[ad_1]
Ibrahim Abdul-Matin. Photo: Danielle Barnum
I am assuming that you are reading this while on the subway.
1977 was the year of a blackout, and a snowstorm. I was born in the middle and midst of that blizzard. What makes me special is not that the doctor announced, “Tell the Jets help is on the way!” when I came out (God Bless my mother–I was a big baby). My family considers me unique because I was the first Muslim to be born. My name is Ibrahim Salih Abdul-Matin. It is a very religious name that my parents chose after they converted from Episcopal Christianity to Nation of Islam. My parents joined the mass of Black Americans who converted from Episcopal Christianity to Islam just before I was born. It was one of the largest conversions of Islam in modern times. My older brother was born and given my father’s pre-Muslim name. But not me. Ibrahim was my name from the beginning.
People born in my year are very special. We are intrinsically connected to one another. There is a deep understanding and a sense of trust when we meet. We are good team players and can add value to any group effort. Plus, we are the translators between generations – and movements. The same can be said for Muslim New Yorkers – we are authors, Gen Z climate activists, entrepreneurs, progressive elected officials, educators, and we do these things just like other New Yorkers – with train traffic ahead of us. There is a lot of traffic ahead.
Let’s call this traffic jam climate change.
We know that white supremacy, systemic discrimination, slavery, colonization, and militarism have led to over-consumption, oceans at threat, desertification, significant habitat and species loss, and a warming planet with alarming consequences for all places – particularly those on the coasts. We will face tough choices in the coming decades. New Yorkers will need unity like never before to make the most of these difficult decisions.
Let me take a moment and recall. The Beloved community envisioned by the late Dr. Martin Luther King. The concept describes a society built upon economic and social inclusion, without poverty, exploitation and hate, and a community where everyone is cared about. Let’s add to his vision, in the spirit Earth Day. Climate resilience. A future where ecosystems, human labor, cultures, and other life forms are integrated into a thriving, regenerative web. Both visions can be supported by many.
I am a New Yorker and Muslim. I try to make sure we are on the right side, and do my best to create a loving and resilient community. After playing college football (no, I didn’t make it to the Jets but I was an All-State linebacker), my entire life has been dedicated to pursuing these positive visions for the future. In 2010, I wrote Green Deen: What Islam Teachs About Protecting the PlanetIn part, to understand how my religion’s message aligned with an existential crisis that was affecting all of us. Since then, I have come to see that there are many more Muslim New Yorkers doing this work – and that New York City is a crucial backdrop. Fitting. It is the center and the centre of the universe. It is not exaggerated.
The following could only have happened here. I was present in a conference room of UN General Assembly New York during the 2019 UN General Assembly. Natural Resources Defense Council for a board meeting for the International Living Future Institute. The group’s mission is to encourage the creation of a regenerative built environment that would see the natural world returned to its former state. The meeting was serious – even tense – so a ping on my phone from an unfamiliar WhatsApp number was a welcome distraction. I leaned back, and looked under my desk. “Hello, this is _____ from the Republic of Turkey. I am an advisor Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan. The First Lady would like to invite you to a meeting with her and members of the Turkish Environmental Ministry…”
I looked up at my desk. Was this a joke or something? It must have been a scam. I texted back, “Peace and Blessings. I am humbled and honored to have received this message. Please send my blessings the First Lady. Is it possible for you to call me directly so we can discuss the details?”
It wasn’t a scam. The next day I left the meeting early and hustled across town to the heavily guarded UN area. I repeated everything I had been told and was met by security personnel at different levels. They brought me along with several other visitors into a small conference hall where the First lady waited. Each visitor had a chance to say their piece, and I was focused – I had an agenda. Turkey borders the East and the West. Migrants fleeing all kinds of calamity flood through Turkey. Turkey is the only country to not turn away migrants. As part their cultural context They are greatly influenced by Islam and consider welcoming guests to their home a blessing.. However, it does not make it easy. My goal was to excite Turkish leaders by suggesting that their borderlands with Syria be used as a location for a completely off-the grid living building complex to house and support refugees. This was a rare opportunity that I had in New York City. Forreal. That initial meeting turned into an official visit to Turkey at the First Lady’s invitation to speak at a Zero waste conference in Istanbul. I was able to share some of my ideas with the members of the conference. Turkish Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation, and Climate Change – efforts that were only stalled because of the pandemic.
