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Black Star, Crescent Moon: The Muslim International and Black Freedom beyond America
“The same rebellion, the same impatience, the same anger that exists in the hearts of the dark people in Africa and Asia,” Malcolm X declared in a 1962 speech, “is existing in the hearts and minds of 20 million black people in this country who have been just as thoroughly colonized as the people in Africa and Asia.” Four decades later, the hip-hop artist Talib Kweli gave voice to a similar Pan-African sentiment in the song “K.O.S. (Determination)”: “The African diaspora represents strength in numbers, a giant can't slumber forever.” Linking discontent and unrest in Harlem and Los Angeles to anticolonial revolution in Algeria, Egypt, and elsewhere, Black leaders in the United States have frequently looked to the anti-imperialist movements and antiracist rhetoric of the Muslim Third World for inspiration. In Black Star, Crescent Moon , Sohail Daulatzai maps the rich, shared history between Black Muslims, Black radicals, and the Muslim Third World, showing how Black artists and activists imagined themselves not as national minorities but as part of a global majority, connected to larger communities of resistance. Daulatzai traces these interactions and alliances from the Civil Rights movement and the Black Power era to the “War on Terror,” placing them within a broader framework of American imperialism, Black identity, and the global nature of white oppression. From Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali to contemporary artists and activists like Rakim and Mos Def, Black Star, Crescent Moon reveals how Muslim resistance to imperialism came to occupy a central position within the Black radical imagination, offering a new perspective on the political and cultural history of Black internationalism from the 1950s to the present.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 28, 2015
This is a fantastic and challenging work. I wish I had more stars to give in this review.
I picked up this book when I saw it featured in AJAM's book club. The introduction immediately pulled me in and fascinated me. Daulatzai illustrates the commonalities of American foreign policy with domestic policies toward black communities, and the corresponding internationalization of Muslim liberation movements, by way of popular culture texts (speeches, film & media, lyrics) and academic analysis of historic events. Some of the arguments may be "entry level" for those better versed in modern US history and race relations, but my mind was blown every 4 pages on average.
The writing is very accessible relative to the density of research and analysis.
I picked up this book when I saw it featured in AJAM's book club. The introduction immediately pulled me in and fascinated me. Daulatzai illustrates the commonalities of American foreign policy with domestic policies toward black communities, and the corresponding internationalization of Muslim liberation movements, by way of popular culture texts (speeches, film & media, lyrics) and academic analysis of historic events. Some of the arguments may be "entry level" for those better versed in modern US history and race relations, but my mind was blown every 4 pages on average.
The writing is very accessible relative to the density of research and analysis.
June 3, 2014
This is one of those rare books that exists at the nexus of everything I find most compelling: hip-hop music and culture, post-9/11 geopolitics, cultural criticism, Black political radicalism and 3rd world post-colonialism. The author does a brilliant job of illuminating the oft-suppressed history of Black solidarity with 3rd world causes in the United States, most popularly exemplified in the figure of Malcolm X but possessing a long and storied history in and of itself.
The Civil Rights Movement is often falsely portrayed as the pinnacle of Black struggle and achievement in America, but in fact it represents only one facet of many streams of Black political activism and is a highly controversial one at that. The competing visions embodied by Malcolm and groups such as the SNCC, RAM, Black Panther Party, Nation of Islam and many more saw Blacks not as national minorities within America but as global majorities connected to the 3rd world and especially what the author refers to as the Muslim International. In this sense the definition of blackness was broader than we often conceive it today, and broader than what the Civil Rights movement saw it as. It was embodied in the 'Asiatic Black Man', so often referenced in politically conscious hip-hop music, who saw his ties as transcending national borders and offering him an alternative citizenship as part of the post-colonial 3rd world and often as well withing the global Islamic community.
In effect, the two visions have been Blacks as another colonized people seeking freedom from their colonizer, or "Black Americans" whose solidarity did not extend beyond national borders. Towards his death Martin Luther King - though his legacy has largely been sanitized and coopted today - also embraced the same internationalism of Black identity through his visceral critiques of the Vietnam War and American military imperialism. In his lifetime he refused to be co-opted into a project of military domination of foreigners whose fate was in many ways analogous to his own, and it was only in death that the cooptation of Civil Rights into the imperial project ("imperial multiculturalism" as the author calls it) was completed.
