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 Brother Ali
Brother Ali and Syrian-American rapper/activist Omar Offendum will be appearing at Augsburg college on Saturday, March 9, in Minneapolis. ...
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This year marked the 25th anniversary of the global Nobel Peace Prize Forum, an annual event that brings together Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, students, scholars and the general public to discuss peacemaking efforts around the world. The forum took place at Augsburg College and boasted three days worth of lectures and activities and included past Prize winners Tawakkol Karman, journalist and human rights activist, and Dr. Muhammad Yunus, economist and developer of microcredit as well as other notable speakers. (The college also hosted last year’s forum with local hip hop artist Dessa) Saturday night was a mix of live music and spoken word titled “Hip Hop and Peace†and featured two acclaimed artists and activists: Brother Ali and Omar Offendum.
Offendum spoke first, greeting the audience with an Arabic expression, (“Peace be upon each and every
one of youâ€) and stated his reasoning for participating in the forum: “...because I believe in equality and justice for all, full stop.†Born in Saudi Arabia to Syrian parents, Offendum was raised in Washington, DC, but never lost touch of his Syrian heritage. He spoke with a gentleness, but with the solemness of a
man who has seen a great deal of horrors. Indeed, after a short introduction, Offendum played a video to sum up his feelings regarding the bloody revolution that has been raging in Syria for nearly 3 years. (a revolution, Offendum says, the news media unfairly calls “a civil war†when it’s actually closer to
genocide at the hands of the Syrian government) The video was of a recent Arab Spring peaceful protest in Syria that showed a large collection of men, women and children chanting, singing and dancing. It was incredibly moving watching these people living and celebrating in the face of violence and tyranny. The
video was about a minute and a half in and was focused on a very young girl singing when an explosion jerks the camera downward and nothing but charcoal-colored smoke fills the screen. There isn’t much to see after that, just rubble and people on the ground being swallowed up by the smoke. It was shocking, infuriating and deeply sad. Offendum went on to say that in the last 3 years, 70,000 people have lost their lives and countless more are refugees.
How does one rise above the heartbreak? How does hope continue to exist? “Music and poetry play a role in uplifting and inspiring the people going through it,†Offendum stated. There’s also the sense of national pride that unites and gives strength. As Offendum remarked, recounting an online dialogue between two friends as to why one man still lives in Damascas, he simply typed, “It’s my hometown, damn it!†In an electric performance Offendum gave with the Nobel Peace Prize house band of the
song “Damascusâ€, that sentiment really shown through. In it Offendum expresses his frustration, longing and love for his parents’ home country, a “hellish heaven, heavenly hellâ€; he even encouraged a call and response with the crowd: “If I ask you what’s Damascas like / I tell them it’s like a glimpse into the afterlife.â€
With much of his family still residing in Syria, Offendum receives many updates via social networking
about what’s happening, especially his cousin (the “gamer†of the family, Offendum joked) who laces his sometimes alarming Facebook posts with a dark humor. Later, Offendum offered another funny anecdote about a friend who was traveling with him to Beirut and Damascas. They were stopped at the Lebanese border and talking to the checkpoint guard when the guard asked where his friend was from. The man replied that he was from Los Angeles in America and the guard mentioned he had family in New York. “My girlfriend is from New York,†the friend said. “Brooklyn.â€
“Brooklyn?†the guard repeated. “I hear it’s really dangerous over there! Be careful!â€
The whole of Offendum’s presentation really centered on the humanity of these troubled situations, his desire to give people fighting for justice a face and a voice. While Offendum understood that he is not on the frontlines like his family and friends in Syria (he lives in Los Angeles) and doesn’t want to be the spokesperson for the movement, he wants to do his part to help. He is active in fundraising for charitable organizations giving support and aid to Syrian people, but his true gift lies in his eloquent art, his ability to inspire and inform.
Popular local artist Brother Ali was up next. “We’re dealing with really heavy subject matter,†the rapper began, “but the reality is that we’re here together.†Ali then went on to offer a glimpse into this life as a segway into his main focus of tolerance in regard to race and religion. He was sweet and very self-deprecating speaking about his often troubled youth. Born in the midwest as Jason Newman, Ali spent most of his very young life struggling for acceptance from his peers. He was born with the genetic condition of albinism and is legally blind as a result. Because of his unusual features, Ali was alienated and often taunted by his classmates who took to calling him cruel things like “AIDS.†Said Ali, “I can’t name one friend before 7 years old.†Things finally took a turn for him when he befriended a lunch monitor (whom he called “an angelâ€) and she would join him for lunch. Having attended mostly white schools, Ali felt a camaraderie with the black students and soon found the acceptance he so desired. Ali said he owed being introduced to “culture, spirituality, [and] manhood†to these friendships. But it was a disheartening realization to young Ali to witness his friends experience racism while he benefited from being white.
