hate crimes, police brutality, unlawful firearm violence amongst many more are common causes for the death of minorities, especially African American men, takes us many steps back. Regardless of that, as the minority population in America progress in their own ways, we will show the world that we are not any less than someone else and we deserve the right to succeed as any other citizen does. As Philip Vera Cruz once said, “ Education and knowledge are the power of minorities in this country.”