reexamining resistance as oppositional behavior

Reexamining Resistance asOppositional BehaviorThe Nation of Islam and the Creationof a Black Achievement Ideology

A. A. Akom

THE OPPOSITIONAL CULTURE EXPLANATION

The oppositional culture explanation for racial disparities in educationalachievement introduced by Ogbu (1978, 1991) suggests that individualsfrom historically oppressed groups (involuntary minorities) display theirantagonism towards the dominant group by resisting educational goals.According to this line of argument, castelike minorities (including native-born Blacks, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and American Indians) withdrawfrom academic pursuits because they believe that racial discriminationand prejudice limit their access to high-paying jobs. Ironically, however,in their unwillingness to play the “credentializing” game, they reproduceexisting class relations, and remain mired in subordinate economic posi-tions (Willis, 1977; Solomon, 1992).

In contrast, individuals from the dominant group and groups who havemigrated to the United States on their own accord (voluntary/immigrantminorities) maintain optimistic views of their chances for educational andoccupational success. A key component in this explanation is the differ-ence between the migration trajectories of involuntary and voluntaryminorities and their children.

Voluntary minorities tend to develop positive attitudes regarding theirchances for success and remain optimistic in their outlook towards edu-cational advancement. Involuntary minorities, on the other hand, inresponse to these unfavorable conditions, tend to behave in four ways:First, they equate schooling with assimilation into the dominant group.Second, they do not try to achieve academically. Third, they pay a uniquepsychological wage, which Fordham and Ogbu (1986) refer to as the“burden of acting White,” if they do try to achieve academically. Andfinally, they engage in actions of resistance against the school and societalnorms.

In the case of the Nation of Islam (NOI), a religious organizationprimarily composed of African Americans, I did not find patterns ofoppositional behavior in the way this construct has been traditionally

Chapter 9

documented and defined. Although an oppositional cultural frame ofreference was evident amongst the young women whom I studied andobserved, this frame of reference was distinct in character from thatoffered by Ogbu and associates and did not produce the academic out-comes commonly associated with this model (Ogbu & Simons, 1998).1

Instead I observed an involuntary minority culture of mobility wherebyinvoluntary minority students in the NOI resisted schooling and societalpractices that they viewed at odds with their religious tenets and prac-tices, yet drew on the moral, spiritual, and material resources facilitatedby their tightly knit community in order to achieve social mobility andacademic success.

Previous research that assigns involuntary minorities an oppositionalorientation towards educational and social mobility neglects the class andcultural heterogeneity inherent within all minority communities. Evenpoor minority neighborhoods are culturally diverse, including peoplewho hold to conventional norms of behavior, those who choose a street-oriented or oppositional lifestyle, and those who vacillate in between(Anderson, 1999; Patillo-McCoy, 1999). Other theories of Black edu-cational underachievement remain underdeveloped as well: first, becauseof their tendency to reduce the relationship between cultural identity andacademic engagement into a zero-sum game for involuntary minorities;and second, because of their inability to capture the ways in whichAfrican Americans (or other racial/ethnic groups) maintain their owncultural identity and strategies for collective mobility in the context ofdiscrimination and group disadvantage (Flores-Gonzalez, 1999; Foley,1991; Hemmings, 1996).

This chapter seeks to complicate and extend previous accounts of auni-dimensional oppositional social identity frequently ascribed toinvoluntary minority individuals and communities by focusing on theexperiences of seven young women in the NOI.2 More specifically, Idemonstrate that involuntary minorities do not have to choose betweenperforming well in school and maintaining their racio-ethnic identities.Instead I show that it is possible to simultaneously be “involuntary,”“oppositional,” and to a certain degree, a “model” student (Hemmings,1996).3

In an effort to illustrate the ways in which a group of low-incomeAfrican American students associates school success neither with “actingWhite” nor as a “middle-class” trait, I invoke the concept of “organiza-tional habitus” (McDonough, 1997).4 Organizational habitus refers toa set of dispositions, perceptions, and appreciations transmitted to indi-viduals through a common organizational culture (McDonough, 1997).Although Bourdieu (1986) has conceptualized and written about habitusas a function of social class, less attention has been paid to incorporatingrace into structures that shape habitus, as well as the ways organizations

Reexamining Resistance as Oppositional Behavior 191

such as the NOI act to shape structures that influence individuals ineveryday life.

