The Hope of Greater Unity

The Hope of Greater Unity Continues

Racial justice protests unite Indigenous and Muslim Americans through their forgotten histories

BY RASHEED RABBI

Last year’s racial justice protests brought visibility and awareness to the Indigenous community’s centuries-long fight against oppression, violence and discrimination. Many of these long-term movements, coincidentally, started bearing results while bidding farewell to the pandemic-ridden 2020 resonated loudly with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.

One such historic success was the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 9, 2020 (McGirt v. Oklahoma) ruling that more than half of Oklahoma, almost 3 million acres, would remain American Indian reservation land, as originally designated in 1866 (https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/07/16/native-american-lives-matter). Another was the court’s decision to deny Trump’s 2016 campaign promise to permit TC Energy Corporation’s Keystone XL Pipeline, which would carry slurry crude from the Alberta tar sands to Nebraska through reservation lands (https://www. cnn.com/2020/07/06/politics/keystone-xl-supreme-court-pipeline/index.html).

These victories exude hope. But they also highlight the danger of relying on this country’s courts and/or legal system. Much more work is needed before the Indigenous community can attain real sovereignty and environmental justice. These few successes at the outset of the BLM movement merely indicate the wider population’s impending awareness.

A rather embarrassing case in point is the Redskins’ decision to change its 87-year-old nickname and logo, dismissing owner Dan Snyder’s previous vow to “never” do so. Even Darrell Green, the team’s most celebrated player during his 20-season career (1983-2002), was unaware of the controversy over a term considered just as offensive as the N-word (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/ us-news/native-americans-see-hope-day-reckoning-s-20-generations-making-n1233736). Ironically, a June 2017 Supreme Court judgment had handed Snyder a key victory: Justice Alito and all of the other justices reasoned that the government cannot remain in compliance with the First Amendment if it picks which speech is offensive and which speech is not.

Hidden by sweeping unawareness, such discrimination transcends sport logos or court victories. In reality, such embedded images continue to dehumanize minorities. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the consequences of such structural inequality via its clearly disproportionate impact on Native Americans, who

Flag of the American Indian Movement

already have higher rates of infectious disease severity and death compared to any other U.S. population group (Johns Hopkins Center for Native American Health). And along with this, their rate of youth suicide, being killed by police, illiteracy and unemployment has traditionally been higher than those of any other racial minority.

NATIVE AMERICANS: FORGOTTEN COMMUNITIES Indigenous communities constitute about 2% of the U.S. population, including the 6.7 million Native Americans who belong to the more than 565 tribes holding sovereign governmental status by law (https:// www.ncai.org/about-tribes). Their invisibility has a long history: genocide, dislocation, and various forms of physical, mental and social abuse, first at the hands of the military and then of law enforcement agencies at all levels.

Furthermore, it is a direct outcome of deep systemic bias. Native Americans have a median income of only $23,000 a year, just one-third of the $68,703, the U.S. median household income. Their collective historical trauma and socioeconomic conditions have a direct correlation with substance use, poor education and high mortality rates. Over the recent decades, 78% of them were forced to migrate and assimilate into urban or suburban areas.

The American mainstream and many Muslim Americans remain largely unaware of these peoples ongoing struggle to preserve their tribes and cultures. Thus they remain stereotyped and considered people of the “past.”

THE DEPTH OF FORGETFULNESS During the recent turbulent weeks, many Native American activists beheaded several Christopher Columbus statues. The national symbol, celebrated for centuries, is ironically connected with the history of racism (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/christopher-columbus-statue-boston-beheaded-confederate-monuments-torn-down/).

Many Native Americans view Columbus as an originator of genocide and conquest. Ironically, unmindful of his atrocities, some Muslim Americans continue to take pride in the fact that Columbus employed a Muslim navigator.

In fact, Alan Mikhail’s “God’s Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, and the Making of the Modern World” (New York: Liveright, 2020), states that at its inception, European exploration of the “New World” can be understood as an ideological extension of the Crusades — a new effort to circumvent Islam’s ever-more-powerful presence in Europe. To get an idea of his main arguments in this regard, one should consult https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/ columbus-islamophobia-ottoman-empire.html.

up during Constantinople’s apocalyptic loss to Christian Europe in 1453. He also envisioned defeating Islam with the help of the “Grand Khan” from Asia, who was believed to be interested in converting to Christianity. Columbus managed to find funds for his expeditions to Asia to realize this secret ambition. The ensuing barbarism could be an inclusive story of Muslim ancestors, who seemed to be connected with the Taínos. These Indigenous people used alfanjes, the metal scimitars inscribed with Quranic verses used by Muslim soldiers. In his diary, Columbus mentioned that the women wore almaizares, the head and body coverings used by the “Moor,” a 15th-century term widely used for Iberian and North African Muslims. They had likely been forced to convert during the 16th century by Catholic Inquisitors like Columbus. THE TRADITIONAL VERSION OF COLUMBUS AS A He also documented the region’s custom of nose piercing, a popular Middle Eastern and Arab BRAVE EXPLORER SEARCHING FOR A SEA ROUTE practice.

