Support Docuseries "What Happened to Rap?" on Unjust Incarceration of Imam Jamil Al-Amin

 Trailer on Vimeo

Consider donating to support completion of the docuseries "What Happened to Rap?"

Support Local Independent Media Like Atlanta's "285 South" by Sophia Qureshi

R to L: Robert Redford & Dustin Hoffman
 in "All the President's Men (1976)"

How many great movies portray journalists, editors and publishers as heroic bulwarks against the corruption of the powerful? Did your high school social studies teacher tell you that the news media were the Fourth Estate, nearly equal in power to each of the three branches of the United States government?

Free Imam Jamil al-Amin - Panelists Discuss Prospects for Release - Via The Dope Muslim Woman Podcast

I urge you to sign a petition calling for a retrial. Listen to a message from his son Kairi Al-Amin.

Comments on "Dear Martin" by Nic Stone

My county's Board of Education decided to exclude Dear Martin by Nic Stone from the list of novels literature teachers can choose to assign to students to read and from its media centers. Upon checking it out from my local library and reading it, I have a lot to say about why I think my county's board of education made a mistake. For the purposes of this blog, however, I urge parents and guardians of every background to read and discuss this book with their children.

The interactions of the characters pose better, more pressing questions than any other piece of Young Adult literature I know. For non-black children growing up in majority white suburban areas, it hopefully will prevent them from asking the first black person they meet when they go to university about their standardized test scores or where they can score weed.

ATL Discusses "Mornings in Jenin" by Susan Abulhawa, Jan 31, 2015, 6pm

This book has also been translated into Arabic. This blog entry is an adaptation of an e-mail I received from Ingrid Torsay through a mailing list. See if this is going on in a city near you.
-------------------------------------------------
Atlanta is participating in the One Book, Many Communities project, organized by Librarians and Archivists with Palestine. We will discuss Mornings in Jenin by Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa. Please join us for a lively discussion and a pot luck supper:

31 January, Saturday, 6:00 PM
Our Lady of Lourdes (cafeteria)
25 Boulevard NE
Atlanta, GA  30312

The 'One Book, Many Communities' project by Librarians and Archivists with Palestine aims to introduce readers to the richness of Palestinian literature, and create a broader awareness and understanding of Palestinian history and the struggle for self-determination."

Communities throughout the world will be reading and discussing Mornings in Jenin. Just a few of the places are Rome, Venice, Bologna, Trieste, Naples, and 3 or 4 more in Italy; Dèvillac, France; Tel Aviv, Israel; Malmö and Stockholm in Sweden; Ramallah, Palestine; Quebec and Toronto in Canada; and several cities in the U.S.

Everyone is welcome. The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library has four copies available. Come even if you have not finished reading. Contact information: Ingrid Torsay (404) 438-6598 or by e-mail

Update: Jan 16, 2015 23:15: The author Susan Abulhawa is excited about the worldwide response to this project.

I just searched #lap1book, not realizing how much is already happening online with it. A tremendous and heartfelt THANK YOU to you all!!
— susan abulhawa (@sjabulhawa) January 16, 2015

Updated February 17, 2015: Yousef Munayyer's review of the book.

Documentary Hibana by Ameer Muhammad

I heard about Atlanta-based Ameer Muhammad's documentary film about the Dominican Republic Hibana from his interview in a Muslim American Media Alliance podcast on November 25, 2012. There is a Facebook page.

Hibana Trailer (English) from filmbyameermuhammad on Vimeo.