Imam Alfred Mohammed invites Dr. Molefi Kete Asante to a debate on his Religion Means Alive Radio Program. My review of 2 articles on the same topic: I wish to ‘thank’ Arlene Edmonds for her generous and free publicity of Dr. Molefi Asante’s agitation of the Black self-hate gene (Germantown Courier 10/ 3/14 edition and Philadelphia Tribune 9/19/14 edition). Ms. Edmonds wrote about a lecture held at the MKA Institute in Germantown in September. The theme of the lecture was Who stole the Black Movement? The Road to the Revival of the Systematic Nationalist Tradition., where Asante allegedly blames African American adherents to Islam and Black Panther involvement with Marxism for the failures of the “Black Movement”. Of course, Dr. Asante can and does say anything he chooses inside of his own institution. I am questioning why these newspapers found his biased statements worthy of publication. In my opinion, the lecture included provocative statements that encourages in-fighting amongst Black groups by utilizing revisionist history and bigoted, unsubstantiated statements. I question what Ms. Edmonds’ motive is in all of this. Perhaps the Tribune article submitted by Ms. Edmonds (who is listed as a “Tribune correspondent”) was so poorly written that she felt the need to turn in make-up work. Curious is the fact that the 10 /3 edition of the Germantown Courier featured 7 articles, 5 of which were written by Ms Edmonds. The Courier states its An edition of the West Oak Lane Leader. Unlike Edmonds’ claim that Asante made statements that were never made in public before on Sept. 13, I have heard him make very negative statements against Islam and Christianity on several occasions. Edmonds further reports that Asante said “…they joined everything except anything Black...In essence, many forgot who their ancestor were [sic], according to the scholar.” She writes that Dr. Asante left his Christian upbringing and “…embraced a more indigenous African faith.”, yet she doesn’t name what that “faith” is. Edmonds writes that despite Asantes embracing of a new faith, he has “…collaborated on projects with ministers…”. The one ‘project’ that I am familiar with was the fund raising play for his institute which featured a local minister and an attorney portraying Dr. King and Minister Malcolm X, respectively. Ironically the attorney was Tariq El Shabazz, another African-American that has embraced Islam and taken an Arabic / African name. She writes about “new alliances” but doesn’t name what they are. So what does Dr. Asante plan to do? Does he advocate for alliances that exclude adherents to the Islamic faith or persons that have taken on non-‘African’ names? I read Afrocentricity (Asante, 1988) more than 17 years ago and noted Asantes anti-Islam rhetoric. His stance is his loss, however, he is fanning the current flames of islamophobia while failing to acknowledge the African origins of all humanity. I can’t help but think of our living heroes, Mumia Abu Jamal and Imam Jamil Abdullah Al- Amin (formerly H. Rap Brown) both (ex-) Black Panthers and currently political prisoners, inside “the belly of the beast”. Both men continue to fight for “our” community and for all political prisoners; each continuing to educate and inspire. In fact, Wesley Cook renamed himself Mumia (‘prince’ in a Kenyan dialect) Abu Jamal (Arabic for father of Jamal) and he continues to inform everyone he encounters. H. Rap Brown renamed as Jamil Abdullah Al Amin (Arabic for ‘handsome servant of The Trustworthy’) who dedicated his life protecting, improving and maintaining the Black community, despite all of the abuse of the oppressors’ until he was framed and imprisoned. I can’t help but think of Fred Hampton Jr., who lost his brilliant (Black Panther) father to the violent hands of the oppressor. I can’t help but question why Asante specifically names the Nation of Islam as a culprit, ignoring their long history of organizing and uplifting members of “our” group. Why can’t Dr. Asante find something GOOD to say about our people? And what was Dr. Asante thinking of as he stood in line, waiting to speak with Imam Al-Amin? I believe that Ms. Edmonds didnt and doesnt have the right to publicize Dr. Asante’s unbalanced speech without ample opportunity for redress. According to Dr. Kmt Shockley (The miseducation of Black children, 2008), having a lot of information and knowledge about African history is not sufficient; one must treat others properly (have good character) and develop a Pan-African worldview. A local scholar noted that Asante’s “…observations are not a thorough critique of the decline of [the] Black Power Movement. One cannot discount the force of COINTELPRO, the assassinations of key movement leaders and the sense of urgency that declined after the Voting Rights Act was passed. Finally, the assimilation that accompanied desegregation played an incredibly damaging role in the decline of connection to community.” Absent any scholarly references or statistics, Dr. Asante’s opinions present as baseless ranting- or as the Quran often refers to as “mere conjecture”. POST SCRIPT: i HAVE SOME WONDERFUL GRAPHICS TO ADD BUT CANT GET THEM TO PASTE AT THIS TIME. MORE TO COME!
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 05:16:25 +0000
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