 Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, alhamdulillah, alaminirrahmanirrahim. And I send blessings to our Prophet Muhammad, salamu alayhi salam, before I begin. So this is a difficult topic for some and an easier topic to talk about for others. And I think it's a topic that is important and I'm really grateful that the question is here for me to talk about today. As a believer, I'm an African-American woman and a convert to Islam about 25 years ago. And so the question, you know, is looking at African-American women and facing prejudice and discrimination within and outside of our Islamic community. So there's a few points that I did want to talk about to begin with and one which is the concept of colorblindness. And we talk about that, we talk about that within, even within our own Ummah and colorblindness. I just see you as my Muslim sister and but not necessarily seeing me and my color and where I'm from, nor my lived experiences. One of the things that we have experienced in this country is really looking at what happened in 2019 and 2020. I think that really began to blossom and show the world where some of the things that people of African-American descent and other people from marginalized communities in our country, what we're going through and have been going through that experience of day-to-day racism that I've experienced myself. Now, there's times when I experience this situation, I go to my think to myself, now which box is it? Is it the box of being a woman? Is it the box of being a Muslim? Is it the box of being African-American? Is it the box of being which one is it that I'm discriminated for? Right? And my place of work, my place in the community, walking through the store and sometimes even in my masjid. And so that's something for us to begin to talk about. So let me first explain this idea of colorblindness as a sister and then I'm going to end with where we exist within our holy book, the Qur'an. And in the life of the Prophet Muhammad, huge presence of African and African women that are there in our Islamic movement that helped to change so much and bring so much alive yet is not highlighted. So colorblindness is really defined as refusing to acknowledge the social and legal historical role that plays in our society that relates to racial experiences. It's sort of pretending like it doesn't happen. They were all seen just the same. I've had folks say to me in my place of job to say, why do you refuse to be so different? Why do you wear that? And why don't you just, why can't you be just like me? So, well, you're a white woman and I'm not. I am being me. Why would I want to be like you? I enjoy and love who I am as a dark-skinned African-American woman. Hamdurilat bilalameen. Allah made me the way that I am. Hamdurilat bilalameen. And that doesn't mean that I have to look like her to be normalized. So in that particular situation, I'd love to share stories. In that particular situation, when I moved into that particular office, I was a supervisor. So it was really hard to have someone that is the same level a little higher than they were professionally and be black. In that institution, that had never happened before. So I was already upsetting the quote unquote status quo. I wasn't meant to be seen as a peer. I was meant to be seen as someone who cleans up, not as someone who can make administrative decisions. And the question was, when I decorated my office, I had my Islamic gear and I had my beautiful African garb up on the walls and they thought, oh my God, what is this? And that's when the question became, why do you dress like that? Because I can. And why are you so different? I reflect the students that are coming into this center. So then I became worried, like if they're treating me this way, then how are they treating our children? How are treating the young girls who are coming into this health space that need help that are girls of color without seeing them for who they are, without seeing this Muslim women, these girls, and these non-Muslims for who they are. So we take a look at it. If one does not see my color and doesn't see where I'm from and my historical legacy, then they don't see me. I am invisible. I'm invisible wherever I go, either with two pieces. Either I'm invisible or I'm hyper-visible. Remember when I asked you about the boxes and things like that? So one day I walk into my office and there's a flyer with pigs on it. And they're having a get-together for all staff, a luncheon. And it had the flying pigs. And at the bottom it said vegetarians aren't welcome. So that was clear. And I was supposed to take it and think, oh, it's just funny, don't know what's not. We're going to ELC and file a formal complaint and make sure that my voice is heard. Because I know that I represent other women that look like me. Remember, being the trailblazer, being the first one and the only one, so many times in my professional career have I been the only one in the room. And I know the weight that that carries for me as a sister and as a Muslima. It means the next time that somebody looks like you that comes in, it becomes my charge to help to pave the way to tell you, no, no, you can take the fire with the pigs on it and talk to the attorney tomorrow. And that is just what happened because attorneys didn't have to talk to them about the flying pigs. And believe it or not, that was the only evidence that I had to prove of racism. It wasn't what was said. It wasn't what was done. It wasn't how it was treated. And it wasn't all these questions about, why do you want to be this way? Why do you, these constant what's called microaggressions? And that's another term for us to understand. What are microaggressions? Microaggressions are slights that happen, cuts that happen to our being and to our soul and ourselves that almost leaves us a question like, was that just the race? Something racist just happened. I'm not sure. It felt really uncomfortable. That's a microaggression or micro salt by leaving a pig flyer on my desk. I could have chose to do nothing, but I knew that what that meant for me in the status of what I was of being the only one again, an African-American hijabby. So many other pieces was important. One, being a Muslim sister, the only Muslim sister that was ever in that center, ever. That meant a lot. So that my sisters coming behind me wouldn't have to deal with it as much. But you still do. Let's not be confused about it because it doesn't mean it's going to go away. So when we take a look at that lived reality and going back to this question of colorblindness within our UMA and our community, it's very important for us as sisters to really understand our own history and the space and the