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Protesting While Muslim: Before Kaepernick there was Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf

5/25/2017

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For many of us who are trying to move towards a more inclusive and open society for everyone, it is essential that we know the benefits and importance of protest. I want to highlight a significant figure within U.S. history whose protest we see continues on today.​
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​In 2016, San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided to protest the National Anthem by not standing. His reasoning was in support of the Black Lives Matter Movement and against the killing of African Americans by the police. Although this was a controversial move, he received widespread support and praise for his actions from all over the nation and world. While corporate America and politicians such as Iowa Congressman Steve King who equated sitting during the National Anthem to a terrorist organization, “This is activism that’s sympathetic to ISIS.” Enduring the harsh words of our elected officials was just the beginning of the effects of Kaepernick’s protest. Unfortunately, his own employer the National Football League has treated him as a pariah. Even this current administration has waded into this issue, on the night of May 2nd, President Donald Trump said he’s the reason Colin Kaepernick hasn’t been signed yet, citing teams’ apparent fear of getting a nasty tweet from him afterwards. After having lead his team to the Super Bowl and NFC championships, he is now, as a free agent, unable to get a contract with any football teams. 20 years ago, almost to the day, another sports athlete, pro-basketball player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf refused to stand for the National Anthem. His treatment has been a cautionary tale for our athletes.
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Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, formerly Chris Jackson, embraced Islam in 1991 when he was a student at my alma mater Louisiana State University (LSU). Interestingly, this is also the school that basketball great Shaquille O’Neal graduated in 2000, so LSU was a feeder school for some of our most talented basketball players. Abdul-Rauf was signed as a star player for the Denver Nuggets, but he was also known for one of the most accurate free-throw shooting records ever. In early 1996 Abdul-Rauf had been trying to avoid controversy regarding the National Anthem by staying in the locker or facing away, finally he decided to stop standing for the anthem. His reasoning for not standing was the result of his becoming more politically aware of the national and global repercussions of US policies noting “the flag in many countries represents “oppression and tyranny.”

The National Basketball Association (NBA) swiftly took action against Abdul-Rauf, suspending him from the team. The suspension was lifted after 72 hours with Abdul-Rauf agreeing to stand with his hands in prayer. Although there was no rule about standing for the anthem, the NBA fined him, suspended him, and tried to end his career. The Nuggets traded him and he wasn’t picked up by any other NBA team. He moved around, playing internationally, but never getting another opportunity to play for the NBA in the US. Abdul-Rauf also received death threats and his house was destroyed due to his actions. These appear to be similar tactics being used against Kaepernick, but now that there is social media and other outlets support for his protest is better mobilized.
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Abdul-Rauf has endured and to this day he repeats what he said when he was being faced with the loss of his career, wealth, and standing as an athlete, “I have no regrets. This is what I believed and I’m not wrong for the stance that I took.” He has read the works of Arundhati Roy, the Indian political activist and author, and her words encouraged and opened his eyes, “Once you see something, you can’t unsee it. So to be silent, to say nothing, is just as political an act of speaking out. Either way you’re accountable. So we’re not saved through our silence, actually, the politics of silence is a negative one, we’re still accountable.” Finally, Abdul-Rauf was recently speaking in Houston, TX about his life and career, something he does much more now that others are comparing Kaepernick’s activism to his, he notes that for him protesting doesn’t conflict with his Muslim faith, “You can’t be for God and for oppression.”
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Other resources about Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf:
  • http://www.what-happened-to-mahmoud-abdul-rauf.com/
  • https://www.thenation.com/article/mahmoud-abdul-rauf-the-nba-player-who-was-colin-kaepernick-twenty-years-before-colin-kaepernick/
  • https://theundefeated.com/features/abdul-rauf-doesnt-regret-sitting-out-national-anthem/
Sources
  1. http://progressive.org/magazine/season-dissent/
  2. http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/roger-goodell-responds-to-president-trumps-colin-kaepernick-comments-032317
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Abdul-Rauf
  4. https://www.thenation.com/article/mahmoud-abdul-rauf-the-nba-player-who-was-colin-kaepernick-twenty-years-before-colin-kaepernick/
  5. Ken Denlinger. “NBA lifts ban after anthem accord.” The Times-Picayune, March 15, 1996, A 1, A 10.
  6. https://www.thenation.com/article/mahmoud-abdul-rauf-the-nba-player-who-was-colin-kaepernick-twenty-years-before-colin-kaepernick/

