“Change will come...with Revolution or Evolution. Which one are you waiting for?”
“[People of color] in Amerikkka have received half of what is good and double of what is bad.”
Meet The Family
FAHARI-LIBERTAD Fa-ha-ri: (noun)
Dignity, respect, a good reputation, derived from the language of KiSwahili.
Li-ber-tad: (noun) Spanish for FREEDOM!
Reggy Rivers Editor In Chief 2008-2009
Janea Thompson Public Relations
The Fahari-Libertad is committed to printing the political, social, and economic views and concerns regarding people of color here at SUNY New Paltz. It is published in the spirit of cultural unity as well as bringing about the spiritual unification of all people. The main goal of the FahariLibertad is to enrich and educate all with knowledge and enlightenment. We accept anyone who is truly committed to these goals to work with us.
Mission
To seek knowledge, truth and unity with pride.
Saki Rizwana President Spring 2010 - Fall 2010
Contact Us
The Fahari-Libertad SUNY New Paltz Student Union Building, Rm. 323 New Paltz, NY 12561 Email: faharilibertad@gmail.com Facebook: Fahari Libertad Magazine Blog: faharilibertad.blogspot.com
Jada Young Historian
Krystal Miller Vice President
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Copies of The Fahari-Libertad can be found in the SUB, the MLK Center, the Black Studies Department, The Lecture Center, and the Fahari Office (SUB 323), along with various residence halls.
THE FAMILY President Faisal Awadallah Editor-In-Chief Shatera Gurganious Vice President Krystal Miller Layout Editor Euclyn Williams Cover Design Judea Costes Staff Writers Matthew Mueller Jada Young Josette Ramnani Roger Whitson Mosi-Chachawi Guest Writers/ J.S.F. Contributors Valerie Sainvil Lindsey Romain
Petra Vega Jay Espy Leah Royster Recherché Brown Nicole Daniel Alumni Regina “Reggy” Rivers Contributors Student Saki Rizwana Advisor
The Fahari-Libertad is currently seeking staff writers, copy editors and photo editors. A major/minor in Journalism/English is NOT a requirement. Please inquire via email at faharilibertad@gmail.com. Special thanks to the Department of Black Studies and all of our brothers and sisters who submitted articles, cartoons and poetry for showing the support needed to publish this magazine. Libertad 1
April/May 2011 For older issues contact us at faharilibertad@gmail.com
Meet The Family Faisal Adawallah President
Euclyn Williams Layout Editor
Shatera Gurganious Editor In Chief
Interested in writing or contributing, Our Covers are always open
Vixon John President 2007-2009
Josette Ramnami Secretary
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Libertad 51
In _____’s Name, … Or Not?
Sonnet for my Valentine How may I win your love? It's all that I think of. Won't you surrender dear? Delay I cannot bear. Like viper's sting love smarts, when Cupid shoots his dart. I believe you'll miss me, if you deign to kiss me. So won't you ease my stress by being my mistress. Not even Lethe's embrace could from my mind erase the way I feel for you. Oh! don't you feel it to?
Lackanookie Blues (with apologies to L.H.) I asked her for sugar and she gave me salt. Now I ask you, was that my fault? I asked her for love and I was denied. My bread wasn't buttered on either side.
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Roger Whitson
INSIDE THIS ISSUE 04 From the President’s Desk 05 From the Editor-in-Chief’s Desk 06 From the Vice-President’s Desk In _____’s Name … Or Not? 08 10 11 13 14 18 19 23 27
Know Thyself, Illuminate All Religion on the Larger Scale of Things You’re Doing It Wrong! Muslim For A Day Religion? Fuck That Isis, Osiris and His Brother Set Copyright at Its Best How To Arrange Love A Perplexing Perception Paradox…
What the #@$%?! 30 A Paradox of White People in Black Studies Classes 31 Thank You Ana 32 Interracial Adoption in a Present-Racial Era 34 Introducing the Sankofa Afrika Organization! 36 We Can’t Afford Not to Fix Our Justice System Poetry Corner 40 41 42 43 45 46 47 49
I.N.G. Faith vs. Fear Moved By Spirits Waiting For The Lord Investing In a Miracle Choices Meeting with an Odd Christian Libertad 3
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK People in the world have been suffering a disconnection from the soul. It is a deadly sickness that causes unethical behavior and plenty of other damaging side effects. The theme for this issue is centered around religion and spirituality. It is important for this magazine to explore the different beliefs we all have and the common connection we all share. The spiritual unification of all people is one of our many goals. I grew up in a religious household, praying five times a day and fasting for a month of the year. Being Muslim in America is not easy and probably never has been. Of course religious hatred looks a lot more intense in this post-9-11 world with crazy white people burning holy texts and slamming the prophet. Foreign (non-western) ways of connecting with the higher power has always been looked at as uncivilized in western eyes. Here is a story of one of my meditative experiences: I‟m on the A train and there is about eight more stops until I get out to leave NYC. I‟m carrying a big blue luggage bag and I have no room to sit on the crowded train. Finally a seat is free from a woman who left at the last stop. I take the seat and rest myself because my body is exhausted from carrying around this luggage. There is an alarm going off somewhere in the train, could be a cell phone, stopwatch, bomb etc. Bomb? An automated voice screeches through the speakers something like this: “Please look out for suspicious bags on the subway train, thank you” Before all of this hub-bub happened on the train I was eyes half-closed, and chanting a mantra “Muta Qubla Anta Mutu,” I felt my awareness as the whole train of people were peering at me. They all looked suspicious of a brown guy with a luggage bag meditating in the corner of a subway train. I must have looked like a suicide bomber. The discovery of my own consciousness created a free world without discrimination or right or wrongs. I‟ve been living a life where there‟s no such thing as sin, heaven, hell or any other restricting laws of my human beingness. Salaam, Faisal Awadallah President, Fahari-Libertad
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Meeting with an Odd Christian
Assalamu Alaikum Fahari readers
That person keep trying to save my ass from hell. Maybe I won’t make it to heaven, I couldn’t tell. You have the answers reverend? I asked “For I have sinned, will He forgive me?” He said “Without faith you are nothing.” All I want is to be free, Without the judging. Don’t tell me I need God. If you do I promise not to step another foot in a church. You’re aggression is kind of odd I will find something to make me whole after my search. Keep insisting I need salvation, But do YOU need God to have a foundation? spit me dream… Recherché Brown
Libertad 49
FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHEIF’S DESK Hello Beautiful People,
Sonnet/Ballad of a banjo picker His enemies called him a rogue. He had bad teeth. He wore earring and he made his banjo strings ring which he bought from a catalogue. He had a heroin habit and was an alcoholic but he wrote lovely lyrics on a yellow legal tablet. They say he invented new licks. They say he was a womanizer and no husband was the wiser. Although his sexploits are mythic, his life came to a tragic close, he died from a drug overdose.
Religion is quite a touchy topic for me. So tackling religion is something that must be done with caution. I‟ve always had issues with religion. From as far back as I can remember, some things just never made sense to me. While I don‟t want to disrespect anyone I am comfortable saying that I am not a fan of organized religion. I am still on a journey to discovering who I am and how I relate to the world and others. I may not embrace religion but spirit is inevitable. Any and everything can be related to spirit and for me to deny that would be foolish. Deciding who to worship or if you want to at all is a personal journey. I may not know where I‟m going but I know where I‟d like to end up. India.Arie describes my desires best in „Beautiful.”
I wanna go to place where I am nothing and everything That exists between here and nowhere I wanna got to a place where time has no consequence oh yeah The sky opens to my prayers I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful… I‟m still on my way…
**When it comes to reading this issue, please have an open mind. You may agree or disagree with the contents of this magazine but that should never stop you from reading.**
Roger Whitson
48 Fahari
Peace & Blessings, Shatera Gurganious Editor In Chief, Fahari-Libertad
Libertad 5
Thanks for opening our latest issue of the Fahari Libertad! Religion is a pretty touchy topic, so much so that we were a little weary when formulating this topic. But because we‟re Fahari, we pretty much just ended up saying “Fuck it” and continued on anyway… For the most part, we‟ve all grown up with some sort of religious or spiritual background. The thing is, as we age we start to question all that we‟ve learned. Not saying that the foundations that our parents reared us on were bad, clearly that‟s what made us who we are today. However, as you can see from the articles in this issue, there are questions that arose as we grew and became more knowledgeable in life. I know for me, being exposed to so many religions in my life, I ended up questioning everything about it. Mostly, why is it that we as Afrikan descended people take all that religion and their foremen throw at us like it‟s…well…God. Listen, I‟m in no way, shape or form trying to knock anyone‟s religious or spiritual beliefs. Just find the route to serenity that works for us, not because our parents led us there. Currently on the road of spirituality….
If Heaven was a mile away And you could ride by the gates Would you try to run inside when it opens would you try to die today? Would you pray louder finally believing His power? Even if you couldn't see, but you could feel would you still doubt him? ………… To get away and escape from the craziness And I bet you there's a Heaven for an atheist It's hard taking this Racist planet where they take another brother in a handcuff Even if he innocent nigga get on the car put your motherfucking hands up Thinking I'm a lose it My mom's in chemo Three times a week, yo keep trying but people Is hard and God your young soldier's not so bold But needs you This world's my home but world I would leave “If Heaven Was a Mile Away” by Nas Krystal Miller Vice-President, Fahari-Libertad
Ch o
Hotep.
ice s
FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT’S DESK By Nicole Daniel
My life should be determined by me Not some guy- who tries to deny my existence Talkin‟ „bout “I am your superior” With his motives ulterior I don‟t know if there‟s anyone to trust around here From day to day life changes New paths unfold, stories remain untold Yet the White man thinks we‟re still under his control They watch as we suffer And because they despise people of color They beat and whip us like there is no tomorrow To them, life is precious; to me life is pointless That‟s why I‟m taking control Making my own choices Shaking the voices of doubt No one knows what happens next Do we get sold? Are we taken away? Will we ever get to see our families again? And we dare not ask, before the mixed dirt they allow us to eat is taken. Then we starve to death, taking our last breath, our last thoughts On our distraught families divided amongst an unfamiliar continent I can‟t let that be me No sir, I‟m in control of my own destiny. No longer will I have to deal with Hell below the deck Feel the pinches or pecks of “affection” from the dirty crew members No more worries, tears or fear of the whip No longer will I be a passenger on this ship And I won‟t have to worry „bout nobody missing me See „cause I‟ve watched these people kill my family Thrown overboard, raped to death and disobedience were their sad goodbyes And in the blink of an eye As I watched while my own child die silently Them bastards told her not to cry With tears on my face, I know what I‟m doing is right See, „cause when they think of-me They‟ll be happy, one less mouth to feed And all the while, I‟ll know I made the right choices
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Libertad 47
I need a miracle. Trying to save myself has become a malfunction. A miracle can take the form of An action, A person, An object. I just need a miracle. Nevermind the loss of faith I have come to, Or the strength that has diminished from my body. I need a miracle. Run and tell that man upstairs, Who didn’t listen when my aunt was on her last breath, Or when the NYPD had my brother begging for mercy. We haven’t spoke in so long I don’t think He would listen. So you run and tell Him, Tell Him I need a miracle. Can I pay for this? Apparently money can buy everything and just a little bit more these days. If I save up just enough, Can you deliver me my miracle, I promise to leave a tip. Just find it for me.
ice s Ch o
Investing in a Miracle
IN ___’S NAME, … OR NOT?
It can be an action, A person, Or an object. Just let Him know that I need a miracle. Ok I get.
You need a miracle.
spit me dream…
Recherché Brown 46 Fahari
Libertad 7
For the Lord
Matt Mueller In this present moment, we are at a crossroad. The status quo of American culture at the present time is destroying the physical, mental, and spiritual realities of its people. We are raping our natural landscape, exchanging tall trees for skyscrapers. Our cognition is being limited through character limits, text-based communication, and pop culture as a whole. Our culture desacralizes life, turning it into a numbers game and the need to “see it to believe it.” All of these are symptoms of a sickness in the collective soul of Americans, due to a lack of spirituality. I fear we will continue to fall further down the spiral if we do not become aligned with a spiritual system, and call it as such. Spirituality can be defined as an understanding of the universe and one’s place within it, and this is not limited to merely organized religion. The political agendas of these organized religions have stripped away any mystical conception, and turned spirituality into a history lesson. Many within our society have left organized religions; some become atheists, and some take another route entirely. Atheists are interesting, to say the least. They believe in not believing; that is a distinct belief system altogether. When one consciously decides to become an atheist, they most likely become aligned with a “western, rational” understanding of the universe. They believe in their own creation stories, they follow certain prophets (scientists), and their beliefs shape
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their realities, creating their own assumptions about the universe. One could argue that the universe, along with physics, biology, and chemistry are their gods. It is merely another spiritual system, which is not so different from any other. There is another school of thought present in some of us. I will not limit it with a name. It is a spirituality that is extremely personal, but on the same note, very collective. Spirituality is a personal thing, and limiting oneself to specific dogmas and rituals can stunt the growth of one’s spirit. We see the spiritual essence in all, and we have our own beliefs and assumptions about how the world works. Many of these beliefs are not so different from western science or esoteric beliefs found throughout traditional cultures in the “New World,” Afrika, Asia, and Australia. Do some research and see that we are not as “advanced” as we would like to think, based upon our “rationality and scientific method.” We are abandoning the paternalistic interpretation of cultures around the world, and coming to understand that these cultures have had a vast understanding of DNA, cell division, and the Big Bang theory, among other things, long before Europe even began their conquests in the Western Hemisphere. Look at shamans in North, Central, and South America; the architecture in KMT (Egypt), Mexico, and Tibet; cave walls in Australia; creation narratives in Afrika, and we can see that Europeans and Americans were centuries behind these
You are always with me, though I cannot see Because I worry about what I cannot be You made me in Your perfect sight And all the time I try and fight The plans You have for me. Forgive me Lord, for I do not see The wonderful plans you have for me You are mighty and great Forgive me, because I do not always appreciate How gracious You are to me. One day I will love You with all my might And come to you with every plight Forgive me Lord, I‘m still learning To let go of worldly yearning.
Leah Christiane Royster
Libertad 45
Which way to go? Which path to choose? It‘s like math, a whole much numbers in my head, being confused not understanding why. So complicated. Why can‘t someone break down these walls? How tall these walls are. How much I just want to call up to the sky and scream let it all out. Will the sky listen to me? Break down these walls! I need to get out! I need to let it out! I‘m screaming so loud but the sky still isn‘t listening. All I would like to do is cry now let it out and about to turn into a full stream of water. I hear someone, I see someone, is this my answer? Is this the way for help? I say may I have help. I want to make things right I‘ll fight till this is right. Sometimes you have to do but then, there a time for change, where everyone needs to stop and be able to think,
Breaking Walls
Everyone has problems, everyone goes through rough patches. That latches on in part in their heart more than others. Just tears them apart. But you really have to say to yourself I can‘t compare my life story to anyone‘s. Everyone is different. I am who I am. I love who I am. And if you don‘t you will learn to love who you are by making things better for yourself. Live your life up to the fullest with no regrets don‘t forget but do forgive. I know it helps when I‘m the bigger person at times it takes a lot to choose that move you‘re not losing. But the other person that caused you pain, they‘re losing, you‘re not hurting anymore. You‘re being wise making movements. That means a lot to you. That makes a better path. For you, no more dirty water when taking a bath now it‘s just clean water, new start. Fresh. No leash where you‘re attached on, you‘re moving on. If you ever need to fall at times someone be catching you when you‘re ready to fall just call out their name. They will be there. To care. All there is to do is feel what‘s real. And be the realest that you can be. I‘m on my way to success.
“Is this what I want to be doing with my time,” “That’s mine,” and “I’m better than this.”
Alexis Turner
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“discoveries.” Their spirituality helped them understand all of this. Everything is energy (spirit), and western science agrees with that statement (although it took them some time). So is it so hard to believe that everything is spiritual, even science? I wish for you to find your spirituality, whether it be in organized religion, science, or somewhere in between. If we, as a society, became more spiritual and open-minded, we would understand that the status quo is not healthy. We would see that it is not optimal to grow happier with strong, healthy connections with humans and nature. All of the cultures discussed earlier understood that they were one aspect of nature, and taking dominion over it was un-
heard of. Rituals were performed to thank the universe for allowing humans to kill an animal for food, cut down a tree for shelter, etc. They were connected to it because they understood that they were no better than the birds in the sky, the animals on the ground, or the trees in the forest. If we, as a culture, used our spirituality, we could stop the raping of the land, air, and sea. And keep in mind, all spirituality speaks of the same oneness and truth; it is merely the physical rituals and dogmas that may differ, so it matters not what spiritual system you follow. Find what makes sense for you, and use it to make some positive changes. People who follow western science truly have no excuse, because they deal specifically with nature and humans; they should know better. But we separate spirituality and the other aspects of life. People use spirituality when it is convenient, and on the days they go to their religious centers. Spirituality can be used daily, every second of the day, to further create connections between fellow humans (to stop wars, genocide, poverty, etc) and connections between humans and nature (to stop oil spills, deforestation, poaching, etc). So what it comes down to is this: see that everything is energy, everything is spiritual, everything is spirituality, and we have a chance to create a better world – a holistic understanding of the universe and our places within it.
Libertad 9
Waiting
The dreary tears of rejection A subtle touch of redemption Looking into the windows of the world Thinking where I went wrong A horrible sight, a joyous occasion Blended into one I hear my thoughts over the sharp silence aimed to kill, Me Me being the only thing blocking my happiness. I blamed you but I see the problem is me
Jada Young Religion. What‘s the point of it? If you were to ask 1,000 different people, I‘m sure you‘d get a myriad of different responses. Basically, any organized religion seeks to keep us lowly humans in check so that we can one day live lives of ―righteousness.‖ Religions also seek to explain our existence on the earth and comfort us from imminent death. Simply, religion serves as a mechanism to make us feel better about the things that we don‘t have any control over; which is why there is a ―God‖ in many of these religions who is in control of the inner workings of the world. For me, religions as we have them today just don‘t cut it. For someone to believe so wholeheartedly in their religion of choice is fine, especially if they are comforted in its explanations of the world. But for someone to take that same religion and use it against others who might not believe in it is ridiculous. An example of this is the many fundamentalist Christians of the world who think that those who do not practice their version of Christianity will be damned to hell. These people, in my opinion are absolutely insane. Among them is a man by the name of Pat Robertson who claims that the Haiti Earthquake was ―God punishing them [the Haitians]‖ for their practice of Voodoo. More than just the ignorance behind a statement such as that, what bothers me is the fact that he (and people like him) reduces geological and earthly phenomena to their God being angry about things. Earthquakes don‘t only happen on earth. Science has found that moons also have quakes – moonquakes. So, according to the logic of
Robertson (and the people who I‘m sure are agreeing with him), is God also mad at the people on the moon? And what about the universe for that matter? We are told that the universe is infinite in size, so why do the religious people of the world apply only what is happening on Earth to something that they believe is ―God‘s work?‖ Does their God not care about the trillions of other stars and planets in the universe? An obvious problem with religions as we have them today is that we separate God from everything. While I myself am still searching for my spiritual center, I do know that the God I believe in is not ONE thing. The God I‘m connected to has no gender, it has no sexual orientation (or preference of sexuality, for that matter), the God that I believe in is something that can be found in all of us. Being that we are essentially spirit, why must our understanding of God be something that we separate from ourselves? Why can‘t our Gods be a part of our very spiritual make up? Fundamentalist Christians like to separate humanity from what goes on throughout the universe, which is fine for them, I suppose. But being that we are all humans, stars, planets, etc., made up of the same atoms and energies, why must we separate that energy from ourselves too? I think that we should embrace our connection with things that are billions of light years away from us. As humans, we are so limited and miniscule on earth, if we accept that we are a part of a larger, universal picture, I think that we all can live lives of peace and justice.
