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.

Suggested Reading List from "Girls of the Crescent"

Habeeba Husain profiled Girls of the Crescent in the 2018 November/December issue of Islamic Horizons. Sisters Zena & Mena Nasiri founded Girls of the Crescent in 2018 to promote materials in public libraries which represent the variety of experiences of Muslim girls and women. On December 7, 2018, I downloaded its suggested books and searched for them in the online Georgia public library system PINES. I created a public list for the books Girls of the Crescent recommended which are available in the PINES-participating public libraries. I used worldcat.org to create a list for the books I couldn't find in Georgia's PINES. A few books are not in either list.

I hope library users in my state of Georgia would request these materials. Remember, if your branch library doesn't have a book you want, you can request the branch library to retrieve the book from other participating libraries. You can do this online with a PINES account or at the circulation desk. Also note that some public libraries don't participate in PINES, particularly those in Atlanta.

I've reviewed children's books on this blog.

Support Georgia Innocence Project's Concept Album on Life of Clarence Harrison, Exonerated After 18 Years

I attended a talk by Clarence Harrison, a Decatur, Georgia man convicted of rape and kidnapping and sentenced to life imprisonment. He served 18 years before he was exonerated with help from the Georgia Innocence Project (Facebook page).

I have posted other material regarding the United States criminal justice system. And I hope you've watched the latest Ken Burns documentary, Central Park Five.

Donate to the Georgia Innocence Project. In addition, some musicians are teaming up with Clarence Harrison to produce songs about his life, in mostly his own words. That project needs support as well.

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.

PBS's Need to Know Visits Clarkston, GA - Multiculturalism in the US South

I had reviewed a book about refugees in Clarkston, GA. Maria Hinojosa presented a Need to Know episode on the continued transition from a nearly one-hundred percent white town to a town where more than one-third of the residents are foreign-born.

“The Light in Her Eyes” Sheds Some Light on the Women of Syria

Muslimah Media Watch posted a review of The Light in Her Eyes, which premiers on PBS on July 19, 2012. It is part of the POV series of documentaries.

Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible to appear on PBS Jul 6

Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible (Twitter) is a Unity Production Foundations (Twitter) production.

It is scheduled to air on Public Broadcasting Stations July 6. My South Carolina station airs it at 22:00. I have yet to find out when the Georgia station will broadcast it. I've contacted the station to ask when it is scheduled for broadcast. (update July 2, see P.S.)

Two reviews: Islamic Art Blog and Muslim Oasis.

Here's some bonus footage off the PBS web site:

Watch Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World (Bonus Footage) on PBS. See more from PBS Arts.

P.S.Georgia Public Broadcasting does not have a scheduled broadcasting date. Please consider contacting the station and Tweeting (message pre-configured) to inquire why it is not scheduled for broadcast.
P.P.S. (July 3)  An employee of GPB talked to me by phone and told me GPB was not broadcasting the arts series. I spoke to the film's producer. He said that the Islamic Art film is part of a 7 night PBS arts series. PBS is providing all stations an 'evergreen' version of Mirror of the Invisible that does not mention the arts series. Thus, it can be shown independent of that series.

Review: Outcasts United by Warren St. John

Outcasts united : a refugee soccer team, an American town by Warren St. John
ISBN 0385522037, 288 pages

Warren St. John is a New York Times reporter, and I first heard about his work through an article the NYT published January 21, 2007 describing problems the city of Clarkston, GA was having accommodating The Fugees, teams of refugee soccer players coached by Luma Mufleh, a Jordanian immigrant.

More on Georgia Private Schools Supported by State Income Tax Credit Diversion

I've previously discussed the issue of Georgia state income tax diversion to private schools on this blog (and here). I've created a new blog for issues not related to Muslim media, and I'm moving this discussion there.

Interview with Founder of Georgia Student Scholarship Organization

On August 4, 2008, I posted a blog entry discussing the state of Georgia's new law which allowed Georgia residents to divert a portion of their state income taxes to student scholarship organizations which would pay the money to accredited private schools in Georgia to pay for children transitioning from public schools.

On May 20, 2009, I conducted an interview with Ziad Minkara, the founder of Liberty Scholarship Foundation. To my knowledge, he is the only Muslim involved with a student scholarship organization. I encourage you to listen to the interview to understand aspects of the school choice movement and how you can support such efforts.

In addition, South Carolina is considering similar legislation. Americans United for Seperation of Church and State is hosting a debate on this proposed legislation on Sunday, June 7, at 6 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Columbia at 2701 Heyward St, Columbia, SC, 29205. Below is a description of the event.

Sen. Robert Ford's bill to give tuition tax credits to families to pull their kids out of public schools may have died in this last session of the General Assembly, but you can bet that the issue of "school choice" is not deceased. We will debate the issue of tuition tax credits in particular and of school choice in general at our upcoming AU meeting. Tim Moultrie, a Libertarian candidate for SC Superintendent of Education, will argue for the merits of school choice, while Ronny Townsend, former Representative from Anderson and Chair of the SC House Education and Public Works Committee, will advocate for public education. Both will also take questions from the audience. This should be an informative and invigorating discussion.

Georgia Tax Credit Program for Private Schools Deserves Attention from Muslims and Other Religious Minorities

The Augusta Chronicle's article of August 4, 2008 entitled "Tax credit program helps open private school doors" alerted me to an important development in Georgia to which Muslims should pay attention. From what I understand, taxpayers in Georgia can decide to allocate a portion of his or her state taxes to go to a Student Scholarship Organization (SSO) rather than to the state. The amount of taxes, however, is still the same.

Comments on Georgia Social Studies Curricula for 6th and 7th Grade

The failure of 70-80% of Georgia 6th and 7th graders to pass their social studies exams in the spring of 2008 has caused the state of Georgia to rewrite its standards. Without commenting on the overuse of standardized tests in today's public schools, I was curious to see what these standards were, and I felt strongly enough about a couple issues to pass on some comments which I'm including in this blog post. Access the draft curricula at http://www.georgiastandards.org/socialstudies.aspx.