The San Francisco Chronicle today reports today that neighbors of Oakland's longest-standing, most prominent Black Muslim organization, Your Black Muslim Bakery, are dismayed at the group's apparent descent into crime and vigilante-ism. The spotlight has tuned on the group after the arrest of two members for allegedly trashing a liquor store on Nov. 23, which they reportedly believed was one of many in Oakland responsible for the poor fortunes of underclass blacks. The unfocused "blame the merchant" mindset is an indicator of the group's disarray.
The group's troubles began after the founder Yusuf Bey I was charged with 27 counts of rape of girls under 14. From the first-linked Chron story of today:
.....since Bey's death in 2003, neighbors say the group is changing in frightening ways. Two heirs to Bey's leadership have been killed, and a third successor -- Bey's 19-year-old son -- was accused of vandalizing one of two Oakland liquor stores that police say were trashed on Nov. (23) by a group of men wearing suits and bow ties. Yusuf Bey IV and bakery associate Donald Cunningham, 73, turned themselves in to police and were charged last week with hate crimes and false imprisonment in connection with the vandalism. Police are investigating whether Bey operatives kidnapped a merchant and torched his liquor store....."They're good neighbors, they work hard, and they really care about the African American community," said hairstylist Donna Word, who has lived in the neighborhood for 20 years, as she cut a woman's hair Thursday. "Yet I totally disapprove of their violence.
Those negative things pretty much outweigh all the positive things they do." Once, Word recalled, she looked outside her beauty shop and saw a group of young black men in bow ties attacking a prostitute on San Pablo Avenue. "They hit her with this stick -- it was, like, 2 feet long -- and they yelled at her to get off San Pablo Avenue and never come back," Word said. "They were chasing her down the street."
The bakery and its affiliated businesses take up several storefronts on either side of the 5900 block of San Pablo Avenue near the Emeryville and Berkeley borders. The block also includes a Chinese restaurant, an Indian video store and two Arab-owned clothing stores. Nearby are a black church and yoga ashram. Gwenn McIntyre, a customer of Word's who works nearby, said she sees much good in the Muslim group but fears that positive aspects of Bey's legacy will be outweighed by crime and violence.
....She said the elder Bey's rape case was the start of the group's downfall. A year before his death, Bey was charged with 27 counts in the alleged rapes of four girls under the age of 14. Bey was awaiting trial on one rape charge when he died.
The story ends with this "blame the merchants" riff from one supporter:
Longtime resident James Oliver, 42, is one of the few neighbors who supported the violence against liquor stores. "They have guts and they're right -- liquor stores are killing us," Oliver said. "You don't see all these liquor stores in Piedmont or Montclair. You think they could have one on every corner in Alamo or San Ramon? "I'm not going to join them and do this, but I will not condemn them," Oliver said. "They're taking a stand because nothing else works."
Ridiculous. The poor brothers of Oakland, like any other people in a free society, cannot blame alcohol merchants, or drug dealers, for their failures. This is only somewhat less absurd than the urban legend that the U.S. government covertly arranged for inner cities to be flooded with crack, in order to keep blacks down.
What is the "correct" concentration of liquor stores in Oakland? Is not the current proliferation of such establishments market-driven? Should there be an official "African Town" in Oakland, as was proposed in Detroit, where social engineers keep out ethnic merchants? The Arab (mostly Yemeni) booze peddlers of Oakland can't be blamed for making a buck, legally. The choice is the consumer's. This sort of scapegoating ignores the self-help message of Elijah Muhammed, which once inspired Bey.
TECHNORATI TAGS: OAKLAND, BLACK MUSLIMS, LIQUOR STORES, YUSUF BEY
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at December 4, 2005 12:22 PM
As always when someone from the outside decides to write, they pick and choose to fit their own existing beliefs to feel better. And then close with the grand finale congratulating themselves.
When reflecting on Elijah Muhammed don't forget his anti-anything not black position and his downright hatred in other situations.
Truth be told, those men were practicing self-help to its ultimate anarchist end. For years these neighborhoods have been attempting to eliminate the liquor stores, and convince owners to sell real groceries instead. These neighborhoods have no grocery stores in sight, no trees, no bank, none of the typical support structures in healthier areas. A wooden bench for a bus stop is common; advertizing mortuaries and life insurance brokers. Ironic.
Frankly, I find your article disgusting.
Take a good look at this neighborhood and others like it, including those in Seattle. If this was truly free market driven, in an area devoid of food, anyone opening a foodstore would have a default monopoly. So what kind of human being decides to sell liquor instead? What kind of person chooses to sell the very poison his own religion abhors? And what kind of city while courting outside investors with extensive tax cuts, knowingly extends liquor licenses in a neighborhoods which will automatically lower the residential climate....which goes against the very zoning codes used by city planners to maintain harmonious (read high property values)
and healthy citizens?
Thankfully, the writers of the Constitution foresaw the lack dignity and integrity in man and made room in the Constitution...Freedom and Equality protected by the right to bear arms.
Well, these poorer neihborhoods are not treated equally and someone got sick and tired and took aim. Unfortunately, no lawyer will be around to argue the possible unconstutional grounds of this case not against the shopowners, but the City of Oakland. Far-fetched. Maybe.
Make no mistake, this incident is an indication of the bubbling cauldron of anger that resides beneath the surface of all told they will and are not treated equally, repeated. You would be shocked if you trully understood how deeply rooted this smoldering flame lies in every resident.
So rather than be a sensationalist tongue-wagger, do some real investigative reporting. Look around Seattle or wherever you are. Don't just quote the singular dissentor or another in agreement. Get to the heart of it. Spend a few months living, being with these people. Depend on the bus as your only means of transportation. Anything to get your nose into the stench. You would then be honoring the power of the pen/internet and you might even be surprised at your own hidden courage.
Posted by: j at December 8, 2005 10:43 PM