Black Muslims and The Sudan
By Salim Muwakkil
(In these Times, September 13)
It has taken a genocide in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands have
been killed in a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing and countless more
continue to die in disease-ridden refugee camps, to force influential
segments of the black activist community to put aside their differences
and acknowledge a long history of ongoing atrocities in the Sudan.
For years, some black activists have charged the Islamic government
of Sudan with supporting Arab militias that raid Christian and
traditionalist areas of southern Sudan and force their black African
captives into slavery. Others argued that those charges were
manufactured primarily to justify Western intervention in the
region.
Initially, the disagreement was centered in the Black Nationalist
community and, to put it simply, was divided between nationalists who
were Muslim and those who were Pan-Africanists. Many Muslim
nationalists believed the charges of slavery were fabricated for the
purpose of anti-Islamic propaganda. But Pan-African nationalists found
more than a grain of truth in the charges and pushed the issue into the
public light.
The apparent sectarian character of the militia raids eventually
energized various Christian groups and they began mobilizing in
opposition to the Sudanese government. The ardent support of these
often right-wing groups further clouded the issue for many black
activists who suspected their new allies had ulterior motives.
Thus, the effort to bring attention to the issue of slavery in the
Sudan was crippled. But a dedicated group of pan-African nationalists
continued to push the cause and consistently condemned the Sudan's
Islamic regime; some blamed prominent black Muslims for helping to keep
the issue off the table.
'Black Muslims were reluctant to criticize the Islamist government in
the Sudan, which is based in the north in Khartoum, because of their
religious and other ties," says Nate Clay, talk-show host, newspaper
publisher and one of the most vocal members of this pan-Africanist
group.
Clay is gratified that so many black activists, politicians and
celebrities have been willing to get arrested in front of the Sudanese
embassy in Washington D.C. in the last few months to protest the
atrocities in Darfur. But he also is a little disgusted.
'What really bothers me about this sudden flash of consciousness is
that they've only become interested in the Sudan in the face of the
white media's interest in the issue," he says. 'Where were they when
the Sudanese government and its Arab militia were busy killing 2
million black Africans in the southern Sudan?"
He believes African-American leaders were intimidated by black
Muslims – in particular, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
'Farrakhan knows about this and I've heard him condemn Arab racism. But
he talks out of both sides of his mouth. I think he has become too
dependent on Arab money."
But the latest conflict in Darfur pits Muslim against Muslim. As Eric
Reeves reported in the September 20 issue of In These Times (See
'Deathly Silence," p. 8), members of the tribal groups most affected by
the ethnic cleansing are Muslim, as are the government and its Arab
militia (the Janjaweed). Although the government reportedly got
involved to suppress political opposition, the conflict now seems to be
driven by ethnic, or at least cultural, animosities. Many members of the
Janjaweed are dark-skinned Africans who identify with Arab culture. They
would more accurately be called Arabized militia.
Since the religious component has been neutralized, several
African-American Islamic groups have joined the protest against the
Sudanese government's treatment of the Muslim tribal groups that don't
identify themselves as Arabs. In fact, one group – Project Islamic
H.O.P.E. – has called for Islamic governments and organizations to
protest Khartoum's action in Darfur.
'These Arab and Muslim leaders seek out our support on issues like
Palestinian rights, religious racial profiling of civil liberties
violations and American treatment of Islamic countries, but these
Muslim leaders aren't saying anything about the genocide of the African
population in the Sudan," says Najee Ali, founder of Islamic H.O.P.E.
The issue also sparked some heated discussions at the recent convention
of the American Society of Muslims, the largest group of indigenous
Muslims in the country.
The situation in Darfur is forcing a focus on an issue the Muslim
world has tended to avoid: race. And although the Western media's
depiction of the current conflict as one between Arab and African
groups is too simplistic, there is a well-documented history of
anti-black Arab bias in the region that has seldom been explored.
So, while Darfur has closed gaps between black activists, it has
opened one between Muslims. Too bad it required the tragedy of another
African genocide to provoke a conversation about Arab racism that is
long past overdue.
Salim Muwakkil is a senior editor of In These Times, where he has
worked since 1983, and an op-ed columnist for the Chicago Tribune. He
is currently a Crime and Communities Media Fellow of the Open Society
Institute, examining the impact of ex-inmates and gang leaders in
leadership positions in the black community.
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