Dear non-Black Muslims: To be Anti-Racist is to Help Defund the Police
By Rana Abdelhamid and Haleema Bharoocha
Before we go into this article, we want to pause to ask that you stop what you are doing and take the following actions:
Support Defund the Police Efforts at Defund12.org
Text ActionNow to 90975
We’ll explain why shortly.
Over the past two weeks we have witnessed a powerful uprising for Black lives, both across the U.S. and the globe. For many Muslims, these uprisings are resonant with our own theological understandings and practices, given Islam’s commitment to social justice. Many Muslim leaders are pulling lines from the Prophet’s last sermon as a reminder of the anti-racist nature of Islam. In the same token, we’ve also been confronted with, again, the violent racism perpetuated by many non-Black Muslims in our communities. Black Muslims are courageously sharing their anti-Black experiences in mosques and other Muslim community spaces. There’s no doubt that our non-Black Muslim community has important work to do to unlearn anti-Blackness and actively practice anti-racism.
The internal community work to address anti-Blackness in the Muslim community is important. We write this to also ask our non-Black Muslims to center the calls to action presented by Black organizers across this country. This uprising, sparked by the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop and others at the hands of police, has been a call to defund policing systems across the U.S. We support the #8toAbolition campaign presented by Black organizers as a strategy to get to 100% fewer police murders. The 8 to Abolition campaign calls for:
Defund the police
Demilitarize communities
Remove police from schools
Free people from prisons & jails
Repeal laws criminalizing survival
Invest in community self-governance
Provide safe housing for everyone
Invest in care, not cops
There are several reasons why non-Black Muslims should be wholly invested in this call to action and ways for us to get involved. We recognize the long history of non-Black Muslim engagement with systems that perpetuate anti-Blackness and uphold white supremacy. Non-Black Muslim institutions, like stores and mosques, often times engage heavily with police, neglecting the reality of violence that these police systems are rooted in and contribute to in all of our communities.
First, we urge you to understand the violent history of policing in the US -- policing is rooted in anti-Blackness. The “Slave Patrol,” which has evolved to becoming our modern day policing system, was founded first in 1704, when laws were passed to keep enslaved Africans from resisting White violence and exploitation. Before the formalization of the “Slave Patrol,” random mobs of White men were assigned the role of “maintaining order,” by violently controlling the movement of enslaved people. With the professionalization of the “Slave Patrol,” police were created to uphold segregation and a racial and class order that perpetuated violence against the most marginalized in many communities, including through the creation of policies such as “Black Codes” which specifically targeted Black people.
To this day, we know that policing continues to perpetuate a racial caste system where Black people are most frequently targeted and at the bottom of the hierarchy. There is a clear example of this with the targeted efforts to maintain social distancing in NYC, where 93% of police arrests were of people of color. [1]
Second, policing plays a key role in the evolution of slavery today and in the extension of the prison industrial complex which exploits the labor of Black people under the 13th amendment. Slavery has not been abolished for imprisoned people. To this day, the Justice System Improvement Act allows for the privatization of prisons and for the transport of prison-made goods across state boundaries. Because of this act, we see prison profits jump from $392 million to $1.31 billion between 1980 and 1994.
Not that this should matter, but our third point is that non-Black Muslims have and consistently also experience police violence. In fact, after 9/11 state sanctioned surveillance and arbitrary detention by NYPD and other law enforcement destroyed and disrupted the lives of many Muslim Americans, Black and non-Black.[2] As Muslim, Brown and immigrant communities, the police state has criminalized us under the guise of the “war on terror” and violent immigration policy.
Fourth, we don’t actually need policing. Many of you might argue that police are important to maintain civility and keep us safe. We must ask the question “to keep who safe, from what exactly?”
Islam has a built in model for community care. Many stories of the prophet and his companions, for example, center on ways that they took care of each other and created safety for their community. This is the model that we can build in our own communities in practicing the sunnah and teachings of Islam. For example, one teaching shared that you should know people within a 40 house radius of yours.[3] We know that the Prophet Muhammad PBUH would not go to sleep until he knew his neighbors were cared for. “He is not a believer who eats his fill whilst his neighbor beside him goes hungry" (Bukhari). So imagine if we implemented this model now. If we knew our neighbors, we could count on them for support and safety. We should also begin to reimagine who could be called on for support in times of uncertainty.
In her latest article, Mariame Kaba discusses in depth how years of research on attempted police reforms are actually highly ineffective. Her research and work show that instead of continuing to spend billions of dollars on policing in the US, money should be reinvested into health care, housing, employment and education. In addition, she points out that there are many other ways to respond to harms in our communities, through trained mental health practitioners and social workers. Imagine if instead of calling police for every challenge, there were options to engage experts in particular de-escalation scenarios.
We argue that it is our Islamic obligation to demand and join organizing to defund the police and fund community needs. Call on me, not the cops is a great tool that you can use to share this message with your family.
The Quran commands Muslims to stand against injustice. Islamic values are deeply rooted in social justice. The Prophet (PBUH) was an anti-racist leader who stood up against a corrupt capitalist and exploitative regime to build the power of the most marginalized people in his society. We ask that you commit to anti-racism in honor of his legacy.
So again, if you didn’t do it in the beginning of this article, do it now:
Support Defund the Police Efforts Here Defund12.org
Text ActionNow to 90975
Being anti-racist is not a one-time destination. As you continue to support the work of dismantling the police, here are 7 things ways you can better show up now and in the long run. These are everyday acts of anti-racism that can serve as centering practices:
Dismantling racism isn’t going to happen with one action or event. Dismantling racism requires an ongoing commitment to fight for change everyday. Each of us have our own ability and means of making this change. Maybe you can provide free babysitting for Black Lives Matter organizers, offer your professional services pro bono, use your platform to amplify the voices of Black people, or speak with your family about racism. We each have a role to play in the movement for liberation. If there’s anything that each of us can offer or do, then It’s our responsibility to do it.
Reflect on how you benefit from anti-Black racism and where you can have an impact. Commit to making anti racism a part of your daily life. As a non-Black, light skinned South Asian, I have the privilege to not have to think about race if I don’t want to. I have the privilege to look the other way. But I won’t. As heavy and uncomfortable as it is to face anti-Black racism, we should remember that our life will never be at risk because of our skin color, therefore we have a responsibility to take risks, to give up power, to say something. Our silence is violence.
Make a list of things you are willing and able to give up. Justice and liberation requires a shift in power dynamics by those who hold privilege and power, in this case, white and non-Black people of color. For example, when you are offered a speaking engagement, pass the mic to a Black person, be mindful of what roles you take up at an organization, risk arrest if you can, check how much space you occupy in the community, advocate for tangible changes at the office, cut down on eating out and donate to Black organizations, etc. There are so many ways you can show up. Push yourself to do the tasks that aren’t as easy, that require courage, that ask you to put your privilege on the line. Our religion requires that we do so.
We will stumble and make mistakes on this journey. I know I do. That’s okay. It can often feel like there is an expectation to be perfect especially within social justice spaces. But on our way to growth, we have no way other than leaning into the discomfort and vulnerability of the process. When you make mistakes, pause. Don’t get defensive. Build your capacity to take in feedback. Be accountable for your mistakes and recognize your impact. Apologize and commit to educating yourself and keep trying.
Stop centering your own issues or making this about you. SYSTEMATIC white supremacy and anti-Black racism, specifically police violence is not the same as combating INTERPERSONAL or CULTURAL anti-Blackness (colorism, etc) within your community. While this issue must be addressed, right now we need to focus on the needs and demands from Black organizations: DEFUND AND ABOLISH THE POLICE.
Constantly evaluate if what you are doing is ACTUALLY supporting, helping or uplifting Black people. It’s easy to forget the purpose and take action just to feel good about ourselves. Keep checking your intentions and the impact of your work. Ask yourself:
How much space are you taking up?
How much do you know about the group you are seeking to be an ally to?
What unconscious bias do you carry and how does it show up?
Are your actions actually supporting Black lives and the expressed demands from Black leaders?
Be strategic. There’s many issues that we can tackle as it relates to anti-Black racism. However we need to stay FOCUSED ON DEFUNDING THE POLICE right now.
Start today. Act now.
Sources:
1. People Of Color Make up 93 Percent of COVID-19-Related Arrests: NYPD, Brooklyn Paper, 12 May 2020
2. 'We're Supposed To Do That': Bloomberg Defends NYPD's Spying Of Muslims After 9/11, NPR, 27 Feb 2020
3. Rights of the Neighbour in Islam, Manchester Islamic and Cultural Centre and Salahadeen Mosque, 22 May 2015
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Rana Abdelhamid is the Founder and President of Malikah, a gender justice organization based in Queens. Haleema Bharoocha is a volunteer of South Asians for Black Lives and gender justice advocate.