Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD)

Media contact: info@muslimalliance.org

On the Fight for Black Lives

To Our Beloved Community:

Once again, we are mourning Black lives in the United States. As the Steering Committee of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD), we write to condemn the racist murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Michael Dean, George Floyd, Tony McDade, Yassin Mohamed, and Breonna Taylor. We also condemn the culture of anti-Black racism and police violence that allow these murders to happen. We add their names to the roster of Black life stolen by racism--a list that spans several centuries and millions of lives. We write in recognition of this past and this present, and we write to declare and affirm our commitment to fighting for Black lives now and into the future.

We have been heartened by the courageous rebellions erupting around the country, often with Black trans, queer, and Muslim leadership. We uphold an oppressed people’s right to resist, and we celebrate this resistance. The racist police across the country continue to bear witness against themselves with their violent and terroristic responses to this resistance. The police are not here to serve us. They never have. They never will. Following Black leadership, we commit ourselves to an abolitionist framework that seeks to abolish the police and dismantle systems of militarization, incarceration and surveillance. Our communities cannot be safe until we defund and divest from historically racist structures.

As a multi-racial and multi-ethnic community, we reaffirm our commitment to combating anti-Blackness amongst ourselves. We must unlearn the language and ideology of anti-Blackness on both individual and collective levels. We know that anti-Blackness is rife in many Muslim communities, including our own, and that we have a long way to go. We must examine the ways structural barriers filter into our own institutions and work tirelessly to destroy them. Our faith teaches us that standing against injustice is fundamental, and that undoing oppression is central to our belief system. We must love and support each other.

To our Black community members, and to all who have lost their loved ones to state violence, we are here for your grief and your rage. We are working to center the needs of Black trans and queer folks during this time of immense grief. We welcome requests and suggestions for how we can best support you in these difficult times. For now, we are planning a healing event by and for Black LGBTQ+ Muslims and an anti-racism workshop for the broader community.

With love and in solidarity, grief, and rage,

The MASGD Steering Committee