Towards the end of the book this dilemma is tied to that facing Muslim American communities today, who are being compelled to assert the primacy of their American identity but within a framework which makes them complicit in ongoing imperialism in the 3rd world, rather than challenging such a project. The author speaks out against this, arguing that the compromises made by Civil Rights did not result in real equality but only a simulacrum of it, and that greater benefits for all parties can be found in speaking truth to power and maintaining principles in the face of state oppression and coercion.
This is compelling reading, especially for those interested in Black history in America and the cultural themes which continue to influence us through hip-hop music and culture (albeit outside the highly corrupted and grotesquely disfigured corporate mainstream). Despite being an academic book I found it highly entertaining and would recommend it broadly. The explorations of Black music and films and their amazing ties to 3rd world internationalism were a pleasure to read, and make this a unique book that can expand the readers horizons in more ways than most.
The Civil Rights Movement is often falsely portrayed as the pinnacle of Black struggle and achievement in America, but in fact it represents only one facet of many streams of Black political activism and is a highly controversial one at that. The competing visions embodied by Malcolm and groups such as the SNCC, RAM, Black Panther Party, Nation of Islam and many more saw Blacks not as national minorities within America but as global majorities connected to the 3rd world and especially what the author refers to as the Muslim International. In this sense the definition of blackness was broader than we often conceive it today, and broader than what the Civil Rights movement saw it as. It was embodied in the 'Asiatic Black Man', so often referenced in politically conscious hip-hop music, who saw his ties as transcending national borders and offering him an alternative citizenship as part of the post-colonial 3rd world and often as well withing the global Islamic community.
In effect, the two visions have been Blacks as another colonized people seeking freedom from their colonizer, or "Black Americans" whose solidarity did not extend beyond national borders. Towards his death Martin Luther King - though his legacy has largely been sanitized and coopted today - also embraced the same internationalism of Black identity through his visceral critiques of the Vietnam War and American military imperialism. In his lifetime he refused to be co-opted into a project of military domination of foreigners whose fate was in many ways analogous to his own, and it was only in death that the cooptation of Civil Rights into the imperial project ("imperial multiculturalism" as the author calls it) was completed.
Towards the end of the book this dilemma is tied to that facing Muslim American communities today, who are being compelled to assert the primacy of their American identity but within a framework which makes them complicit in ongoing imperialism in the 3rd world, rather than challenging such a project. The author speaks out against this, arguing that the compromises made by Civil Rights did not result in real equality but only a simulacrum of it, and that greater benefits for all parties can be found in speaking truth to power and maintaining principles in the face of state oppression and coercion.
This is compelling reading, especially for those interested in Black history in America and the cultural themes which continue to influence us through hip-hop music and culture (albeit outside the highly corrupted and grotesquely disfigured corporate mainstream). Despite being an academic book I found it highly entertaining and would recommend it broadly. The explorations of Black music and films and their amazing ties to 3rd world internationalism were a pleasure to read, and make this a unique book that can expand the readers horizons in more ways than most.
April 22, 2014
The connection between black and Muslim subject is not limited to white supremacist discourse, state violence, and shared racialization, but is equally evident in the “political and cultural history of Black Islam, Black radicalism, and the Muslim Third World.” Herein lies the focus of Sohail Daulatzai’s Black Star, Crescent Moon: The Muslim International and Black Freedom beyond America (University of Minnesota Press 2012), a very important work that pushes readers to look at resistance, to look at a history of radicalism, and examine Diasporic challenges to white supremacy.
Black Star, Crescent Mood decenters whiteness and antiblack racism, spotlighting the shared histories and interconnections beyond policing and state violence in the everyday resistance and the ongoing struggle for justice. Challenging the conventional narratives surrounding the black freedom struggle, that centers nonviolence, the South, Christianity, and civil rights, Dr. Daulatzai centers everyday resistance, the black radical imagination, the Muslim International in an exploration of artists, activists, intellectualist, and change agents.
