This area is not my tribe, but I go and have a good time and help keep the local traditions alive, of which I am more familiar than with my own tribe due to distance.

This is my pow-wow skirt. I wore a black shoulder-close abaya today, since I was not going to be dancing. I still wore the skirt, so that as my abaya pulls open when I walk, you could see the skirt a bit but not much else.

This is me in dancing regalia, such as it is. Actually, when I was approached to provide a photo for something, this was what I was able to cobble together last minute when I discovered that several things got lost in my last move; my dark green shawl with black and navy fringe, and my elaborately beaded dark green niqab being the most important missing pieces. I have also... outgrown... some pieces. I don't dance often anymore anyway.

First thing today upon entering, I saw a beautiful woman who didn't look Native, in a gorgeous fuschia, pink & white floral headscarf, long skirt and long sleeved shirt. She was smiling and gesturing towards me while talking to her companion, a normal-for-summer-dressed woman with a baby stoller. I don't like to assume everything is about me, and I was busy talking to my son anyway so I tried to ignore the attention.

A few minutes later the woman in the scarf came over and shyly introduced herself. She is visiting from Turkey, here in the U.S. for only a three-month stay and studying Arabic locally. She was just so thrilled to see another woman in public that was covered at all.

As I was packing my purse with only the essentials in preparation for the pow-wow, I considered whether I should bring my business card case with a few of my personal cards. I opted not to. I regret it now.

I bought two cute and very cheap ($1 each) plain turquoise ring bands. I am very matchy and balanced. I hate wearing an odd number of rings or bracelets, and not only do I prefer they match, but I prefer they are of a similar size. Like, I cannot wear a tiny dainty ring on one hand and a big chunky one on the other. I also never mix gold and silver.

I also bought two hijab scarves. From Indonesia. At the pow-wow...

And no, you are not seeing things, that is a pink scarf there. The other is purple cotton, with beaded tassels. Sorry, the tassels don't show in the picture.

My son ate twice as much as I did, at least. My dad says he looks like he may be a linebacker. I think that's in reference to American football, or handball, as the Nica calls it scornfully. We prefer fútbol, thank you very much.

My son begged me for the cash to buy a cool poster for his room. Apparently the t-shirt of this concept has sold so well since 9-11 that they are now making other products. It's an old picture of Geronimo and other Apache warriors. Above it says "Homeland Security" and below it says "Fighting Terrorism since 1492".

Then he was ready to leave.

I grabbed some fry bread for the road.

Blog About Palestine Day

It is really difficult for me to write about Palestine without relating it to my own people's history. I am what is commonly called a Native American Indian. When I hear the stories from my elders, or read accounts of what happened to my people and all indigenous people of the Americas, and continues to happen today, I am overwhelmed.

Christopher Columbus is generally the one credited for reaching the Americas in 1492 and beginning our slow annihilation. That was almost 600 years ago and with no signs of changing yet. Today marks 60 years since the Nakba of Palestine, when a new nation was created by destroying the existing nation and relegating the people to reservations (refugee camps, reservations, they are all the same thing). Will the Palestinian people have to suffer for their 60 years multiplied by 10, as my people have, before anyone takes notice of them and questions what is going on?

We look back on 1492 and think of it as a barbaric time, when civilization and mores were not quite up to our standards of today. How many of us look back to 1948 and think the same thing? No, for many 1948 was a time of great hope and it is remembered with nostalgia as a time period when people had values, morals, decency. Before all of the "ills" of our current society; before Rock-&-Roll had a firm grip on our youth and certainly before Hip Hop had taken over, before kids ran our households and parents could go to jail for spanking, before the hippie movement, the Black Power Movement, the Red Power Movement, before Chicanos called themselves Chicanos proudly, before Gay Pride festivals and free love and birth control pills and a day-after pill. In 1948, we say, people knew their neighbors by name, doctors made house calls, and you could rely on a complete stranger to help you out in any difficulty.

The 1948 era is often looked back on as our best days. Our brightest, most promising, scrubbed-face-goodness, hopeful days. When "Western" civilization believed that we had defeated the monsters (Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini) and we were on a brave new frontier of greatness.

That the "brave new frontier" included the subjugation of the Palestinian people, the theft of homes, lands and crops that had been passed down for generations, and women and children and the elderly were being indiscriminately killed to get them out of the way, did not sully our image of ourselves. That at that same time Native Americans were dying on the reservations of starvation and preventable illnesses, while their children were stolen and sent off to boarding schools to be sexually abused, mutilated, beaten, starved and turned into forced labor did not sully our image of ourselves.

