A bomb explodes at the home of Carlotta Walls, youngest of the Little Rock Nine on February 9, 1960
A Muslim's Story
Mahmoud Andrade Ibrahim
This article, pictured above, was from a February issue of JET MAGAZINE 1960
The ultra orthodox white supremacists of Little Rock Arkansas in 1960 bombed the home of my Uncle, Cortelyou Walls, a Black successful building contractor, who had the courage to allow his daughter and my first cousin Carlotta Walls to integrate Little Rock High School back in 1957. After the bombing, which destroyed most of his home, my uncle was detained for 48 hours by the city's racist police, was beaten and accused of bombing his own home.
There are some Muslims here and abroad who suggest that the Blackamerican Muslim should abandon all relationships and aspirations to live a dignified life in America, and that we should instead focus our energies on the conflicts of Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, Egypt or Afghanistan. The absurdity of such a position betrays the ignorance of those who would make such a suggestion of the historical relationship that Blackamericans have with America. America was founded and built on the economy of blackamerican life. Our relatives, those blood relationships that preceded us, cleared the land, planted the food, built the houses, picked the cotton and tobacco, built the railroads and bridges, cleaned the houses and even wiped the behinds of the children of those who sought to drain every ounce of humanity and dignity from our black souls.
Carlotta Walls escorted into school by the Arkansas National Guard in 1957 by the order of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
And yet, because of the Grace and Mercy of Allah, we, the inheritors of their legacy, we are still here. We are here to testify to the Truth of Allah's promise. That promise being that those who give up the worship of any other than Allah will enter Paradise. We are here to be upright men and women, who by our character, exude the superiority of Qur'anic virtue and discipline. We are here to underscore the wisdom of our Beloved's (pboh) example. Not just to parrot his sayings but to live a life that demonstrates his honesty, his kindness, his love, his devotion to his family and the betterment of his country. We are here, as living proof of the power of Islam to transform the lives of so many of us who were on the brink of self induced disaster. We are here to construct a way of life, in America, based on the principles and guidance of Islam, as we understand it to be , because it we who have been impacted by its beauty, its clarity and its transformative energy. We are here and here we be !
The day after the bombing, my cousin Carlotta reported to class the next day, on time, prepared and ready to work, which brings to mind the expression, 'one monkey don't stop no show' !
See film below
My sister Camille (l to r) , cousin Carlotta, myself and sister Renata
See short film: (click here) http://voicesofthecivilrightsmovement.com/2015/12/04/the-little-rock-nine/
Also photo essay : 1957