Black Star, Crescent Moon begins its discussion of the Muslim International subject, black internationalism, and the “Afro-Diasporic imagination” (xxxiii) with Malcolm X. Given Malcolm’s position within the Nation of Islam, given his internationalist politics, and given his symbolic meaning into present-day discourses, it is no surprise that Malcolm anchors this work. “In mapping Third World solidarity against white supremacy onto the racial terrain of the United States and arguing that the man who colonized Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Congo, and Kenya is the ‘same man’ who is in Georgia, Michigan, California, and New York, Malcolm radically challenged the sacred narrative of American exceptionalism” (29). Reflecting on the dialectics between Malcolm’s faith, his transnationalist politics, and Black Islam Dr. Daulatzai narrates a history whereupon Malcolm expanded the political imagination, foregrounding alternative freedom dreams and new methods and approaches to turning those dreams into reality.
Black Star, Crescent Moon builds upon its discussion of Malcolm to highlight the ways the Muslim International and transnational black politics are equally visible with respect to the Battle of Algiers (which would be highly influential to the activists and black cinematic imagination), Sam Greenlee’s The Spook who Sat by the Door and Baghdad Blues, and Frantz’s Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Mask all of which furthered the message of a black radical politics anchored in internationalism, decolonization, and an imagined (and real) community based in Afro-Asian (Afro-Muslim) solidarity. “Black cultural activists in the Civil Rights and Black Power era positioned themselves, their art, and their politics in relation to the anticolonial and anti-imperialist movements taking place in Asia, Africa and Latin America, writes Dr. Daulatzai. “The Cold War inaugurated a new phase in American power that simultaneously sought to contain both the anticolonial impulses emanating from the Third World and a burgeoning Civil Rights and Black Power movement domestically” (69). The power of this work rests not just with its detailed textual analysis, its examination of aesthetics, and the Diasporic context, buts its emphasis on geo-politics and the responsive utterances from black radicalism.
To read entire review go to http://drdavidjleonard.com/2014/04/22...
Black Star, Crescent Mood decenters whiteness and antiblack racism, spotlighting the shared histories and interconnections beyond policing and state violence in the everyday resistance and the ongoing struggle for justice. Challenging the conventional narratives surrounding the black freedom struggle, that centers nonviolence, the South, Christianity, and civil rights, Dr. Daulatzai centers everyday resistance, the black radical imagination, the Muslim International in an exploration of artists, activists, intellectualist, and change agents.
Black Star, Crescent Moon begins its discussion of the Muslim International subject, black internationalism, and the “Afro-Diasporic imagination” (xxxiii) with Malcolm X. Given Malcolm’s position within the Nation of Islam, given his internationalist politics, and given his symbolic meaning into present-day discourses, it is no surprise that Malcolm anchors this work. “In mapping Third World solidarity against white supremacy onto the racial terrain of the United States and arguing that the man who colonized Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Congo, and Kenya is the ‘same man’ who is in Georgia, Michigan, California, and New York, Malcolm radically challenged the sacred narrative of American exceptionalism” (29). Reflecting on the dialectics between Malcolm’s faith, his transnationalist politics, and Black Islam Dr. Daulatzai narrates a history whereupon Malcolm expanded the political imagination, foregrounding alternative freedom dreams and new methods and approaches to turning those dreams into reality.
Black Star, Crescent Moon builds upon its discussion of Malcolm to highlight the ways the Muslim International and transnational black politics are equally visible with respect to the Battle of Algiers (which would be highly influential to the activists and black cinematic imagination), Sam Greenlee’s The Spook who Sat by the Door and Baghdad Blues, and Frantz’s Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth and Black Skin, White Mask all of which furthered the message of a black radical politics anchored in internationalism, decolonization, and an imagined (and real) community based in Afro-Asian (Afro-Muslim) solidarity. “Black cultural activists in the Civil Rights and Black Power era positioned themselves, their art, and their politics in relation to the anticolonial and anti-imperialist movements taking place in Asia, Africa and Latin America, writes Dr. Daulatzai. “The Cold War inaugurated a new phase in American power that simultaneously sought to contain both the anticolonial impulses emanating from the Third World and a burgeoning Civil Rights and Black Power movement domestically” (69). The power of this work rests not just with its detailed textual analysis, its examination of aesthetics, and the Diasporic context, buts its emphasis on geo-politics and the responsive utterances from black radicalism.
To read entire review go to http://drdavidjleonard.com/2014/04/22...