I use the notion of organizational habitus to better understand the waysin which the NOI as a religious organization transmits racial and religiousideologies to individual actors, which in the school context, work toenhance educational outcomes.5 Race and religious orientation not onlyinfluence individual members in the NOI, but play an important role inshaping how the school acts and reacts to NOI members as well. Theinteraction of race and religion influences how NOI women constructtheir academic and social identities as well as the strategies they choose tosucceed in school.

This chapter is divided into four sections. The first section explains thehistorical origins of the NOI’s Black achievement ideology—a centralcomponent of the NOI’s organizational habitus—and its relation tothe formation of an oppositional social identity.6 The second sectiondescribes the research setting and methods. The third section presents theresearch data and suggests that it is the ways involuntary minority groupmembers construct their racio-ethnic identities, internalize and display anachievement ideology, and are guided by community forces that affecttheir performance in school. The final section illustrates the ways inwhich Black people differentially make sense of and enact what it meansto be “Black” that challenge previous binary or dichotomized accounts ofBlack oppositional social identity.

THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE OFISLAM, OPPOSITIONAL SOCIAL IDENTITY,AND THE EMERGENCE OF A BLACKACHIEVEMENT IDEOLOGY

In America, while all Muslims may be called Muslim or refer to theirreligion as Islam, the experience of African-American Muslims is differ-ent from that of Muslims who were born and raised in Muslim countriesor in an immigrant Muslim cultural milieu.7

The earliest African-American Muslim communities were in fact areaction to racist practices, evasive actions, and exploitative relationshipsfostered by segregation during the Jim Crow era (Gardell, 1996). TheBlack social and cultural institutions and ideologies that emerged out ofthis social context constructed what George Lipsitz (1988) referred to asa “culture of opposition.” According to Lipsitz these cultures of opposi-tion constituted a partial refuge from the humiliation of racism, classpretensions, and low-wage work for African Americans while also allow-ing them to nurture collectivist values that were markedly different fromthe prevailing individualistic ideology of the white ruling class (Lipsitz,

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1988). Ironically, then, segregation facilitated the creation and develop-ment of the NOI.

The expressed goals of the NOI are as follows: First, to gain self-determination in North America—not in Africa as preceding movementssuch as Garveyism or the Moorish Science temple had proposed; second,to reconstitute the Black nation by embracing blackness as an ideal(according to the NOI, the Black man is the original man and all Blackpeople are members of the NOI whether they are conscious of it or not);third, to gain collective economic independence through individualachievement (Lincoln, 1973). These goals, in conjunction with the beliefthat a Black man variously named W.D. Fard or W.F. Muhammad wasGod in the flesh, and that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was hisprophet, are some of the essential elements which constitute the NOI’sBlack achievement ideology (see Table 9.1).

Table 9.1 Differences and similarities between achievement ideologies

DIFFERENCES

Nation of Islam’s Black achievementideology

Mainstream achievement ideology

Absolute Ethnic Difference and RaceConsciousness

Pluralism and color blindness

Institutional discrimination is a pervasivefactor that can impede mobility

Institutional discrimination does notexist or is minimal

Visibility: loud or overt cultural nationalism Invisibility: quiet or crypto-nationalism

Resistance to cultural assimilation via culturalpreservation

Cultural assimilation

Collectivist values, community goals,informed by Islamic law and work ethic

Individual achievement, individual goalsinformed by Protestant work ethic*

Non-traditional Islam—belief that a blackman variously named W.D. Fard was God inthe flesh, and that the Honorable ElijahMuhammad was his prophet

Modernity—belief in Judeo-Christianor secular values

SIMILARITIESSelf-reliance, Hard work, Sobriety, Individual effort and Sacrifice

These principles are collectively termed the “achievement ideology” due to the widelyshared belief that adherence to such values brings monetary reward, economicadvancement, and educational mobility

Note: *Weber (1958) argued that “the Protestant ethic,” “the inner-worldly ascetism” rationallyexpressed in work as a calling, resulted in the creation of “the spirit of capitalism.” A similarprocess can be discerned in the NOI’s version of the Protestant work ethic, which because of itsban on wastefulness and demands for hard work, has resulted in the formation of an economicempire with assets estimated to be as much as $80,000,000 (Mamiya, 1983, p. 245).


