Tensions between Black American and immigrant Muslims

Miller wrote:

Quote:

The immigrant shopkeepers also interpret Islam to justify selling alcohol.

Therein is the problem, since the Qur'an explicity forbids alcohol consumption by a Muslim. Why do only observant Black Muslims wish to obey the Qur'an?

if they observed the ban on alcohol consumption, there wouldn't be any need to vandalize liquor stores; the stores would close from lack of business.

Despite what the news media have been reporting, I'm not from Yemen. I'm Palestinian. I was born in the United States of America; I'm a U.S. citizen. My parents came from Palestine, where Judaism, Christianity and Islam are practiced. In the city where my family is from it is not common -- but it is not taboo -- to have liquor stores. So for those who say, "Go back to your country and sell it," it wouldn't be against the law there.

Weird.

I take the "complexity" business the same as nimh does -- just, wow, interesting that there are so many factors here, how the overall situation is complex, as an antonym of straightforward.

Straightforward (no moral judgement): An all-white all-Christian community is breached by black Muslim immigrant shopkeepers and some violence is done to the shopkeepers. Not good, very bad, but relatively straightforward.

Complex (no moral judgement): A mostly-black community includes some black Muslim immigrant shopkeepers and some violence is done to the shopkeepers by black Muslim Americans. Not good, very bad, more complex.

I did not open a store because I had no other options. I genuinely love people and the business I am in. Many of these small mom and pop stores are making a living because of the long hours they work. If they calculated their time, some might find they make less than minimum wage.

yitwail wrote:

Miller wrote:

Quote:

The immigrant shopkeepers also interpret Islam to justify selling alcohol.

Therein is the problem, since the Qur'an explicity forbids alcohol consumption by a Muslim. Why do only observant Black Muslims wish to obey the Qur'an?

if they observed the ban on alcohol consumption, there wouldn't be any need to vandalize liquor stores; the stores would close from lack of business.

Observant Muslims don't drink alcohol, nor do they own stores, that sell alcohol.

Quite a few interesting generalizations on the topic. However, although there is likely no way Nimh could have known the truth from the superficial and exploitive press reports, the Muslim enterprise(s) in question in Oakland CA are indeed criminal enterprises just as Just Wonders has described. The conflict and the public posturing has to do with a succession struggle in a criminal enterprise. The so called religious element is merely a smokescreen and a distraction.