TO CHINA IS BASICALLY A HAGIOGRAPHIC The possibility of these two minorities living harmoniously during the 16th-century

TALE. THEN THERE’S THE REVISIONIST ONE: A remains, given that copper mines, found mainly

BLUNDERER WHO “DISCOVERED” THE “NEW in Virginia, Tennessee and Wisconsin, were operated by Middle Eastern settlers. Indigenous WORLD” BY ACCIDENT. communities revered them for their mining expertise and hard work ethic (https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.

The traditional version of Columbus as a brave cgi?article=1150&context=bis437). In the mid-17th century, the Navajo began explorer searching for a sea route to China is basically herding sheep and making their own wool, skills picked up from Muslims, brought a hagiographic tale. Then there’s the revisionist one: by the Spanish settlers. By the late-17th century, they had learned weaving from a blunderer who “discovered” the “New World” by their Pueblo neighbors, an important technical expertise of Arab Mudejars accident. Mikhail states that there are also corollaries (Muslims who stayed in Iberia after the Reconquista [11th-15th centuries]) of these two versions: the Italian American hero and http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/stories/articles/2007/2/16/navajo-blankets/). the genocidal murderer. This possibility can be further argued by the 565 names of reservations, 484 of

During his second trip in 1493, Columbus, leading which are in the U.S. and 81 in Canada, as they have a link to Arabic vocabularies. an invasion force of 17 ships, returned as a viceroy Columbus also acknowledged the presence of West African Muslims throughout and governor of the Caribbean islands and mainland North America, their affiliations with the Iroquois and Algonquin tribes and the America. While holding this position until 1500, he use of Arabic words in their culture (https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/ promptly set up shop on “Española” (modern Haiti cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1150&context=bis437). and the Dominican Republic), instituted slavery and, Mahir Abdal-Razzaaq, a Muslim Cherokee Blackfoot American Indian, subwithin five years, reduced the indigenous Taínos from stantiated the idea of Native Americans’ long-term familiarity with Islam by noting 8 million to about 3 million people. After 1542, they common vocabulary, such as Allah and many other Arabic roots used by various were considered extinct. The estimated 15 million tribes (http://www.usislam.org/converts/mahir.htm). He highlighted the fact that indigenous Caribbeans who were alive when this the last Cherokee chief — the tribe’s leader in 1866 — was called Ramadhan Ibn “first contact” was made suffered the same fate (Ward Wati (Jane Smith, “Islam in America.” Columbia: Columbia University Press, Churchill, “Indians Are Us?: Culture and Genocide 1999, p.68). Even today, their daily accessories or symbols, such as the squash in Native North America.” Monroe, ME: Common blossom necklace, hint at such a connection. This prominent piece of Native Courage Press, 1993.) American jewelry was designed over a crescent ornament on the horse bridles of

Similarly, there is no reason for “celebrating Spanish-Arab Mudejars who arrived and assimilated into their tribe during the the arrival of Pilgrims,” the widespread myth of 1500s (Pat Kirkham and Susan Weber, “History of Design: Decorative Arts and Thanksgiving that hides centuries of cruelty against Material Culture, 1400-2000.” New York: Bard Graduate Center, 2013). the Indigenous community, as noted by a native These above tidbits, which unite these two communities, should convince leader, Kisha James (https://www.aljazeera.com/ us to view Columbus’ cruelty as a part of our shared history to challenge racial news/2020/11/26/no-thanks-no-giving-natives-on- prejudice collectively. Moving forward as a united front, while harnessing these 400-years-of-mayflower-landing). As fellow minori- common stories and memories, can help rehumanize and depoliticize the centies, we should learn about their realities, both past turies-long systemic bias that impacts both minorities. and present. At the outset of a new year and a new administration, our increasing acknowledgement of these shared histories can inspire us to deal with systemic bias in FORGOTTEN HISTORY CONNECTS MUSLIM purely rational terms within the political arena. ih AMERICANS WITH INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES Mikhail’s book reveals the disturbing narratives of Columbus’ crusade against Muslims. Born in 1451 in Rasheed Rabbi, an IT professional who earned an MA in religious studies (2016) from Hartford Seminary and is pursuing a Doctor of Ministry from Boston University, is also founder of e-Dawah (www.edawah.net) and secretary of the Association of Muslim Scientists, Engineers & Technology Professionals. He serves as a khateeb and Friday prayer leader at the ADAMS Center Genoa, a mercantile port city of Crusaders, he grew and a certified Muslim chaplain at iNova Fairfax, iNovaLoudoun and Virginia’s Alexandria and Loudoun Adult Detention Centers.