Loading ...Latinos, Muslims tell a story of shared roots to fight intolerance, prejudice
Deepa Bharath
The Orange County Register
Rida Hamida and Ben Vazquez have this in common: They’re both defined by their cultures.
Hamida, 37, is a community liaison for Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, D-Orange, and president of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce. Her bright, fluffy head scarf has earned her the nickname “the pink hijabi” – a moniker she wears proudly.
Vazquez, 44, teaches world history at Valley High School in Santa Ana and sits on the board of El Centro Cultural de Mexico. He’s active enough in the community that a downtown lunch spot, Cafe Calacas, has named its Don Benjamin sandwich after Vazquez.
And at a time when many consider Latinos to be the fastest-growing group of Muslims in America – and when political speech against Latinos, Muslims and immigrants is increasingly strident – both Hamida and Vasquez also believe their cultures are being demonized by some politicians and others.
“We are tired of being told who we are in this age of intolerance,” Hamida said. “We don’t want Donald Trump or anyone else to shape our narrative.”
The merging of Latino and Muslim communities is not as new as it might seem. Though statistics aren’t tracked, many in both communities describe Latino Muslims as one of the fastest-growing ethnic groups in the country, with an estimated 150,000 converts in the United States.
But, for now, only one of those converts is making national news.
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Enrique Marquez Jr., a Mexican American who converted to Islam in 2007, is a suspected helper of the terrorists who killed 14 people in San Bernardino earlier this month. Among other things, Marquez is accused of purchasing some of the guns used in the attack.
It’s exactly the kind of negative image Hamida and others hope to counter.
It’s why she and Vazquez plan to tell a story – an old tale they’re calling “An Adventure to Al-Andalus.”
SHARED ROOTS
The story of “Al-Andalus” will be told in a series of public events – meetings, poetry readings, restaurant crawls, art shows, music – that will start late January and last through the end of the year, according to Hamida.
It will take visitors back to a time of Muslim rule in Spain and Portugal, roughly between 711 and 1492, when Muslims, Christians and Jews shared the Iberian Peninsula under Arab rule. Music, art, architecture, cuisine, poetry and ideas thrived during the period, and Hamida and Vazquez want to unite their communities by reminding them of their shared roots.
In ways large and small, that period of history still resonates.
The chant of “Ole, ole!” at soccer matches tracks back to the Andalusian era, when “Allah!” and “Praise be to Allah!” were exclaimed to appreciate a work of art or a great performance.
Vazquez said he sees similarities between Andalusian and Mexican architecture and music. Flamenco dancers and Son Jarocho musicians stomp their feet, incorporating African and Andalusian rhythms.
The lentil, a staple in the Middle East, is comfort food in both cultures.
“We even eat the same way,” Hamida said. “We lower our guards, we become vulnerable … and human.”
Helping tell the story of these shared roots is Mark Gonzales, a poet and artist who was born to a Mexican American father and French American mother, and converted to Islam about 12 years ago.
Gonzales said during the years after the Sept. 11 attacks, when he believes immigration officials began targeting both Mexicans and Muslims, the two groups found common ground.
“Both communities witnessed themselves coming under attack for things they felt they had no responsibility for,” he said.
MERGING CULTURES
Gonzales believes Latinos and Muslims are no longer “separate identities.”
“Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world, and Latinos are converting to Islam at a rate higher than any other” ethnicity, he said.
“As seen in Al-Andalus, the two cultures meeting and coming together is nothing new. We just seem to have short-term memory and need to be reminded from time to time.”
Garden Grove resident Magdalena Al-Omari, a Mexican American, was a Roman Catholic and Seventh-day Adventist before converting to Islam 28 years ago after marrying a Muslim.
Her husband never asked her to convert, she said. Al-Omari found her spiritual home in Islam after reading the Quran and said she experienced sisterhood when she joined the Los Angeles Latino Muslim Association.
She notes many similarities between Islam and her former faith as a Seventh-day Adventist. Both prohibit pork, drinking and dancing.
Al-Omari started wearing a head scarf a few years ago to express her identity as a Muslim. But, she says, her cultural identity as a Mexican American remains intact.
“Islam doesn’t take anyone’s roots away,” she said.
Hamida and Vasquez plan to reach out to the Jewish community as well, as part of the story of the Al-Andalus project.
For Hamida, the story offers inspiration at a time when Latinos and Muslims – and Latinos who happen to be Muslim – all might feel under attack.
“This project will help us come together in a time when our communities are being tested.”
Source: www.ocregister.com