It was during this time that Ali came to love hip-hop, particularly socially conscious artists like Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions and X Clan. He recalled a story of going to hear KRS-One speak at Michigan State University and being invited on stage during a Q&A by his hero for an autograph. KRS-One signed the book Ali had (Stop the Violence) with: “Jason, unite humanity.†Needless to say this left an indelible mark on the young fan; Ali had found his calling. “This is what I want to do with my life. I didn’t want to do anything else,†Ali said of his blossoming interest in rap. Inspired by KRS-One and the black community he immersed himself in, Ali began reading biographies of important black figures like Malcolm X. The influential speaker, Muslim minister and activists’ seminal autobiography the Autobiography of Malcolm X hugely impacted 13-year-oldAli; it was through this book that discovered Islam and became Muslim.
While discussing the impact that black culture had on him, Ali went on to explain the difference between “fetishizing†a people and “loving†them, saying that white mainstream society has terrible history of using and abusing black culture and shunning the people who are at the heart of it. He went on to highlight little known concert singer and actor Paul Robeson who was a successful entertainer in World War II America, but still treated as a second class citizen because of his race. When Robeson spoke out against the injustices he endured and that of other black Americans, he was blackballed from the entertainment industry.
Brother Ali introduced the song “Uncle Sam Goddamn†as a seething reaction to the hypocritical and negligible behavior illustrated by the US government in the past and today regarding the treatment of minorities and the poor. It was the second single off of Ali’s second full-length album The Undisputed Truth which was released in the spring of 2007. The song’s title is an homage to that of the incomparable singer/activist Nina Simone and her equally grilling 1964 song “Mississippi Goddamn.†Ali is a wonderful speaker, but watching him effortlessly spill verse after verse in his sort-of tremored vocal style really blew me away. His second performance of “Mourning in America,†however, was probably the highlight of the night. “Mourning in America†is from Brother Ali’s newest record 2012’s Mourning in America and Dreaming in Color. It’s a hauntingly powerful song, with ominous synths and guitar descending behind Ali’s insistent, passionate raps like an unholy choir. Adding to the visceral energy, three young Muslim women dressed all in black stood in front of the stage and put on an impressive dance, moving with the jagged beats and creating the illusion of a Hindu deity with their writhing arms.
Ali continued his presentation by talking about Islam and his becoming Muslim when he was 13-years-old. He also dissected several misconceptions surrounding Islam and isolated keywords like “jihad.†Most people relate the word to mean “holy war,†but Ali explained that it meant, “...the struggle in an imperfect world to set things right... to right wrongs and correct injustices.†He said that the prophet Muhammad said that the greatest jihad occurred within ones’ own self. Something like “jihad†along with certain verses in the Koran have been wrongly used by Islamic extremists as an excuse for violence. Ali mentioned that under Islam things like terrorism and suicide bombings were “illegal, immoral and sinful. [But] that doesn’t mean that they don’t happen.†(He slipped in the fact that drones are also illegal, but still being implemented under President Obama.)
Many elements of the Koran are taken out of context, something that Ali acknowledged by channeling Bill Maher and Christopher Hitchens: “I can hear... those guys saying, ‘Well, what’s the context to take?’ Well, that’s a reasonable question.†Ali said to understand the context, people need to know that Islam “at its root was a social justice movement.†But he went on saying that interpretations of the spirituality that was meant to unite often divided people, depending on what they chose to believe. Misinterpretations are also, unfortunately, the result of translating documents of different languages. For a long time there was no English translation of the Koran, until in 1649 Alexander Ross wrote one; a translation Ali is not too fond of. Apparently, there are many different translations of the Koran and it is difficult to find a good one.
Before wrapping up, Ali highlighted some notable American Muslim leaders like Elijah and Clara Muhammad, their son Imam W. Deen, Muhammad Ali (whom Ali named himself after) and Hamza Yusuf. Ali concluded by saying there cannot be peace without justice.
There was a Q&A following the performances, but I unfortunately had to leave. Thankfully, the entire evening was filmed and is still streaming on the Nobel Peace Prize Forum website. I greatly encourage everyone to check it out. As someone who doesn’t know much beyond music, it was a very enlightening and thought-provoking experience delivered by two very engaging and talented artists.
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