place that we live in and understand that the fight of anti-blackness and looking at that becomes incumbent upon us each and every Muslim that's in this room because I am your sister. And if I'm hurting and in pain and being discriminated against, so are you. Even if you are my white sister, I am your sister. We stand side by side for justice. That's our right. And it's very important that we carry that role out. The other piece that's important is for us to begin to look inside of ourselves on something that's race-neutral. That's another term, is race-neutral. And what that means is this concept of let's just neutralize race. Let's not talk about it. Okay, it's there. I'll acknowledge that it's there. But we won't really go into it as much. We'll talk about the parts of us that are alike and that's how we'll communicate with each other is the parts that are alike. And it's almost like trying to neutralize racism, trying to neutralize its existence by focusing on something else. The fact that we both have in common that we're Muslim is. But when we do that, when we neutralize the racism and neutralize the piece that begins to exist within our very community, you're also neutralizing me. It's disregarding my lived experience and lived experience of sisters that looked like me. You pray next to me. You pray for me. I pray for you. And we want that justice to be there for each other. How can we begin to avoid some of these pieces that are happening and even in our own families? We know that there's family members from different cultures that have a term that they use for African American people and Muslimas. I won't use it here. But we know what that term is when calling someone a slave, right? And sometimes it's common vernacular in certain communities and our Muslim communities. We know that. And now that you know, you know better. And then it becomes your responsibility as sisters, as my sister, to communicate within your families to say that's not right. That's a Muslim. That's a Muslima. Their lived experience is extremely difficult and it becomes our responsibility to correct the wrongs that exist even within our own families and even within ourselves. How do we do that? Educating ourselves. Learning more about the very sister that you pray next to. Understanding more about our lived reality or our relived experiences to visibilize us. And that's another term. Visibilization. To visibilize me. As I visibilize you. We're in a society where it's white male dominant society or white supremacy rules. That's just what it is. Male patriarchal society. And so I'm far on the end of that. I remember when I was even taking my licensing exam and I had to give myself a brain shift because in the exam there was a question that said vignette. They're vignettes for my licensed exam for mental health. And the vignette said Tyrone and his girlfriend who are black were drug addicts. What would you do to help to create a family system care for this I need you to answer the vignette? Of course I'm triggered because everybody else was relatively healthy with some minor problems until we got to Tyrone which is a historically African-American male name. On the California licensing exam for my license. So we look at it. Even some of the smaller places of racism exists can begin to attack the soul. I had to tell myself during a timed exam a balala you know where you are. You know yourself. Pull yourself together. You know that this is one of the ticklers that's in the exam to make you fail. Move past it. Your people need you. And I prayed. I stopped and prayed. The time is still going on that exam. And I prayed Allah help me through this because I didn't expect to read that on professional licensing exam. So when we look at visualization and hyper visible being hypervisualized. Visualized. So what is it to be hypervisualized? That means I'm seen very broadly for the wrong reasons. Right. Either you don't see me or you see me really loudly. I'll give you know another example. I went to a training on trauma because that's one of my areas of specialization. No one else there were people of color. I was the only one in the room again. Right. And of mostly white women in the room. And I want to ask a trainer question. So I deliberately wore very bright clothing which I do folks who know me. The bottle was like sunshine. It's bright colors all over the place. And I sat in the front of the room as I do with many trains because I'm thinking you're going to see me. Five other people were called before I was and I could hear the audience behind me thinking oh my God oh my God. He's not calling a dead black lady. He's not calling the only black lady in the room like how can you miss me? Pretty obvious. How did that happen? But I knew what was happening. And I said write it out. Just write it out. And then the whole audience became aware of the racism that was existing there as a Muslim woman. So the last piece that I want to talk about really is our spiritual asset mapping. And that's another term. So asset mapping. And I'd be happy to go over these terms with you and Q&A if you have further questions about them. When you look at what is spiritual asset mapping that doesn't, what is that? Sort of like some things that you can think about that's in your life, in your circle of support, the people, the tools, the supports that are there and you're measuring them out and seeing what's there. But if you don't know me or know sisters that look like me and are lived experiences, how can you know how that can be a benefit to you and how can you be a benefit to her? So you're looking at all of the assets that you have that are in your life that are human people that can be supportive in your spiritual life that can help you and that you can help me. So that's the piece that is really, really important. And then the last part. Problems am I running out of time? I'm good, okay. Is this piece around systemic racism and anti-blackness? And so I talked a little bit about that and like, what does that have to do with Islam? What does systemic racism have to do with Islam? Our Prophet Muhammad SAW did a whole speech on this, right? There's a whole talk about this and about the color question. And here we are, how many centuries later still struggling with this very simple concept and understanding? It means that we have not mastered it yet. And it means that if we don't have the conversations and some uncomfortable conversations, we just won't move beyond this point. It's imperative. And for some of you may have even been the first time that you've heard the conversation in a Muslim about systemic racism, about marginalization, and about the invisibility of black women and Muslim black women. If