Utilizing this dialectical understanding of White power and Black resist-ance suggests that the NOI’s Black achievement ideology offers a set ofcultural tools that provides strategies for educational and economicmobility in the context of historical discrimination and group disadvan-tage. The NOI’s Black achievement ideology is not a whole culture, butrather a set of cultural elements relevant to the problems of educationaland economic mobility in the face of instrumental discrimination (e.g., inemployment and wages), relational discrimination (such as social andresidential segregation), and symbolic discrimination (e.g., denigration ofthe minority culture and language) (Massey & Denton, 1995).

Within the NOI, the Black achievement ideology often co-exists withan oppositional social identity. Members of the NOI are often familiarwith each, and the relative influence of both is dependent upon socialcontext as well as individual factors such as personality or school or worktrajectories. Thus, even though oppositional social identity might seemantithetical to the NOI’s Black achievement ideology, historically the twohave emerged in tandem, as dual responses to conditions of racism andgroup discrimination.

In short, rigid morals, self-determination, non-traditional Islam, andBlack nationalism are the key elements that constitute what I refer to asthe NOI’s Black achievement ideology. The Black achievement ideologyis a theory about the world, how and why it was created, and how humanbeings relate to and should act in the world (Gardell 1996). Since theBlack achievement ideology (in this context) is essentially a religious con-struct, it provides adherents with a frame of reference that governs theirinterpretation and experiences in the world.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Despite the fact that Islam is well on its way to surpassing Judaism asthe second largest religion in the United States—dwarfing Protestantdenominations such as the Episcopal church—qualitative research is rare(Gardell, 1996).8 Studies on the NOI, with some notable exceptions, havebeen mainly based on secondary sources, due in part to the unwillingnessof the NOI to be the object of inquiry.9 The present study, which is basedon participant observation, field notes, and recorded interviews, began inSeptember 1996 and ended in August 1998.

During that time I—a young Black, non-Muslim, male—conducted anethnographic study of Eastern High (a pseudonym), an urban high schoollocated in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in WestPhiladelphia. The social fabric of Eastern High, including demographics(98 percent Black), attendance, suspension rates, drop-out rates,poverty levels, and test scores—parallel other comprehensive high

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schools suffering from deindustrialization, resegregation, and the transi-tion to a postindustrial economy. For example, in 1995–1996, theAverage Daily Attendance at Eastern (total population 1,700) was 76 per-cent, while 40 percent of the student body was suspended at least once,and roughly 40 percent–50 percent of the ninth-graders who entered inthe fall of 1990–1991 failed to graduate four years later. As an indicationof students’ economic status, 86 percent of the student population attend-ing Eastern did so from low-income families or families on AFDC.

When I first began collecting data, the goal was to examine the rela-tionship between Black students’ self-perceptions, aspirations, and lowacademic achievement.10 However, after two years of fieldwork, extensiveparticipant observation, and intensive interviews with students (n = 50),teachers (n = 10), administrators (n = 2), and community members (6),what emerged was not a group of low-achieving Black students. Insteadstudent, teacher, and administrative interviews coupled with participantobservation directed my attention to a group of high-achieving Blackstudents with a history of disciplinary problems and resisting schoolauthority.11 By high-achieving students, I mean those who were in goodacademic standing with at least a B grade point average, were on scheduleto graduate in four years, were college eligible, and were not in danger ofdropping out. These students, according to student and staff interviews,had developed an interesting set of strategies for maintaining academic,racial, and cultural identities at school, while simultaneously resistingschooling and societal practices that they viewed at odds with theirreligious tenets and practices.

Clusters of interviews with these students, all American-born womenwho had converted to the NOI, became the basis for the utilization of theextended case method, which ascertains a social phenomenon by lookingat what is “interesting” and “surprising” in a particular social situation(Burawoy, Burton, Ferguson, & Fox, 1991).12 Consequently, from aninitial group of three 11th-grade female students, snowball samplingbased on mutual associations produced three more 11th-grade studentsand one 10th-grade female student.13 All seven primary study partici-pants came from low-income families in which no parent held an advanceddegree.14 Additionally, all of the primary informants in the study self-identified as Black.