Zohran Mamdani is a Queens Assembly member. Photo: Kara McCurdy
New York City and New York State are hubs of a resurgent Climate justice movement. Community activists such as the late Cecil Corbin Mark (one of my mentors and heroes) have been at this for a long time, making sure our climate legislation is among the most forward-thinking in the nation. The recent success of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which calls for a 40% reduction in New York State’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and a reduction by at least 85% by 2030. This progress is being aided by young Muslim elected officials such as Zohran Mamdani, Queens Assembly Member and newly elected Shahana Hanif, Brooklyn Council MemberThey are pushing for important decarbonization bills that will be beneficial to our state and city.
Shahana Hanif, New York City Councilmember, is seen in pale peach clothes in an image taken to promote her 2021 campaign for office.
Others are doing their bit. The Islamic Center of New York University, whose slogan is “What Community Should Feel Like,” has gone from offering meals in Styrofoam containers with plastic cutlery to zero-waste dinners during Ramadan. Current leader and co-founder Imam Khalid Latif started a halal/organic meat butcher called Honest Chops in partnership with famed film director Bassam Tariq. Their latest venture is a halal hamburger joint on MacDougal Street, West Village. Both shops are very popular with Muslims as well as non-Muslims.
Event at The Islamic Center NYU, with its executive Director, Imam Khalid Latif standing in the center. Photo courtesy The Islamic Center of NYU.
I was raised by black Muslim hippies – there’s really no other way to describe us. We ate tofu and raw broccoli when it wasn’t even remotely popular. We went to cultural events like the venerable African Street Festival (now in its 51st year!We were surrounded by traditions and lifestyles that were very different to ours, but we supported them and honored them. We lived in Prospect Heights, crack-era. My mom didn’t let us kids go outside by ourselves unless we were going to the Brooklyn Museum or the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where I spent countless hours away from the crack vials and dog mess to fall asleep in the Cherry Esplanade, reading books I’d borrowed from the Brooklyn Public Library. The Garden was the first place where I took my shoes off and felt the grass touch my toes, where the sun drenched my face as I drifted off reading the latest Marvel Comics.
These days I teach at Baruch College’s Marxe School of International and Public Affairs. I love my Baruch life. I got my MPA there, my dad got his BA there, and my mother’s mother took business classes there. Baruch students are strivers. My Muslim public affairs students are savvy, smart, and super concerned about climate issues. They give me hope for the future. They also reinforce my feeling that New York City is a special place, still producing people devoted to change in a setting very different from the one where I grew up.
Faithfully Sustainable co-founders Kadjahtou Balde (L) and Zainab Koli (R).
Personally, I have been inspired by what I call, “the kids.” These are Gen Z Muslim climate activists, specifically a group of young women from all five boroughs who have created a platform called Faithfully Sustainable (FS). They describe it as an environmental justice community and resource hub led by young black and brown Muslims. Founders Kadjahtou Balde and Zainab Koli met in their senior year of college as SUNY Chancellor’s Award recipients. Balde asked Koli to join her in creating a sustainable collective rooted in Islam – this was in 2019. Their idea took root during the pandemic. They created a campaign targeting overconsumption. Eid al Fitr is the holiday marking the end of the month of Ramadan. It is usually celebrated with families and friends coming together, eating, and sharing small gifts. The FS team encouraged Muslims to #ReduceEidShopping. They also raised thousands of dollars to support working people’s efforts to redistribute money and resources so that everyone has what they need in difficult times (otherwise known as “mutual aid”). In the process they have developed an excellent reputation and built a growing global community of more than 5,000 members. I am super excited to see what they have coming up next!
NYC is fertile ground for environmentalists like these from across generations, who share the vision of a resilient and Beloved Community. We walk. We talk to our neighbors. We deal with one another. In New York, when something bad happens, like Superstorm SandyOr the Blackout, or even 9/11, we stop and want to help one another. We have each other’s backs. These impulses are essential for creating a regenerative, sustainable future.
This Earth Month I am honoring my fellow Muslim New Yorkers. We are a special people. Forget what you’ve heard, we are as fresh as other New Yorkers, we know which end of the subway car to enter to get to our preferred exit – without looking at our phones, or asking for help. We are also shaped by the city we help to prepare for and adapt to the global climate change that is already occurring.
If you’ll excuse me, I will take this chance to read the book I’m reading and pretend that there is no other thing in the universe worth my attention. Don’t worry, I won’t miss my stop, and I know you won’t either.
The WNET Group’s Column Community Connections, developed by Community Engagement in partnership with Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, lifts up the communities and icons behind national observances, including Earth Day in April.
[ad_2]
