Like Q says I don't understand. What does this mean? All I know is that in the deep south (good movie Southern Comfort or is it Southern Cross, bout hillbillys)the rednecks are religious and racists (some may not be religious?), Misssissipi burning - black people heavily used in slavery previously.
But was your view of different races given to you by your parents, I mean NOI is nothing if not black power love Schooly D's , Am I black enough for you from the movie Kings of new York, where are you from HM? or was it from the outsiders. You didn't have white friends growing up. You were in Saudi??
I had another barrier - in my home town, at the time - 75,76,77,like every muslim kid would be at that mosque, my brother was alive, we used to go to mosque and the first time we all prayed, my brother and I raised our hands, I think it is called raffaydan, all the other kids ran up to the molvi afterwards, our actions - they didn't raise their arms - caused a commotion/consternation.
I had just been introduced to the fact that I was a wahabi, whereas everyone else was a Sunni - my parents didn't even warn us. yeah go pray like that
Heh. Devisadvokat, I always have to read your posts out loud to follow them. That’s not a bad thing. I can just tell form your posts what your speaking style must be like. Written words don’t do it justice.
Well, my mom was born in Georgia in the 40s to a large, very conservative Christian family. From what I gather from all accounts, Georgia in the 40s was much like you’d imagine it to be in terms of overt racism and the Jim Crow laws, so that most certainly had an impact on the family’s views on race.
Some time in her early teens, the family moved up around New York—as was a common trend with black families from the south then—and by the 60s my mom was involved in Black Nationalist movements and eventually came to follow the NOI, which was most certainly an openly racist organization.
Well, by the time I came around, my mom and dad had moved to North Carolina, which was certainly much better than Georgia of the 40s but still had that legacy of racism common in the former confederate states just beneath the surface.
While they were fully out of the NOI movement by then, without a doubt their years of experience still impacted their views on race, particularly their views on white people. I was taught that all races were equal, but really the undertone was that white people were no better than us. There was certainly an element of resentment to it all.
In a way, I think it did serve to boost my self confidence—for lack of a better term I guess—because I recall many occasions growing up where my black friends would come across as feeling uncomfortable, almost intimidated around white people whereas I honestly was not.
I also didn’t really view the world in terms of race. I had plenty of friends growing up from all backgrounds—white, black, Arab, Asian, etc. Being a Muslim meant that I could always identify with a host of other cultures so I never really have viewed myself only as culturally “black,” though that’s obviously a piece of the puzzle.
Oh yeah, you said something about Saudi Arabia. I wasn’t raised there, Alhamdu-lillah. I was university age by the time I went there and ended up staying in the Middle East for a good amount of time afterwards.
Topic: Your first time...