Support the Lamppost Education Initiative
Please Support the Lamppost Education Initiative
The COVID-19 epidemic has placed a major economic and social burden on so many Muslims all through out America and the world. With the restrictions imposed on live events due to the epidemic, we have decided to conduct the 2020 Black American Muslim Conference as a live virtual event for FREE so that we can still address important issues to the Black American Muslim community. Please support this effort by making a tax-exempt donation to the Lamppost Education Initiative. It is our goal to raise $10,000 by October 24th, 2020. This will enable us to provide more free and low cost online sessions and courses during this epidemic. Please give generously.
The Third Annual Black American Muslim Conference
Here are the sessions and lectures conducted at
the Third Annual Black American Muslim Conference.
Panel Discussions
A Conversation with Youth: Challenges, Promise, and More
A discussion on issues that impact Black American Muslim Youth.
Ameena McElroy, Yaseen Mahmoud, Tariq Ali, Jennah Sellars
Moderator: Dr. Abdullah Ali
The Qur'an, The Streets, And Keeping It Real
It has often been said that Islam is the only religion that can save the black man. But, what happens when Muslim youth not only abandon the masajid but take charge of the streets and its corrupting influences? What role can learning the Qur’an play in bringing Muslim youth back to the community and contributing to it in a healthy way? What can mosque-goers do to accommodate and facilitate the reentry of wayward Muslim youth? What are some of the causes of youth alienation from religious life? How can we combat those factors? In what ways can we help our young people emerge as leaders who serve society and bring their peers back to straight way?
Hamza Abdul Tawwab, Anwar Muhaimin, Fatimah Lette
Moderator: Khalil Muhsin
Sex & Gender Identity
Do blacks have good reason for concern about the spread of feminist and non-normative ideas about sexuality? Or, are such concerns negligible? If worthy of our concern, in what ways may the community be threatened? How widespread is homosexual behavior and the embrace of LGBTQ norms in the black community? Can we compromise on the use of gender-neutral pronouns? Should we embrace gays and transgendered people as allies in the struggle for social justice? How should we deal with Muslims struggling with such issues or those seeking to normalize the culture in our mosques?
Dr. Abdullah Ali, Imam Dawud Walid, Imam Marc Manley
Moderator: Nuriddeen Knight
Responding to Pan African Contentions
The black American community has always been religiously diverse. Most blacks have historically been Christian, while conversion to Islam has steadily increased in influence over the past century. Yet, another pseudo-religious ideology known as “pan-Africanism” has had an influence on the religious understanding of many black Christians and Muslims. One of the main assertions of Pan-Africanists is that neither Christianity nor Islam are suited for the African American, since, according to them, both religions have enslaved, exploited, and marginalized black people. How does one respond to these and other allegations made by Pan-Africanists against Islam?
Dawood Walid, Abdullah Ali, Khalil Abdur-Rashid
Moderator: Dr. Jamillah Karim