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October 29, 2022 يُعد كتاب سهيل دولاتزاي المنشور في عام 2012 المكمل الأمثل لكتاب السيرة الذاتية لمالكولم إكس، فإذا كان أحد أهم تأثيرات مالكولم إكس على الإسلام الأمريكي هو احتضانه للأممية السوداء، فإن هذا الكتاب يستخدم مالكوم إكس كأحد وسائله الرئيسية لاستعراض التاريخ الثقافي والسياسي للتطرف الأسود والإسلام الأسود و«العالم الثالث المسلم» في حقبة ما بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية.
في داخل صفحات هذا الكتاب، نرى كيف ربط المتطرفون السود هوياتهم وفنهم ونشاطهم بحركات التحرر في قارتي أفريقيا وآسيا، لأنهم يتشاركون نفس الصراعات والغايات. وكيف قادت الممارسة المشتركة للعنف من جانب الدولة، النشطاء الفلسطينيين واللبنانيين إلى التغريد بتقديم النصائح للأمريكيين السود للتعامل مع الغاز المسيل للدموع والرصاص المطاطي خلال الانتفاضات الأمريكية في 2014 وهذا العام من جديد.
ويستعرض دولاتزاي في كتابه كيف ينظر بعض الأمريكيين السود إلى الإسلام باعتباره وسيلة للصمود والمقاومة، وجسرًا يربطهم بآسيا وأفريقيا وشعوبها، ولماذا تجد الحكومة الأمريكية هذا الأمر خطيرا، إذ كتب: «كونك أسودًا في أمريكا أمرٌ يعني أنك غير أمريكي، أما كونك أسودًا ومسلمًا فهو أمرٌ آخر تماما إذ تُصنف بأنك معادٍ لأمريكا».
نُشر هذا الكتاب بعد الفترة الرئاسية الأولى للرئيس الأمريكي باراك أوباما وفي منتصف «الحرب على الإرهاب»، ليؤكد على أن ارتقاء الأمريكان ذوي البشرة السوداء للمناصب العليا في الولايات المتحدة لا يعني تحريرًا للسود. وساعد انتقاد المؤلف لمشاعر ما بعد العنصرية التي أُثيرت بسبب انتخاب أوباما لدى العديد من الأمريكيين (اعتقد الناس أن العنصرية انتهت فيما واصل أوباما الحرب على الإرهاب) القارئ على فهم السبب وراء أن بعض المدن مثل شيكاغو وبالتيمور وأتلانتا تعد بؤرا لوحشية الشرطة والعنصرية ضد السود، مع أن العديد من رؤساء هذه البلديات وقيادات الشرطة فيها والمدعين العموميين من السود.
- من ترجمة تقرير للكاتبة كايلا رينيه ويلر، الأستاذ المساعد للدراسات العرقية النقدية في جامعة كزافييه بولاية أوهايو الأمريكية، نشره موقع «ميدل إيست أي» البريطاني. https://www.sasapost.com/translation/...
في داخل صفحات هذا الكتاب، نرى كيف ربط المتطرفون السود هوياتهم وفنهم ونشاطهم بحركات التحرر في قارتي أفريقيا وآسيا، لأنهم يتشاركون نفس الصراعات والغايات. وكيف قادت الممارسة المشتركة للعنف من جانب الدولة، النشطاء الفلسطينيين واللبنانيين إلى التغريد بتقديم النصائح للأمريكيين السود للتعامل مع الغاز المسيل للدموع والرصاص المطاطي خلال الانتفاضات الأمريكية في 2014 وهذا العام من جديد.
ويستعرض دولاتزاي في كتابه كيف ينظر بعض الأمريكيين السود إلى الإسلام باعتباره وسيلة للصمود والمقاومة، وجسرًا يربطهم بآسيا وأفريقيا وشعوبها، ولماذا تجد الحكومة الأمريكية هذا الأمر خطيرا، إذ كتب: «كونك أسودًا في أمريكا أمرٌ يعني أنك غير أمريكي، أما كونك أسودًا ومسلمًا فهو أمرٌ آخر تماما إذ تُصنف بأنك معادٍ لأمريكا».