In order to test whether the general cultural norm of peer sanctioningfor high achievement was prevalent among women in the NOI, I con-ducted intensive, in-depth life history interviews and focus groups withthese students. I ended up with an average of three or four interviews perweek that became the basis for detailed case studies, whereby everyattempt was made to understand the women in terms of their entirenetwork of social relations and socioeconomic circumstances that werepossibly influencing their orientation to school and achievement.


As my field notes and interviews began to accumulate, analyses ofissues and themes across individuals and groups became increasingly pos-sible. It also became possible to analyze the school as an institution and,finally, to analyze the importance of the relationship between externalcommunity forces and academic achievement for the seven primaryinformants.15

The advantage of focusing on a small number of participants lies in thedetail and richness of the data gathered. Although the small sample sizemay limit generalization of the results, my findings are consistent withthose of recent related research on school success and ethnic identity citedhere. Most interviews took place at school. However, informal discus-sions and conversations took place in lunchrooms, hallways, or outsideof the temple. Most interviews were tape-recorded. School records,school reports, and other school documents complemented the observa-tions, interviews, and focus groups.

Despite the fact that the research described herein focuses on theexperiences of seven young Black women, gender is not a major focus ofthe analysis. To be sure, gender has been shown to influence students’school experience and social identities (Collins, 1990). However in thischapter, gender is addressed only to the extent that the primary partici-pants are all women. As a result, my findings may not reflect similarindividual and organizational interactions experienced by boys in similarsettings.

The Setting and Establishing Rapport

I attended Eastern High three to five days a week to assess how schoolculture and climate influenced participants in everyday life. Given my dailypresence and constant interaction I established good rapport with theparticipants. However, like many other qualitative-oriented researchers, Iview the research act as one that is far from value free (Denzin & Lincoln,1994). Part of the research endeavor is the process of making meaningand not just observing but shaping, interpreting, and framing the researchprocess. Like Peshkin (1988), I view my subjectivity as “a garment thatcannot be removed” (p. 17). Consequently, rather than ignoring my ownsubjectivity, I engaged in a formal systematic monitoring of self through-out the course of the data collection which enabled me to monitor mypersonal and professional growth and evolution in the research process.To this end, I wrote self-reflective memos, shared the manuscripts of ana-lyzed data with study participants, and discussed emerging themes withcolleagues familiar with the project.

Moreover, I believe that my background shaped my role as a researcher.I am a Black male in my late twenties who grew up in Pennsylvania about

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two hours from the area where this research was conducted. Socio-economically, I grew up in a single-parent, female-headed household, asdid all of the primary participants. Additionally, my adolescent schoolingexperiences were entirely within public institutions.

Given my background as a young, Black, non-Muslim male, I am oftenasked how I was able to establish rapport with the young women in thisstudy and how was I certain that I was able to adequately appreciate thestandpoint from and context within which they lived. My ability to estab-lish rapport was greatly enhanced by sharing the same race with theprimary participants.16 In other words, despite the fact that in all casesthere were gender differences—and to a lesser extent class differencesgiven my mother’s advanced education—to overcome in establishing aconnection with each student, race was always the same. Consequently,our commonness as “Blacks” committed to community development andnation building provided the bridge that we needed to connect with oneanother, while other shared experiences (parents’ divorce, the universaltraits of adolescence, or shared hobbies) served as additional referencepoints.17

Rapport was evidenced by displays of affection from the primary parti-cipants (friendly greetings), the sharing of personal confidences, and theopen expression of trust (many participants called me to ask about collegepreparation). Moreover, I was able to interact informally with the pri-mary participants while observing them at the school. Often these informalinteractions served as “icebreakers” prior to the interviews.

However, my findings must not be viewed as some objective representa-tion of the “truth” about the social world of the NOI or of Eastern High.Rather, my findings are my most accurate representation of the perspec-tives that were gathered during this study.