We would like to convince ourselves that we are committed to humanity, that we are about justice and freedom and self-determination and "democracy". But where have those values ever been applied to the Palestinians? It has been 60 years since they have had those rights and we barely bat an eye. Instead, people actually talk about Israel's right to self-defense. While they are the aggressors. People complain about the "martyr culture" that they link to Islam and Arabs, when in fact it is simply the last dying struggle of desperation of people. People make light of the pictures of children and women who have been brutally killed by bombs, guns, having their houses raided and say these are sensationalist, when their use is merely an attempt to show us that these are human beings who have been killed.

This is a test. And right now we are failing. It is up to us to get it together sooner on behalf of the Palestinian people than we have done for my people. May Allah have mercy on us all.

Related Posts:

Untitled

On Women's Day 2008

Review: The Scar of David

Everyone Is Crying Out For Peace, Yes, None Is Crying Out For Justice

I am currently reading Andrea Smith's Conquest: Sexual Violence & American Indian Genocide.

Dr. Smith is a professor in Women's Studies and Native American Studies at the University of Michigan. She was recently denied tenure (by the Women's Studies Dept) despite the fact that her activist work and teaching on these kinds of matters has been groundbreaking and influenced many women of color. Despite, or perhaps because of... afterall, we can't have women of color getting too uppity and empowered, can we?

Anyway, this book has been on my reading list and after finding out she had been denied tenure, and after reading (for the first time) her essay Indigenous Feminism Without Apology (by the way, I am also working on a new manifesto entitled "Feminism On My Own Terms"), I decided it was high time I read some of her work and find out what all the amazement is about. So I got the book. Coincidently, not long after I started reading it I found out that a bunch of my friends had decided (without mentioning it to me, ahem) to "group read" the book and started a blog to put down their thoughts about it. I'm not on that blog, but I have a lot of thoughts about this book. More than I can put into one post, but I'm gonna try to put some down. It won't necessarily be in order either, because I am almost done with the book and going to start with something I just read last night, from chapter 8.

"In fact, it is a consistent practice among progressives to bemoan the genocide of Native peoples, but in the interest of political expediency, implicitly sanction it by refusing to question the legitimacy of the settler nation responsible for this genocide. It is incumbent upon all people who benefit from living on Native lands to consider how they can engage in social justice struggles without constantly selling out Native peoples in the interest of political expediency in the short term. I say 'short term' because it is fundamentally nonsensical to expect that we can fundamentally challenge white supremacy, imperialism, and economic exploitation within the structures of U.S. colonialism ad empire in the long term."

Replace "Native" with "Palestinian" and "U.S." with "Israel" and you have the gist of my thoughts on that matter too. Which is probably a good part of why I, as a Native woman, identify so closely with Palestinians. But don't just replace the words. Think about it as it is written too. Think about it.

Are you one of those people who thinks Natives no longer even exist? That we are a quaint historical story? Think again.

"In looking to the U.S. Constitution as the basis for our democratic 'ideals,' one is immediately struck with many contradictions. Generally speaking, liberal discourse (and even many sectors of 'radical' discourse) dismiss these contradictions as aberrations from otherwise admirable democratic ideals - white supremacy, genocide, and imperialism are unfortunate mistakes made by the U.S., but do not fundamentally constitute the U.S. itself. But white supremacy, colonialization, and economic exploitation are inextricably linked to U.S. democratic ideals rather than aberrations from it. The 'freedom' guaranteed to some individuals in society has always been premised upon the radical unfreedom of others. Very specifically, the U.S. could not exist without the genocide of indigenous peoples. Otherwise visitors to this continent would be living under indigenous forms of governance rather than under U.S. empire."

Really, think about it.

My thoughts on this are too complicated right now. All I can say is that I totally "get it". In terms of our current Presidential race, and my feelings as a Muslim that this so-called democratic system is busted, this helps to solidify my concerns. We are told democracy is one-vote-one-person and that everyone has a voice. But we know, at least in this country, that just isn't true and never has been.

(PS - I'll be back to clean this up in the morning, inshaAllah. I can't access formatting features or put in links from my home computer right now.