A nod in my direction Credit for my performance, Knowing that you see me
Euclyn Williams
See me, See just me Me, standing by myself, naked Waiting Waiting for you to Waiting for me to Waiting for a simple notifying, indication Something An example, a sample of what I could be, happy Not alone, not too good to be true But just enough to be…
Waiting for a fresh start For a new year, a new place, a new mission/purpose/life altering decision You Thinking how have I come to this outside place looking from an inside perch Windows slammed shut so communication is halted Stammering words, shaky palms, all too much because I am incomplete without… You…Waiting Waiting for you Deceived because I’m sure I’ll be waiting until Waiting until I Waiting until you Waiting for me to Silence… Time has run out
i
When I use the word ―religion‖ it is to mean any form of organized religion, which seeks to do similar things. I say ―their God‖ because obviously my God is fundamentally different than the God they seem to believe in. iii I am aware that there are no people on the moon; I am making a point about the idiocy of statements such as those. ii
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Libertad 43
You’re Doing It Wrong! Moved By Spirits Matt Mueller
I‟ve heard that your body is a temple But it‟s truly only a rental Cuz the universe is mental Which is merely an understanding of the soul Shining like the diamond from the coal I and I will rock, here‟s the roll Barreling through the spiral Feeling energy through life‟s cord, spinal This existence is a draft, never final
By Mosi-Chachawi
I think that people use religion and spirituality interchangeably. Well, guess what?! You shouldn’t. There’s a fine line between the two, but I guess some people just don’t get the difference. The dictionary defines spiritual as “of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit.” Meanwhile religious is defined as “relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity; of, relating to, or devoted to religious beliefs or observances.” In my eyes religion is focused more on the practices and traditions of the spiritual realm. People fail to notice the two are related. Over time spirituality has been taken out of religion and it has been left to rear its ugly head. Ugly head indeed, look at all the hatred and animosity that is spewed between people of
different faiths. Mention Islam in a church, the clergy are most likely to hang you just for the mention of another religion. Why is there so much hate…in church?! And I hate it so much when people use religion, especially Christianity, as a means to be hateful. Nowhere, and I mean NOWHERE in the Bible does it say that judgment should be in the hands of mankind. And in no way shape or form do I think that I am “holier than thou.” I do understand that we all judge, it’s human nature, but using the Bible as a stance to defend your judgments is clearly a derogatory offence. This is just a reincarnation of the days where whites used the Bible to defend their treatment of the slaves. Why must we keep falling into this cycle? One of my favorite Bible passages is in Mathew. Chapter 7 clearly states:
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged” It annoys me so much that these verses are so often not referenced in daily Christian vernacular. Yes, “God hates the sin, not the sinner,” but that doesn’t leave room open for you to spew your hate. Courtesy of: youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com 42 Fahari
Continued on Page 20 Libertad 11
Buddhist
Faith vs. Fear
Reggy Rivers
By Valerie Sainvil
As I firmly press my hands together and chant “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo,” I see the changes resonating within me. Those were the words chanted by Tina Turner as she struggled to find the strength within herself during her abusive relationship with her late husband. Those are the words chanted by millions of people today who are day-by-day tapping into their Buddha-nature and revealing their true potential.
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo - To devote oneself to the mystic law of cause and effect through the Buddha’s Teaching.
In life, suffering and dissatisfaction are inevitable. But what I have learned through my practice is the ability to find happiness in the midst of hardships. We cannot depend on external factors for our happiness – our environment is in a constant flux and nothing remains permanent, therefore it is important that we find happiness within ourselves. Most of our suffering stems from a deluded mind and unrealistic expectations and attachments – thinking that boy likes you when he does not even know your name, thinking that car will last you a lifetime when it will break down in five years. Buddhism is reason – realizing the true nature of life. Though our happiness does not depend on our circumstances, we are connected to our environment; each cause we produce affects not only us, but our surroundings as well, therefore it is important to show compassion and pray for ourselves and others. By Chanting, I have taken charge of my happiness and have made the essential causes conducive to producing good karma. Each struggle and barrier I face is an incentive for me to become stronger. Each day I struggle with fundamental darkness, deep-seated habitual tendencies that prevent me from seeing the Buddha nature. Each day I struggle with doubt. But by chanting “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo,” I have developed the wisdom to not succumb to doubts, and to become victorious. The point in life is to become happy and remain undefeated by our problems, and this potential lies within every human being in society.
When we recognize that the essential causes and conditions of our happiness lie within our own lives, we can summon the courage to find ourselves responsible for our sufferings and exert every possible effort to change them and create happiness.
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Confusion. Insanity. Apathy. Fear. Terror. Uncertainty. Will it ever get better? On the TV & the radio, bad news flood the airwaves And the masses drown themselves in a sea of wreck less porn, distorted narcotics and other sugar-coated delusions. I sometimes sit & wonder, “Is this what God purposed?” Nowadays I gotta be careful when I say that (why should I) I know the world is in a giant state of madness But do you really think He is causing (or letting) it happen? It‘s funny how some blame God or doubt his existence but no one‘s ever questioned the devil‘s intentions. Some are too busy putting blame on the wrong person and stay blinded by the reality of fanatical fantasies. It just helps them to cover up The fear. The fear of not knowing what is to come The fear of not knowing who will be next What happened to faith? The faith in the good that is to come. The faith in the knowledge that leads to the everlasting now The faith in that with divine intervention, we can truly come together as one Cuz we, down here, got to do better You tell me we have evolved from the creatures before us… I ask you where did these creatures come from? You assert that the Scriptures are out of date. I ask you to analyze and think about the wars and human indignation Compare it with Ecc. 8:9. The irony is that you impose that I should not believe anymore… because you lost your faith I really wish you wouldn‘t. I‘m not perfect but I know that I didn‘t start the war; I didn‘t ask for the war; I didn‘t vote for the war. But I‘m paying for the war. The last thing I need is a war with you on the obvious. I‘ve made my decision and I‘ll let you decide which is more important; Faith? Fear? Free will?
Libertad 41
I.N.G.
Jada Young
Mosi-Chachawi
He sits across from me Typing He doesn’t see me Wanting I hope for him to notice, but he doesn’t. I sit here Waiting For him to see how Frustrating It is for him to not see me Longing For him His mind is so broad, I wonder what he’s Thinking His rate is so controlled. I want to see him Breathing I decide to put away my desire Pacifying Any thought of Perfecting Because at the end of the day I know that he is Nothing
On Wednesday April 13, 2011, the Muslim Student Association held their annual Muslim for a Day event. Last year, as a fresh (wo)man, I planned on participating in the event, but I think I might have been scared out of doing it. My fear wasn’t in appearing to be a Muslim, but rather it was what people would think as they saw me walk around campus. That fear prevented me from participating in something that might have changed my life forever. Needless to say, I didn’t let it stop me this year! I woke up at 8:00 that morning. I looked at my phone and saw many Facebook notifications from the Muslim Student Association advertising this event. Initially, I started to get scared out of doing it again. I thought to myself “maybe next year,” and attempted to go back to sleep. I couldn’t sleep. I lay in bed and thought about the pros and cons of participating in this day, and obviously the pros outweighed the cons. When I walked into SUB100 to get my hijab, I felt an immediate thrill. One girl (whose
name I did not get) put the hijab on me. I stayed in SUB100 for a while and listened to some music. Then, I began my day. As I stood in line at Seattle’s Best, I noticed every single person in the line turned around and stared at me for a brief second. They each turned back as if I hadn’t notice them stare at me in the first place. I rolled my eyes, annoyed at the a u d a c it y of these people. What, had they never seen a Muslim before? As the day progressed I began to get less stares from people, but those who knew me would say things like “So Jada… what’s going on?” Those choice words were seductive on their own because it could be assumed that they mean the typical “what’s going on?” or the question could lead to me stating the obvious and answering their seemingly unasked question about wearing the hijab. For some reason, when people initially asked me that question, I would feel some sort of need to have to explain to them why I was wearing my beautiful head scarf. As the day progressed, I felt that need less. When I did feel it creep in me, I would fight against it and simply answer, “Not much. You?”
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Libertad 13
By Petra Vega
Personally, I HATE religion. Now please hear me out before making false assumptions and insinuations. I do believe in God, whoever he/she/it may be. I believe God is an entity or a spirit more so than a person or one specific thing. Religion, as you know is the practice of beliefs as a way to dictate how a believer will live their lives. I have a HUGE problem with anyone or anything dictating the way I do or choose to do things. Most religions have many positive aspects to them such as treating others the way you‟d like to be treated, helping your community and putting family first. All of these things are wonderful but how honestly devoted are religious people to these teachings? Some of the most hyper-religious people are the most hypocritical people you will ever meet. I have met religious individuals who believe in treating others the way they want to be treated yet still continue to look down on others as if they were better than them. “Holy” people have this problem of believing that because they have the power of God on their side that they are better than others. This is detrimental to relationships between people, and because of this we continue to act superior over one another. Your religion teaches you to treat others with the utmost respect yet you still choose to glare at the people around you or choose not to even recognize their existence. I have met religious individuals who believe in being an active member in their commu-
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Religion?
nity but have never volunteered at a soup kitchen or at a youth center because “time is money” or simply because they have better things to do with their time. People are constantly moving too quickly in this world and don‟t realize that it‟s the little things that matter. All they care about is how to get to the top in the quickest manner or in this case, the fastest way to heaven without doing any of the work. I have met religious individuals who believe in putting their family first but still continue to beat their kids or abuse their partner or choose to have an affair. I realize all of the things I have mentioned above happen to people who aren‟t religious but those people didn‟t choose to live by the guidelines religious people have chosen. If this is something you believe is God‟s word and the right thing to do then your duty is to abide by it. But so many claim to be so holy and correct while completely contradicting the principles of their chosen religion. Up until this point I‟ve just been making generalizations but it‟s time to get a little more specific. Let‟s look at Christianity for example. Christianity teaches you not to practice infidelity, good. Christianity has also been translated as a disbeliever of homosexuality or more aptly, believing that homosexuality is a sin. Religious fanatics like to use this “belief” to boycott gay marriages, terrorize Queer people and make huge impositions on laws demanding that homosexuals be treated as equal as their
THE POETRY SPOT Libertad 39
Fuck That heterosexual counterparts. How dare anyone dictate the life of another! Especially with something as insignificant as someone‟s sexual orientation. The person who you were born to love is only part of who you are, it shouldn‟t DEFINE you. Unlike popular opinion, homosexuals didn‟t choose to be homosexual; and no one chooses to be bullied, ridiculed or ostracized by practically everyone they meet.
Courtesy of: editorialcartoonists.com
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Islam teaches Muslims not to eat pork because it‟s a filthy animal, good. It also stresses the importance of a woman‟s sexual virtue. Honor killings have become rampant in the Muslim community but so many of these executions are disguised as accidents or suicides. If women fail to conserve their virtue – including in cases of rape (which is a force that they have no control over) it is still seen as a catastrophe which brings shame to the whole family, meanwhile men are able to do with their virtue as they wish. At this point, the hymen is more valuable than even human life. Islam, much like so many societies around the world are so focused on a woman‟s virginity that they forget about the woman entirely. This emphasis on a woman‟s virginity instills the idea that women who are sexually liberated are whores and sluts. Now why would I want to be a part of something that doesn‟t take me being a human being with rights and needs first and foremost, above something I have between my legs which for the record, is my decision to do
with it what I wish. While I just chose to use these two religions as an example, the list goes on and on. My intention was for you to get the gist of it all. Religion as a whole, to me is ultimately another institution where some people benefit while others suffer, some are the “chosen” ones while other‟s “haven„t found the way yet” and some use this “higher power” to justify their inhumane actions. I live by a different ideal, “I believe in morality, which is doing right regardless of what I am told...not in religion, which is doing what I am told regardless of what is right.” I know that I should treat people with kindness and nice words, I know that doing community service is my duty and an honor to do as a functioning human being in our society and I know that I would never do anything to bring shame to my family or disappointment them. I don‟t need religion of any type to tell me how to be a good person, especially when so much evil has come out of it. I want no part of religion. I have been able to do so much without it and I think it would be beneficial to think critically as to why you or someone you know have such a strong hold on these beliefs that may or may not have been written by the people we are told wrote them. Instead, why not incorporate the more positive beliefs into your life and making it your own. That‟s the problem with religion; people let it run their lives. Religion was made by people and it‟s time that people reclaim their faith.
Libertad 15
By Benjamin Todd Jealous and Lateefah Simon Referred by Euclyn Williams By Jada Young Growing up, I never had a strict, religious home environment. My mom identifies as ―Christian,‖ that is, she follows ―Christian‖ beliefs. She seems to mix between Catholic and Baptist doctrines, though. My dad, on the other hand, has never professed to be anything, but he has a reverence for God and Christ and always has. So when I grew into understanding my own spiritual identity, I obviously emulated it from what my parents were. I went around thinking I was a Christian. My current best friend, Alison, is a Pentecostal Christian and when she and I became really close during my senior year of high school, I would attend her church‘s Youth Group on Friday nights. Through this experience, I grew closer to Alison as well as to my ―faith.‖ I even watched Alison get baptized in the church during this time. Soon into this though, I realized that I was growing into the faith without actually believing in it wholeheartedly. Fast forward to August 2009, when I entered SUNY New Paltz as a first year student. Before leaving for college, I went to one last Youth Group meeting at Alison‘s church. The chorus leader, Nicole, led the group and me in a prayer that I maintain my focus and my love for God while at school. So as I left for school I felt a sense of security that I would be okay because there was someone (or something) watching over me. As I began taking classes at school, I started to look at things, the world, much differently. One class, at this point, Women: Images and Realities, made me re-evaluate what I considered my religious base to be. This happened as I began to learn about the role of religion in the existence of oppression throughout history. I discovered that religion has historically done more harm than good for humanity (based on this perception of things). I learned how people have used religion as an excuse to oppress people, and how people have used religion to ―explain‖ certain issues in the world while perpetuating mass hysteria, oppression and damnation of alternative views. 16 Fahari
Interestingly, the basis for any religion is to provide humans, with our very limited understanding of the world, reasons as to why things are the way that they are. Religion often seeks to explain the formation of Earth, why men have an Adam‘s apple and one more rib than women, as well as why there are earthquakes, tsunamis, death, famine, disease, and war. Ironically, people have taken this function of religion and corrupted it. This very function has been used to perpetuate beliefs that the world must be a certain way because Religion X says that it is. As you can imagine, this started to turn me off to the idea of organized religion. One problem I had always had with organized religion – Christianity specifically – was that it never actually helped me understand the world. Too often, I noticed that the world‘s phenomena were explained as ―because it says in the Bible…‖ or ―because Scripture tells us…‖ or because ―Jesus said…‖ Even in my limited understanding of the world, these types of answers just did not suffice for me. I had decided at this point to seek my spiritual center elsewhere. I considered studying Buddhism because Buddhism, to me, represented finding personal peace and then translating that to the outside world. Needless to say, my Buddhist journey was short-lived or even non-existent. After a few months of not even thinking about religion, or spirituality, I realized that for me, some sort of spiritual center was necessary. And that is where I am today. I am still searching for this center. While I am a decent person without having a defined spiritual base (another reason people advocate adoption of a religion), it is important to me to be able to identify with something in some degree. I am now beginning a journey; I haven‘t decided if this journey is to ―find‖ myself or if it‘s to ―define‖ myself. It is probably the latter, though. Whether that journey leads me to an Islamic Mosque, a church, a Buddhist Temple of even re-adopting my ancestral path with Afrikan spirituality, I won‘t allow any singular belief to define me. Whatever your story is, I urge you do the same. Define yourself.
The current system provides for little or no reintegration; it functions as a revolving door, through which those who have served time in jail or prison all too often quickly find themselves back in, unable to overcome the many obstacles they face when attempting to re-enter their communities.
resources for maximum impact. Eliminate Barriers to Employment There is perhaps no more effective tool for successful reentry into society than employment. Formerly incarcerated people who are able to secure employment are one-third less likely than their counterparts to end up back in prison or jail. That is why both the NAACP and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area have launched new initiatives to meet this challenge. In California, the NAACP worked to secure an administrative order from the governor's office that removes questions about criminal history from employment applications for most state jobs. The Lawyers' Committee has launched a new clinic to connect formerly incarcerated individuals with pro bono attorneys from top law firms to address legal barriers to re-entry and employment. We all win when we ensure that those who have paid their debt to society can have the tools they need to turn their lives around. Reallocate Resources
It is time to recognize that our scorched-earth approach to public safety has sent us down the wrong path. We need to be smart about our policies and resources while keeping our communities safe. Here are three steps we recommend to ensure that public safety is a true civil and human right for all of us:
In 2010 the NAACP commissioned new rolling advertisements in various California cities to draw attention to the disturbing trend of spending more on jails than on higher education. Former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger acknowledged this when he aptly noted, "Spending 45 percent more on prisons than on universities is no way to proceed into the future … What does it say about any state that [it] focuses more on prison uniforms than on caps and gowns?"
Build Broad-Based Coalitions It is no longer enough for criminal-justice reform to be an issue of concern only to criminal-justice reformists. We need to bring to the table business leaders and advocates for civil rights, education equality, women's rights and families. We also need to work with people we have traditionally considered to be unlikely allies in this fight, such as law enforcement and business. More and more, leaders in law enforcement are calling for new ways to keep our communities safe, and California's new attorney general, Kamala Harris, is among those leading the charge. We also need more grant makers to recognize the connection between criminal justice and other social problems they are aiming to alleviate, and invest
As states across the country continue to struggle with budget crises, we need to collectively call for shifting our funding priorities from incarceration toward programs and initiatives that will revitalize our communities. It is our belief that criminal-justice reform is one of the leading issues in the fight to ensure equal opportunity for communities in need. We cannot afford to wait another generation to turn around decades of failed policies that have caused our nation to hemorrhage money and human potential. The exigency for policies that are smart on crime -- not just "tough on crime" -- is now. It is the only way we can achieve something we all want: safe and healthy communities.
Libertad 37
By Sikivu Hutchinson, Referred by Faisal Awadallah It's not just fairness -- although more black men are in jail than were slaves in 1850. The cost is driving states to bankruptcy. By Benjamin Todd Jealous and Lateefah Simon Referred by Euclyn Williams Reforming the nation's criminal-justice system is one of the most urgent civil rights issues of our time. One shocking fact illustrates why: More African-American men are entangled in the criminal-justice system today than were enslaved in 1850. How did we get here? The rise in America's penchant for punishment can be traced as far back as the 1964 presidential campaigns of Barry Goldwater and George Wallace, each of whom made law and order a defining plank of his platform. President Richard Nixon continued the trend, framing Democrats as "soft on crime" and pushing for tough lawenforcement policies in opposition to President Johnson's credo of tackling crime through a "war on poverty." "Doubling the conviction rate in this country would do more to cure crime in America than quadrupling the funds for [Hubert] Humphrey's war on poverty," Nixon told voters. Since then, Republicans have pushed -- and Democrats have embraced -- a so-called tough-on-crime approach to keeping us safe, one that emphasizes harsh measures after crimes have already occurred and that disproportionately punishes poor and minority communities rather than addressing the root causes of crime and preventing it in the first place. As a result, our wrong-headed approach to justice and safety is breaking the bank of pretty much every state and breaking the spirit of communities across the country. Today the U.S. accounts for 5 percent of the world's population but has 25 percent of the world's prisoners. We imprison almost 1 million more people than China, at a cost to taxpayers of $68 billion in 2010.
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This week the NAACP released a new report called Misplaced Priorities, demonstrating how state and federal spending decisions are creating a generation that is both undereducated and overincarcerated. Between 1987 and 2007, nationwide spending on higher education increased by a modest 21 percent. By contrast, corrections funding grew 127 percent during the same period, a rate that is more than six times as great. Turning locally, California's prison spending has risen 25 times faster than spending on higher education over the last 30 years. The state's prison population grew 500 percent from 1982 to 2000, and California now attempts to manage nearly 170,000 people in prisons designed to hold 83,000. In the last 20 years, the cost of operating California's corrections system skyrocketed from $2.3 billion in 19921993 to a projected $9.3 billion budget in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, with an additional $4 billion budgeted for prison-infrastructure expenses. Ten percent of the state's general-fund revenue now goes to the prison system. Nowhere is the impact felt more deeply than in AfricanAmerican communities, where America's epidemic of mass incarceration seemingly has removed entire generations of African-American men from their communities. Today 500,000 black fathers are currently incarcerated in America's prisons, and one out of every six AfricanAmerican men has spent time in prison. African-American girls and young women have become the fastest-growing population of incarcerated young people in the country. More than 2 million African Americans are currently either in prison, in jail, on probation or on parole. Our criminal-justice system today undoubtedly functions much like a racial caste system, as Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, so aptly points out. Being labeled a felon effectively strips away crucial rights from an individual, locking him or her into second-class status indefinitely, unable to vote, secure a good job or find safe and affordable housing.
