How Do We Raise a New Revolutionary Consciousness?

In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful 

I seek Allah’s protection from Satan, the rejected. I ask Allah to guide my heart and to guide my tongue. I seek refuge in Allah from misleading and being misled, from betraying and being betrayed into ignorance by others. 

I wrote this ‘zine to help other student organizers across the globe. Now and in the past, everyday people have been sufferers of colonization, racism and various forms of feudalism. As for my race, the Black race, I am concerned particularly of our comprehension of this oppression. Too often do I see Black people trying to reform the United States instead of complete revolt. We must come to acceptance that we have fallen in love with the luxury and comfort of our oppressors. This has made us hold back in fighting and weak in self-restraint. From the political talking points I’ve witnessed by our activists and politicians, our goals seem to align with becoming the status quo. Most of us want reparations just so we can live equal to whites, as if that’s some sort of high standard. White’s in this country lead in suicide, divorce, drug addiction, porn addiction and depression. Yet a lot of what we ask for are things to make us equal to them. We want to be rich, we worship material items, we force our women to work and to have a high credit score. Our values are backwards, our values are congruent to those who oppress us, we will never liberate ourselves if we are constantly trying to imitate our oppressors. You cannot serve two masters. Black lives will never be able to matter until Black liberation matters. We must go back to our roots, our soul and our Creator; feed the spiritual appetite, plan, then fight. If we keep trying to feed our material appetite, we will constantly be defeated. Our oppressors have plenty and they will give us just enough to appease our lower desires. A few blacks getting a promotion in corporate america is not a big deal, the wealth gap is too large for balance to be achieved that way. Diversity and Inclusion in a burning house should not be our goal. We must use our black radical imagination to redefine absolutely everything that this society offers and we must fight based on that. We cannot vote our way out of this, picketing is not enough either. 

Secondly we must understand that our oppression in the United states is connected with other people around the world. Palestine is suffering from settler colonization, same as South Africa, the tech industry and oil and gas is ruining Mother Africa and making the continent uninhabitable for our distant relatives. We are all suffering from the same people, the people who are destroying the planet for profit, the ignorant, the evil, the rich. Certainly this can even bypass white supremacy. White supremacy and racism is a mental illness, however all whites do not have power and certainly not all of them hate black people. There are powerful Arabs, Africans, Europeans and Americans all turning a blind eye to the world’s suffering. White’s cannot be singled out, even though they historically have led with either participation, consent or turned a blind eye to most of the atrocities within the past 500 years. 

I struggle with using the terms Black and White, both are social constructs which help set a fixed place in the world and psychology for both peoples. Whites have certainly been robbed of their autonomy as well as blacks by even answering to these labels. Another reason why I struggle with calling Black people ‘black’ is because the etymology of the word black is based on paleness or whiteness. When looking at other languages influenced by latin, greek and nordic roots pertaining to the term ‘white’ the roots are ‘ble/bla’. Look up the word blanco, bleik,blekken, bleikr, bleach all of these words are in relation to white or paleness. Somehow black, which origin is related to paleness, is now used to relate to darkness. However this happened, I do not know. But when thinking of biblical instances that have been used to justify the subjugation or ‘accursedness’ of black people, like the Curse of Ham, I query on who that curse may actually be on, if it’s not completely made up. With that being said, the reader must know, I hate using the term ‘black’ and would rather use the term African, because it connects us to our continent and diverse culture. I ask white people to reconsider calling themselves white and revert to calling themselves European. It helps clear all confusion about where we stand in this slave built, settler colonist country. 

As for the students who are reading. You must educate yourself, stay in touch with our Creator and fight consciously. Solidarity over everything. Allah (swt) says in the Quran (49:13) “ O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.” So I extend my hand to all of mankind, let’s not fight for individual riches, but for global peace. Solidarity for a Righteous cause smashes the brains out of individualism and ignorance. 

I wrote everything in this zine at some point during my college organizing. The speeches and email’s attached were sent by me to college administration or orated in front of an audience. 

P.S I would like to give a special salaam to Manju Freeman and Jerjuan Howard, these men were my comrades in struggle, we organized our asses off. What is understood need not be explained! Allahu Akbar! May this ‘zine be a tool; I pray that Allah is pleased _{with me. Amen} I invite all of you to Islam. Asaalam Alaikum, In peace strong, in battle strongest 

Allah’s Slave, Br. Khalil Masi