this is your first time, promise yourself before you leave here today that this will not be the last time, that you will take that mantle up yourself and bring it forward. We're depending on you and our lives are depending on it. There's a reason why people of color, particularly the African-American people in this country are at the top of the deaths of COVID, the tops of deaths by other health disease, and other health, what's called autoimmune disorders is higher among women of color, particularly African-American women. First of all, higher among women, period. That's something to be said. And then women of color in African-American women and Muslim women. Why we suffer the most from autoimmune disorders and diseases? Because we think about that daily stress, those microaggressions we talked about, the micro assaults, I didn't mention micro assaults, but micro assaults. All of these lived experiences of being in black skin in the country and the place we're in takes a toll on the mind and the body and the soul, physically on the body. And what happens with autoimmune disorders is that the body begins to turn on itself and thinks that it's attacking itself because it's trying to fight something within itself, physically. And as a layman, the doctor can get a better definition than I can. That's my layman's decision, my layman's description. And so why is that important? Of your taking up the mantle of this charge as well is to help to save your sister's life. It sounds like, oh, come on, Mabalo, it's pretty grand to say no, it's not. And don't quote me on the statistics, but almost out of perhaps maybe five women, African American women, three of them or three and a half of them have some sort of an autoimmune disorder. Or some sort of a health disorder or struggling with the mental health concern. Now does the problem change? It looks different. Now am I visible? And the question asking, better invisible? Is it really? Is it really better to be invisible? No. It becomes our responsibility. And as sisters that love me and I love you and we all love Islam, it's our responsibility as well to make sure that we're changing the tide of what is happening right now in our communities through education and knowledge and understanding and love. We're doing it from the standpoint of love and joy. So I don't know what my time is, did I go over? Still good? Okay. And so... I'm going to keep you... So there's a piece that I can kind of get into a little bit around some cultural differences. And how much time is it? I want to make sure. I can tell you. And so looking at some of the cultural differences and within our Islamic communities and there's this piece that I talked about here in terms of like a caste-like system. And what that means is that in the system that we live in is that darker people are seen at the bottom and lighter-skinned people are seen at the top or more civilized. And also seen as more important as the scholars. So I think it's really, really important or I know it's really, really important for us to understand the Islamic scholars, Muslim scholars, that are African women who have profound knowledge of the state, profound knowledge of history and that also exist in the time of problem. I'm going to say that with some. Who's Badaka? Someone tell me who Badaka is other than my daughter because her name. Who is Badaka? Yes, ma'am. What did Badaka look like? Just ask me. Say again? What does that look like? Like who? And we think about who the other... Thank you so much, sisters. And so we think about who's Hajj and peace and blessings be upon them. Right? And so we think about who Hajj is, who these women are that are throughout our Islamic history that are black women that are holders of knowledge, of sacred knowledge. And when we go to... But when we're running from Soframar, what are we doing? Right? And so we think about some of these other pieces that exist and then we create this thing that's another term I'm giving up, the like I'm teaching in class, cognitive dissidence. Okay, there's a word with cognitive dissidence. It creates this sense of cognitive dissidence. Did you all talk about that today? Did I miss that one? So cognitive dissidence is something that's sort of like this torn asunder feeling, this feeling inside. Like, well, how can both of these two opposite things be true? Something is not quite right. Something's off kilter here. Something is a miss here. So it creates that stressor of cognitive dissidence within us. Well, I'm told that these people who are darker skin are less than, but in reality, these folks have a tremendous amount of information and knowledge and these sisters are holders of so much sacredness within our community, right? And then it creates that sense of cognitive... How has cognitive... How has cognitive dissidence resolved? Because you can go back and forth in the soul for a long time. Is that information? Is that learning? And that coming to peace with ourselves? If we are the holders of folks that are lighter skin that are benefits from being lighter skin, right? And we look at that oppression. So we look at oppression. We look at these things too. Those are really important and it helps to visualize your sister. So I'll end with that piece around really looking at that visualization of your sister, really looking at spiritual asset mapping and some homework assignments that folks have. Give me homework today, okay? So... And doing some of the homework pieces is really looking at those words, digging into those terms of microaggressions, micro assault, the cognitive dissidence, spiritual conflicts, content neutrality, race neutrality, and spiritual asset mapping. And so these are some things when you're really thinking about and have through your lens is your African-American, your black sister who's from all continents around different places from all over that look like us, that look like me and really working that through. The last basis is looking at the terms racism, systemic racism and marginalization and look at how that, how was that impacted and who benefits from it? Who benefits from systemic racism and who was victimized by it? And what are our roles and responsibilities as Muslimas? Because you do love your sister because I know that you love this Dean. Alhamdulillah ala me. And know that our very lives do depend on that love. That love that I have for you and the love that you have for each other and the love that you have for me and the love mostly that we have for this Dean and for Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and the families. Alhamdulillah ala me. Thank you so much. Alhamdulillah ala me. Takbir. Allahu Akbar. Thank you so much. Amazing. Alhamdulillah.