Enormous pressures push African Americans to embrace a Black “hyper-religiosity” – or, at least, to profess to it – despite the fact that “the proliferation of storefront churches in urban black communities is a symptom of economic underdevelopment.” However, “a growing segment” maintains that “morality is defined by just deeds, fairness, equality and respect for difference; not by how blusteringly one claims to adhere to „Godly‟ principles.” ―Racial segregation, the historical role of the Black Church, and African American social conformity reinforce Christianity’s powerful hold on black communities.” Late Saturday afternoon, like clockwork, the street corner preachers on Crenshaw and King Boulevard in South Los Angeles take to the “stage.” Decked out in flowing robes and dreadlocks, they fulminate into their mikes about the universe, God‟s will and “unnatural” homosexuals to a motley audience waiting for the next express bus. Members of the Black Israelites, they are part of a long tradition of performative religiosity in urban African American communities. This particular corner of black America is a hotbed of social commerce. Kids who‟ve just gotten out of school mingle jubilantly as pedestrians flow past fast food places, mom and pop retailers, street vendors and Jehovah‟s Witness‟ hawking Watchtower magazines. The Israelites have become a fixture of this street corner‟s otherwise shifting tableaux. Exclusively male and virulently sexist and homophobic, they are tolerated in some African American communities in part because of the lingering visceral appeal of Black Nationalism. While the Israelites‟ millennialist “racial uplift” ethos ostensibly fits right in to the bustle of this prominent South L.A. street, other belief systems are not as easily assimilated. Since 2006, the L.A.-based street philosopher Jeffrey “P Funk” Mitchell has been documenting his conversations with everyday folk on questions of atheism and faith. Using the handle “Atheist Walking,” Mitchell also conducts freeranging inquiries into Christianity‟s contradictions
with a rolling video camera and a satirically raised eyebrow. Adopting the role of the bemused urban flaneur, ala the commentator-pedestrian immortalized by French poet Charles Baudelaire, he delves into “atheist spirituality,” biblical literalism and the paradoxes of faith. ―There is a longing for community amongst nontheist African Americans who feel marginalized in a sea of black hyper-religiosity.” Mitchell is a member of the L.A.-based Black Skeptics, a group that was formed earlier this year to provide an outlet and platform for secular humanist African Americans. The Skeptics are part of a small but growing segment of African Americans who are searching for humanist alternatives to organized religion. In May, the Washington DC Center for Inquiry‟s first annual African Americans for Humanism conference drew over fifty participants. Chat groups and websites like the Black Atheists of America have sprung up to accommodate the longing for community amongst non-theist African Americans who feel marginalized in a sea of black hyper-religiosity. Organizations such as the Institute for Humanist Studies cultivate African American secularist scholarship and advocacy. With over 85% of African Americans professing religious belief, black religiosity is a formidable influence. Racial segregation, the historical role of the Black Church, and African American social conformity reinforce Christianity‟s powerful hold on black communities. Indeed, I was recently told that I‟d been deemed an unsuitable culmination speaker for a bourgie philanthropic organization‟s young women mentees because of my decidedly unladylike public atheism (Perhaps the Israelite‟s Old Testament shout-out to silent prostrate women would be more acceptable). Proper role models for impressionable black youth are, at the very least, skillful church lady pretenders with ornate hats in tow. Secular organizations that seek to build humanist community with a
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Isis, Osiris Introducing and His Brother Set the
Sankofa Afrika Organization! By Jada Young
Referred by Krystal A. Miller Osiris, the king of Egypt, and Isis, his queen, was beloved by all his people. He was kind and just and taught them to plow the earth, how to honor the gods and he gave them laws to live by. But his brother Seth was jealous and plotted against him to take over the throne. Queen Isis was constantly on her guard when Osiris traveled around his kingdom, she never felt safe from Seth´s scheming. One day Osiris held a big banquet for his court and as he was kind and just Seth was also invited. This was the moment he had long waited for. Together with his accomplices he could set his plan in motion. He began to describe a wonderful coffin that he had been given, and soon enough he was asked to have it brought in for people to see. It was indeed beautiful, made of the finest wood and gilded and painted. He promised to give it as a gift to whoever fitted exactly into it. And as he already had acquired Osiris‟ measures, the king was the only one that fitted into the coffin, and when he was persuaded into taking place in it, Seth´s accomplices quickly nailed the lid to it and while the rest of the court was held back, it was taken away and thrown into the Nile where the current carried it away. Isis was overcome with grief and cut off a length of her hair, dressed herself in mourning clothes and went on her way to look for the coffin with her husband´s body. She wandered everywhere and searched all over Kemet and beyond without finding a trace, until she heard some children saying that they had seen the golden coffin being thrown into the waters. She wandered for a long time, weeping and searching for the casket, and often she heard rumors that a golden casket had been seen floating by some village. So she kept following after until she left Egypt and came into the land of Byblos. Here the rumors spoke about a wonderful tree that suddenly had started to grow on the shore. Isis understood then that the coffin had floated ashore and gotten stuck in
a bush. Nurtured by the divine presence of Osiris´ body, the bush had sprouted and grown into a large tree which the king of Byblos had let cut down and used in the buildings of a palace. When Isis reached the place, she was shown to the palace by the villagers. She waited outside the palace until she met the Queen´s maidens. She told them she was an Egyptian headdresser and pleated their hair and breathed on them so that a divine scent surrounded them. And they brought her before the queen who took a liking to her and asked her to take care of her young son, the prince. Soon enough she found the tree trunk that enclosed her husband´s coffin. Isis stayed there, and every night while the little prince slept, she went into the room where the pillar enclosing the coffin with her husband´s body was and she wept and mourned for him. And every day she looked after the little prince, and shortly she became so fond of him, that she decided to make him immortal. In the night she brought him to the pillar where the casket was hidden. There she lit a fire and speaking the magic words she laid down the sleeping boy in the flames. The fire started to burn away all that was human in him, but she did not watch over him, she turned herself into a swallow and began to fly around the pillar, wailing and mourning over her dead husband. The queen, who slept nearby, was woken up by the sound of the flames, and hastened to the room. When she saw her child surrounded with flames, she raised a cry of horror and the swallow turned into woman again and the magical fire died. Isis then revealed herself to the queen and told her that now it was impossible for the prince to become immortal. The queen then regretted her ignorance and asked how she could repay Isis. And Isis asked for the pillar with the coffin. She instantly hewed it into pieces so that the coffin could be taken out, then she drenched the bits of wood in oil, wrapped them in fine linen and asked the queen to keep them in the temple of Byblos.
a place of love and a place of connection to the continent. Also, we created this organization to make sure that any donations that we intend to send to Afrika actually make it there without question. We are a service based organization hoping to reclaim the glory and beauty the continent has to offer. We are comprised of students of Afrikan descent who look to give back to our homeland which has been robbed of so much. The Sankofa Afrika Organization is actually a large group represented on 5 campuses: Stony Brook, Albany, Binghamton, New Paltz and a CUNY School in NYC. Our first mission as the New Paltz chapter this semester was to run a clothing drive. The collected clothing will be sent to the Grace Imo Foundation who will then ship it to Ghana. The recipients of the clothing will be mostly school-aged children
who need the clothing more than most of us here in the United States do. Since this is our first semester as an established organization, we plan on doing bigger and better things come fall. Our goal is NOT to get the most people to attend our programs (though that would be amazing too), but our ultimate goal is to HELP people: to help OUR people. I wholeheartedly believe that when you heal the damage that has been done to Afrika, the rest of the world will fall into place. We, as the Sankofa Afrika Organization are promising that we will do everything that we can do be a part of the change we wish to see in Afrika. All we need is your support! We look forward to serving the continent and connecting with the New Paltz student body. Please support us! Our members are as follows:
Chairwoman: Kady Traore President: Zakaria Kande Vice President: Jäcqueline van den Bergh Business Operations: Rashidat Soetan Media Relations: Monique Bailey Public Relations: Sebastina Boakye Arisa James The Griot: Teniola Faloye Human Resources: Luah Morlu Movement Director: Jada Young Treasurer: Youssouf LeMajor Kouyo For more information, you can visit our website: www.sankofaafrica.org.
Source: http://www.philae.nu/philae/IsisOsiris.html 18 Fahari
Libertad 35
Introducing the
Copyright Sankofa Afrika Organization! at its Best
By Krystal A. Miller
I have never been more proud to be a part of an on-campus organization as I am right now. Early this semester, I was approached by my friend Kady to join a new organization that she was starting on campus. She told me that the organization would be known as the Sankofa Afrika Organization and upon joining it I would be able to give back to the continent of Afrika. Obviously this excited me. As a Black Studies major, and as a person who is seeking to define myself, the concept of “Sankofa” initially drew me in to the many opportunities that joining this organization would present for me. The mission of the organization, simply, is to aid in the social development of the continent of Afrika. This is fundamentally the reason I decided to join as a founding member. Monique Bailey, a
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first year Computer Engineering major/Black Studies minor and Sankofa’s Media Relations member joined Sankofa for a similar reason. She said: “I joined Sankofa because my lifelong goal is to advance, empower, and inspire MY PEOPLE in any way possible. I know change will not come rapidly, nor are we going to be able to change the whole continent by ourselves, but just to know that I am doing something, to know that I am making some sort of change, makes me happy. My goal for Africa is for it to be a prosperous continent as it once was and for Africans to be educated, hopeful, and successful. I no longer want to hear stories of civil wars and more people dying; stories about poverty, sicknesses and rebellions. I want Africa to know peace, wealth and happiness. Sankofa is the first step in my lifelong
goal and I am very optimistic about the change we will make.” I’m sure many of you reading this would already know what Sankofa actually means, but for those of you who do not, the word “Sankofa” is derived from King Adinkera of the Akan people. The concept is expressed in the phrase: “se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenki” and it means “it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot.” Simply, Sankofa teaches us that we need to go back to our roots in order to move forward. And as the Sankofa Afrika Organization, that is what we plan to do. What makes us different than most other organizations who have similar missions is that our sole mission is to aid in the development of Afrika not in the “we must work to save the poor Afrikans” way but rather, we seek to help from
Then she left Byblos by boat and headed for Egypt. After a long journey, when she finally could bring the casket ashore by the Nile again, she opened it and embraced Osiris and wept for him. He looked as if he was only sleeping. Then the coffin was closed again and she continued on her way home through the marshlands to bury him. But that one night Seth and his men were out hunting nearby. When he happened upon the casket, he recognized it, realized his treachery had been found out and feared that Isis would punish him. While she slept he broke into it and tore Osiris´ body into several pieces which he spread out all over the land. Only then did he feel safe that Isis would not be able to find them. When Isis saw the empty casket, her cry of anguish shook heaven and earth. She called out to her sister Nephtys who came to console her and once more she went on her way, now with Nephtys by her side. For many long, sorrowful years they searched the lands together. Wherever they found a piece of Osiris´ body, they erected an altar, giving thanks to the gods. When at last all the parts had been assembled, Isis made Osiris into the first mummy. She then proceeded to use her powerful magic and breathed new life into Osiris and so she was able to conceive the child Horus. After this Osiris became in time the King of the Land of the Dead, while Horus fought against his uncle Set and won his father´s throne and became the Living King of Egypt.
By Jada Young
Did you take a look at that story about Isis, Horus and Osirus? Does anything seem….familiar to you? I first read this story when I took Intro to Black Psychology with Dr. Carroll back in my freshman year (great class…if it’s offered you should definitely take it). When I first read it I was like “You know what? Isis kind of sounds like God…Horus is definitely Jesus and…um…Set is the Devil.” Now I’ve always questioned religion and why we decide to follow it. I mean, there is some sort of good in it as in it brings hope to those who’ve never had it before and it has the ability to bring different people together who would’ve never interacted before…. But as a Black person in this world I wonder: Why were we so quick to continue on this Christianity bandwagon and not question where the stories came from? Who really wrote this book and where did these stories come from? Soon after this class was finished I went home for a vacation and explained it to my mother (she’s real religious, by the way). Of course she didn’t believe me. When it comes to religion, it’s hard to think differently than to what you’re taught. But I know that this had to be true. Mostly because this was written long before the Bible was around (technically…at least from the last time I did the math). Why isn’t this story more known? And when people learn about it they are so quick to turn it down. I’m still questioning what we choose to follow. I believe that there is something out there but this whole Bible thing…I’m not too sure about that. Especially when I heard of Isis and the “real” creation story. It’s not like this story was made up. And if it was, who’s to say that the Bible wasn’t made up? Then again, it seems like the Bible is copyright at its best. Why follow the copy when the original is available for you? Libertad 19
You’re Doing It Wrong! Continued from Page 11
You may think that the roots of all religions are the religious figure they embody. I’m so sorry to tell you you’re dead wrong. It’s Love! Love in its purest form. I think that sometimes people use religion as a buffer to fill holes in their mind, but instead end up with ignorance and ignorant stands. Rappers are perfect examples. I cannot begin to count how many times I have hears a rapper be so in tune with violence, fornication, alcoholism, greed, and misogyny. But when asked about homosexuality, they are the first to quote the Bible. You cannot quote the Bible one thing and not take it in its holistic form. The same thing that you are using to judge others can and will be used to judge you.
powerful unity is, despite the little differences we have. I wish love wasn't such an abstract idea to so many people. We need a new religion. Let’s call it Love-ism, or Love-olgy. You see, but then that would be another means of separating us. That's really a shame. I really can’t wait for the day when we all get to see which path is right, and one of these so called high priests shows God what is in his word, and he face-palms and says back, “That is NOT what I meant!”
Courtesy of: Michael J. DiMotta michaeldimotta.com
Whenever I see these signs, it makes me want to vomit. And although Westboro Baptist Church is an extremist voice, I do see some churches and religious groups following very close to these same types of practices. I would go into the debate of Same-sex (Gay) marriage, but I won’t. This message goes far deeper than that. I want us all to stop and thing and come to the realization that we should (for lack of a better term) “fuck hate.”
I am not putting the blame on religion, because it does have great points, and the lessons that are taught are that of such great force. I just feel that people will go to great lengths to use the very thing that should unite us to separate us. I feel like people have forgotten their spirituality. What attaches you to the universe at large? Can we get back to that? Can we end this cycle of hatred, because it is getting us nowhere and nowhere fast. I wish that more people could see this. Not to critique it, but to see how 20 Fahari
Libertad 33
Muslim For A Day Continued from Page 13 By Rebecca Carroll Referred by Euclyn Williams
Today I read that the 'Law & Order: SUV' actress Mariska Hargitay has adopted a black daughter. "We talked a lot about mixed-race adoptions, and we are very excited that we are now a multi-racial family. We're just so happy she's here," she told 'People' magazine. Awesome. Hargitay becomes the latest white celebrity mom raising a black child in contemporary America (along with Mary Louise Parker, Madonna, Sandra Bullock and Angelina Jolie, among others), and I speak from personal experience when I say that I truly hope they don't raise them to believe we are living in a "post-racial" era. Because we're not. We are present-racial every damn day, every damn era. It's like that. When I went through my first ultra "I am BLACK" phase at about 15 years old, I asked my mom what the hell she'd been thinking when she and my dad thought raising a black child in rural New Hampshire was a swell idea. "We thought the world was changing," she said, "the world was changing." Bless her heart. But the point isn't whether or not the world is changing, or if as a general population we are making great strides in racial progress. It's really about cultivating self-awareness around a cultural identity that will be judged and exploited and questioned again and again throughout the life of this brown-skinned person being raised by white parents. 32 Fahari
I went through my day wearing my beautiful hijab and feeling it slowly become a part of who I am. I loved the hijab. It opened my heart in ways that shocked me. I received many compliments about how great I look with the hijab. You never know how beautiful you can feel until
Adoption in and of itself can be pretty sucky. Almost always it starts from a place of pain for everyone involved: a woman who has to surrender a child that has come from her body, a child whose first visceral experience is one of primal severance, and two people (or one person) who are aching to become parents. When you throw race into the mix, it gets complicated. And the celebrity element just gives it that trendy, colonization feel that puts everyone on edge. I'm sure that Madonna and Sandy Bullock love their kids and wanted to become parents as much as my friend did, and as any prospective parent does, for that matter. My concern is that in their innocuously microcosmic bubble of fame and celebrity, they will struggle to help their kids build a racially honest sense of self. Rather they will end up instilling this: "You are special, the world is yours, you can be whatever you want, nothing can stop you!" And that may be the case for their kids if they, too, remain inside the celebrity bubble. But if they don't, I'll tell you what can stop them right quick: Glenn Beck (with or without his own show). I was fortunate that my parents, who are artists and writers, encouraged individuality and gave me the freedom to create the person I wanted to be -- and that's all well and good, until someone calls you a nigger. Because my parents focused primarily on raising a child, not a black child, my young cultural identity was shaped, in large part, by outside judgment and prejudice aimed toward me, which didn't feel that fun and caused a whole lot of unnecessary anxiety. As I got older, I came to the conclusion that I would be in charge of being black on my own terms. And I'm good with that. I'm not saying it doesn't still feel lousy when someone is blatantly racist toward me, but I figured out that it feels slightly less lousy when you sort of know its coming. All that said, racism is far from the only challenge faced by white parents adopting black kids ... I didn't even touch the more and very pressing issue of proper black hair maintenance.
Courtesy of: Michael J. DiMotta michaeldimotta.com
My friend and her husband, who are white, recently adopted their first child, who is black. They were selected through an agency by a black birth mother who felt they would make good parents to a child she could not keep. My friend had not been seeking out a black child. She had tried for years to conceive on her own, and they had also gone through several failed adoption efforts. She pursued becoming a mother as any parent would -- with a trancelike dedication to providing her child with love and a sense of security. My mom felt the same way when she adopted me.
you wear a hijab. Seriously. One thing that also struck my heart about this day was when I was talking to someone who happens to be a practicing Muslim. She told stories about how she wore a hijab when she first moved to America and when the children began making fun of her, she wanted to wear it less until she made the decision that she no longer wanted to wear a hijab at all. I realized that wearing this beautiful headscarf isn’t about the glamour of it. Wearing it made me feel like I could do anything. I felt like a warrior. I felt wonderful. I have absolutely no complaints about wearing it. This is not everyone’s reality. There are countless women and men who get ridiculed and harassed for wearing apparel that represents Islam. The taste I got of it was overwhelmingly positive. That is not the case for millions of people around the world and to them I would like to say that I stand with you in solidarity. I know what it is like to be Muslim for a day. Because of my experience, while it was a positive one, I do know what it is like to be stared at for simply existing. I probably have stared unknowingly at people wearing hijabs and for that I offer my humble apology. I will take this experience and forever celebrate it for the way is has enlightened my heart. Assalamu Alaikum
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Finding My Way Back Mecca? Or Nirvana? Or Heaven …Wait, Where am I Going?
Continued from Page 17 predominantly African American base and social justice worldview are challenged by the association of charitable giving, philanthropy, poverty work and education with faith-based communities. For many, successfully emulating the strong social and cultural networks that have sustained church congregations is an elusive goal. ―Humanism asks why we should cede enlightenment and the potential for restoration to the supernatural.” And then, there is the deep and abiding desire for belief in the supernatural, the ineffable faith-passion that propels some through the trauma of racial indignities and personal crisis. Yet, humanism asks why we should cede enlightenment and the potential for restoration to the supernatural. Humanism challenges the implication that the sublimity of the natural world, and our connection to those that we love, admire and respect, is somehow impoverished without a divine creator. In one of his bus stop monologues, Mitchell comments, “I want people to look at each other with the same reverence that they look at God and realize that „we‟ did this, we made this happen.” The “we” represents will, agency, and motive force; qualities that many believers would attribute to God as omniscient architect and overseer. Non-believers are compelled to ask whether individual actions (for good or ill) are determined by God, or whether human beings simply act on their own volition in a universe overseen by God. Since time immemorial, non-believers have questioned whether God exercises control over those who commit evil acts or whether hell is the only “medium” for justice. By refusing to invest supernatural forces with divine authority over human affairs, humanism emphasizes human responsibility for the outcome of our pursuits. Morality is defined by just deeds, fairness, equality and respect for difference; not by how blusteringly one claims to adhere to “Godly” principles.