BECOMING A MEMBER OF THE NOI: DEVELOPINGA POSITIVE, DUAL FRAME OF REFERENCE

The NOI is an extremely hierarchical organization. In order to transformraw recruits into NOI members, young Muslim brothers visit jails andpenitentiaries, pool halls and barbershops, college campuses and streetcorners. The goal of this proselytizing is to “restore black people inAmerica to their original industrial and commercial greatness so thatAfrican Americans can become self sufficient in the production of food,clothing, shelter, health care, education, and employment” (Gardell, 1996,p. 319).

The NOI’s recruitment efforts have been particularly successful withrespect to incarcerated criminals and drug addicts. Their record of


rehabilitating former convicts and addicts has been acknowledged bysocial workers and documented by scholars and journalists alike (Lincoln,1973, p. 84).18 Additionally, true to its ideology of “do for self,” the NOIrejects the American welfare system. Though not condemning Americanswho live on welfare, the present leader of the NOI, Minister LouisFarrakhan Muhammad (1991), warns of the system’s consequences:“Welfare if you turn it around means farewell. It means bye to the spiritof self-determination. It means so long to the spirit that God gives toevery human being to do something for self. It makes you a slave. Welfare,farewell.”

Discussions with NOI women about their life experiences prior to join-ing the NOI show how conversion not only introduces new sets of beliefs,but more fundamentally entails the displacement of one universe or dis-course by another (Snow & Machalek, 1984).19 The following interviewswith Latasha and Erikka demonstrate the ways in which acculturationinto the NOI positively influences racial identity, educational aspirations,and a desire to uplift the Black community:

LATASHA: Once I joined the NOI I started getting a real education . . .a Black education . . . an education that made me see the truthabout me and my history . . . and that made me see who I reallywas . . . a Black queen . . . Now I love my Black skin . . . not that Ididn’t before . . . but I don’t think I was aware before like I am nowof what it means to be Black . . . we have a great history . . . that’sway different than the white lies that white people tell . . . and nowI feel more responsible and proud to be what I am and I workharder in school because I know I have to put Islam and sub-mission to the Will of Allah first in everything I do . . . and thatgives me power . . . lots of power . . . I feel powerful like nothin’can hold me back from gettin’ my goal of goin’ to college andraisin’ a family . . .

These students also assert that not only did their mind set change afterjoining the NOI, but also their behavior.

ERIKKA: Before joining the NOI I didn’t do well in school . . . I wasn’tfocused . . . I was unsure of myself . . . but the Messenger teachesus that you have to take responsibility for your own success . . .He teaches us that no individual in the Nation stands alonebecause we are one Nation . . . The last independent Nation onearth . . . I mean a real Nation within a nation . . . with our ownflag, laws, rules and stuff . . . And with all these strong Black peoplebehind me . . . I feel like I can do whatever it is that needs to getdone . . .

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AA: But . . . what is it that you’re trying to accomplish? What are yourpersonal goals?

ERIKKA: Well . . . I know for sure I want to graduate from high school . . .go to college . . . and get a good job . . .

AA: And has the Nation helped you in accomplishing these goals?ERIKKA: Yea . . . Like I just said . . . before I joined the Nation I wasn’t

doing that well in school . . . Studying was hard for me . . . cause nomatter how hard I studied I still got bad grades . . . And then whenI joined the Nation this sister took me by the hand and taught mehow to study . . .

AA: What do you mean how to study?ERIKKA: You see now when I sit down to read something . . . I got a

system . . . I get my notebook out . . . I get my dictionary . . . and sitand really read . . . you know . . . not just memorize the words . . .but really try to understand what their trying to say to me . . . Andthen I write out questions . . . just so I can really figure out if whatthere saying is true . . . and if it really makes sense . . . What I’msaying is . . . not only did sister Muhammad [the sister who pulledher aside] teach me how to study . . . but she made me believe that Iwas smart . . . I went from studying once or twice a week to five orsix hours a day . . .