نُشر هذا الكتاب بعد الفترة الرئاسية الأولى للرئيس الأمريكي باراك أوباما وفي منتصف «الحرب على الإرهاب»، ليؤكد على أن ارتقاء الأمريكان ذوي البشرة السوداء للمناصب العليا في الولايات المتحدة لا يعني تحريرًا للسود. وساعد انتقاد المؤلف لمشاعر ما بعد العنصرية التي أُثيرت بسبب انتخاب أوباما لدى العديد من الأمريكيين (اعتقد الناس أن العنصرية انتهت فيما واصل أوباما الحرب على الإرهاب) القارئ على فهم السبب وراء أن بعض المدن مثل شيكاغو وبالتيمور وأتلانتا تعد بؤرا لوحشية الشرطة والعنصرية ضد السود، مع أن العديد من رؤساء هذه البلديات وقيادات الشرطة فيها والمدعين العموميين من السود.
- من ترجمة تقرير للكاتبة كايلا رينيه ويلر، الأستاذ المساعد للدراسات العرقية النقدية في جامعة كزافييه بولاية أوهايو الأمريكية، نشره موقع «ميدل إيست أي» البريطاني. https://www.sasapost.com/translation/...
October 4, 2018
The intention of this book is more important than its historical accuracy (which is very, VERY flawed). The author claims that the forms of black consciousness articulated by Malcolm X and others are a part - or at least a forerunner to - the forms of Islamic political thought that emerged had popular currency between the 1970s and early 2000s. This is not true. The two are connected to only to the extent that they are forms of racial consciousness. What is profound about this book is that Daulatzai and his readers represent a generation of American immigrant Muslims and their descendants who are understanding their racialization in the U.S. and recognizing its relationship to the Black liberation struggle. This is different from previous generations of immigrant Muslims (and their descendants) who have only desired a seat at the tables of (white supremacist) power and wanted absolutely no association with Black America and the Black experience (See Sherman Jackson's "Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering").
November 28, 2023
a wonderful history of Malcolm X that foregrounds his internationalist politics, as well afro-asian solidarities, Muslim Hip Hop, and prison abolition.
Written when Obama was president though, so i’d love to read an updated version
Written when Obama was president though, so i’d love to read an updated version
February 20, 2013
I don't know too much about this specific topic, and the book was very specific, so I don't feel like it is fair for me to write a comment, but I will regardless. Black Star, Crescent Moon was very interesting, insightful, and it did open up my perspective on issues of Black Power and Islam. It was a very easy read, though at times was a little repetitive (to be expected in academic writing I suppose). Since reading this book, I have been searching around for similar books, so I guess that is a good sign. I also really appreciated the radical stance the author took, which is not easy to come by, especially in challenging the christian/conservative influence of the mainstream civil rights movement. While I did have some minor complaints, they were far outweighed by my overall opinion. Highly recommended to anyone interested in the Black Power Movement and Islam as a political force.
November 23, 2016
I read this book a total of 3 times and had the pleasure of discussing it with the author. It provides an in-depth account of Malcolm's role in the Black Muslim community. Each chapter exposes the realities of living in the United States and also ties the era of colonialism to black struggle of today. Why Malcolm? Why is Malcolm such a prominent figure? The author breaks down these questions and gives an answer that I, myself, had never realized growing up learning about Malcolm through only American textbooks. I learned more about the world and black struggle from this book than I did from my first two years of college as an English major. I highly recommend giving this book a read if you want to educate yourself.
October 26, 2015
Sohail Daulatzai's well researched book is a must read if you have any interest toward the following: Malcolm, hip hop, Islam, third world liberation movements, and just a great historical contextualization. This book id full of bits of info that will have you wanting to share with your friends. I precisely enjoyed the distinction Daulatzai made between malcolm and the civil rights movement that often get forgotten in the homogenized version of history.
The only shortcoming of the book was the frequent repetitiveness, but once new info was dropped all was forgiven.
Looking forward to the author's future works.
The only shortcoming of the book was the frequent repetitiveness, but once new info was dropped all was forgiven.
Looking forward to the author's future works.
March 28, 2015
Can be sort of overwhelming at times and pretty heavily focused on men but I would say it largely succeeds in highlighting the influence Islam has had on United States black freedom movements and the relation between oppression in the US domestically and the imperialist oppression in the third world. My favorite part was probably the section that dealt primarily with art and film, because I am very predictable.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews