[The following article by Nick Shindo Street was originally published on September 18, 2018, on BOOM California, an online media publication dedicated to highlighting vital conversations about social and cultural issues in California. The views expressed and the programs described do not necessarily reflect the views of Sapelo Square or its editorial staff and is reposted here in the interest of capturing the diverse conversations occurring within the Black Muslim community.
Image credit – Nick Shindo Street
Earlier this year, the ILM (Intellect, Love and Mercy) Foundation in Los Angeles, Ca., convened a group of sixteen Black Muslim community organizers to prepare for a public forum between the Black Muslim Community in South Central and the Los Angeles Police Department. That initial meeting morphed into a training that centered what the organizers called a “stories to solutions” framework — a way of articulating problems and demands that steered the conversation away from both “unproductive rancor” and a kumbaya circle that would avoid hard truths. The subsequent community gathering at Masjid Bilal Islamic Center was the first of its kind in recent memory and organizers envisioned it as a starting point for further community dialogues that would provide agency for Black Muslims to assert some semblance of control in their community.
You can read about that conversation here.
Image credit – Nick Shindo Street
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