I just returned from a fun-filled weekend of camping with my family. We drove out to KOA (Kampsite of America) in PA...set up the tents, bar-b-qued, canoed, played vollyball, made Halal smores, the whole 9 yards. I was like a little kid again...it was GREAT. This was my first time with my wife's family but they had camped many, many times before all over the nation. Its been in my family (on my father's side) to go canoeing but I had never been camping with them.
As we arrived we noticed another Black family (obvious, like a black dot on a white piece of paper). But the thought occurred to me as we arrived...
A vast majority of people enjoying America's campgrounds are white
Survey: 30 million Americans have camped; only 300,000 are black
For years many black people were afraid to camp, black campers' group says
National Park Service hoping to peak minority interest in outdoor recreation
My Perspective:
Camping is not expensive. And its not like you won't ever return to modern conforts. And to dispel another excuse, you don't have to own an RV to camp. Rent you a MiniVan and throw them tent poles on top. Get you some Halal meat and some drinks and any other amenities you'd like and your set.
Ok. So, we've lost touch with nature and the outdoors. That's obvious.
The biggest issue is that the BLACK FAMILY has fell apart. Camping is a family affair. It brings families close and its an activity thats fun for all ages and all family members.
I think all people (not just blacks or Muslims) should really consider indulging in those activities that keep our families close. Just my perspective.
Last week I found myself talking a to very well-respected (but kinda of radical) Muslim elder about Obama and politics. He simply had this to say,
"Well...he's either The Messiah or the ad-Dajjal (anti-Christ) himself!!"
We all started laughing...but I began to think more about this comment after I watched McCain's "The One" ad:
At first glance, my wife and I began to scold the makers of the video. Why would you go so far as to admit that your competitor is "The One" and then question his ability to lead? If he is THE ONE of course he can lead...he's THE ONE!!
Then I began to really think...
Why would they make a mockery of religion? Of the Prophet Moses? Why the specific language? Why the Neo/Jesus references? Anointed himself? Wow! Some language...
African-American's are a people who have been stripped of our human content as G-d created it. We not only lost our culture and way of life through slavery, our identity as human beings were deliberately stripped from us. As Imam Mohammed once said, "G-d is now obligated to bring back justice to His humans that others have taken away."
How would we be able to recognize the restoration of our people unless someone pointed us to the "sign" that we were restored as a people?? OBAMA is the primary example of a new representative spirit for African American people. We are a new people, the beginning of a new people in this new world!
From the Matrix:
I know you're out there. I can feel you now. I know that you're afraid... you're afraid of us. You're afraid of change. I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you. -NEO
CNN- The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for slavery and the era of Jim Crow. Read about it HERE.
Ok. So, its been 143 years since slavery has been abolished and the federal government has just now decided to gather up a formal apology?! A sincere apology seeks forgiveness. I think the government wants to appease and pacify African Americans. Now, more than ever.
Somebody realized that with all the gentrification, inequality, and mental slavery that's still going on...let's throw the "Negros" a pacifier. Actions speak louder than words.
Its so ironic that the same values in which America was founded upon was the same values that it struggles to uphold. It saught freedom, justice, and equality from the British but failed to uphold it to the African peoples that were wrongfully taken from their homes....stripped of their identity...and forced into thralldom.
The key to a successful apology is asking to be forgiven in the right way and at the right time, which America has failed to do.
My Islamic Perspective...
4:58 BEHOLD, God bids you to deliver all that you have been entrusted with unto those who are entitled thereto, and whenever you judge between people, to judge with justice. Verily, most excellent is what God exhorts you to do: verily, God is all-hearing, all-seeing! (Holy Qur'an)
I never truly realized that some people really don't know... I mean lets look at this...what is the IMAGE of Black America? In my post entitled: The Correct Perspective: Part II - How do people view Islam?, I pointed out how people view Islam (for example) is based upon how people view Muslims. People view a religion, a country, a race, (and sometimes an ideal) by the people that represent it. This follows the definition of symbolism.
So, Who represents Black America?
Well, in any case, I do. You do. We all do. All those that claim to be Black, and some who don't. But who is it that most people see? As pointed out by Soledad O'Brien in the video below, Black America is unfairly embodied by crime, rap, and the Hollywood and political stars (the stellar people). She notes that the problem is for young black kids...they believe that what they have been shown is all that is open to them.
The Role Model
Kids deserve to know what is out there for them to achieve. They deserve the opportunity to achieve it. And they deserve to see people like them already achieving it.
And on the other side of the coin...People deserve to see the diversity of Black America. Black America is more than just crime, poverty, and rappers. We need more documentarys like 'Black in America'. We need more poets like Jon Goode, Basheer Jones, and Amir Sulaiman. We need more expression of the diverse Black America. We need more talk about our issues.
We need more Role Models. We need more black (male) teachers, doctors, lawyers. But we also need more software developers, physical therapists, consultants, and social workers. Those successful careers that aren't thought of right away, but lack real Black representation and publicity.
We need more religion and religious leaders. We need a new generation with a new mindset. We need productive leadership. And as my brother so humbly put it....We need a collective spirit. What happened to our collective spirit?
