Black Muslim Women Matters

"I asked Pop-Pop, Did you vote for Trump?”  That’s what my 9 year old daughter said she’d asked her grandfather.   “And Mom, he said 'yup'! Why would he do that?” As our car moved closer to her south philly art school destination, I pondered that very question.  My husband and I have been together for almost 12 years and I’d be lying if I said we never talked about race. We do. It’s a part of the fabric of society and as an interracial couple with a multi-religious family, the topic comes up quite often. It’s a topic that I’m always more than willing to have with my husband because he gets it. All of it, without me having to explain why he should get IT. I think his boatloads of empathy has a lot to do with that.  In fact, I think empathy is what a lot of people do not have enough of and this becomes very problematic in a society that was developed by the systematic slaughter, theft, and forced labor of entire black and brown populations of people. Now

Dear White Liberals, I’ve been watching you on my timeline, in the comments, and on the news and I’ve come to the conclusion that your naivete and own latent racism is the reason we are still fighting a war that should have ended over 152 years ago.  White liberals, you have failed to come to terms with the inhumanity of this country and the living document we use to govern it. A document that was written by this Nation’s slave owning heroes who while simultaneously declaring all men were equal, kept thousands in bondage themselves. We teach our children all of the warm and fuzzy things that make them feel good inside so that they never have to be confronted with the immorality of our past and what gave birth to their very presence. You have a hard time letting go of Abraham Lincoln as a great White savior because you leave no space for complicated liberal men with racist tendencies. So you quote the Gettysburg Address and you say the war was fought to end slavery whe

Exercising sucks...and food is life.  This statement sums up my feelings since I came into this world. Those who know me are probably scratching their head right now trying to figure out how this could possibly be true. Yes, I ran track or danced for most of my childhood and into my teens. Here's the thing, I loved running track, especially cross country. There's something about running through the elements while listening to music or meditating in my head that has always resonated with me. However, even though I was an athlete, I hated to train because I hate exercising. Seriously, I probably could have been even better than I was if I had the passion and dedication that it takes to be elite and exercise hard. Sadly, I did not and as a result, here I am at 30 pissed off that "cake is life" can no longer be my mantra. Cross Country Running at the Belmont Plateau Circa 2002 I've always had a pretty good metabolism and an athletic body. My calf and upp

I think I may very well be one of the few women left in America that hasn’t see Girl’s Trip! Now before all of you ladies come with your pitchforks OR spoilers...simmer down. My friends and I will be making a night of it on Saturday! Yes I’m late but in my defense, I literally just lived a Girl’s Trip of my own a few weeks ago and was in no rush to see one on the big screen. They will hate me for posting this. Before I get into our trip, let me backtrack. In college I was a social butterfly. I mean, I had tons of friends from all different backgrounds. I was in the MSA so I was exposed to so many different cultures and wanted to soak that up as much as possible. My bubbly personality actually gained me access into these circles and served as a buffer to the clear exclusion that my other Black Muslim friends faced (more on that in another post). As a result, I did find that my time and friends were split along racial/culture lines and that I tended to gravitate more towards my