What do you get when you mix muslim stereotypes, black sterotypes, and mega-celebrity? paranoia about Michael Jackson joining the Nation of Islam, of course.
Tyrone, if you’re still around, would love for your take on this.
Defending the liberal tradition in history, science, and philosophy.
{ 1 comment }
I guess maybe there’s some black paranoia there, although I don’t know if it would be paranoia TOWARD them or BY them. Probably some of both. The Nation of Islam has a really bizarre history from the perspective of most Muslims and within the black community. Within the black community, the Nation of Islam is controversial, with admirers and haters and people who just plain go “huh, I kinda like the bean pies.”
Anyone who’s read the Autobiography of Malcolm X who knows jack squat about Islam knows that early on the teachings of Elijah Muhammed and others in the movement look about as close to any form of mainstream Islam as Reverend Moons Unification Church. (Hint: anyone who teaches that white people were invented by a scientist named Yacub a couple of thousand years ago in order to pervert the true human race, black people, isn’t teaching something you’re going to find in your Koran).
And, of course, just BEING Muslim they are viewed with suspicion in much of the black community, which is overwhelmingly dominated by evangelical/fundamentalist Christians. The more ecumenical minded among them are open to the NoI types (perhaps to an unfortunate extent) whereas others consider them radical and dangerous.
And since Michael is viewed with a complicated range of positive and negative emotions by that community, it would be easy to get many within it to just shrug and say “Michael was mixed up with those weirdos too? Yeah no surprise.” And then of course there’ll be those who view it in his favor.
Then of course there’ll be the white people who fear black radicalism, who fear the Eternal Other, and so on.
Anyway, Michael was a Jehovah’s Witness, which is a fairly small sect of Christianity that most Christians consider not to really BE Christian, which is perfectly fine with most Jehovah’s Witness as they mostly think they’re not Christian either, they think they’re the bearers of the TRUE faith of Jesus which isn’t (in their view) mainstream Christianity at all.
Complicating that further is that now you have people in the NoI who have tried to move it to mainstream Islamic (Sunni) beliefs. How successfully, I have no idea.
Do they have a history of terrorism? Well if you count a few gangland-style assassinations, including the murder of Malcolm X when he converted to mainstream Sunni Islam, then yes. On the other hand, if you believe them when they distance themselves from that and claim some former members that they repudiate did that, then no.
But if Michael Jackson were a member of the Nation of Islam, well, that would mean… I haven’t the foggiest idea what it would mean, the guy was such a mass of contradictions and strangeness that I would greet such news like I’d greet news that he was a Scientologist or a Moonie or Hare Krishna. It would be, uhm… interesting, sorta?
Comments on this entry are closed.