Update: Have done clean up. May still come back to further flesh out some thoughts later. Also have many other posts in my head that stem from things in this book...)

Now, we all know how I feel about feminism in general so I know people are asking why I'm even gonna do this meme. But the thing is, my issues with feminism as a movement are one thing, but they don't keep me from having a great amount of respect for many self-named feminists. Nor do my issues with the "movement" mean that I don't value many women throughout history who have been about women's rights, women's safety, and the empowerment of women.

So, I'm going to share some women who have inspired me. I can't say that some (most?) of these women would have called themselves feminists. And I don't begin to question what the historical figures I will mention would have thought of the modern day feminist movement. But I do want to share who I respect and have been influenced by, and some women that maybe have been overlooked in their contributions to women's movements.

My Disclaimers:

1. As previously stated, I'm not guaranteeing that all women I mention would have classified themselves as "feminists", nor that they are recognized as such today.

2. No hating on the women I select. You might be able to pull out a whole list of reasons that you think a woman I post was emphatically not-feminist or why you think her contribution was negligible or whatever else. Don't bother pointing out all the flaws you think these women had/have - you and I have plenty too. I'm just saying, they inspired me.

3. If you read other contributors to the meme, you may see overlap. I'm not trying to copy off anyone else. In fact, I'm gonna try not to read anyone else's meme until I finish this (though it seems to be a multi-day project for me). But don't be surprised if I name women that others have already named.

The Request (via WoC PhD):

"I am asking that each of my readers point to one or more books, articles, poems, and/or key female figures of color who have discussed feminism from 1492 to the present. Please choose: one historical figure, one from 1960-70, and one from the present from the U.S. Please also choose at least one from outside of Euro-America. Please include a trackback to this post so we can all see your answers or post a comment with your answers here."

This is not one of those memes where I will be tagging people, but if you are interested in doing this meme, please trackback to the original requestor (WoC PhD) at the link at the beginning of this post.

Because it is probably going to take me a while to compile my list, and may in fact have to be done in parts, I am going to post this introduction first. I am hoping that others might take up the challenge too.

It's not just that this particular design was too showy and sexualized for my Muslim tastes. It was who it was actually depicting that most concerned me. The design was the stereotypical Indian Maiden. Not a classy or cultural depiction, no this was a pin-up style: the high cut short skirt and bra-like top, arms behind the head, back arched, slick partly opened lips, etc. It was an overtly sexualized version of the mysterious Red Woman.

Like Native American women (of which I am one, and let me say, I in no way can relate to that motif presented), other women of color are regularly fetishized for the fantasies of men. Arab women are depicted in sheer Jeannie-like costumes, belly-dancing and wearing face veils that barely conceal their animal hungers. Latina women are routinely presented as HOT HOT HOT, large-breasted, tiny waisted, fiery and passionate. Asian women are supposed to be tiny, submissive, quiet, and well versed in the nastiest of bedroom acts. Black women are the repositories of the continued slave-days thinking that they are warm, chocolatey insatiable love machines who have no expectations of a commitment from men. These fantasies have been playing out for centuries as men create pictures of women that meet their wildest dreams of sexual gratification.

Despite women complaining for decades (if not centuries) about how this objectification of our bodies has created eating disorders, lack of self-esteem, acceptance of infidelity and domestic violence, and a myriad of other social issues, we are now able to partake in a similar dysfunction and fetishizing of men.

Through the genre of the romance novel, which is by and large written by and for white women, men of color are now openly portrayed in the same type of dysfunctional ways that we have complained about being treated.

I wrote about one such author the other day. My point in that particular post was in relation to her unprofessional behavior and theft of others' work, but I did mention in passing that her books are inherently racist anyway. My brief mention of the racism in her books was meant to be a passing comment, intended to point out one further reason that I wasn't interested in her books anyway. Well, nevermind that I detest romance novels to begin with (although I have to give Nora Roberts props for pretty interesting writing and a better quality of historical research than most). Anyway, I hadn't actually wanted particularly to discuss the racism in the books, but the plagerism allegations.

That changed when a well-meaning commentor questionned why I would declare these books as racist. In attempting to answer her, I found that I wasn't prepared because the racism was so obvious to me that I was genuinely surprised that someone else wouldn't recognize it.