―Religious dogma anesthetizes as it bonds.” However, in communities that are plagued with double digit unemployment and a sense of cultural devaluation, notions of self-sufficiency and ultimate human agency may be perceived as demoralizing if not dangerously radical. As a child preacher steeped in the fiery oratory of the Black Church, writer James Baldwin recounted his growing cynicism about spreading “the gospel.” Lamenting the grip of religion on poor blacks, Baldwin said, “When I faced a congregation, it began to take all the strength I had not to…tell them to throw away their Bibles and get off their knees and go home and organize.” In Baldwin‟s view organized religion‟s requirement that believers suspend disbelief and submit to “God‟s will” is a liability for working class African Americans. Religious dogma anesthetizes as it bonds, a dangerous combination in an era in which the proliferation of storefront churches in urban black communities is a symptom of economic underdevelopment. Echoing Baldwin, Chicago-based Education professor and atheist Kamau Rashid argues that “Freethought is an extension and expression of the struggle that African Americans have waged for selfdetermination. In fact it represents a heightened phase of such a struggle wherein one of the final stages of „conceptual incarceration,‟ the belief in a God or gods, is discarded for a belief in the human potential, for a belief in ourselves.” And why, in a heritage steeped in the revolutionary thought of such dirty outlaw skeptics as Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen, A. Philip Randolph, James Forman and Alice Walker, would this be so viscerally frightening? Sikivu Hutchinson is the editor of blackfemlens.org and a senior fellow for the Washington D.C.-based Institute for Humanist Studies.
THANKYOUANA November of 2007 may be when it began. I am not sure though because you can’t be certain when something like that begins; you don’t know the day when you really choose not to eat. You don't choose it, it chooses you. I became a master in what I did. Often, I sat and thought about what could have caused this, what happened when I was a child that caused me have these feelings and thoughts. Thinking like this just made things worse for me. “If you want control of at least one thing in life... throw it up... I had a lot of pen pals who had it, and inside I thought throw up all your pain, all your they were very foolish, not knowing that I would later be the hurt and all your worries…out foolish one too. ‘Yesterday’, ‘today’, and ‘tomorrow’ became with the bad or better yet up days to redeem myself and one step closer to perfection. with the bad. Afterwards you will feel better; better than you Ana, my friend and my foe, became the only way to cope. ever felt before” “I know I’m hungry but I’m not hungry…” was the lie I – From my online blog in told myself every day, waking up and going to school. Or “I February 2008 have to pray tonight because I’m terrified and I promise myself… I promise I won’t purge tomorrow” were the kind of promises I often made. Eventually, teachers started to notice something and began to pull me aside. Counseling didn’t work, so I accepted it; I accepted an eating disorder. The first time I listened to myself acknowledging this problem was possibly the toughest day in my personal history. Two years after it began, I took a stand against myself. Today, I try to give someone a compliment on a daily basis because “I was walking in the rain they might really need it. I do not regret having gone through that with an umbrella that was experience. I cherish the hard times because they have made me closed. I didn’t want to open stronger. I would not have gone through that if I was not supit. I wanted the rain to posed to overcome it. Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa made me cleanse me and rid me of evestronger and I appreciate them for that. Who would imagine that rything impure” a disease that can bring down all your spirits could bring you – From my online blog in closer to God, yourself and your true friends? The most painful September 2009. time a person can go through, is the reason why everything today is so much better. Through this I learned the definition of confidence, hate, and success. It was not the textbook definitions but my very own. Confidence (n): The ability to know and like what you have to offer Hate (n): Uncertainty Success (n): Prevailing to your own extent and no one else’s.
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By J.S.F.
Libertad 31
By: Lindsey Romain
By Jada Young Disclaimer: This is in no way directed towards any particular person, nor is it expressive of any one particular Black Studies class. This is the result of observations I have made throughout my time as a student at SUNY New Paltz. Also, I apologize in advance if this is in any way offensive to anyone. This is the result of a rant which I thought was worth a read. I am a proud Black Studies major. Needless to say, my Black Studies classes are always among my favorite classes of the semester. Being that SUNY New Paltz is a predominantly white school, white people are guaranteed to be my classmates within these ohso-personal classes of mine. And that is completely fine. Hell, they need this education. But what bothers me is when my white classmates are talking about the realities of the white dominated society and they refer to these actions as ―the white people (insert any action of white people into the blank)‖ or ―white people …‖ That bothers me beyond words. I understand that the white people who tend to take these classes might consider themselves to be ―progressive‖ or ―liberal,‖ but it seems disingenuous for them to separate themselves from the white dominated society (which they automatically benefit from) by saying that ―the white people did it.‖ Just because you‘re an active member of this particular Black Studies class does not mean that you are somehow above the influence of white dominance. I try to give them all the benefit of the doubt, especially when I decided to publicly express my opinion by writing about it for hundreds to see, but this phenomenon is just unexplainable to me. What I love about Black Studies classes is that they allow us to 30 Fahari
learn about the system which perpetuates Black oppression. These classes are designed to enhance our survival. They teach us about the systems which oppress us and give us critical thinking skills to combat these systems. These classes are necessary for our survival in this country. White people can walk out of these classes and still benefit from their white privilege without any question. They don‘t have to challenge the system. The system was designed for their success and continued dominance. What I see in these classes is white people actively participating in the discussion of what is wrong with the world and then using these lessons to (maybe) inform the way they view the world. What I see much less of are white people taking what they learn and then actively challenging the society we are all a part of. Generally speaking, the white people I know through these classes, some of whom being VERY vocal throughout the semester go right back to how they were prior to entering the class. I see them walking with their all-white groups of friends, jolly as ever while I‘m still facing the societal oppression that I‘d been facing prior to, during, and after taking these classes. Now, I‘m in no way implying that I need them to fight my battles for me, but I‘d like to see more of these people take action in a substantial way. I‘m also not implying that all of the white people I met through these classes are complacent; that is simply not the case. I actually met some really cool, critically thinking people in these classes—they are among the best thinkers I‘d met in my life, I just wish more of them used that in a meaningful way. Hey, maybe one day they will. Or maybe they have been. Let‘s hope that I‘m wrong.
Arranged marriages are common in countless religions and cultures around the world. In India, arranged marriages have been pretty common in the past and now have become more modern. Many assume that they know everything about the situation that many young Hindu’s find themselves in, but there are more components to the affair. As a vital part of Indian social customs, among other things, an arranged marriage is a very important part of the Hindu religion. In India, almost all children are raised with the mentality that they will one day go through with an arranged marriage. Usually arranged marriages are made at the birth of the child, and some arrangements are made, at the most, a year after birth. Generally the technicalities of the marriage are left to the parents and immediate relatives of the bride and groom. You would think the coordinators of the tradition would wait a couple years and get to know their child before planning their future. However, that is just another part of their religion and culture. Kinship and marriage is very important in Indian customs. Think about your family’s expectations for you to have a family. The expectations that are held for these young Hindu’s are sometimes too much to bear. Once married, it is anticipated that the bride and groom work on starting a family promptly. This can be difficult depending on the aspirations of the bride or groom. Usually, depending on the case, the groom has already finished his education and has a career. What about the bride? In many cases the bride doesn’t have a chance to fulfill any of her goals for herself. She is expected to bare children and take care of her family. It is easy to empathize with the bride and the circumstances of her state. If she disagrees with the arranged marriage or doesn’t follow the path set out for her or put her family to shame. The benefits of an arranged marriage vary between the family of the bride and groom and the
bride and groom themselves. Some would argue that there is nothing like falling in love and marrying that person, however, when you grow up in a society where this is all you know, will you notice the difference? Arranged marriages can result in family wealth, building and restructuring social realignment, and expansion and reproduction of the family.
If you have ever seen an Indian wedding, it is the most beautiful ceremony to experience. Everything from the sacred ceremony itself to the brides dress is beautiful and indescribable. It is traditional for the bride to wear red at her wedding along with Mehndi, also known as henna. The bride decorates her hands and feet with the henna and it is said that depending on how long it takes for the henna to wash off, it will determine how her in-laws will treat her. Usually around two hours, the wedding goes through an extensive method that includes aid from a priest, the bride’s parents, and a chorus. Although many might disagree with the idea of arranged marriage, compared to America and Canada, where the divorce rate is as high as between 40 and 50 percent, Indian marriages last and divorce rate is as low as 4 percent. There are really no right or wrong opinions when it comes to an arranged marriage. In America, society says that one should marry for love; however, across an ocean marriage carries a burden of being about more than just loving someone.
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Spirituality: By Jay Espy
Let me first define spirituality: it is the essence of all life in the universe. Everything in the universe has life, even down to each atom. Thus, everything in the universe has spirit. Spirituality is the mother of all energy in the universe. It is the godfather of space and time. It has been around before the beginning of it all. Spirituality is the source that produces all matter, vibrations, processes, mechanisms, and frameworks that exist and take place in the universe. Writing these words is a product of spirituality. Reading these words is due to spirituality. The reason you are in New Paltz is because of spirituality. Everything that is, was, and will be is generated through spirituality. It is the unseeable, implicit, un-testable form of energy that stumps people so much they desperately yearn to find a material, tangible reason to explain all inexplicable, undefined phenomena, from a fully detailed description of every single cell and system of cells in the human body to the belief that aliens built the pyramids in Egypt. All amazing feats accomplished by all organisms owe a nod of gratitude to spirituality. When I write organisms, I include the universe as well, for the universe is the largest, tangible, empirical entity of contemporary science. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an ‗organism‘ as being, ―a complex structure of interdependent and subordinate elements whose relations and properties are largely determined by their function in the whole.‖ Now insert, ―The universe is…‖ before that definition, and it fits. The same
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goes for what is living, such as humans, animals, and plants. What is most beautiful is that this definition also applied to what is non-living, such as this paper, the printer that made this magazine, your shirt, the soap you used in the shower, the computer you used today, etc. They are all complex structures of interdependent elements whose relations are determined by their function in the whole. The only reason why they don‘t seem living is because we live in a world that is dominated by an empirical framework of science, which objectifies everything as a single, independent entity as separate from everything else. How can this be? How can you say that this paper does not have life if it is the product of the bulldozer that took the tree down from which this paper was made? Both the tree and the truck have life; however, they each display different forms of life, which are determined by different spiritual energy frequencies, existing under very different forms of atomic (or spiritual) pressure. To see and feel everything that exists as products of the same spiritual source is a beautiful thing.
WHAT THE #@$%?! INSERT FOUR LETTER EXPLETIVE OF YOUR CHOICE
Now, when I said ―spiritual source‖ just now, I wouldn‘t blame you for wondering, ―Does he mean God?‖ Oh man, this debate again. To keep it short and simple, I believe that God is all consciousness in the universe; because the universe possesses consciousness, and because both the universe and consciousness are products of spirituality, thus, God represents
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Continued from Page 27 The existence of subjectivity does not negate objectivity, just like the existence of science does not negate religion. The material and the spiritual can coexist because they must coexist; they need each other. The same goes for logic and illogic: you can choose to only believe in one, but that choice does not erase the existence of the other, it only allows you to live in ignorance of it. You can create a whole belief system off of this ignorance, and though what you accept may be true, your perception of truth itself (as opposed to one example of truth) is distorted. Truth, love, beauty, freedom and the like are simple when we are not trying to figure out their intrinsic nature. As soon as an immaterial value is spoken and conceived of in a material world, its nature changes. It can manifest in different ways because each person’s conception and expression of it might be different. Everyone has beliefs; everyone uses faith to establish what is true for them. If we only relied on our senses to establish truth then we would be easily deceived, and indeed we are. Whether it is faith in the methods used to obtain information, faith in one’s teachers and the knowledge one has access to, or faith in the overall modes of production that create said knowledge, at some point reason will subside and faith will step in to reconcile the absence of knowledge or the contradictions that exist. “Objective reality” therefore is not only a problematic ideology because it isolates itself from faith and denies its use of it, but also because it operates on an assumption that any idea that uses faith at its inception is factually incorrect. Words, equations, morals, experiments are all attempts to add validity to our beliefs, to add some sort of security in our faith.
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If there is a universal truth, it cannot be comprehended in this realm, by scientific method, religious texts, or logic (that might be a lie). It is only when you let that all go, and enter the realm where perception makes way for awareness, and words for silence that truth can be experienced, rather than understood or explained. To me spirituality is a way of experiencing the universal truth without trying to interpret it, while religion is a way of trying to translate it, bring it to our level and subject it to our conceptions, beliefs, desires, and what we think reality is. This is why God is portrayed as a man in some religions. Science on the other hand attempts to remove that subjectivity so that truth can be perceived in its natural state. But subjectivity cannot be removed or ignored, for as long as there is a subject attempting to perceive that truth there will be subjectivity. The goal is the same with both religion and science: to understand truth. Spirituality on the other hand does not seek to understand, it does not seek anything: it just is. It is not ignoring objectivity and subjectivity but transcending it. Perception subsides and the subject and object are free to just be rather than act. The spiritual is immaterial, and uses the material as its vessel. Your actions, your body, your perception do not define you and truth is not defined by its physical manifestation, its proofs, or logic. When you identify with the spirit you cease needing definition because you cease perceiving yourself and truth as an object. Instead you are just aware of your existence, you dwell in faith and no longer feel the desire to impose your humanity on the spirit by logically exploring its essence. Spiritual truth informs your actions, and you become truth.
spirituality. The problem arises when one imposes a God whom everyone should equally perceive as their God. There is an important distinction between religion and spirituality. In a simple diagnosis, spirituality is objective, while religion is subjective. The drama occurs when religion becomes objective. I respect all religions because they are each culturally-specific interpretations of the same thing, which is spirituality. What frustrates me is when people become ethnocentric, xenophobic, egotistical jackasses who go to funerals of dead gay soldiers to protest their gayness. It‘s repulsively disrespectful when someone imposes their beliefs as the almighty standard divinely propagated by God to then justify their beliefs as such. It‘s bad to impose one‘s beliefs onto others; it‘s even worse to be conscious of it. I have come a long way in my path to understanding spirituality. Growing up in a laid-back Catholic home, to be baptized and confirmed at church, it‘s amazing to me how I still don‘t ―pray.‖ Ah, praying! What is praying anyway? My mom, now a Seventh-Day Adventist (which is a Christian who lives strictly by the Bible), sets aside time everyday to pray to God. For me, we pray all the time! That little voice in your head suggesting what to do and not do next, that‘s God! That‘s our spiritual soul talking to us! And yet people set aside time to thank God
for everything. But you‘ve been talking to him all day! Lately, I‘ve learned to perceive praying as a form of meditation, a ritual practiced by cultures around the world for millennia. And how do I, a non-religious yet spirituallyconscious person, live with a Bible-loving mom? By learning from her. Before, I avoided asking my mom what her beliefs were on certain topics, in fear that we would end up arguing about who‘s values are better. What I do now is sit back and listen, and try to translate what she says into something I understand. Not that I don‘t understand Spanish, but I try to take terms like ―God‖ and ―Devil‖ and switch them with ―True self‖ and ―Ego,‖ respectively. I try to keep in mind that the bible, for me, is simply another story, just like all interpretations for reality are. It is an art to perceive your world, analyze it, and explain, diagnose, or interpret it through different forms of communication, whether it is painting it, dancing it, speaking it, or performing it through a musical instrument. Any type of human activity or interaction is an art, and art is simply a product of spirituality, an essential energy that lives through us all and everything else that exists in this beautiful space and time. Thank you for reading. Hotep, and be safe.
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The following is a letter I wrote to my dear old Dad. As a disclaimer, this is not a rant about how evil people are or me throwing a hissy fit about how I hate everyone. You will not see me around campus flinging Holy Water at people (although it would be pretty cool to have some). Think of it as a show and tell, or a letter, or, Oh I don‘t know, I‘ll shut up and let you read.
Dear Dad, Hi, it‘s me Leah. I‘m writing to You because of this wonderful opportunity. See, the Fahari Libertad is composing an issue about Religion and Spirituality and I thought it‘d be great if I could share how wonderful You are. There‘s one problem; I‘m a bit of a shrinking violet. I‘m scared if I start to mention You, people will telepathically pelt me with rotten vegetables. Ok, yes that‘s silly, but its how I feel. Wait, what?, “For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear but of power, love and self control” (II Timothy 1:7) Yes I know, but it seems every time I want to tell people about You, it‘s like Antoine Dodson all over again, ―Uh-oh, here‘s somebody talking about Jesus, hide yo‘ kids, hide yo‘ wife.‖ Yes, I know I have a knack for the theatrics. But Father, in all seriousness, I really want to tell people about Your divine awesomeness. I want people to know that you‘re a loving Dad, a Dad who takes care of our every need and who will always be there for us. That You‘re my best friend, someone who I can share secrets with or just chill and watch the clouds. I want to shout about Your Greatness all over the world, but I can‘t seem to muster a tiny syllable. I‘m afraid people will laugh and tell me to g o somewhere or mock me. I don‘t know what to do Dad. “I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry” (Psalm 40: 1). Ok, this is true. I suppose what I really what to say to people is that You love all of us and You gave us a choice in life. That You love all Your children whether they are believers or non-believers. That You want us to love one another and treat each other with respect. That I‘m not here to judge or try and change anyone, but to just express to everyone how great You are. Yeah, I think I know what I want to say. Thanks Dad. You really are awesome. What‘s that? fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. —Isaiah 41:10 Aww, thanks Dad. I love you. Sincerely, Your darling, loving, a tad bit nutty, daughter Leah Christiane Royster
A PERPLEXING PERCEPTION PARADOX… By Josette Ramnani Faith is a tool implemented both by the religious and the scientific; it is the link between logic and illogic, the material and nonmaterial, what can be proven and what cannot. Without faith our conception of the universe would rely totally on that which is tangible, that which cannot be refuted; what some would call truth. The problem with this is if the only credentials for something to qualify as true or real is our knowledge of its existence, which makes truth subjective as it varies depending on one’s perspective. Yet a fundamental assumption of both religion and science is that of an objective truth: something that is true regardless if we see it as such. An example of this is many religions’ assertion of the existence of a God, or science’s assertion of gravity. The difference is one can be proven and the other has not as of yet. Does that make science more truthful than religion? Is truth merely what can be proven or is there truth beyond our capacity to understand it? Both science and religion are searching for a truth, and both I would argue seek to assert that idea of truth as omnipotent. Neither truly encompass all there is to know. Each explores different kinds of truths: some sciences explore logical truths of the earth and universe, while religion touches upon moral truths. Each builds off certain assumptions and discoveries. But there are some things they are both wrong about, and simply unable to determine, like what happens after death. They are fallible because they are human inventions intended to understand the nature of existence, and because we exist we have an inherent bias. Our perspective informs our interpretation of reality and thus informs
any ideas we conceive, even if they focus solely on external factors. Perception tries to make sense of the external and internal worlds and then you logically deduce what qualifies as reality, based on experiences, and the knowledge you are already aware of. If your consciousness is consumed with an object and your awareness is no longer attuned to your subjectivity then you are only looking at a fraction of the truth. When atheists argue that we must only rely on that which is factually correct, things that exist in the “real world,” they ignore the fact that facts are not completely autonomous from perception, because their existence depends on ours. They also ignore the fact that they prefer objectivity, which means they are not being objective: they are biased in thinking that one truth is truer than another. They choose not to believe in that which cannot be seen but they still believe in something: that science, logic and that which is tangible is true. To believe that something is true requires faith and logic and to deny either hinders one’s ability to know truth. Objectivity argues that something is true regardless of whether or not you perceive it as such. But truth is merely a word, for something to be classified as true someone has to perceive it as such. This is not to say that there is no universal truth, I believe the contrary. This truth however is beyond human capacity to identify it. The truths we discover are simply devices we use to make us feel better about that which we cannot know. A person that denies truths of the spirit in favor of truth of the material is living a lie, because it is a life that denies that two contradictory truths can coexist.
