Muslim Voice
19 th
Ser ving the o C m mu n
New Look
december 2012
Year
it y
Muharam/safar 1433H
Monthly Newspaper
www.AZMuslimVoice.com
MLFA Troubled by Court’s Decision to Not Hear Sixth Amendment Case
Historians dig up America’s earliest Muslims
DALLAS Representatives from the Muslim Legal Fund of America, a civil liberties legal fund, are deeply troubled the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to not hear the Elashi et al. v United States case that involves challenges to the Sixth Amendment right of the people to face
By Julienne Gage - WASHINGTON, DC For most Muslims, what happens to the body of a deceased person is not quite as important as what happens to that person’s soul. Still, historians of all backgrounds are scrambling to locate the body and belongings of a Muslim buried in Washington, DC nearly 200 years ago, for it touches the soul of early American history. The deceased, Yarrow Mamout, was among tens of thousands – if not millions - of Muslims brought to America during the slave trade, but one of few for which historians have much information. Historic documents suggest Yarrow may be buried on the property he purchased after gaining his independence in 1797. That land is located in Washington’s historic Georgetown neighbourhood where homes now sell for several million dollars. Its owner, real estate developer Deyi Awadallah, hopes to build and sell a new residence on the property. He knew nothing of Yarrow when he purchased the land last spring, but he’s willing to give archaeologists a chance – a few weeks or months - to investigate before he finalises his plans. “I’m trying to respect the situation. It deserves that,” he said in an interview this month. According to James H. Johnston, Yarrow was sold into slavery as a teenager in Senegal in 1752. The Washington-based lawyer and freelance writer spent eight years investigating Yarrow’s story for his 2012 book From Slave Ship to Harvard: Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African American Family. “He was quite famous in his time, but (since that era), nobody had ever looked into who he was,” said Johnston. The inspiration for Johnston’s research came after he saw two portraits of Yarrow, aristocratic depictions of an African American man that dated back to the days of slavery. The more popular of the two was painted by renowned early American artist Charles William Peale, and it resides at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. For Johnston, it represents dignity, perseverance, and resilience during a particularly dark chapter of American history. “People have been impressed by it because you’re looking at this beautiful portrait of a seemingly wealthy man, and yet he’d been subjected to the horrid Continued on page 5 conditions of slavery,” said Johnston.
witnesses in courts of law. Attorneys for the five defendants and representatives from MLFA are evaluating all Continued on page
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Historic day for Palestinians looms at UN By Tim Witcher Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas will head to the UN General Assembly on Thursday with huge backing for his bid for upgraded diplomatic status despite strong US and Israeli opposition. Abbas will ask for the Palestinians to be recognized
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Vol.19 Issue No.195
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Time to End NYPD’s Racial Profiling
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