My initial thoughts after responding to the comment in rather simplistic terms were

Although it seems so obvious to me what is racist and problemmatic about it, I'm not feeling very articulate in addressing it right now. Maybe I can put together a better post that actually addresses that in a broader and clearer way, but I'm not sure when I can get that together... to incite some intelligent discussion and address as women of color how such writing about our men makes us feel?  And I guess, I kinda am asking, am I just crazy for feeling this way? Am I way off base? I hate the "Arab men are mysterious/Black men are well hung/Native American men are so spiritual/Latino men are such HOT lovers" type of thing that goes on in these kinds of novels. I hate it when women of color are fetishized that way too, but I don't think that makes it okay to stereotype and fetishize men that way. I guess I do feel a certain amount of animosity towards the "white women take our men" in much the same way that I feel strongly about Muslim men who marry non-Muslim women, leaving so many single Muslim women alone and in a sense making a statement that we are not good enough for them. By which I don't mean that men of color should never be with white women or that white women have to bear the burden of colored women's insecurities, but books like this in my opinion do a disservice to us and promote this problemmatic issue. I don't want the discussion to turn anti-white woman, but I do want to address why it is offensive for there to be a whole genre of writing by and for white women that turns our men of color into hot tamale/one-dimensional charicatures for their pleasure. Am I making any sense at all???

So I guess this bears discussion (you can see some pretty interesting comments on the original post, but I'd like to move that part of the conversation over here). I am surprised that we can all understand fairly easily why it is offensive when women are depicted in stereotypical ways. I'm confused why it is more difficult for us to recognize when the same is being done to men of color and why this is also wrong.

Lakota Freedom

Lakota Group Secedes from U.S.

Descendents of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse Break from U.S.

Lakota Withdraw from Treaties, Declare Independence from U.S.

Thanks for the tip off, Iantha. :)

One of the few actors I was truly fond of, and a real inspiration in the American Indian Movement.

My Anti-Feminist Manifesto

1. Being a woman, and being a woman of color, and being a Muslim, I choose to not be a feminist or in any way have the term feminist applied to my person, my choices, my thoughts, my writings or my art.  I reserve the right to self-identify as I see fit and to define myself in relation to my culture and my ideals. I do not wish to take on the terminology of another's movement nor bend it or re-invent it to suit my own.

     a. As a Muslim, I believe that Islam is the answer for everything. I believe that we have been given the tools with which to free ourselves from oppression here on earth, and I do not find those tools lacking.

     b. I do not feel compelled to look to other cultures to find the answers to my problems. Feminism as it began in a movement by and for middle and upper class white women offers me nothing. It is not my desire to take their movement and somehow prove that my movement is the same. It is not. Theirs has its role in their lives, and mine is different.

     c. As a woman of color and as a Muslim, I choose to rely upon my own cultural interpretations. This means that while others may think something in my lifestyle is oppressive, I am free to choose what I feel oppressed by and not to agree with outsiders' application of the term. For example, while many well-meaning women of color would like to champion my right as a Muslim woman to lead prayers, that is not something I need or want. This is a "right" that they feel I need because it is in tune with their own lifestyle but it is not a right I desire.

2. I reserve the right to say that my writing and art is not feminist and that I don't care to have it limited to such terms and conditions as feminism defines.

     a. My writing and art belongs to me. I feel no shame in defining it by my own terms and not considering it feminist, womanist or in keeping with any particular movement.

     b. While others may be inspired by it and relate it to their feminism or other movement, I do not feel compelled to limit myself to their terms.

     c. I reserve the right to publish my writing as I see fit. I doubt it will ever appear in avowedly "feminist" publications or anthologies because that is not the crowd I prefer to engage nor something I care to align myself with.

3. I refuse to participate in the discussion that expects all women to be proud to identify as feminist, to challenge the "white" notions of what feminist thought is or is not, or to tell other women of color that they are unaware of their role and the oppression they are under because they do not self-identify as feminist.

     a. I am an intelligent woman who is fully aware of the effects of colonialization and oppressions upon my peoples and upon myself. I am not ignorant of how I am used by those who wish to further their own cause, nor am I ignorant of how others see me or attempts to keep me down.

     b. I do not need other women of color to "save" me any more than I need white women or men to do so. While I engage with other women and support them to do what they need to do for their own improvement, I expect them to support me to do what I need to do for mine. By support, I mean "stand back and let me do my thing". The best support we can offer each other is to be there with requested resources when asked but not to attempt to take over or impose our own ideas upon another.

     c. I am capable of thinking and speaking for myself. I do not ask anyone to speak on my behalf or to make my speech more palatable to others. I say it like it is - you choose whether you want to listen or not.