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The following is a letter I wrote to my dear old Dad. As a disclaimer, this is not a rant about how evil people are or me throwing a hissy fit about how I hate everyone. You will not see me around campus flinging Holy Water at people (although it would be pretty cool to have some). Think of it as a show and tell, or a letter, or, Oh I don‘t know, I‘ll shut up and let you read.
Dear Dad, Hi, it‘s me Leah. I‘m writing to You because of this wonderful opportunity. See, the Fahari Libertad is composing an issue about Religion and Spirituality and I thought it‘d be great if I could share how wonderful You are. There‘s one problem; I‘m a bit of a shrinking violet. I‘m scared if I start to mention You, people will telepathically pelt me with rotten vegetables. Ok, yes that‘s silly, but its how I feel. Wait, what?, “For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear but of power, love and self control” (II Timothy 1:7) Yes I know, but it seems every time I want to tell people about You, it‘s like Antoine Dodson all over again, ―Uh-oh, here‘s somebody talking about Jesus, hide yo‘ kids, hide yo‘ wife.‖ Yes, I know I have a knack for the theatrics. But Father, in all seriousness, I really want to tell people about Your divine awesomeness. I want people to know that you‘re a loving Dad, a Dad who takes care of our every need and who will always be there for us. That You‘re my best friend, someone who I can share secrets with or just chill and watch the clouds. I want to shout about Your Greatness all over the world, but I can‘t seem to muster a tiny syllable. I‘m afraid people will laugh and tell me to g o somewhere or mock me. I don‘t know what to do Dad. “I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry” (Psalm 40: 1). Ok, this is true. I suppose what I really what to say to people is that You love all of us and You gave us a choice in life. That You love all Your children whether they are believers or non-believers. That You want us to love one another and treat each other with respect. That I‘m not here to judge or try and change anyone, but to just express to everyone how great You are. Yeah, I think I know what I want to say. Thanks Dad. You really are awesome. What‘s that? fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. —Isaiah 41:10 Aww, thanks Dad. I love you. Sincerely, Your darling, loving, a tad bit nutty, daughter Leah Christiane Royster
A PERPLEXING PERCEPTION PARADOX… By Josette Ramnani Faith is a tool implemented both by the religious and the scientific; it is the link between logic and illogic, the material and nonmaterial, what can be proven and what cannot. Without faith our conception of the universe would rely totally on that which is tangible, that which cannot be refuted; what some would call truth. The problem with this is if the only credentials for something to qualify as true or real is our knowledge of its existence, which makes truth subjective as it varies depending on one’s perspective. Yet a fundamental assumption of both religion and science is that of an objective truth: something that is true regardless if we see it as such. An example of this is many religions’ assertion of the existence of a God, or science’s assertion of gravity. The difference is one can be proven and the other has not as of yet. Does that make science more truthful than religion? Is truth merely what can be proven or is there truth beyond our capacity to understand it? Both science and religion are searching for a truth, and both I would argue seek to assert that idea of truth as omnipotent. Neither truly encompass all there is to know. Each explores different kinds of truths: some sciences explore logical truths of the earth and universe, while religion touches upon moral truths. Each builds off certain assumptions and discoveries. But there are some things they are both wrong about, and simply unable to determine, like what happens after death. They are fallible because they are human inventions intended to understand the nature of existence, and because we exist we have an inherent bias. Our perspective informs our interpretation of reality and thus informs
any ideas we conceive, even if they focus solely on external factors. Perception tries to make sense of the external and internal worlds and then you logically deduce what qualifies as reality, based on experiences, and the knowledge you are already aware of. If your consciousness is consumed with an object and your awareness is no longer attuned to your subjectivity then you are only looking at a fraction of the truth. When atheists argue that we must only rely on that which is factually correct, things that exist in the “real world,” they ignore the fact that facts are not completely autonomous from perception, because their existence depends on ours. They also ignore the fact that they prefer objectivity, which means they are not being objective: they are biased in thinking that one truth is truer than another. They choose not to believe in that which cannot be seen but they still believe in something: that science, logic and that which is tangible is true. To believe that something is true requires faith and logic and to deny either hinders one’s ability to know truth. Objectivity argues that something is true regardless of whether or not you perceive it as such. But truth is merely a word, for something to be classified as true someone has to perceive it as such. This is not to say that there is no universal truth, I believe the contrary. This truth however is beyond human capacity to identify it. The truths we discover are simply devices we use to make us feel better about that which we cannot know. A person that denies truths of the spirit in favor of truth of the material is living a lie, because it is a life that denies that two contradictory truths can coexist.
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Libertad 27
Continued from Page 27 The existence of subjectivity does not negate objectivity, just like the existence of science does not negate religion. The material and the spiritual can coexist because they must coexist; they need each other. The same goes for logic and illogic: you can choose to only believe in one, but that choice does not erase the existence of the other, it only allows you to live in ignorance of it. You can create a whole belief system off of this ignorance, and though what you accept may be true, your perception of truth itself (as opposed to one example of truth) is distorted. Truth, love, beauty, freedom and the like are simple when we are not trying to figure out their intrinsic nature. As soon as an immaterial value is spoken and conceived of in a material world, its nature changes. It can manifest in different ways because each person’s conception and expression of it might be different. Everyone has beliefs; everyone uses faith to establish what is true for them. If we only relied on our senses to establish truth then we would be easily deceived, and indeed we are. Whether it is faith in the methods used to obtain information, faith in one’s teachers and the knowledge one has access to, or faith in the overall modes of production that create said knowledge, at some point reason will subside and faith will step in to reconcile the absence of knowledge or the contradictions that exist. “Objective reality” therefore is not only a problematic ideology because it isolates itself from faith and denies its use of it, but also because it operates on an assumption that any idea that uses faith at its inception is factually incorrect. Words, equations, morals, experiments are all attempts to add validity to our beliefs, to add some sort of security in our faith.
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If there is a universal truth, it cannot be comprehended in this realm, by scientific method, religious texts, or logic (that might be a lie). It is only when you let that all go, and enter the realm where perception makes way for awareness, and words for silence that truth can be experienced, rather than understood or explained. To me spirituality is a way of experiencing the universal truth without trying to interpret it, while religion is a way of trying to translate it, bring it to our level and subject it to our conceptions, beliefs, desires, and what we think reality is. This is why God is portrayed as a man in some religions. Science on the other hand attempts to remove that subjectivity so that truth can be perceived in its natural state. But subjectivity cannot be removed or ignored, for as long as there is a subject attempting to perceive that truth there will be subjectivity. The goal is the same with both religion and science: to understand truth. Spirituality on the other hand does not seek to understand, it does not seek anything: it just is. It is not ignoring objectivity and subjectivity but transcending it. Perception subsides and the subject and object are free to just be rather than act. The spiritual is immaterial, and uses the material as its vessel. Your actions, your body, your perception do not define you and truth is not defined by its physical manifestation, its proofs, or logic. When you identify with the spirit you cease needing definition because you cease perceiving yourself and truth as an object. Instead you are just aware of your existence, you dwell in faith and no longer feel the desire to impose your humanity on the spirit by logically exploring its essence. Spiritual truth informs your actions, and you become truth.
spirituality. The problem arises when one imposes a God whom everyone should equally perceive as their God. There is an important distinction between religion and spirituality. In a simple diagnosis, spirituality is objective, while religion is subjective. The drama occurs when religion becomes objective. I respect all religions because they are each culturally-specific interpretations of the same thing, which is spirituality. What frustrates me is when people become ethnocentric, xenophobic, egotistical jackasses who go to funerals of dead gay soldiers to protest their gayness. It‘s repulsively disrespectful when someone imposes their beliefs as the almighty standard divinely propagated by God to then justify their beliefs as such. It‘s bad to impose one‘s beliefs onto others; it‘s even worse to be conscious of it. I have come a long way in my path to understanding spirituality. Growing up in a laid-back Catholic home, to be baptized and confirmed at church, it‘s amazing to me how I still don‘t ―pray.‖ Ah, praying! What is praying anyway? My mom, now a Seventh-Day Adventist (which is a Christian who lives strictly by the Bible), sets aside time everyday to pray to God. For me, we pray all the time! That little voice in your head suggesting what to do and not do next, that‘s God! That‘s our spiritual soul talking to us! And yet people set aside time to thank God
for everything. But you‘ve been talking to him all day! Lately, I‘ve learned to perceive praying as a form of meditation, a ritual practiced by cultures around the world for millennia. And how do I, a non-religious yet spirituallyconscious person, live with a Bible-loving mom? By learning from her. Before, I avoided asking my mom what her beliefs were on certain topics, in fear that we would end up arguing about who‘s values are better. What I do now is sit back and listen, and try to translate what she says into something I understand. Not that I don‘t understand Spanish, but I try to take terms like ―God‖ and ―Devil‖ and switch them with ―True self‖ and ―Ego,‖ respectively. I try to keep in mind that the bible, for me, is simply another story, just like all interpretations for reality are. It is an art to perceive your world, analyze it, and explain, diagnose, or interpret it through different forms of communication, whether it is painting it, dancing it, speaking it, or performing it through a musical instrument. Any type of human activity or interaction is an art, and art is simply a product of spirituality, an essential energy that lives through us all and everything else that exists in this beautiful space and time. Thank you for reading. Hotep, and be safe.
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Spirituality: By Jay Espy
Let me first define spirituality: it is the essence of all life in the universe. Everything in the universe has life, even down to each atom. Thus, everything in the universe has spirit. Spirituality is the mother of all energy in the universe. It is the godfather of space and time. It has been around before the beginning of it all. Spirituality is the source that produces all matter, vibrations, processes, mechanisms, and frameworks that exist and take place in the universe. Writing these words is a product of spirituality. Reading these words is due to spirituality. The reason you are in New Paltz is because of spirituality. Everything that is, was, and will be is generated through spirituality. It is the unseeable, implicit, un-testable form of energy that stumps people so much they desperately yearn to find a material, tangible reason to explain all inexplicable, undefined phenomena, from a fully detailed description of every single cell and system of cells in the human body to the belief that aliens built the pyramids in Egypt. All amazing feats accomplished by all organisms owe a nod of gratitude to spirituality. When I write organisms, I include the universe as well, for the universe is the largest, tangible, empirical entity of contemporary science. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an ‗organism‘ as being, ―a complex structure of interdependent and subordinate elements whose relations and properties are largely determined by their function in the whole.‖ Now insert, ―The universe is…‖ before that definition, and it fits. The same
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goes for what is living, such as humans, animals, and plants. What is most beautiful is that this definition also applied to what is non-living, such as this paper, the printer that made this magazine, your shirt, the soap you used in the shower, the computer you used today, etc. They are all complex structures of interdependent elements whose relations are determined by their function in the whole. The only reason why they don‘t seem living is because we live in a world that is dominated by an empirical framework of science, which objectifies everything as a single, independent entity as separate from everything else. How can this be? How can you say that this paper does not have life if it is the product of the bulldozer that took the tree down from which this paper was made? Both the tree and the truck have life; however, they each display different forms of life, which are determined by different spiritual energy frequencies, existing under very different forms of atomic (or spiritual) pressure. To see and feel everything that exists as products of the same spiritual source is a beautiful thing.
WHAT THE #@$%?! INSERT FOUR LETTER EXPLETIVE OF YOUR CHOICE
Now, when I said ―spiritual source‖ just now, I wouldn‘t blame you for wondering, ―Does he mean God?‖ Oh man, this debate again. To keep it short and simple, I believe that God is all consciousness in the universe; because the universe possesses consciousness, and because both the universe and consciousness are products of spirituality, thus, God represents
Libertad 29
By: Lindsey Romain
By Jada Young Disclaimer: This is in no way directed towards any particular person, nor is it expressive of any one particular Black Studies class. This is the result of observations I have made throughout my time as a student at SUNY New Paltz. Also, I apologize in advance if this is in any way offensive to anyone. This is the result of a rant which I thought was worth a read. I am a proud Black Studies major. Needless to say, my Black Studies classes are always among my favorite classes of the semester. Being that SUNY New Paltz is a predominantly white school, white people are guaranteed to be my classmates within these ohso-personal classes of mine. And that is completely fine. Hell, they need this education. But what bothers me is when my white classmates are talking about the realities of the white dominated society and they refer to these actions as ―the white people (insert any action of white people into the blank)‖ or ―white people …‖ That bothers me beyond words. I understand that the white people who tend to take these classes might consider themselves to be ―progressive‖ or ―liberal,‖ but it seems disingenuous for them to separate themselves from the white dominated society (which they automatically benefit from) by saying that ―the white people did it.‖ Just because you‘re an active member of this particular Black Studies class does not mean that you are somehow above the influence of white dominance. I try to give them all the benefit of the doubt, especially when I decided to publicly express my opinion by writing about it for hundreds to see, but this phenomenon is just unexplainable to me. What I love about Black Studies classes is that they allow us to 30 Fahari
learn about the system which perpetuates Black oppression. These classes are designed to enhance our survival. They teach us about the systems which oppress us and give us critical thinking skills to combat these systems. These classes are necessary for our survival in this country. White people can walk out of these classes and still benefit from their white privilege without any question. They don‘t have to challenge the system. The system was designed for their success and continued dominance. What I see in these classes is white people actively participating in the discussion of what is wrong with the world and then using these lessons to (maybe) inform the way they view the world. What I see much less of are white people taking what they learn and then actively challenging the society we are all a part of. Generally speaking, the white people I know through these classes, some of whom being VERY vocal throughout the semester go right back to how they were prior to entering the class. I see them walking with their all-white groups of friends, jolly as ever while I‘m still facing the societal oppression that I‘d been facing prior to, during, and after taking these classes. Now, I‘m in no way implying that I need them to fight my battles for me, but I‘d like to see more of these people take action in a substantial way. I‘m also not implying that all of the white people I met through these classes are complacent; that is simply not the case. I actually met some really cool, critically thinking people in these classes—they are among the best thinkers I‘d met in my life, I just wish more of them used that in a meaningful way. Hey, maybe one day they will. Or maybe they have been. Let‘s hope that I‘m wrong.
Arranged marriages are common in countless religions and cultures around the world. In India, arranged marriages have been pretty common in the past and now have become more modern. Many assume that they know everything about the situation that many young Hindu’s find themselves in, but there are more components to the affair. As a vital part of Indian social customs, among other things, an arranged marriage is a very important part of the Hindu religion. In India, almost all children are raised with the mentality that they will one day go through with an arranged marriage. Usually arranged marriages are made at the birth of the child, and some arrangements are made, at the most, a year after birth. Generally the technicalities of the marriage are left to the parents and immediate relatives of the bride and groom. You would think the coordinators of the tradition would wait a couple years and get to know their child before planning their future. However, that is just another part of their religion and culture. Kinship and marriage is very important in Indian customs. Think about your family’s expectations for you to have a family. The expectations that are held for these young Hindu’s are sometimes too much to bear. Once married, it is anticipated that the bride and groom work on starting a family promptly. This can be difficult depending on the aspirations of the bride or groom. Usually, depending on the case, the groom has already finished his education and has a career. What about the bride? In many cases the bride doesn’t have a chance to fulfill any of her goals for herself. She is expected to bare children and take care of her family. It is easy to empathize with the bride and the circumstances of her state. If she disagrees with the arranged marriage or doesn’t follow the path set out for her or put her family to shame. The benefits of an arranged marriage vary between the family of the bride and groom and the
bride and groom themselves. Some would argue that there is nothing like falling in love and marrying that person, however, when you grow up in a society where this is all you know, will you notice the difference? Arranged marriages can result in family wealth, building and restructuring social realignment, and expansion and reproduction of the family.
If you have ever seen an Indian wedding, it is the most beautiful ceremony to experience. Everything from the sacred ceremony itself to the brides dress is beautiful and indescribable. It is traditional for the bride to wear red at her wedding along with Mehndi, also known as henna. The bride decorates her hands and feet with the henna and it is said that depending on how long it takes for the henna to wash off, it will determine how her in-laws will treat her. Usually around two hours, the wedding goes through an extensive method that includes aid from a priest, the bride’s parents, and a chorus. Although many might disagree with the idea of arranged marriage, compared to America and Canada, where the divorce rate is as high as between 40 and 50 percent, Indian marriages last and divorce rate is as low as 4 percent. There are really no right or wrong opinions when it comes to an arranged marriage. In America, society says that one should marry for love; however, across an ocean marriage carries a burden of being about more than just loving someone.
Libertad 23
Finding My Way Back Mecca? Or Nirvana? Or Heaven …Wait, Where am I Going?
Continued from Page 17 predominantly African American base and social justice worldview are challenged by the association of charitable giving, philanthropy, poverty work and education with faith-based communities. For many, successfully emulating the strong social and cultural networks that have sustained church congregations is an elusive goal. ―Humanism asks why we should cede enlightenment and the potential for restoration to the supernatural.” And then, there is the deep and abiding desire for belief in the supernatural, the ineffable faith-passion that propels some through the trauma of racial indignities and personal crisis. Yet, humanism asks why we should cede enlightenment and the potential for restoration to the supernatural. Humanism challenges the implication that the sublimity of the natural world, and our connection to those that we love, admire and respect, is somehow impoverished without a divine creator. In one of his bus stop monologues, Mitchell comments, “I want people to look at each other with the same reverence that they look at God and realize that „we‟ did this, we made this happen.” The “we” represents will, agency, and motive force; qualities that many believers would attribute to God as omniscient architect and overseer. Non-believers are compelled to ask whether individual actions (for good or ill) are determined by God, or whether human beings simply act on their own volition in a universe overseen by God. Since time immemorial, non-believers have questioned whether God exercises control over those who commit evil acts or whether hell is the only “medium” for justice. By refusing to invest supernatural forces with divine authority over human affairs, humanism emphasizes human responsibility for the outcome of our pursuits. Morality is defined by just deeds, fairness, equality and respect for difference; not by how blusteringly one claims to adhere to “Godly” principles.
―Religious dogma anesthetizes as it bonds.” However, in communities that are plagued with double digit unemployment and a sense of cultural devaluation, notions of self-sufficiency and ultimate human agency may be perceived as demoralizing if not dangerously radical. As a child preacher steeped in the fiery oratory of the Black Church, writer James Baldwin recounted his growing cynicism about spreading “the gospel.” Lamenting the grip of religion on poor blacks, Baldwin said, “When I faced a congregation, it began to take all the strength I had not to…tell them to throw away their Bibles and get off their knees and go home and organize.” In Baldwin‟s view organized religion‟s requirement that believers suspend disbelief and submit to “God‟s will” is a liability for working class African Americans. Religious dogma anesthetizes as it bonds, a dangerous combination in an era in which the proliferation of storefront churches in urban black communities is a symptom of economic underdevelopment. Echoing Baldwin, Chicago-based Education professor and atheist Kamau Rashid argues that “Freethought is an extension and expression of the struggle that African Americans have waged for selfdetermination. In fact it represents a heightened phase of such a struggle wherein one of the final stages of „conceptual incarceration,‟ the belief in a God or gods, is discarded for a belief in the human potential, for a belief in ourselves.” And why, in a heritage steeped in the revolutionary thought of such dirty outlaw skeptics as Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. DuBois, Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Nella Larsen, A. Philip Randolph, James Forman and Alice Walker, would this be so viscerally frightening? Sikivu Hutchinson is the editor of blackfemlens.org and a senior fellow for the Washington D.C.-based Institute for Humanist Studies.
