billay Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 (edited) You been hangin' with Spike much lately, Spain? How else might you know what he believes, but apparently doesn't say. Cerwin, while I'm no expert, The Nation of Islam is a perversion of Islam, which has it's roots with the prophet Mohammed. It co-opted many of the fundementals of Islam but was started in America, as the website says, in the 1930's. As I understand it, the Nation of Islam's MO is reactionary to African American history of slavery at the hands of White America. It teaches that the black man was the "original man" and the chosen people of God. It also teaches that the white man is quite literally, the devil, who captured the original man in africa and pressed him into slavery. It seeks to free the black man from his bonds in America by any and all means necessary. They have, in the past, promoted violence against whites, however, this stance has been softened considerably over the years. Historically, their rhetoric has been violent and extremely inflammitory. They call for converts to cast off there americanized slave names and they adopt names more associated with African decent, (Like Elija Poole becomes Elija Mohammed) or they simply lose their last name and put an "X" in its place to acknowledge the loss of their ancestry at the hands of the white man. The Nation of Islam has always been quite controversial, even among the Black community. During the civil rights movement, the Nation of Islam rejected the use of passive resistance movement associated with Martin Luther King Jr. believing it did not go far enought to achieve their aims. White America really didn't become acquainted with the Nation of Islam until a boxer, by the name of Cassius Clay, joind their ranks and changed his name to Muhammed Ali. I believe that Ali refused being drafted into the Army based on the principles of the Nation of Islam. Not that spain's comments warrant a response, but I'll give one anyway. To me, there is a difference between fighting against opression/racism, and fighting for supremacy. Spike Lee's wants Blacks in America to recieve equal treatment, equal opportunity with that of white America. In his past he has also aluded to wanting reparations to blacks for slavery. (He named his film production company 40 acres and a mule productions. As with his Katrina documentary, and his quotes in the other thread about the disappropriation of Blacks in the hollywood power structure, he feels that Blacks are not given the same opportunities as whites in this country and seeks to call attention to the disparity with the hopes of remediing it. This type of behavior is a far cry from calling for a boycott of hollywood and all things white, or insinuating that it would be morally justifiable to kill a white person based on a pseudo-religious notion that blacks are inherently superior. This is the heart of racism IMO, and is the reason that I have been arguing that Spike Lee is not one. I will not make that same argument in defence of the Nation of Islam. Edited September 28, 2006 by billay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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