4. Why I despise the feminist movement and do not care to be a part of it.

     a. I am tired of women of color being pitted against men of color because of this mis-notion that allegiance to other women is all that matters.

     b. I do not need to make the movement mine. It's not mine, it never will be mine. I have my own movement that is in line with my Islamic beliefs and values. Western style feminism, by any name it is called, is a secular order that seeks to wipe out my spirituality and force me to selfishly over-emphasize women to the detriment of others.

     c. I do not feel the need to make myself a part of something where I am not wanted. It is my personal belief that women of color trying to stuff ourselves into the feminist movement does us an injustice. We do not need to broaden the acceptance of our experience into formal feminist theory. We do not need to make feminism "our own". We can create our own revolutions, not jump on the bandwagon of that of another and then cry when we are pushed off.

     d. I am not academic, have never "studied" feminist theory and do not even care to know most of the ridiculous terminology and theories that abound. I know my reality as a poor, Muslim, Native American woman in the U.S.A. I don't need fancy theories to explain it. I don't need my experiences to be supported by the experiences of others or to be validated by academia.

The Follow-Up

Where do we start? How about with the original story of Thanksgiving. Most of you were probably taught the same sanitized version of history that I was taught, which is a lovely little ditty about how the Pilgrims came from England so they could practice their faith freely, landed here on what is now known as American soil, where the kindly Indians taught them how to grow corn, culminating in a wonderful sharing of the harvest between the Red and White men. Ah, but that is not only over-simplified, it is also fairly untrue. The reality is that the Pilgrims were well aware there were other people living here but believed that this land was their destiny, a God-given right to them, and they came with full preparation to do battle if necessary to take the land from the savages that resided upon it. The Natives did fight against them because it was clear from the beginning that the Pilgrims desired more than just a small plot of land and peaceful relations.

But let's move past the sham story of the "First Thanksgiving". A bigger issue is what the First Thanksgiving represents: A prettified version whereby white European immigrants can claim that they made nice with the Natives and were practically invited to take over this country. Not so. The facts are that this was just the beginning of their genocide against the Natives. A systematic method of taking over was put in place early and continued to be practiced for centuries. Today, it is rare that anyone even acknowledges this reality. Instead we still teach our children a falsified version of "togetherness" and "tolerance".

So it's no wonder to me that some Native Americans actively protest against Thanksgiving Day. I don't blame them, and I don't disagree with them. Just as I have raised my son that Columbus Day is a day of mourning for us, Thanksgiving Day has the same connotation for most Native Americans.

Furthermore, as a Muslim, holidays don't mean much to me anymore. We have the Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha, and that is good enough for me. So it's not like I'm really just dying for an excuse to have another. I'm not. But unlike the religious (even if sometimes forgotten or over-secularized today) purposes behind most other holidays, Thanksgiving serves as a relatively legitimate day.

Thanksgiving Day is traditionally a day that is about family and thankfulness. No matter what your culture or belief, who doesn't believe in those two things? As a Muslim, I know that it is essential to express thankfulness to Allah for His many blessings every day. We shouldn't need to set aside a day each year to do this. Just as we don't believe in Mother's Day because we should honor our mother every day, it seems silly to have to make a big deal out of one day a year to remember to express gratefulness that we forget about the rest of the year.

For many converts, especially those who still live in the West, it can be really difficult to explain to our families why we don't want to have anything to do with the holidays we once enjoyed. When we have children, it becomes even more traumatic to our families when they realize that they won't be able to express their normal holiday spirit and pass on their traditions to our children. While it is a necessary matter for us to address, Thanksgiving Day seems like a relatively innocuous day compared to most other holidays.

So although I can certainly think of plenty of reasons to protest Thanksgiving Day, the reality is that I enjoy it. It is a time that I share with my non-Muslim family, where we enjoy each others' company and connect. It is a daw'ah opportunity that does not require me to compromise my values. For example, out of respect for me, there is no pork or alcohol at my parents' house for Thanksgiving. While some of their other holiday parties probably include those things, Thanksgiving is set aside as a day that we can all share. I enjoy cooking with my mother, and it's not something we are often able to do. And I revel in our family tradition of going around the table to list the things we are each individually thankful for. When I say "I am thankful to Allah for..." my parents say "amen" and we share this time of gratefulness.