By marking their members as part of a special group, and providingthem with a black achievement ideology as well as a visible means ofsupport, the NOI fosters the development of new social and academicidentities. An important component in the conversion process is thedevelopment of a dual frame of reference. Women in the NOI, althoughnot voluntary immigrants, acquire a dual frame of reference that worksin a similar manner as it does for non-U.S.-born immigrants. That is,instead of correlating being Black with underachievement or with thesocial pathologies often ascribed to Black American youth and otherU.S. minorities, women in the NOI use previous economic and politicaloppression, as well as religious socialization, as a catalyst to makepresent sacrifices in the United States more tolerable. Safiya’s descriptionof her pre-conversion attitudes and behaviors serves to illustrate thispoint:

Before I joined the NOI I was all wrong . . . I smoked weed a lot . . . Ihung out with the wrong people . . . didn’t do well in school . . . basic-ally I was like a lot of these other [Black] students who don’t even likethemselves or their own people . . . and with me you could tell I was allwrong because I would fight for mines . . . or talk about other people. . . I’ve even watched fools get killed . . . It’s like slaves of the pastgonna be slaves of the future unless you make a change . . . but we’re


taught (at the NOI) the other way around . . . it’s foolish not to loveyo’ self and yo’ people . . . especially if you want to get anywhere . . .you have to love yo’ self and work hard . . .

Aisha, who before “was about relaxin,” reports:

Before I joined two years ago I used to kick it all the time and watchmusic videos . . . now I organize meetings . . . go to study group . . . Idon’t even watch t.v . . . . I do fund raisin’ . . . bake sales and stuff . . . Ispeak Arabic . . . I eat right . . . I read more . . . I am more focused . . .I think . . . I think about the world in a different way . . . . I feel moreawake . . . more conscious . . . like I’m tryin’ to liberate myself and mypeople . . . I wasn’t about that before . . .

A teacher who knew Aisha before she joined the NOI commented:

TEACHER: When I first met her I didn’t think she was going to make it atthis school . . . knowing where she grew up and the type of neigh-borhood she comes from and who her friends were . . . but she isa totally different person now . . . and I suppose a lot of studentschange at this age . . . but you rarely see kids change from badbehavior to good behavior so dramatically . . . Not the way thatAisha did . . .

AA: And what do you think accounted for the change?:TEACHER: What jumps out at me are her religious beliefs . . . I think

they had a lot to do with it . . . It’s like she took on a differentculture . . . so now she’s a different person . . . she dresses different. . . acts totally different . . . hangs out with different people . . . so inmy opinion her conversion to Islam had a lot to do with herimprovement in school . . . not just educationally . . . but sociallyand emotionally . . .

To seal the conversion or personal rebirth, women in the NOI first had tocast off their old selves and take on a new identity. This involved chan-ging their names, their religion, their language, style of dress, their moraland cultural values, their very purpose in living. To commemorate theirrebirth, converts drop their last name and become known simply by theirfirst name and the last name of Muhammed.20

For women in the NOI, changing one’s name was important becauseit signaled a change in social networks, conversion of their identities,as well as collective ownership and formal membership in the organiza-tion. Conversion also has a strong effect on the women’s educationalaspirations and performance in school.

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TRANSFORMING THE “BURDEN OF ACTINGWHITE” INTO THE “HONOR OF BEING BLACK”

Women in the NOI present a special challenge to the “burden of actingWhite” thesis proposed by Fordham and Ogbu (1986). More specifically,the organizational habitus of the NOI has inverted the cultural constructof “acting White” so that instead of associating it with positiveeducational outcomes (i.e., academic achievement) and potentially nega-tive cultural outcomes (disassociation from Black cultural forms), theNOI associates “acting White” with negative attitudes and behaviors thatdo not conform to uplifting Black individuals or the black community.Conversely, the NOI associates “being Black” with positive educationaland cultural outcomes. In this manner, by changing a community’s inter-pretation of both itself and its history, and redefining morality andacceptable social behavior, the NOI has been able to systematically createan organizational habitus which encourages black achievement for itsmembers, resulting in the transformation of the “burden of acting White”into the “honor of being Black.”

The following interviews illustrate this point.

AA: What does acting white mean to you?ERIKKA: . . . To me actin’ white means getting’ by the easy way . . . like

takin’ things that don’t belong to you . . . or cheatin’ . . . or notworkin’ hard . . . but actin’ like you somethin’ you’re not . . . likeactin’ like you don’t want to be black . . . that’s what actin’ whitemeans to me . . . actin’ fake . . .

