soulsinsolidarity

[soulsinsolidarity]

A Ramadan reflection: Facing the trauma of resisting Islamophobia

A Ramadan reflection: Facing the trauma of resisting Islamophobia

(originally posted on AFSC’s News & Commentary blog)

The month of Ramadan unites Muslims all around the world in learning patience and strength in times of adversity while centering ourselves in resilience and hope and surrendering ourselves to God through detachment from worldly desires.

Muslims around the world are also united through our experiences with systems that continue to demonize all…

[soulsinsolidarity]

WCS script

Hi my name is ________ and I am [calling/emailing] about the email that was sent to Sunset Elementary parents apologizing for recognizing Palestine as a country. The email that was sent out by the Superintendent of Williamson County Schools, Dr. Mike Looney is unacceptable and irresponsible and erases the identities and autonomies of the Palestinian students and families within the Williamson…

[soulsinsolidarity]

Trump’s policies build on U.S. legacy of anti-Blackness and Islamophobia

Trump’s policies build on U.S. legacy of anti-Blackness and Islamophobia

(originally published on American Friends Service Committee’s News & Commentary blog)

Family separation at the hands of the U.S. government is a national crisis. And the scale of this humanitarian disaster goes far beyond the southern border. With the Muslim ban in full effect and the Trump administration’s decision not to redesignate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Yemen and Somalia—despite…

[soulsinsolidarity]

Trump wants to surveil Muslims in the U.S.—and why we should all be concerned

Trump wants to surveil Muslims in the U.S.—and why we should all be concerned

(originally published on American Friends Service Committee’s News & Commentary blog) (artwork in image by Monica Trinidad)

Last week, Foreign Policy published a draft report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that indicated the Trump administration plans to undertake long-term surveillance of Sunni Muslim immigrants in the United States. The report identified a broad group of…

[soulsinsolidarity]

Four ways to support Muslim friends and family and counter Islamophobia during Ramadan

Four ways to support Muslim friends and family and counter Islamophobia during Ramadan

(originally published on American Friends Service Committee Media Uncovered blog)

This Ramadan, AFSC is using the hashtag #RamadanSolidarity to share tips for allies to ensure that Muslims feel safe, comfortable, and centered in all spaces especially during this holy month.

Polling shows that Muslim Americans are concerned about their place in society and are experiencing high levels of…

[soulsinsolidarity]

the moon rose split the sky into borders of endless war seizing the light of the sun

the Mothers of my mothers whisper tales into the night bending, unbinding from the pale faces of the moon from the fleeting colonizers of wide-sky

mothers braid their tears into coiled webs of hair, flowers, and stars shielding the light of the sun in dark wombs inside sacred constellations binding the promises of…

[soulsinsolidarity]

Remember the Muslim ban?

Remember the Muslim ban?

published on American Friends Service Committee News & Commentary blog.

As we counter Trump’s white nationalist agenda, it’s important that we never accept this racist policy. Here’s what you can do.

Since the Supreme Court ruling upheld Trump’s Muslim ban last June, the issue has largely faded from national headlines. And public outcry over the racist policy has taken a backseat to pushing back…

[soulsinsolidarity]

02.21.2018 International Mother Language Day

[soulsinsolidarity]

Why are you so angry??: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Activism

“Those who are closest to the pain, are closest to the solution.” (Linda Sarsour) For many activists who belong to marginalized communities and have been systemically traumatized, it is anger and frustration that is driving an emergently radical activism in this moment in time, along with exacerbated underlying mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The current fears of distrust…

[soulsinsolidarity]

There is really no such thing as the ‘voiceless’, there is only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard

Arundhati Roy (via raygender)

[soulsinsolidarity]

Hey America, here's a thought: instead of following a dark history of legalized oppression through the Muslim Ban, can we, y'know, work to alleviate the crises in the countries being banned? Here's a breakdown of what's going on.

Hey America, here’s a thought: instead of following a dark history of legalized oppression through the Muslim Ban, can we, y’know, work to alleviate the crises in the countries being banned? Here’s a breakdown of what’s going on.

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the third version of the racist Muslim ban could go into effect while legal challenges against it continue. Until the lower courts make their decisions, the Trump administration can enforce restrictions on travel from eight countries—six of them majority Muslim. This means that the government can now deny visas for people from those countries indefinitely,…

[soulsinsolidarity]

you wish you could pick out the dead flowers resting in my heart, but i want to hold them with compassion, to thank them for fighting a life of honor, to lay them down to rest and pay my respects to them every now and again, to honor their memory by allowing new flowers, new life, new love, to bloom ~ eternally ~

[soulsinsolidarity]

In the dialogue on sexual assault and sexual harassment, let’s make sure we talk about gendered imperialism, colonialism, and racism, and the ways in which each play a key role in the violation of women’s bodies globally (because talking about the long, violent history of white men invading the bodies of women of color starts with talking about those very white men invading and occupying our lands). AND THEN those very white supremacist systems (police, university policies, military, prisons) demand silence from victims/survivors. So, #MeToo, but, the responsibility isn’t on survivors to do this labor... men (particularly white men, but all men because the patriarchy is hella pervasive), hold yourselves and the systems you maintain accountable for the sexual violence you perpetuate.

#MeToo #searchingforstars

[soulsinsolidarity]

original sin: a note about violence // #whiteviolence #columbusday (link for poem + more in bio) #poetry “what is violence but the sin of Columbus?” also WHITE SILENCE AND COMPLICITY IS VIOLENCE also you cannot police the resistance of a people CONSTANTLY assaulted by the sins you carry aka #ikneelwithkaepernick ALSO @ well-meaning white people, please don’t give me permission to live in a country you murdered your way into and stole.

[soulsinsolidarity]

original sin: a note about violence (on Columbus Day)

original sin: a note about violence (on Columbus Day)

what is violence but scattered limbs by white hoods vicious dogs and water cannons bricks shattering glass windows burning crosses flickering the eyes of on-looking children chains rusted by the tears and blood of a people torn apart (their flesh, families, tribes torn apart, mother languages ripped from their tongues, memories kidnapped from their minds)   police advertise for recruitment “you…

[soulsinsolidarity]

ramadan, resistance, revolution (dealing with grief while learning to breathe)

ramadan, resistance, revolution (dealing with grief while learning to breathe)

my breaths live in between ramadan lanterns filling cairo streets and whispers inside a tennessee grocery store floating towards me from gritted teeth   i could never breathe easy; exhales in between broken spines in baltimore broken bones in ponds in virginia the ghosts of tahrir the ghosts of kabul mosul ferguson gaza aleppo this state-sanctioned suffocation killing our dispensable bodies. my…

[soulsinsolidarity]

Liberals et. al: stop praising Trump for his Saudi speech. There is nothing praise-worthy in using Muslims to justify killing more Muslims and expanding the war on terror.

Liberals et. al: stop praising Trump for his Saudi speech. There is nothing praise-worthy in using Muslims to justify killing more Muslims and expanding the war on terror.

All right, America. We need to have a talk. The president recently returned from Saudi Arabia, where he gave his Muslim hosts a speech about the threats of “radical Islamist terrorism.” Because Trump steered slightly clear of his usual vitriol toward Muslims – he’s repeatedly claimed in the past that “Islam hates us,” and never misses a chance to complain about “Radical Islamic Terror” – some…