And I have so much to be thankful for.

As my Shaykh says (granted, in relation to deeper matters, but this is broadly true), "if you come to me with your cup full I can give you nothing; come to me with your cup empty so I can fill it up". When someone decides to engage a Muslim (or other group) in dialogue, claiming to want to learn and understand, it is necessary to come empty and ready to accept what you hear. Instead, most often they bring in their own baggage and "I read such-and-such" and do not listen. They want to debate every point instead of just accepting it. They want to question the wisdom instead of just recognizing it even if they don't agree with it. Far too often, they want to tell me who I am and what I believe based on something they heard/saw/read somewhere else.

Unfortunately, sometimes even those who think they are sincere and want to be open-minded make these same mistakes. If I say "this is what Muslims believe about modesty" they will say "oh, no, that's not what Muslims really believe because I met this one woman who...". Or if I say "this is why I wear hijab" or "this is what the fast of Ramadan entails" they say "I think that's just a cultural thing and not really required..." or "well, I read that it's really about...".

If you come to me full of your own ideas, or thinking that you can simplify and box up all of my beliefs into something that relates to your own, you are not able to really learn anything at all from me. You have to be ready to recognize that some of what I tell you is very different from your norms and cannot be reconciled with your version of logic. But instead of arguing or ignoring my point of view, all you have to do is listen and accept that it is my reality. If, for example, I tell you that I pray separately from the men, you do not need to get all offended for my sake and assume that means we are "segregated" and that I am being treated second class. I find praying separately to have much wisdom to it. But I don't always feel like explaining all the reasons either so that a person can individually refute each reason based on their own completely different cultural understanding. Just accept that this is my way and be done with it.

I have had this same issue with other cultural aspects of who I am, as a Native American, as an adoptee, as one with immigrant/Latino family, just as a minority all around etc. There is always someone who wants me to educate them on my life. But when I try to answer their questions, they become frightened of the truth. They want me to make it all sound very pretty and exotic but not too far from their own understanding of how life works. They don't really want to know who I am or what I deal with, or what I believe. They don't want to hear that I am still angry for the way Native Americans, immigrants, and Muslims are treated in this country. They don't want to hear that I struggle to find work and housing because I wear hijab. They don't want to hear that my feelings are hurt by statements they make or by what I see in the media.

It is not my job to educate the rest of the world. I have my own life and plenty of responsibilities. I cannot hold your hand while you go on some quest to get in touch with "the other". You have to educate yourself. That means I cannot be your only source of information. When you ask me for resources, please don't come back to me clearly having not looked at them but talking about somewhere else that you got erroneous information because you were looking for easy and comfortable answers that didn't challenge you too much. When you come to me, come with your ears and heart open and your cup not full so that you are ready to hear what I have to say, to ponder and absorb it and then question or comment thoughtfully. If you want to know about Muslims, please do not make me the only Muslim you ever talk to and expect me to answer for all the strange cultural baggage that you have witnessed in others. And please don't tell me "well my Muslim friend does this and that" and it is 100% outside of Islam but you don't want to hear that from me and want to think that I am the one completely mistaken in what Islam is.

And spare me the sympathy "I'm on your side" speeches, and especially the "I'm fighting for you" speeches. Oh, that is so old. I know sometimes people who say these things really believe them and are trying to be sincere. But rather than telling me what you are doing for me, you would be better to ask what I actually might need from you. Because you may be surprised to discover that what I want and need are different from what you think I should want and need. And you may discover that I can attain them on my own and don't need you to do it for me. This has been said before, but the best way you can support me is to stay out of my way to let me fight my own fight.

I'm not out to assimilate you to my culture or educate you to my "plight". Nor am I out to convert you to my way of thinking or to be your token source of enlightenment. Come to me when you are ready to discuss things but be ready to accept my threshold where I no longer wish to discuss or debate it.

Seyh Effendi led group dikr that sent chills up my spine to hear. He was accompanied by Clyde Bellecourt, a highly respected original founding member of AIM (American Indian Movement). Clyde was presented with a jubbah and turban during the dikr session. It means alot to see a traditional Native man become so emotional, and for those who are not familiar with Native culture, this is because it is of the deepest meaning to give the clothes from your own back and to be the receiver of such a gift.