  7. https://theundefeated.com/features/abdul-rauf-doesnt-regret-sitting-out-national-anthem/
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      Sengbe Pieh (Cinque) and the Amistad Revolt       

2/27/2017

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As an archivist at the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana from 1988 to 2001, I was understandably aware of the significance of the Amistad Revolt and its place in American history, but it was never positioned as an important event related to Muslims or Islamic history in America. About two years after working at the Center, I came across a newspaper account of the meeting of the Amistad Africans with a translator, James Covey, contracted by the Amistad Committee (later the American Missionary Association) to assist in the defense of the jailed Africans in New Haven, Connecticut. To my surprise and utter confusion was the first words spoken to the Africans was “As Salaamu Alaikum!” The translator further stated that upon seeing the Africans he immediately recognized them as Muslims from the Mende tribe. I was astonished that no one, including our director, noted Amistad Research Center director and historian of American Missionary Association (AMA), scholar Dr. Clifton Herman Johnson had ever once mentioned this connection to me, a visibly African American Muslim. The Amistad Committee had specifically discussed the issue of these Africans being “Mohammadans” and this had given them pause as to whether they should use them as a test case to challenge the system of slavery in the courts. In spite of these real concerns the Amistad Committee headed by Lewis and Arthur Tappan, wealthy financiers and abolitionists, decided to go ahead with using the Africans’ case due to the impressive and dignified presence of Sengbe Pieh (later Joseph Cinque), the leader of the Amistad Africans.

Who was Sengbe Pieh (Cinque) and why is it important to recognize, acknowledge and celebrate his identity as a Muslim? Cinque was the leader of the Amistad Revolt, one of the most celebrated uprisings against the Transatlantic slave trade that occurred in 1839. On the morning of June 28, 1839, La Amistad (a Spanish schooner meaning friendship) set sail from Havana, Cuba, with 53 Africans on board who had been abducted from West Africa and sold in violation of international law. Their intended fate was enslavement on plantations down coast from Havana. After overhearing the cook discuss eating them, probably spoken in jest, but these Africans were aware and deathly afraid of cannibalism, so led by Cinque, the Africans attacked the crew of the Amistad schooner, killing all but two of the crew members. They ordered that the ship be guided toward the rising sun, back to Africa, but each night the Cubans reversed direction. 

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​Zigzagging for two months, the ship eventually was brought by northerly winds and currents to Long Island. The Africans were jailed and charged with piracy and murder. In New York City, a group of Christian abolitionists, headed by Lewis Tappan, formed a defense committee. Cinque was known to have taken an active and central part in making the argument for the Africans. It was important that their voices and concerns were central to their defense. Cinque met with the attorneys throughout the case and one of the most important arguments made was his main statement he requested be told to the judges, “tell them that we want free” ie we want to be freed. The case wound its way through the court system, with the Africans taking an important part in the defense. With help from former President John Quincy Adams, attorneys took the case to the United States Supreme Court, which ruled that the Africans were free.
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After such an amazing victory to have occurred during a time when slavery was still institutionalized in America, Cinque and the Amistad Africans should be celebrated. What they show us is that even the oppressed and downtrodden can be victorious. Even in the most dehumanizing and hopeless conditions, it is important to fight for yourself and your rights. In recent research (linked below) scholars have worked to bring to light the significance of Cinque’s role as a hero for African, African Americans and Muslims.
 
For more information on the Amistad Africans and Cinque click on the links below:
 
  • Howard Jones, “Cinque of the Amistad a Slave Trader? Perpetuating a Myth” in Journal of American History (2000)
  • http://www.common-place-archives.org/vol-10/no-01/yannielli/
  • Amistad Research Center at Tulane University-The Amistad Event
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._The_Amistad
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    Rebecca Hankins

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