THANKYOUANA November of 2007 may be when it began. I am not sure though because you can’t be certain when something like that begins; you don’t know the day when you really choose not to eat. You don't choose it, it chooses you. I became a master in what I did. Often, I sat and thought about what could have caused this, what happened when I was a child that caused me have these feelings and thoughts. Thinking like this just made things worse for me. “If you want control of at least one thing in life... throw it up... I had a lot of pen pals who had it, and inside I thought throw up all your pain, all your they were very foolish, not knowing that I would later be the hurt and all your worries…out foolish one too. ‘Yesterday’, ‘today’, and ‘tomorrow’ became with the bad or better yet up days to redeem myself and one step closer to perfection. with the bad. Afterwards you will feel better; better than you Ana, my friend and my foe, became the only way to cope. ever felt before” “I know I’m hungry but I’m not hungry…” was the lie I – From my online blog in told myself every day, waking up and going to school. Or “I February 2008 have to pray tonight because I’m terrified and I promise myself… I promise I won’t purge tomorrow” were the kind of promises I often made. Eventually, teachers started to notice something and began to pull me aside. Counseling didn’t work, so I accepted it; I accepted an eating disorder. The first time I listened to myself acknowledging this problem was possibly the toughest day in my personal history. Two years after it began, I took a stand against myself. Today, I try to give someone a compliment on a daily basis because “I was walking in the rain they might really need it. I do not regret having gone through that with an umbrella that was experience. I cherish the hard times because they have made me closed. I didn’t want to open stronger. I would not have gone through that if I was not supit. I wanted the rain to posed to overcome it. Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa made me cleanse me and rid me of evestronger and I appreciate them for that. Who would imagine that rything impure” a disease that can bring down all your spirits could bring you – From my online blog in closer to God, yourself and your true friends? The most painful September 2009. time a person can go through, is the reason why everything today is so much better. Through this I learned the definition of confidence, hate, and success. It was not the textbook definitions but my very own. Confidence (n): The ability to know and like what you have to offer Hate (n): Uncertainty Success (n): Prevailing to your own extent and no one else’s.
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By J.S.F.
Libertad 31
Muslim For A Day Continued from Page 13 By Rebecca Carroll Referred by Euclyn Williams
Today I read that the 'Law & Order: SUV' actress Mariska Hargitay has adopted a black daughter. "We talked a lot about mixed-race adoptions, and we are very excited that we are now a multi-racial family. We're just so happy she's here," she told 'People' magazine. Awesome. Hargitay becomes the latest white celebrity mom raising a black child in contemporary America (along with Mary Louise Parker, Madonna, Sandra Bullock and Angelina Jolie, among others), and I speak from personal experience when I say that I truly hope they don't raise them to believe we are living in a "post-racial" era. Because we're not. We are present-racial every damn day, every damn era. It's like that. When I went through my first ultra "I am BLACK" phase at about 15 years old, I asked my mom what the hell she'd been thinking when she and my dad thought raising a black child in rural New Hampshire was a swell idea. "We thought the world was changing," she said, "the world was changing." Bless her heart. But the point isn't whether or not the world is changing, or if as a general population we are making great strides in racial progress. It's really about cultivating self-awareness around a cultural identity that will be judged and exploited and questioned again and again throughout the life of this brown-skinned person being raised by white parents. 32 Fahari
I went through my day wearing my beautiful hijab and feeling it slowly become a part of who I am. I loved the hijab. It opened my heart in ways that shocked me. I received many compliments about how great I look with the hijab. You never know how beautiful you can feel until
Adoption in and of itself can be pretty sucky. Almost always it starts from a place of pain for everyone involved: a woman who has to surrender a child that has come from her body, a child whose first visceral experience is one of primal severance, and two people (or one person) who are aching to become parents. When you throw race into the mix, it gets complicated. And the celebrity element just gives it that trendy, colonization feel that puts everyone on edge. I'm sure that Madonna and Sandy Bullock love their kids and wanted to become parents as much as my friend did, and as any prospective parent does, for that matter. My concern is that in their innocuously microcosmic bubble of fame and celebrity, they will struggle to help their kids build a racially honest sense of self. Rather they will end up instilling this: "You are special, the world is yours, you can be whatever you want, nothing can stop you!" And that may be the case for their kids if they, too, remain inside the celebrity bubble. But if they don't, I'll tell you what can stop them right quick: Glenn Beck (with or without his own show). I was fortunate that my parents, who are artists and writers, encouraged individuality and gave me the freedom to create the person I wanted to be -- and that's all well and good, until someone calls you a nigger. Because my parents focused primarily on raising a child, not a black child, my young cultural identity was shaped, in large part, by outside judgment and prejudice aimed toward me, which didn't feel that fun and caused a whole lot of unnecessary anxiety. As I got older, I came to the conclusion that I would be in charge of being black on my own terms. And I'm good with that. I'm not saying it doesn't still feel lousy when someone is blatantly racist toward me, but I figured out that it feels slightly less lousy when you sort of know its coming. All that said, racism is far from the only challenge faced by white parents adopting black kids ... I didn't even touch the more and very pressing issue of proper black hair maintenance.
Courtesy of: Michael J. DiMotta michaeldimotta.com
My friend and her husband, who are white, recently adopted their first child, who is black. They were selected through an agency by a black birth mother who felt they would make good parents to a child she could not keep. My friend had not been seeking out a black child. She had tried for years to conceive on her own, and they had also gone through several failed adoption efforts. She pursued becoming a mother as any parent would -- with a trancelike dedication to providing her child with love and a sense of security. My mom felt the same way when she adopted me.
you wear a hijab. Seriously. One thing that also struck my heart about this day was when I was talking to someone who happens to be a practicing Muslim. She told stories about how she wore a hijab when she first moved to America and when the children began making fun of her, she wanted to wear it less until she made the decision that she no longer wanted to wear a hijab at all. I realized that wearing this beautiful headscarf isn’t about the glamour of it. Wearing it made me feel like I could do anything. I felt like a warrior. I felt wonderful. I have absolutely no complaints about wearing it. This is not everyone’s reality. There are countless women and men who get ridiculed and harassed for wearing apparel that represents Islam. The taste I got of it was overwhelmingly positive. That is not the case for millions of people around the world and to them I would like to say that I stand with you in solidarity. I know what it is like to be Muslim for a day. Because of my experience, while it was a positive one, I do know what it is like to be stared at for simply existing. I probably have stared unknowingly at people wearing hijabs and for that I offer my humble apology. I will take this experience and forever celebrate it for the way is has enlightened my heart. Assalamu Alaikum
Libertad 21
You’re Doing It Wrong! Continued from Page 11
You may think that the roots of all religions are the religious figure they embody. I’m so sorry to tell you you’re dead wrong. It’s Love! Love in its purest form. I think that sometimes people use religion as a buffer to fill holes in their mind, but instead end up with ignorance and ignorant stands. Rappers are perfect examples. I cannot begin to count how many times I have hears a rapper be so in tune with violence, fornication, alcoholism, greed, and misogyny. But when asked about homosexuality, they are the first to quote the Bible. You cannot quote the Bible one thing and not take it in its holistic form. The same thing that you are using to judge others can and will be used to judge you.
powerful unity is, despite the little differences we have. I wish love wasn't such an abstract idea to so many people. We need a new religion. Let’s call it Love-ism, or Love-olgy. You see, but then that would be another means of separating us. That's really a shame. I really can’t wait for the day when we all get to see which path is right, and one of these so called high priests shows God what is in his word, and he face-palms and says back, “That is NOT what I meant!”
Courtesy of: Michael J. DiMotta michaeldimotta.com
Whenever I see these signs, it makes me want to vomit. And although Westboro Baptist Church is an extremist voice, I do see some churches and religious groups following very close to these same types of practices. I would go into the debate of Same-sex (Gay) marriage, but I won’t. This message goes far deeper than that. I want us all to stop and thing and come to the realization that we should (for lack of a better term) “fuck hate.”
I am not putting the blame on religion, because it does have great points, and the lessons that are taught are that of such great force. I just feel that people will go to great lengths to use the very thing that should unite us to separate us. I feel like people have forgotten their spirituality. What attaches you to the universe at large? Can we get back to that? Can we end this cycle of hatred, because it is getting us nowhere and nowhere fast. I wish that more people could see this. Not to critique it, but to see how 20 Fahari
Libertad 33
Introducing the
Copyright Sankofa Afrika Organization! at its Best
By Krystal A. Miller
I have never been more proud to be a part of an on-campus organization as I am right now. Early this semester, I was approached by my friend Kady to join a new organization that she was starting on campus. She told me that the organization would be known as the Sankofa Afrika Organization and upon joining it I would be able to give back to the continent of Afrika. Obviously this excited me. As a Black Studies major, and as a person who is seeking to define myself, the concept of “Sankofa” initially drew me in to the many opportunities that joining this organization would present for me. The mission of the organization, simply, is to aid in the social development of the continent of Afrika. This is fundamentally the reason I decided to join as a founding member. Monique Bailey, a
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first year Computer Engineering major/Black Studies minor and Sankofa’s Media Relations member joined Sankofa for a similar reason. She said: “I joined Sankofa because my lifelong goal is to advance, empower, and inspire MY PEOPLE in any way possible. I know change will not come rapidly, nor are we going to be able to change the whole continent by ourselves, but just to know that I am doing something, to know that I am making some sort of change, makes me happy. My goal for Africa is for it to be a prosperous continent as it once was and for Africans to be educated, hopeful, and successful. I no longer want to hear stories of civil wars and more people dying; stories about poverty, sicknesses and rebellions. I want Africa to know peace, wealth and happiness. Sankofa is the first step in my lifelong
goal and I am very optimistic about the change we will make.” I’m sure many of you reading this would already know what Sankofa actually means, but for those of you who do not, the word “Sankofa” is derived from King Adinkera of the Akan people. The concept is expressed in the phrase: “se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenki” and it means “it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot.” Simply, Sankofa teaches us that we need to go back to our roots in order to move forward. And as the Sankofa Afrika Organization, that is what we plan to do. What makes us different than most other organizations who have similar missions is that our sole mission is to aid in the development of Afrika not in the “we must work to save the poor Afrikans” way but rather, we seek to help from
Then she left Byblos by boat and headed for Egypt. After a long journey, when she finally could bring the casket ashore by the Nile again, she opened it and embraced Osiris and wept for him. He looked as if he was only sleeping. Then the coffin was closed again and she continued on her way home through the marshlands to bury him. But that one night Seth and his men were out hunting nearby. When he happened upon the casket, he recognized it, realized his treachery had been found out and feared that Isis would punish him. While she slept he broke into it and tore Osiris´ body into several pieces which he spread out all over the land. Only then did he feel safe that Isis would not be able to find them. When Isis saw the empty casket, her cry of anguish shook heaven and earth. She called out to her sister Nephtys who came to console her and once more she went on her way, now with Nephtys by her side. For many long, sorrowful years they searched the lands together. Wherever they found a piece of Osiris´ body, they erected an altar, giving thanks to the gods. When at last all the parts had been assembled, Isis made Osiris into the first mummy. She then proceeded to use her powerful magic and breathed new life into Osiris and so she was able to conceive the child Horus. After this Osiris became in time the King of the Land of the Dead, while Horus fought against his uncle Set and won his father´s throne and became the Living King of Egypt.
By Jada Young
Did you take a look at that story about Isis, Horus and Osirus? Does anything seem….familiar to you? I first read this story when I took Intro to Black Psychology with Dr. Carroll back in my freshman year (great class…if it’s offered you should definitely take it). When I first read it I was like “You know what? Isis kind of sounds like God…Horus is definitely Jesus and…um…Set is the Devil.” Now I’ve always questioned religion and why we decide to follow it. I mean, there is some sort of good in it as in it brings hope to those who’ve never had it before and it has the ability to bring different people together who would’ve never interacted before…. But as a Black person in this world I wonder: Why were we so quick to continue on this Christianity bandwagon and not question where the stories came from? Who really wrote this book and where did these stories come from? Soon after this class was finished I went home for a vacation and explained it to my mother (she’s real religious, by the way). Of course she didn’t believe me. When it comes to religion, it’s hard to think differently than to what you’re taught. But I know that this had to be true. Mostly because this was written long before the Bible was around (technically…at least from the last time I did the math). Why isn’t this story more known? And when people learn about it they are so quick to turn it down. I’m still questioning what we choose to follow. I believe that there is something out there but this whole Bible thing…I’m not too sure about that. Especially when I heard of Isis and the “real” creation story. It’s not like this story was made up. And if it was, who’s to say that the Bible wasn’t made up? Then again, it seems like the Bible is copyright at its best. Why follow the copy when the original is available for you? Libertad 19
Isis, Osiris Introducing and His Brother Set the
Sankofa Afrika Organization! By Jada Young
Referred by Krystal A. Miller Osiris, the king of Egypt, and Isis, his queen, was beloved by all his people. He was kind and just and taught them to plow the earth, how to honor the gods and he gave them laws to live by. But his brother Seth was jealous and plotted against him to take over the throne. Queen Isis was constantly on her guard when Osiris traveled around his kingdom, she never felt safe from Seth´s scheming. One day Osiris held a big banquet for his court and as he was kind and just Seth was also invited. This was the moment he had long waited for. Together with his accomplices he could set his plan in motion. He began to describe a wonderful coffin that he had been given, and soon enough he was asked to have it brought in for people to see. It was indeed beautiful, made of the finest wood and gilded and painted. He promised to give it as a gift to whoever fitted exactly into it. And as he already had acquired Osiris‟ measures, the king was the only one that fitted into the coffin, and when he was persuaded into taking place in it, Seth´s accomplices quickly nailed the lid to it and while the rest of the court was held back, it was taken away and thrown into the Nile where the current carried it away. Isis was overcome with grief and cut off a length of her hair, dressed herself in mourning clothes and went on her way to look for the coffin with her husband´s body. She wandered everywhere and searched all over Kemet and beyond without finding a trace, until she heard some children saying that they had seen the golden coffin being thrown into the waters. She wandered for a long time, weeping and searching for the casket, and often she heard rumors that a golden casket had been seen floating by some village. So she kept following after until she left Egypt and came into the land of Byblos. Here the rumors spoke about a wonderful tree that suddenly had started to grow on the shore. Isis understood then that the coffin had floated ashore and gotten stuck in
a bush. Nurtured by the divine presence of Osiris´ body, the bush had sprouted and grown into a large tree which the king of Byblos had let cut down and used in the buildings of a palace. When Isis reached the place, she was shown to the palace by the villagers. She waited outside the palace until she met the Queen´s maidens. She told them she was an Egyptian headdresser and pleated their hair and breathed on them so that a divine scent surrounded them. And they brought her before the queen who took a liking to her and asked her to take care of her young son, the prince. Soon enough she found the tree trunk that enclosed her husband´s coffin. Isis stayed there, and every night while the little prince slept, she went into the room where the pillar enclosing the coffin with her husband´s body was and she wept and mourned for him. And every day she looked after the little prince, and shortly she became so fond of him, that she decided to make him immortal. In the night she brought him to the pillar where the casket was hidden. There she lit a fire and speaking the magic words she laid down the sleeping boy in the flames. The fire started to burn away all that was human in him, but she did not watch over him, she turned herself into a swallow and began to fly around the pillar, wailing and mourning over her dead husband. The queen, who slept nearby, was woken up by the sound of the flames, and hastened to the room. When she saw her child surrounded with flames, she raised a cry of horror and the swallow turned into woman again and the magical fire died. Isis then revealed herself to the queen and told her that now it was impossible for the prince to become immortal. The queen then regretted her ignorance and asked how she could repay Isis. And Isis asked for the pillar with the coffin. She instantly hewed it into pieces so that the coffin could be taken out, then she drenched the bits of wood in oil, wrapped them in fine linen and asked the queen to keep them in the temple of Byblos.
a place of love and a place of connection to the continent. Also, we created this organization to make sure that any donations that we intend to send to Afrika actually make it there without question. We are a service based organization hoping to reclaim the glory and beauty the continent has to offer. We are comprised of students of Afrikan descent who look to give back to our homeland which has been robbed of so much. The Sankofa Afrika Organization is actually a large group represented on 5 campuses: Stony Brook, Albany, Binghamton, New Paltz and a CUNY School in NYC. Our first mission as the New Paltz chapter this semester was to run a clothing drive. The collected clothing will be sent to the Grace Imo Foundation who will then ship it to Ghana. The recipients of the clothing will be mostly school-aged children
who need the clothing more than most of us here in the United States do. Since this is our first semester as an established organization, we plan on doing bigger and better things come fall. Our goal is NOT to get the most people to attend our programs (though that would be amazing too), but our ultimate goal is to HELP people: to help OUR people. I wholeheartedly believe that when you heal the damage that has been done to Afrika, the rest of the world will fall into place. We, as the Sankofa Afrika Organization are promising that we will do everything that we can do be a part of the change we wish to see in Afrika. All we need is your support! We look forward to serving the continent and connecting with the New Paltz student body. Please support us! Our members are as follows:
Chairwoman: Kady Traore President: Zakaria Kande Vice President: Jäcqueline van den Bergh Business Operations: Rashidat Soetan Media Relations: Monique Bailey Public Relations: Sebastina Boakye Arisa James The Griot: Teniola Faloye Human Resources: Luah Morlu Movement Director: Jada Young Treasurer: Youssouf LeMajor Kouyo For more information, you can visit our website: www.sankofaafrica.org.
Source: http://www.philae.nu/philae/IsisOsiris.html 18 Fahari
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By Sikivu Hutchinson, Referred by Faisal Awadallah It's not just fairness -- although more black men are in jail than were slaves in 1850. The cost is driving states to bankruptcy. By Benjamin Todd Jealous and Lateefah Simon Referred by Euclyn Williams Reforming the nation's criminal-justice system is one of the most urgent civil rights issues of our time. One shocking fact illustrates why: More African-American men are entangled in the criminal-justice system today than were enslaved in 1850. How did we get here? The rise in America's penchant for punishment can be traced as far back as the 1964 presidential campaigns of Barry Goldwater and George Wallace, each of whom made law and order a defining plank of his platform. President Richard Nixon continued the trend, framing Democrats as "soft on crime" and pushing for tough lawenforcement policies in opposition to President Johnson's credo of tackling crime through a "war on poverty." "Doubling the conviction rate in this country would do more to cure crime in America than quadrupling the funds for [Hubert] Humphrey's war on poverty," Nixon told voters. Since then, Republicans have pushed -- and Democrats have embraced -- a so-called tough-on-crime approach to keeping us safe, one that emphasizes harsh measures after crimes have already occurred and that disproportionately punishes poor and minority communities rather than addressing the root causes of crime and preventing it in the first place. As a result, our wrong-headed approach to justice and safety is breaking the bank of pretty much every state and breaking the spirit of communities across the country. Today the U.S. accounts for 5 percent of the world's population but has 25 percent of the world's prisoners. We imprison almost 1 million more people than China, at a cost to taxpayers of $68 billion in 2010.
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This week the NAACP released a new report called Misplaced Priorities, demonstrating how state and federal spending decisions are creating a generation that is both undereducated and overincarcerated. Between 1987 and 2007, nationwide spending on higher education increased by a modest 21 percent. By contrast, corrections funding grew 127 percent during the same period, a rate that is more than six times as great. Turning locally, California's prison spending has risen 25 times faster than spending on higher education over the last 30 years. The state's prison population grew 500 percent from 1982 to 2000, and California now attempts to manage nearly 170,000 people in prisons designed to hold 83,000. In the last 20 years, the cost of operating California's corrections system skyrocketed from $2.3 billion in 19921993 to a projected $9.3 billion budget in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, with an additional $4 billion budgeted for prison-infrastructure expenses. Ten percent of the state's general-fund revenue now goes to the prison system. Nowhere is the impact felt more deeply than in AfricanAmerican communities, where America's epidemic of mass incarceration seemingly has removed entire generations of African-American men from their communities. Today 500,000 black fathers are currently incarcerated in America's prisons, and one out of every six AfricanAmerican men has spent time in prison. African-American girls and young women have become the fastest-growing population of incarcerated young people in the country. More than 2 million African Americans are currently either in prison, in jail, on probation or on parole. Our criminal-justice system today undoubtedly functions much like a racial caste system, as Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, so aptly points out. Being labeled a felon effectively strips away crucial rights from an individual, locking him or her into second-class status indefinitely, unable to vote, secure a good job or find safe and affordable housing.
