America’s Blue Plague: Police Violence Against Blacks
By Imam Khalid Fattah Griggs Some images are virtually impossible to expunge from our mind’s eye. Such is the case with the video of an African American man, George Floyd, begging for his life as a White Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, forcefully lodged his knee against his neck for at least five minutes resulting in Floyd’s death.
Emergency Distribution by St. John’s Kitchen & ICNA Relief
ICNA Relief USA New Jersey, in coordination with St. John’s Soup Kitchen, will distribute food and hygiene supplies outside of St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Newark to low-income individuals and families.
Floyd Killing: Webinar, Petition, Rallies by ICNA CSJ
On Monday, May 25, thousands watched in horror as Houston native George Floyd’s took his last struggled breaths while his life was taken without any cause or concern by an officer of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Killing of George Floyd and Persecution of Black America
(Washington, D.C., 5/29/2020) — “For persecution is far more grievous than killing …” – The Quran, 2:191. Minneapolis police officers marked Memorial Day by suffocating an utterly subdued black man named George Floyd to death as he pleaded with his last stifled words for the right to breathe.
WhyIslam hosts 1st inter'tl virtual Hispanic Muslim conf.
(April 18-19, 2020) WhyIslam made history by hosting their first ever virtual international Hispanic Muslim conference through the WhyIslam, ¿Por qué Islam? (WhyIslam Spanish) and Foro Islámico Global Facebook pages, as well as the 877-WhyIslam YouTube channel.
Corona crisis: US witnesses rise in hunger, poverty and unemployment
The world’s largest economy, the US, is facing extreme hunger and poverty as the economic activities have been affected due to the corona pandemic while many forecast dark days ahead due to continued economic shutdowns. In certain cases, bread-earners have become victim to coronavirus and their families are in trouble as they cannot run their houses and pay rents while some of them, who are already suffering from some disease, cannot go out for work due to fatality of coronavirus. On the other hand, during the past eight or nine weeks 36 million people have become jobless while there is an apprehension that the real number is more than this figure. According to a 2018 report, 37.2 million people including 1.12 million belong to such families who are facing food shortage and the uncertainty in availability of food in the US means that appropriate food is not available for a healthy life. The institution Feeding America opines that the 37.2 million number could rise and this year one out of four children would be facing hunger. In Texas, 10 thousand people gather outside food distributing banks and in Florida there are miles long queues of cars for getting food from these banks. Experts say that the food stamp program launched by the federal government is insufficient which aims at providing food support to people which they can get from shops in normal days. On the contrary, in the US city of Wisconsin milkmen are forced to waste thousands of gallons of milk due to closure of milk pasteurization plants as there are not enough buyers. In Florida, fresh beans crop was ploughed down and in California no crops were harvested at all and were left to burn out. Similar reports are received from other parts of the country as in Minnesota 10 thousand pigs were killed while millions of chickens were done away with also because meatpacking plants were closed. Caitlin Welsh, Director Global Food Security Program at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Washington, says that Americans are amazed over this situation as on hand they are wasting away food while on the other they are facing food scarcity. She says they have abundant food and vegetables and even animals for meat-loving countries but the issue is that of supply chain, how to provide them these commodities. The US government has provided 19 billion dollars aid to farmers under coronavirus food aid program while it also talked about buying fresh dairy and meat produce and to distribute these among people. People are facing difficulties despite aid from the government. According to a Pakistan-based organization, ICNA, many families are in extreme difficulty due to limited resources and non-availability of funds. This philanthropist organization has helped five lakh people during the past two months. Those without citizenship documents are even in the worst state as they are not entitled to any help from the government. In the Muslim month of Ramazan when Iftar is usually arranged mosques and everyone could come and join it but this time around mosques remained closed as no Iftar was arranged. The ICNA is providing non-perishable items to the needy which include dates, flour, sugar, cooking oil, rice, pulses, eggs, vegetables and fruits, ensuring that the food is sufficient for two weeks needs of a family comprising five members. However, philanthropist organizations and food banks are thronged by people as according to Greater Pittsburg Community Food Bank, one such organization, working in 11 counties in Pennsylvania the number of seeking food aid has increased five hundred per cent — in normal circumstances it spent 5-6 lac dollars on food distribution in March and April but this year during the same months the amount spent was 17 lac dollars. Experts say that the people will be benefitted when they will start receiving 2.3 trillion dollars aid announce by the government but reportedly so far people did not receive aid cheques as online information tells them it is under process. The aid organizations are also facing difficulties besides there are problems in the supply system as a number of their orders have been cancelled. Another serious concern is that in the coming days nutritious food may not be within reach of people as in difficult times people minimize their expenditure and spend less on food. Article Courtesy: apdnews.com
At Manhattan mosque, an imam eases a pandemic’s grief
NEW YORK (RNS) — Imam Saad Jalloh, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, one of Manhattan’s largest mosques, is a familiar voice to thousands of Muslims across the city. Lately he’s also become a familiar voice to the staff at local hospitals. Social workers, nurses and doctors have taken to calling Jalloh to ask what to say to a dying Muslim. Every day, he advises the sick and their families across the city by phone, offering prayer.
Islamic organization gives 9,000 lbs of food to Northern Diné COVID-19 Relief Effort
SHIPROCK — An Islamic group donated 9,000 pounds of food as well as other supplies to the Northern Diné COVID-19 Relief Effort on May 25. These supplies will be distributed in care packages to people who live in the northern area of the Navajo Nation, including in Shiprock. The Islamic Circle of North America Relief has been working to address needs during the COVID-19 pandemic nationwide. The Arizona chapter of ICNA Relief organized the food donation on May 25 and arrived with a semi-trailer full of donated goods in the evening. “We want to make sure people have food, they don’t have to go hungry,” said Salina Imam, the director of the Arizona chapter. State Rep. Anthony Allison, D-Fruitland, said his colleague, Rep. Abbas Akhil, D-Albuquerque, reached out to him following a virtual town hall he participated in. Allison said Akhil’s wife, Habiba, reached out to groups like ICNA Relief and arranged for the donations. In addition to the 9,000 pounds of food, she arranged a donation of 30,000 bottles of water from another group the previous week. The Northern Diné COVID-19 Relief Effort relies largely on donations and volunteers to distribute care packages to families in need. “It’s amazing how much it’s grown,” said Kyle Jim, the chief volunteer coordinator. Jim’s mother, JoAnn Lameman, said the scale of the operation has increased over the past 11 weeks. “I didn’t expect this to happen,” she said as the group began unloading the donated supplies. “It started small, from my garage.” Breanna Lameman said the group tailors the care packages to meet the needs of the families that receive them. People wanting to help can call 505-226-3073 or 505-427-0084 or email northerndineagencyreliefteam@gmail.com. More information about ICNA Relief is available at icnarelief.org. Hannah Grover covers government for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4652 or via email at hgrover@daily-times.com. Article Courtesy: daily-times.com
PPE Safety kits distributed at the ICNA Relief Eid Gift Drive
(Houston-TX) In unprecedented challenge of COVID-19 has hit the residents of 4th largest Metropolis of USA – Houston. The Pakistani community jointly launched its relief efforts. The Consulate General of Pakistan in Houston joined Pakistani organizations such as Pakistan Association of Greater Houston (PAGH), Alliance for Disaster Relief & others.
