veiled4allah: Islam in the prisons veiled4allah: Islam in the prisonsThe disproportionate representation of black Americans in the U.S. criminal justice system is well documented. Blacks comprise 13 percent of the national population, but 30 percent of people arrested, 41 percent of people in jail, and 49 percent of those in prison. Nine percent of all black adults are under some form of correctional supervision (in jail or prison, on probation or parole), compared to two percent of white adults. One in three black men between the ages of 20 and 29 was either in jail or prison, or on parole or probation in 1995. One in ten black men in their twenties and early thirties is in prison or jail. Thirteen percent of the black adult male population has lost the right to vote because of felony disenfranchisement laws.One aspect of this that is often overlooked is the popularity of Islam among African-American inmates. It is estimated that up to 30% of African-American inmates are Muslims and converted to Islam in prison. Given the high percentage of inmates who are black, this means that about 15% of the U.S. prison population is Muslim.
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Recriuting among the disaffected. As old a strategy as war itself.
The enemy within are the Saudi entity-sponsored recruiters who quite consciously target disaffected (by definition) prison population for conversion as an element in the worldwide export of their poisonous ideology. And then there's NOI (yeah, I know -- not "true Islam"), which is simply a (truly racist) quasi-criminal gang.
If the majority of prison (and other) converts were subscribing to, say, your version of Islam (Al-Muhajabahism?), I probably wouldn't mind it as much. Somehow, I don't think this is the case.
There are approximately 300,000 African-American Muslims in our prisons. Do you think that all of them have been converted as part of this nefarious Islamist plot that you see? Or have most of them converted for their own reasons? If so, why do you respond to my post about African-American Muslims with the suggestion that it's a war tactic? Or doesn't their individuality matter?
You may not intend to be racist, but that's sure the way it comes across to me.
For the record: I have a life. The one of which no mutawwa would approve.
I didn't think anybody who spent as much time hanging around my blog as you do had a life, so I'm glad to know you do after all.
Nevertheless, they were also careful to qualify their condemnation of Saddam as a bad Muslim with the proviso that the leaders of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab states were undemocratic and un-Islamic in their reluctance to share oil revenues from the masses of Muslims living in poverty around the world. Alternatively, they characterized the conflict as an internal Muslim affair where United States' interference was unnecessary and noxious. Having stated their politics, they went on to mention that most prisoners came from poor families with many kin in the U.S. armed services. Above all, they were concerned that the government was endangering the lives of their sisters, brothers, fathers, uncles and cousins. Many of the staff were probably unable to understand the nuances of this statement and interpreted it as simply anti-American. In a nutshell their [the staff's] attitude probably reflected the general American confusion about Islam, Arabs and geopolitics in the Persian Gulf.
She works for the government, is going to law school this fall, volunteers with the (all Democrat) Black Caucus, likes going out to clubs but never drinks or dresses revealingly (she's more about style than skin).
She's very much an American, and has talked to me about the ways in which being Muslim has lead to some distance between her family and the rest of the African American community in her area, as most of them are Christian and church-oriented.
She has no interest in being an agent of the Saudi government or any other government than her own. She didn't enjoy worship when she was younger, but has found Islam to be a source of strength and comfort now that she is an adult, and thinks that Islam's conservatism has kept her on track while many of the people with whom she grew up have ended up dropping out of school, or getting pregnant, or -- yes -- going to prison.
I think this last may be part of Islam's appeal. When so many people are saying that the African American community is somehow inherently problematic, that black men are endangered and black children are growing up without values, and black churches don't seem to be helping, African American prisoners may see Islam as a way to get themselves straightened out.
Originally posted by goju fighter -
I think that if you break the law and are convicted then you should go to jail, or pay the prescribed penalty. I don't see the logic in thinking that the criminals and prisoners race or religion should match the demographics of the civilian populace.
I'm sure most readers of the blog agree that people who violate laws should suffer appropriate punishment. However, many people are disturbed that America's prison population is so disproportionately African American. I believe 5 of 7 prisoners facing execution this month are black; one is Latino; one is white.Some of us are interested in WHY this is so. Why are so many more African Americans being arrested, convicted, imprisoned, executed? Is this merely correlating with poverty rates? Is it indicative of racial biases by police, prosecutors, judges and/or juries? What does it mean for voting rights, if so many African Americans are felons and felons continue to be disenfranchised? What does it mean for future job prospects, for their ability to participate in their children's lives?
We are asking these questions not because we want murderers and rapists to go unpunished, but because we think that unless we ask questions and try to get answers, and DO something with those answers, the problem will only get worse.
My greatest source of dismay on this issue actually is not the racial composition of the prison system, but its sheer magnitude. It is terrible to think that so many Americans are not part of our society, and in a system more oriented to retribution than rehabilitation, are only becoming less likely to be productive members of society in the future.
But to have a disproportionate number of the inmates be African American means that this problem has a particularly strong effect on the African American community.