Enormous pressures push African Americans to embrace a Black “hyper-religiosity” – or, at least, to profess to it – despite the fact that “the proliferation of storefront churches in urban black communities is a symptom of economic underdevelopment.” However, “a growing segment” maintains that “morality is defined by just deeds, fairness, equality and respect for difference; not by how blusteringly one claims to adhere to „Godly‟ principles.” ―Racial segregation, the historical role of the Black Church, and African American social conformity reinforce Christianity’s powerful hold on black communities.” Late Saturday afternoon, like clockwork, the street corner preachers on Crenshaw and King Boulevard in South Los Angeles take to the “stage.” Decked out in flowing robes and dreadlocks, they fulminate into their mikes about the universe, God‟s will and “unnatural” homosexuals to a motley audience waiting for the next express bus. Members of the Black Israelites, they are part of a long tradition of performative religiosity in urban African American communities. This particular corner of black America is a hotbed of social commerce. Kids who‟ve just gotten out of school mingle jubilantly as pedestrians flow past fast food places, mom and pop retailers, street vendors and Jehovah‟s Witness‟ hawking Watchtower magazines. The Israelites have become a fixture of this street corner‟s otherwise shifting tableaux. Exclusively male and virulently sexist and homophobic, they are tolerated in some African American communities in part because of the lingering visceral appeal of Black Nationalism. While the Israelites‟ millennialist “racial uplift” ethos ostensibly fits right in to the bustle of this prominent South L.A. street, other belief systems are not as easily assimilated. Since 2006, the L.A.-based street philosopher Jeffrey “P Funk” Mitchell has been documenting his conversations with everyday folk on questions of atheism and faith. Using the handle “Atheist Walking,” Mitchell also conducts freeranging inquiries into Christianity‟s contradictions
with a rolling video camera and a satirically raised eyebrow. Adopting the role of the bemused urban flaneur, ala the commentator-pedestrian immortalized by French poet Charles Baudelaire, he delves into “atheist spirituality,” biblical literalism and the paradoxes of faith. ―There is a longing for community amongst nontheist African Americans who feel marginalized in a sea of black hyper-religiosity.” Mitchell is a member of the L.A.-based Black Skeptics, a group that was formed earlier this year to provide an outlet and platform for secular humanist African Americans. The Skeptics are part of a small but growing segment of African Americans who are searching for humanist alternatives to organized religion. In May, the Washington DC Center for Inquiry‟s first annual African Americans for Humanism conference drew over fifty participants. Chat groups and websites like the Black Atheists of America have sprung up to accommodate the longing for community amongst non-theist African Americans who feel marginalized in a sea of black hyper-religiosity. Organizations such as the Institute for Humanist Studies cultivate African American secularist scholarship and advocacy. With over 85% of African Americans professing religious belief, black religiosity is a formidable influence. Racial segregation, the historical role of the Black Church, and African American social conformity reinforce Christianity‟s powerful hold on black communities. Indeed, I was recently told that I‟d been deemed an unsuitable culmination speaker for a bourgie philanthropic organization‟s young women mentees because of my decidedly unladylike public atheism (Perhaps the Israelite‟s Old Testament shout-out to silent prostrate women would be more acceptable). Proper role models for impressionable black youth are, at the very least, skillful church lady pretenders with ornate hats in tow. Secular organizations that seek to build humanist community with a
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By Benjamin Todd Jealous and Lateefah Simon Referred by Euclyn Williams By Jada Young Growing up, I never had a strict, religious home environment. My mom identifies as ―Christian,‖ that is, she follows ―Christian‖ beliefs. She seems to mix between Catholic and Baptist doctrines, though. My dad, on the other hand, has never professed to be anything, but he has a reverence for God and Christ and always has. So when I grew into understanding my own spiritual identity, I obviously emulated it from what my parents were. I went around thinking I was a Christian. My current best friend, Alison, is a Pentecostal Christian and when she and I became really close during my senior year of high school, I would attend her church‘s Youth Group on Friday nights. Through this experience, I grew closer to Alison as well as to my ―faith.‖ I even watched Alison get baptized in the church during this time. Soon into this though, I realized that I was growing into the faith without actually believing in it wholeheartedly. Fast forward to August 2009, when I entered SUNY New Paltz as a first year student. Before leaving for college, I went to one last Youth Group meeting at Alison‘s church. The chorus leader, Nicole, led the group and me in a prayer that I maintain my focus and my love for God while at school. So as I left for school I felt a sense of security that I would be okay because there was someone (or something) watching over me. As I began taking classes at school, I started to look at things, the world, much differently. One class, at this point, Women: Images and Realities, made me re-evaluate what I considered my religious base to be. This happened as I began to learn about the role of religion in the existence of oppression throughout history. I discovered that religion has historically done more harm than good for humanity (based on this perception of things). I learned how people have used religion as an excuse to oppress people, and how people have used religion to ―explain‖ certain issues in the world while perpetuating mass hysteria, oppression and damnation of alternative views. 16 Fahari
Interestingly, the basis for any religion is to provide humans, with our very limited understanding of the world, reasons as to why things are the way that they are. Religion often seeks to explain the formation of Earth, why men have an Adam‘s apple and one more rib than women, as well as why there are earthquakes, tsunamis, death, famine, disease, and war. Ironically, people have taken this function of religion and corrupted it. This very function has been used to perpetuate beliefs that the world must be a certain way because Religion X says that it is. As you can imagine, this started to turn me off to the idea of organized religion. One problem I had always had with organized religion – Christianity specifically – was that it never actually helped me understand the world. Too often, I noticed that the world‘s phenomena were explained as ―because it says in the Bible…‖ or ―because Scripture tells us…‖ or because ―Jesus said…‖ Even in my limited understanding of the world, these types of answers just did not suffice for me. I had decided at this point to seek my spiritual center elsewhere. I considered studying Buddhism because Buddhism, to me, represented finding personal peace and then translating that to the outside world. Needless to say, my Buddhist journey was short-lived or even non-existent. After a few months of not even thinking about religion, or spirituality, I realized that for me, some sort of spiritual center was necessary. And that is where I am today. I am still searching for this center. While I am a decent person without having a defined spiritual base (another reason people advocate adoption of a religion), it is important to me to be able to identify with something in some degree. I am now beginning a journey; I haven‘t decided if this journey is to ―find‖ myself or if it‘s to ―define‖ myself. It is probably the latter, though. Whether that journey leads me to an Islamic Mosque, a church, a Buddhist Temple of even re-adopting my ancestral path with Afrikan spirituality, I won‘t allow any singular belief to define me. Whatever your story is, I urge you do the same. Define yourself.
The current system provides for little or no reintegration; it functions as a revolving door, through which those who have served time in jail or prison all too often quickly find themselves back in, unable to overcome the many obstacles they face when attempting to re-enter their communities.
resources for maximum impact. Eliminate Barriers to Employment There is perhaps no more effective tool for successful reentry into society than employment. Formerly incarcerated people who are able to secure employment are one-third less likely than their counterparts to end up back in prison or jail. That is why both the NAACP and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area have launched new initiatives to meet this challenge. In California, the NAACP worked to secure an administrative order from the governor's office that removes questions about criminal history from employment applications for most state jobs. The Lawyers' Committee has launched a new clinic to connect formerly incarcerated individuals with pro bono attorneys from top law firms to address legal barriers to re-entry and employment. We all win when we ensure that those who have paid their debt to society can have the tools they need to turn their lives around. Reallocate Resources
It is time to recognize that our scorched-earth approach to public safety has sent us down the wrong path. We need to be smart about our policies and resources while keeping our communities safe. Here are three steps we recommend to ensure that public safety is a true civil and human right for all of us:
In 2010 the NAACP commissioned new rolling advertisements in various California cities to draw attention to the disturbing trend of spending more on jails than on higher education. Former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger acknowledged this when he aptly noted, "Spending 45 percent more on prisons than on universities is no way to proceed into the future … What does it say about any state that [it] focuses more on prison uniforms than on caps and gowns?"
Build Broad-Based Coalitions It is no longer enough for criminal-justice reform to be an issue of concern only to criminal-justice reformists. We need to bring to the table business leaders and advocates for civil rights, education equality, women's rights and families. We also need to work with people we have traditionally considered to be unlikely allies in this fight, such as law enforcement and business. More and more, leaders in law enforcement are calling for new ways to keep our communities safe, and California's new attorney general, Kamala Harris, is among those leading the charge. We also need more grant makers to recognize the connection between criminal justice and other social problems they are aiming to alleviate, and invest
As states across the country continue to struggle with budget crises, we need to collectively call for shifting our funding priorities from incarceration toward programs and initiatives that will revitalize our communities. It is our belief that criminal-justice reform is one of the leading issues in the fight to ensure equal opportunity for communities in need. We cannot afford to wait another generation to turn around decades of failed policies that have caused our nation to hemorrhage money and human potential. The exigency for policies that are smart on crime -- not just "tough on crime" -- is now. It is the only way we can achieve something we all want: safe and healthy communities.
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Fuck That heterosexual counterparts. How dare anyone dictate the life of another! Especially with something as insignificant as someone‟s sexual orientation. The person who you were born to love is only part of who you are, it shouldn‟t DEFINE you. Unlike popular opinion, homosexuals didn‟t choose to be homosexual; and no one chooses to be bullied, ridiculed or ostracized by practically everyone they meet.
Courtesy of: editorialcartoonists.com
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Islam teaches Muslims not to eat pork because it‟s a filthy animal, good. It also stresses the importance of a woman‟s sexual virtue. Honor killings have become rampant in the Muslim community but so many of these executions are disguised as accidents or suicides. If women fail to conserve their virtue – including in cases of rape (which is a force that they have no control over) it is still seen as a catastrophe which brings shame to the whole family, meanwhile men are able to do with their virtue as they wish. At this point, the hymen is more valuable than even human life. Islam, much like so many societies around the world are so focused on a woman‟s virginity that they forget about the woman entirely. This emphasis on a woman‟s virginity instills the idea that women who are sexually liberated are whores and sluts. Now why would I want to be a part of something that doesn‟t take me being a human being with rights and needs first and foremost, above something I have between my legs which for the record, is my decision to do
with it what I wish. While I just chose to use these two religions as an example, the list goes on and on. My intention was for you to get the gist of it all. Religion as a whole, to me is ultimately another institution where some people benefit while others suffer, some are the “chosen” ones while other‟s “haven„t found the way yet” and some use this “higher power” to justify their inhumane actions. I live by a different ideal, “I believe in morality, which is doing right regardless of what I am told...not in religion, which is doing what I am told regardless of what is right.” I know that I should treat people with kindness and nice words, I know that doing community service is my duty and an honor to do as a functioning human being in our society and I know that I would never do anything to bring shame to my family or disappointment them. I don‟t need religion of any type to tell me how to be a good person, especially when so much evil has come out of it. I want no part of religion. I have been able to do so much without it and I think it would be beneficial to think critically as to why you or someone you know have such a strong hold on these beliefs that may or may not have been written by the people we are told wrote them. Instead, why not incorporate the more positive beliefs into your life and making it your own. That‟s the problem with religion; people let it run their lives. Religion was made by people and it‟s time that people reclaim their faith.
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By Petra Vega
Personally, I HATE religion. Now please hear me out before making false assumptions and insinuations. I do believe in God, whoever he/she/it may be. I believe God is an entity or a spirit more so than a person or one specific thing. Religion, as you know is the practice of beliefs as a way to dictate how a believer will live their lives. I have a HUGE problem with anyone or anything dictating the way I do or choose to do things. Most religions have many positive aspects to them such as treating others the way you‟d like to be treated, helping your community and putting family first. All of these things are wonderful but how honestly devoted are religious people to these teachings? Some of the most hyper-religious people are the most hypocritical people you will ever meet. I have met religious individuals who believe in treating others the way they want to be treated yet still continue to look down on others as if they were better than them. “Holy” people have this problem of believing that because they have the power of God on their side that they are better than others. This is detrimental to relationships between people, and because of this we continue to act superior over one another. Your religion teaches you to treat others with the utmost respect yet you still choose to glare at the people around you or choose not to even recognize their existence. I have met religious individuals who believe in being an active member in their commu-
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Religion?
nity but have never volunteered at a soup kitchen or at a youth center because “time is money” or simply because they have better things to do with their time. People are constantly moving too quickly in this world and don‟t realize that it‟s the little things that matter. All they care about is how to get to the top in the quickest manner or in this case, the fastest way to heaven without doing any of the work. I have met religious individuals who believe in putting their family first but still continue to beat their kids or abuse their partner or choose to have an affair. I realize all of the things I have mentioned above happen to people who aren‟t religious but those people didn‟t choose to live by the guidelines religious people have chosen. If this is something you believe is God‟s word and the right thing to do then your duty is to abide by it. But so many claim to be so holy and correct while completely contradicting the principles of their chosen religion. Up until this point I‟ve just been making generalizations but it‟s time to get a little more specific. Let‟s look at Christianity for example. Christianity teaches you not to practice infidelity, good. Christianity has also been translated as a disbeliever of homosexuality or more aptly, believing that homosexuality is a sin. Religious fanatics like to use this “belief” to boycott gay marriages, terrorize Queer people and make huge impositions on laws demanding that homosexuals be treated as equal as their
THE POETRY SPOT Libertad 39
I.N.G.
Jada Young
Mosi-Chachawi
He sits across from me Typing He doesn’t see me Wanting I hope for him to notice, but he doesn’t. I sit here Waiting For him to see how Frustrating It is for him to not see me Longing For him His mind is so broad, I wonder what he’s Thinking His rate is so controlled. I want to see him Breathing I decide to put away my desire Pacifying Any thought of Perfecting Because at the end of the day I know that he is Nothing
On Wednesday April 13, 2011, the Muslim Student Association held their annual Muslim for a Day event. Last year, as a fresh (wo)man, I planned on participating in the event, but I think I might have been scared out of doing it. My fear wasn’t in appearing to be a Muslim, but rather it was what people would think as they saw me walk around campus. That fear prevented me from participating in something that might have changed my life forever. Needless to say, I didn’t let it stop me this year! I woke up at 8:00 that morning. I looked at my phone and saw many Facebook notifications from the Muslim Student Association advertising this event. Initially, I started to get scared out of doing it again. I thought to myself “maybe next year,” and attempted to go back to sleep. I couldn’t sleep. I lay in bed and thought about the pros and cons of participating in this day, and obviously the pros outweighed the cons. When I walked into SUB100 to get my hijab, I felt an immediate thrill. One girl (whose
name I did not get) put the hijab on me. I stayed in SUB100 for a while and listened to some music. Then, I began my day. As I stood in line at Seattle’s Best, I noticed every single person in the line turned around and stared at me for a brief second. They each turned back as if I hadn’t notice them stare at me in the first place. I rolled my eyes, annoyed at the a u d a c it y of these people. What, had they never seen a Muslim before? As the day progressed I began to get less stares from people, but those who knew me would say things like “So Jada… what’s going on?” Those choice words were seductive on their own because it could be assumed that they mean the typical “what’s going on?” or the question could lead to me stating the obvious and answering their seemingly unasked question about wearing the hijab. For some reason, when people initially asked me that question, I would feel some sort of need to have to explain to them why I was wearing my beautiful head scarf. As the day progressed, I felt that need less. When I did feel it creep in me, I would fight against it and simply answer, “Not much. You?”
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Libertad 13
Buddhist
Faith vs. Fear
Reggy Rivers
By Valerie Sainvil
As I firmly press my hands together and chant “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo,” I see the changes resonating within me. Those were the words chanted by Tina Turner as she struggled to find the strength within herself during her abusive relationship with her late husband. Those are the words chanted by millions of people today who are day-by-day tapping into their Buddha-nature and revealing their true potential.
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo - To devote oneself to the mystic law of cause and effect through the Buddha’s Teaching.
In life, suffering and dissatisfaction are inevitable. But what I have learned through my practice is the ability to find happiness in the midst of hardships. We cannot depend on external factors for our happiness – our environment is in a constant flux and nothing remains permanent, therefore it is important that we find happiness within ourselves. Most of our suffering stems from a deluded mind and unrealistic expectations and attachments – thinking that boy likes you when he does not even know your name, thinking that car will last you a lifetime when it will break down in five years. Buddhism is reason – realizing the true nature of life. Though our happiness does not depend on our circumstances, we are connected to our environment; each cause we produce affects not only us, but our surroundings as well, therefore it is important to show compassion and pray for ourselves and others. By Chanting, I have taken charge of my happiness and have made the essential causes conducive to producing good karma. Each struggle and barrier I face is an incentive for me to become stronger. Each day I struggle with fundamental darkness, deep-seated habitual tendencies that prevent me from seeing the Buddha nature. Each day I struggle with doubt. But by chanting “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo,” I have developed the wisdom to not succumb to doubts, and to become victorious. The point in life is to become happy and remain undefeated by our problems, and this potential lies within every human being in society.
When we recognize that the essential causes and conditions of our happiness lie within our own lives, we can summon the courage to find ourselves responsible for our sufferings and exert every possible effort to change them and create happiness.
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Confusion. Insanity. Apathy. Fear. Terror. Uncertainty. Will it ever get better? On the TV & the radio, bad news flood the airwaves And the masses drown themselves in a sea of wreck less porn, distorted narcotics and other sugar-coated delusions. I sometimes sit & wonder, “Is this what God purposed?” Nowadays I gotta be careful when I say that (why should I) I know the world is in a giant state of madness But do you really think He is causing (or letting) it happen? It‘s funny how some blame God or doubt his existence but no one‘s ever questioned the devil‘s intentions. Some are too busy putting blame on the wrong person and stay blinded by the reality of fanatical fantasies. It just helps them to cover up The fear. The fear of not knowing what is to come The fear of not knowing who will be next What happened to faith? The faith in the good that is to come. The faith in the knowledge that leads to the everlasting now The faith in that with divine intervention, we can truly come together as one Cuz we, down here, got to do better You tell me we have evolved from the creatures before us… I ask you where did these creatures come from? You assert that the Scriptures are out of date. I ask you to analyze and think about the wars and human indignation Compare it with Ecc. 8:9. The irony is that you impose that I should not believe anymore… because you lost your faith I really wish you wouldn‘t. I‘m not perfect but I know that I didn‘t start the war; I didn‘t ask for the war; I didn‘t vote for the war. But I‘m paying for the war. The last thing I need is a war with you on the obvious. I‘ve made my decision and I‘ll let you decide which is more important; Faith? Fear? Free will?
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You’re Doing It Wrong! Moved By Spirits Matt Mueller
I‟ve heard that your body is a temple But it‟s truly only a rental Cuz the universe is mental Which is merely an understanding of the soul Shining like the diamond from the coal I and I will rock, here‟s the roll Barreling through the spiral Feeling energy through life‟s cord, spinal This existence is a draft, never final
By Mosi-Chachawi
I think that people use religion and spirituality interchangeably. Well, guess what?! You shouldn’t. There’s a fine line between the two, but I guess some people just don’t get the difference. The dictionary defines spiritual as “of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit.” Meanwhile religious is defined as “relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity; of, relating to, or devoted to religious beliefs or observances.” In my eyes religion is focused more on the practices and traditions of the spiritual realm. People fail to notice the two are related. Over time spirituality has been taken out of religion and it has been left to rear its ugly head. Ugly head indeed, look at all the hatred and animosity that is spewed between people of
different faiths. Mention Islam in a church, the clergy are most likely to hang you just for the mention of another religion. Why is there so much hate…in church?! And I hate it so much when people use religion, especially Christianity, as a means to be hateful. Nowhere, and I mean NOWHERE in the Bible does it say that judgment should be in the hands of mankind. And in no way shape or form do I think that I am “holier than thou.” I do understand that we all judge, it’s human nature, but using the Bible as a stance to defend your judgments is clearly a derogatory offence. This is just a reincarnation of the days where whites used the Bible to defend their treatment of the slaves. Why must we keep falling into this cycle? One of my favorite Bible passages is in Mathew. Chapter 7 clearly states:
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged” It annoys me so much that these verses are so often not referenced in daily Christian vernacular. Yes, “God hates the sin, not the sinner,” but that doesn’t leave room open for you to spew your hate. Courtesy of: youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com 42 Fahari
Continued on Page 20 Libertad 11
Waiting
The dreary tears of rejection A subtle touch of redemption Looking into the windows of the world Thinking where I went wrong A horrible sight, a joyous occasion Blended into one I hear my thoughts over the sharp silence aimed to kill, Me Me being the only thing blocking my happiness. I blamed you but I see the problem is me
Jada Young Religion. What‘s the point of it? If you were to ask 1,000 different people, I‘m sure you‘d get a myriad of different responses. Basically, any organized religion seeks to keep us lowly humans in check so that we can one day live lives of ―righteousness.‖ Religions also seek to explain our existence on the earth and comfort us from imminent death. Simply, religion serves as a mechanism to make us feel better about the things that we don‘t have any control over; which is why there is a ―God‖ in many of these religions who is in control of the inner workings of the world. For me, religions as we have them today just don‘t cut it. For someone to believe so wholeheartedly in their religion of choice is fine, especially if they are comforted in its explanations of the world. But for someone to take that same religion and use it against others who might not believe in it is ridiculous. An example of this is the many fundamentalist Christians of the world who think that those who do not practice their version of Christianity will be damned to hell. These people, in my opinion are absolutely insane. Among them is a man by the name of Pat Robertson who claims that the Haiti Earthquake was ―God punishing them [the Haitians]‖ for their practice of Voodoo. More than just the ignorance behind a statement such as that, what bothers me is the fact that he (and people like him) reduces geological and earthly phenomena to their God being angry about things. Earthquakes don‘t only happen on earth. Science has found that moons also have quakes – moonquakes. So, according to the logic of
Robertson (and the people who I‘m sure are agreeing with him), is God also mad at the people on the moon? And what about the universe for that matter? We are told that the universe is infinite in size, so why do the religious people of the world apply only what is happening on Earth to something that they believe is ―God‘s work?‖ Does their God not care about the trillions of other stars and planets in the universe? An obvious problem with religions as we have them today is that we separate God from everything. While I myself am still searching for my spiritual center, I do know that the God I believe in is not ONE thing. The God I‘m connected to has no gender, it has no sexual orientation (or preference of sexuality, for that matter), the God that I believe in is something that can be found in all of us. Being that we are essentially spirit, why must our understanding of God be something that we separate from ourselves? Why can‘t our Gods be a part of our very spiritual make up? Fundamentalist Christians like to separate humanity from what goes on throughout the universe, which is fine for them, I suppose. But being that we are all humans, stars, planets, etc., made up of the same atoms and energies, why must we separate that energy from ourselves too? I think that we should embrace our connection with things that are billions of light years away from us. As humans, we are so limited and miniscule on earth, if we accept that we are a part of a larger, universal picture, I think that we all can live lives of peace and justice.
A nod in my direction Credit for my performance, Knowing that you see me
Euclyn Williams
See me, See just me Me, standing by myself, naked Waiting Waiting for you to Waiting for me to Waiting for a simple notifying, indication Something An example, a sample of what I could be, happy Not alone, not too good to be true But just enough to be…
Waiting for a fresh start For a new year, a new place, a new mission/purpose/life altering decision You Thinking how have I come to this outside place looking from an inside perch Windows slammed shut so communication is halted Stammering words, shaky palms, all too much because I am incomplete without… You…Waiting Waiting for you Deceived because I’m sure I’ll be waiting until Waiting until I Waiting until you Waiting for me to Silence… Time has run out
i
When I use the word ―religion‖ it is to mean any form of organized religion, which seeks to do similar things. I say ―their God‖ because obviously my God is fundamentally different than the God they seem to believe in. iii I am aware that there are no people on the moon; I am making a point about the idiocy of statements such as those. ii
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Libertad 43
Which way to go? Which path to choose? It‘s like math, a whole much numbers in my head, being confused not understanding why. So complicated. Why can‘t someone break down these walls? How tall these walls are. How much I just want to call up to the sky and scream let it all out. Will the sky listen to me? Break down these walls! I need to get out! I need to let it out! I‘m screaming so loud but the sky still isn‘t listening. All I would like to do is cry now let it out and about to turn into a full stream of water. I hear someone, I see someone, is this my answer? Is this the way for help? I say may I have help. I want to make things right I‘ll fight till this is right. Sometimes you have to do but then, there a time for change, where everyone needs to stop and be able to think,
Breaking Walls
Everyone has problems, everyone goes through rough patches. That latches on in part in their heart more than others. Just tears them apart. But you really have to say to yourself I can‘t compare my life story to anyone‘s. Everyone is different. I am who I am. I love who I am. And if you don‘t you will learn to love who you are by making things better for yourself. Live your life up to the fullest with no regrets don‘t forget but do forgive. I know it helps when I‘m the bigger person at times it takes a lot to choose that move you‘re not losing. But the other person that caused you pain, they‘re losing, you‘re not hurting anymore. You‘re being wise making movements. That means a lot to you. That makes a better path. For you, no more dirty water when taking a bath now it‘s just clean water, new start. Fresh. No leash where you‘re attached on, you‘re moving on. If you ever need to fall at times someone be catching you when you‘re ready to fall just call out their name. They will be there. To care. All there is to do is feel what‘s real. And be the realest that you can be. I‘m on my way to success.
“Is this what I want to be doing with my time,” “That’s mine,” and “I’m better than this.”
Alexis Turner
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“discoveries.” Their spirituality helped them understand all of this. Everything is energy (spirit), and western science agrees with that statement (although it took them some time). So is it so hard to believe that everything is spiritual, even science? I wish for you to find your spirituality, whether it be in organized religion, science, or somewhere in between. If we, as a society, became more spiritual and open-minded, we would understand that the status quo is not healthy. We would see that it is not optimal to grow happier with strong, healthy connections with humans and nature. All of the cultures discussed earlier understood that they were one aspect of nature, and taking dominion over it was un-
heard of. Rituals were performed to thank the universe for allowing humans to kill an animal for food, cut down a tree for shelter, etc. They were connected to it because they understood that they were no better than the birds in the sky, the animals on the ground, or the trees in the forest. If we, as a culture, used our spirituality, we could stop the raping of the land, air, and sea. And keep in mind, all spirituality speaks of the same oneness and truth; it is merely the physical rituals and dogmas that may differ, so it matters not what spiritual system you follow. Find what makes sense for you, and use it to make some positive changes. People who follow western science truly have no excuse, because they deal specifically with nature and humans; they should know better. But we separate spirituality and the other aspects of life. People use spirituality when it is convenient, and on the days they go to their religious centers. Spirituality can be used daily, every second of the day, to further create connections between fellow humans (to stop wars, genocide, poverty, etc) and connections between humans and nature (to stop oil spills, deforestation, poaching, etc). So what it comes down to is this: see that everything is energy, everything is spiritual, everything is spirituality, and we have a chance to create a better world – a holistic understanding of the universe and our places within it.
Libertad 9
For the Lord
Matt Mueller In this present moment, we are at a crossroad. The status quo of American culture at the present time is destroying the physical, mental, and spiritual realities of its people. We are raping our natural landscape, exchanging tall trees for skyscrapers. Our cognition is being limited through character limits, text-based communication, and pop culture as a whole. Our culture desacralizes life, turning it into a numbers game and the need to “see it to believe it.” All of these are symptoms of a sickness in the collective soul of Americans, due to a lack of spirituality. I fear we will continue to fall further down the spiral if we do not become aligned with a spiritual system, and call it as such. Spirituality can be defined as an understanding of the universe and one’s place within it, and this is not limited to merely organized religion. The political agendas of these organized religions have stripped away any mystical conception, and turned spirituality into a history lesson. Many within our society have left organized religions; some become atheists, and some take another route entirely. Atheists are interesting, to say the least. They believe in not believing; that is a distinct belief system altogether. When one consciously decides to become an atheist, they most likely become aligned with a “western, rational” understanding of the universe. They believe in their own creation stories, they follow certain prophets (scientists), and their beliefs shape
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their realities, creating their own assumptions about the universe. One could argue that the universe, along with physics, biology, and chemistry are their gods. It is merely another spiritual system, which is not so different from any other. There is another school of thought present in some of us. I will not limit it with a name. It is a spirituality that is extremely personal, but on the same note, very collective. Spirituality is a personal thing, and limiting oneself to specific dogmas and rituals can stunt the growth of one’s spirit. We see the spiritual essence in all, and we have our own beliefs and assumptions about how the world works. Many of these beliefs are not so different from western science or esoteric beliefs found throughout traditional cultures in the “New World,” Afrika, Asia, and Australia. Do some research and see that we are not as “advanced” as we would like to think, based upon our “rationality and scientific method.” We are abandoning the paternalistic interpretation of cultures around the world, and coming to understand that these cultures have had a vast understanding of DNA, cell division, and the Big Bang theory, among other things, long before Europe even began their conquests in the Western Hemisphere. Look at shamans in North, Central, and South America; the architecture in KMT (Egypt), Mexico, and Tibet; cave walls in Australia; creation narratives in Afrika, and we can see that Europeans and Americans were centuries behind these
You are always with me, though I cannot see Because I worry about what I cannot be You made me in Your perfect sight And all the time I try and fight The plans You have for me. Forgive me Lord, for I do not see The wonderful plans you have for me You are mighty and great Forgive me, because I do not always appreciate How gracious You are to me. One day I will love You with all my might And come to you with every plight Forgive me Lord, I‘m still learning To let go of worldly yearning.
Leah Christiane Royster
Libertad 45
I need a miracle. Trying to save myself has become a malfunction. A miracle can take the form of An action, A person, An object. I just need a miracle. Nevermind the loss of faith I have come to, Or the strength that has diminished from my body. I need a miracle. Run and tell that man upstairs, Who didn’t listen when my aunt was on her last breath, Or when the NYPD had my brother begging for mercy. We haven’t spoke in so long I don’t think He would listen. So you run and tell Him, Tell Him I need a miracle. Can I pay for this? Apparently money can buy everything and just a little bit more these days. If I save up just enough, Can you deliver me my miracle, I promise to leave a tip. Just find it for me.
ice s Ch o
Investing in a Miracle
IN ___’S NAME, … OR NOT?
It can be an action, A person, Or an object. Just let Him know that I need a miracle. Ok I get.
You need a miracle.
spit me dream…
Recherché Brown 46 Fahari
Libertad 7
Thanks for opening our latest issue of the Fahari Libertad! Religion is a pretty touchy topic, so much so that we were a little weary when formulating this topic. But because we‟re Fahari, we pretty much just ended up saying “Fuck it” and continued on anyway… For the most part, we‟ve all grown up with some sort of religious or spiritual background. The thing is, as we age we start to question all that we‟ve learned. Not saying that the foundations that our parents reared us on were bad, clearly that‟s what made us who we are today. However, as you can see from the articles in this issue, there are questions that arose as we grew and became more knowledgeable in life. I know for me, being exposed to so many religions in my life, I ended up questioning everything about it. Mostly, why is it that we as Afrikan descended people take all that religion and their foremen throw at us like it‟s…well…God. Listen, I‟m in no way, shape or form trying to knock anyone‟s religious or spiritual beliefs. Just find the route to serenity that works for us, not because our parents led us there. Currently on the road of spirituality….
If Heaven was a mile away And you could ride by the gates Would you try to run inside when it opens would you try to die today? Would you pray louder finally believing His power? Even if you couldn't see, but you could feel would you still doubt him? ………… To get away and escape from the craziness And I bet you there's a Heaven for an atheist It's hard taking this Racist planet where they take another brother in a handcuff Even if he innocent nigga get on the car put your motherfucking hands up Thinking I'm a lose it My mom's in chemo Three times a week, yo keep trying but people Is hard and God your young soldier's not so bold But needs you This world's my home but world I would leave “If Heaven Was a Mile Away” by Nas Krystal Miller Vice-President, Fahari-Libertad
Ch o
Hotep.
ice s
FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT’S DESK By Nicole Daniel
My life should be determined by me Not some guy- who tries to deny my existence Talkin‟ „bout “I am your superior” With his motives ulterior I don‟t know if there‟s anyone to trust around here From day to day life changes New paths unfold, stories remain untold Yet the White man thinks we‟re still under his control They watch as we suffer And because they despise people of color They beat and whip us like there is no tomorrow To them, life is precious; to me life is pointless That‟s why I‟m taking control Making my own choices Shaking the voices of doubt No one knows what happens next Do we get sold? Are we taken away? Will we ever get to see our families again? And we dare not ask, before the mixed dirt they allow us to eat is taken. Then we starve to death, taking our last breath, our last thoughts On our distraught families divided amongst an unfamiliar continent I can‟t let that be me No sir, I‟m in control of my own destiny. No longer will I have to deal with Hell below the deck Feel the pinches or pecks of “affection” from the dirty crew members No more worries, tears or fear of the whip No longer will I be a passenger on this ship And I won‟t have to worry „bout nobody missing me See „cause I‟ve watched these people kill my family Thrown overboard, raped to death and disobedience were their sad goodbyes And in the blink of an eye As I watched while my own child die silently Them bastards told her not to cry With tears on my face, I know what I‟m doing is right See, „cause when they think of-me They‟ll be happy, one less mouth to feed And all the while, I‟ll know I made the right choices
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Libertad 47
FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHEIF’S DESK Hello Beautiful People,
Sonnet/Ballad of a banjo picker His enemies called him a rogue. He had bad teeth. He wore earring and he made his banjo strings ring which he bought from a catalogue. He had a heroin habit and was an alcoholic but he wrote lovely lyrics on a yellow legal tablet. They say he invented new licks. They say he was a womanizer and no husband was the wiser. Although his sexploits are mythic, his life came to a tragic close, he died from a drug overdose.
Religion is quite a touchy topic for me. So tackling religion is something that must be done with caution. I‟ve always had issues with religion. From as far back as I can remember, some things just never made sense to me. While I don‟t want to disrespect anyone I am comfortable saying that I am not a fan of organized religion. I am still on a journey to discovering who I am and how I relate to the world and others. I may not embrace religion but spirit is inevitable. Any and everything can be related to spirit and for me to deny that would be foolish. Deciding who to worship or if you want to at all is a personal journey. I may not know where I‟m going but I know where I‟d like to end up. India.Arie describes my desires best in „Beautiful.”
I wanna go to place where I am nothing and everything That exists between here and nowhere I wanna got to a place where time has no consequence oh yeah The sky opens to my prayers I wanna go to beautiful, beautiful, beautiful… I‟m still on my way…
**When it comes to reading this issue, please have an open mind. You may agree or disagree with the contents of this magazine but that should never stop you from reading.**
Roger Whitson
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Peace & Blessings, Shatera Gurganious Editor In Chief, Fahari-Libertad
Libertad 5
FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK People in the world have been suffering a disconnection from the soul. It is a deadly sickness that causes unethical behavior and plenty of other damaging side effects. The theme for this issue is centered around religion and spirituality. It is important for this magazine to explore the different beliefs we all have and the common connection we all share. The spiritual unification of all people is one of our many goals. I grew up in a religious household, praying five times a day and fasting for a month of the year. Being Muslim in America is not easy and probably never has been. Of course religious hatred looks a lot more intense in this post-9-11 world with crazy white people burning holy texts and slamming the prophet. Foreign (non-western) ways of connecting with the higher power has always been looked at as uncivilized in western eyes. Here is a story of one of my meditative experiences: I‟m on the A train and there is about eight more stops until I get out to leave NYC. I‟m carrying a big blue luggage bag and I have no room to sit on the crowded train. Finally a seat is free from a woman who left at the last stop. I take the seat and rest myself because my body is exhausted from carrying around this luggage. There is an alarm going off somewhere in the train, could be a cell phone, stopwatch, bomb etc. Bomb? An automated voice screeches through the speakers something like this: “Please look out for suspicious bags on the subway train, thank you” Before all of this hub-bub happened on the train I was eyes half-closed, and chanting a mantra “Muta Qubla Anta Mutu,” I felt my awareness as the whole train of people were peering at me. They all looked suspicious of a brown guy with a luggage bag meditating in the corner of a subway train. I must have looked like a suicide bomber. The discovery of my own consciousness created a free world without discrimination or right or wrongs. I‟ve been living a life where there‟s no such thing as sin, heaven, hell or any other restricting laws of my human beingness. Salaam, Faisal Awadallah President, Fahari-Libertad
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Meeting with an Odd Christian
Assalamu Alaikum Fahari readers
That person keep trying to save my ass from hell. Maybe I won’t make it to heaven, I couldn’t tell. You have the answers reverend? I asked “For I have sinned, will He forgive me?” He said “Without faith you are nothing.” All I want is to be free, Without the judging. Don’t tell me I need God. If you do I promise not to step another foot in a church. You’re aggression is kind of odd I will find something to make me whole after my search. Keep insisting I need salvation, But do YOU need God to have a foundation? spit me dream… Recherché Brown
Libertad 49
In _____’s Name, … Or Not?
Sonnet for my Valentine How may I win your love? It's all that I think of. Won't you surrender dear? Delay I cannot bear. Like viper's sting love smarts, when Cupid shoots his dart. I believe you'll miss me, if you deign to kiss me. So won't you ease my stress by being my mistress. Not even Lethe's embrace could from my mind erase the way I feel for you. Oh! don't you feel it to?
Lackanookie Blues (with apologies to L.H.) I asked her for sugar and she gave me salt. Now I ask you, was that my fault? I asked her for love and I was denied. My bread wasn't buttered on either side.
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Roger Whitson
INSIDE THIS ISSUE 04 From the President’s Desk 05 From the Editor-in-Chief’s Desk 06 From the Vice-President’s Desk In _____’s Name … Or Not? 08 10 11 13 14 18 19 23 27
Know Thyself, Illuminate All Religion on the Larger Scale of Things You’re Doing It Wrong! Muslim For A Day Religion? Fuck That Isis, Osiris and His Brother Set Copyright at Its Best How To Arrange Love A Perplexing Perception Paradox…
What the #@$%?! 30 A Paradox of White People in Black Studies Classes 31 Thank You Ana 32 Interracial Adoption in a Present-Racial Era 34 Introducing the Sankofa Afrika Organization! 36 We Can’t Afford Not to Fix Our Justice System Poetry Corner 40 41 42 43 45 46 47 49
I.N.G. Faith vs. Fear Moved By Spirits Waiting For The Lord Investing In a Miracle Choices Meeting with an Odd Christian Libertad 3
April/May 2011 For older issues contact us at faharilibertad@gmail.com
Meet The Family Faisal Adawallah President
Euclyn Williams Layout Editor
Shatera Gurganious Editor In Chief
Interested in writing or contributing, Our Covers are always open
Vixon John President 2007-2009
Josette Ramnami Secretary
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Libertad 51
Meet The Family
FAHARI-LIBERTAD Fa-ha-ri: (noun)
Dignity, respect, a good reputation, derived from the language of KiSwahili.
Li-ber-tad: (noun) Spanish for FREEDOM!
Reggy Rivers Editor In Chief 2008-2009
Janea Thompson Public Relations
The Fahari-Libertad is committed to printing the political, social, and economic views and concerns regarding people of color here at SUNY New Paltz. It is published in the spirit of cultural unity as well as bringing about the spiritual unification of all people. The main goal of the FahariLibertad is to enrich and educate all with knowledge and enlightenment. We accept anyone who is truly committed to these goals to work with us.
Mission
To seek knowledge, truth and unity with pride.
Saki Rizwana President Spring 2010 - Fall 2010
Contact Us
The Fahari-Libertad SUNY New Paltz Student Union Building, Rm. 323 New Paltz, NY 12561 Email: faharilibertad@gmail.com Facebook: Fahari Libertad Magazine Blog: faharilibertad.blogspot.com
Jada Young Historian
Krystal Miller Vice President
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Copies of The Fahari-Libertad can be found in the SUB, the MLK Center, the Black Studies Department, The Lecture Center, and the Fahari Office (SUB 323), along with various residence halls.
THE FAMILY President Faisal Awadallah Editor-In-Chief Shatera Gurganious Vice President Krystal Miller Layout Editor Euclyn Williams Cover Design Judea Costes Staff Writers Matthew Mueller Jada Young Josette Ramnani Roger Whitson Mosi-Chachawi Guest Writers/ J.S.F. Contributors Valerie Sainvil Lindsey Romain
Petra Vega Jay Espy Leah Royster Recherché Brown Nicole Daniel Alumni Regina “Reggy” Rivers Contributors Student Saki Rizwana Advisor
The Fahari-Libertad is currently seeking staff writers, copy editors and photo editors. A major/minor in Journalism/English is NOT a requirement. Please inquire via email at faharilibertad@gmail.com. Special thanks to the Department of Black Studies and all of our brothers and sisters who submitted articles, cartoons and poetry for showing the support needed to publish this magazine. Libertad 1
“Change will come...with Revolution or Evolution. Which one are you waiting for?”
“[People of color] in Amerikkka have received half of what is good and double of what is bad.”