Safiya expressed a similar view:

I would say lookin’ down on poor people . . . or you kno’ . . . peoplewho ain’t doin’ too good. . . . that’s what actin’ white means to me . . .and I see lots of kids in this school actin’ a fool . . . like white peoplegot a hold of their minds . . . and those are the kids who I try to talk to. . . so I can shake ’em up . . . Cause they’re ain’t nothin’ wrong withbeing poor . . .

One member, Rochelle, spoke of elements of hip hop music as “actingwhite.” According to Rochelle:

I think a lot of hip hop music is actin’ White . . . I know that sounds funny. . . but I think it is . . . A lot of these so-called artists be fillin’ our headswith garbage and filth . . . and to me . . . that’s just another way to keepthe White man on top . . . just another form of White supremacy . . .another way White people got Black people miseducatin’ each other.


When I asked Rochelle to describe for me what she thinks of when shethinks of Black culture, she responded by saying:

When I think of black culture . . . I think about how great we are . . .how we are really the chosen people . . . Black gods in a lost world . . .the creators of all science, wisdom, and history. . . . That’s what welearn at the temple . . . and that’s what I think about. . . . I think abouthow just cause you see Black people perpetuatin’ ignorance . . . don’tmean you have to act ignorant . . . and just cause you see ignorancethat ain’t Black culture. . . .

The notion of Black greatness and entitlement is central to understandingthe organizational habitus of the NOI. The following field notes from alocal temple the young women regularly attend illustrates how theNOI combines Black and religious nationalism in a way that prioritizesthe imagined community of the NOI over other racial and ethniccommunities.

MINISTER: Black people you have been brainwashed into thinking thatthis country doesn’t owe you anything . . . But I ask you . . . Have weput our blood, sweat, and tears, into this country?

CONGREGATION: Yes Sir.MINISTER: Have our women broken their backs for the white man?

Cooked his meals . . . raised his children . . . And taken out histrash?

CONGREGATION: Yes Sir.MINISTER (voice strong and proud): White people don’t think we deserve

what we deserve . . . And after all we’ve done for this country . . .They still don’t want to treat us right . . . But I say don’t let ‘embrainwash you . . . don’t let ‘em trick you into not getting’ whatyou deserve. If you’re going to college and there is only a handfulof scholarships for us black folks . . . you are entitled to thosescholarships . . . If you are going for a job and there are only ahandful of jobs for us black folks . . . You are entitled to thosejobs . . . But don’t stop there . . . cause you black Kings andQueens . . . divine creators of the universe and you don’t have tobeg the white man for anything . . . You have to learn to do foryourself . . .

CONGREGATION (with vigor): Yes sir.MINISTER: How else are we going to build a better future for our nation

and our children . . . How else are we gonna build a nation unlesswe have a strong black family . . . We need to have our own eco-nomic institutions . . . We already have our own companies . . .we’ve built our own industries . . . We own this building . . . This

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land that I am standing on . . . We own ourselves . . . And that’s whywe don’t need the white man . . . because we are independent . . .Isn’t that right?

CONGREGATION: Yes sir.

In group interviews, all seven women spoke of how these aspects of NOIcreed are drilled into them. Kesha explained that once she joined shecould no longer “flirt with boys anymore or go out dancin’ and actin allcrazy.” While Tiffany and Latasha discussed how countless times theyhave been told that, “Black people are supreme,” and that “Black peopleare the original people,” or, “How important it is to avoid drugs andalcohol to keep the mind and the body clean.” Latasha added that,“Once I really believed this I knew nothin’ could stop me fromachievin’ my goals.” The goal of this form of indoctrination is to getconverts to adopt a new frame of reference that restructures his or herperception and “sense of ultimate grounding” (Henrich [Heirich?],1977, p. 673).

These field notes and interviews illustrate the ways in which the organ-izational habitus of the NOI has inverted the racial code that equates“acting White” with school success and instead equates the notion withhistorical, psychological, institutional, and subjective levels of oppres-sion. In this manner, NOI women not only demonstrate the heterogeneityof the African-American experience, but also illustrate the ways in whichBlack people differentially make sense of and enact what it means to beBlack that challenge dichotomized or binary accounts of how Black cul-tural identity is implicated in the underperformance of African-Americanyouth.

ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE NOI’S RESISTANCEAND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Although the seven women in this study possessed strong opinions about“acting White,” there was no animosity towards them for doing well inschool. They were not singled out or harassed because of their academicaccomplishments. They were not labeled, ostracized, or physicallyassaulted for doing well in school, as Fordham and Ogbu (1986) reportedoccurs among African-American high achievers. Yet, the high achievers inthe NOI were not simply seen as another group among the few highachievers at the school. Rather, interviews with students and teachersrevealed that although women in the NOI enjoyed high social and aca-demic standing, they also had a reputation for being disruptive andargumentative.


NOI Women as Strong Academic Performers

NOI women were seen as high academic achievers. The followingexcerpts taken from group and individual interviews with non-NOI stu-dents demonstrates the extent to which NOI members were viewed asstrong academic performers by their peers: “Them Islamic heads areserious people . . . I always see them studyin’.” Another student said,“They work hard . . . that’s why I think people respect them . . . causetheir serious about their buziness . . . they’re the hardest working studentsat this school . . .:”

In terms of demonstrating help-seeking behavior one studentcommented:

They help me out . . . I ask them for help because they really know whattheir doin . . . they help me get better grades because they take stud-yin’ seriously and they’re just down for black people . . . They ain’tafraid to say the truth . . . that’s what I like about them . . . they’ll tellanybody to their face what time it is.

Teachers had similar responses to NOI women. They reported thatwhen they saw NOI students arriving to class on time, taking notes inclass, and turning assignments in on time, it indicated to them that NOIstudents had a strong desire to excel in school. In ten interviews withteachers, seven specifically identified NOI women as strong academicperformers:

TEACHER: Sometimes they dominate class discussion . . . but that’sbecause they want to be the best they can be . . . and I admirethat . . . I also think that other kids can learn from it . . . look atthe example they’re setting . . . come to class on time, study hard,be prepared, and get good grades . . . They’re almost perfectstudents . . . but I’m not saying I agree with everything they do orstand for . . . . There are some things about them that I don’trespect . . .

AA: For instance?TEACHER: Their religion . . .

Another teacher added:

I think they get more attention than the other kids because of the waythey dress . . . Both good and bad. . . . But overall they complete all oftheir assignments on time and bring a critical perspective into theclass room . . . In fact, they’re frequently the ones who challenge stu-dents on topics we’re discussing in class or their personal beliefs . . .

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Sometimes that can become a disruption though . . . Cause they don’tknow when enough is enough . . . And they kind of have an arroganceabout them . . . like a gang mentality . . . maybe it comes from themstudying together or just hanging out . . . but if you mess with oneyou’re messing with them all . . . For the most part, though, they’regood kids . . . not angels . . . but good kids . . .

Studying Together

NOI women were not solitary learners. Instead they formed academiccommunities composed of other NOI women who shared a commonpurpose. The following teacher interview illustrates this point:

TEACHER: . . . I offer my classroom for anybody to come [after school]. . . and often times it is only the NOI girls who come into thestudy hall . . . They study hard . . . they ask each other questionsand help each other with their homework. . . . They’re definitelygood at working together . . . and I think that’s why they . . .at least the students who attend my study hall . . . do well inschool.

AA: How do you know they do well in school?TEACHER: I saw a couple of their names on the honor roll . . .

NOI women participated in formal and informal study groups where theywould ask each other questions, critique each other’s work, and assist oneanother with homework problems. Their collaboration was guided bythe NOI’s formal study group sessions that emphasize a merger ratherthan a separation of academic and social identities (Treisman, 1985).The following field note illustrates how the NOI’s formal study groupsessions systematically taught NOI students to form academic com-munities whereby their social and academic identities could begin tomerge:

One evening . . . around 7 o’clock . . . I went to an NOI study groupheld at a local temple . . . as I joined the group . . . . brotha Muhammad(the study group instructor) briefly explained to me general tips fornote taking . . . he stressed compiling main ideas and generating dis-senting views in order to help potential members such as myself ascer-tain “the truth.” He also gave general instructions about how to sitand behave . . . Here he placed emphasis on sitting up right and erect. . . respecting one another . . . and helping each other’s moral andspiritual development . . . Lastly . . . before I joined the group . . . heexpressed the importance of keeping this notebook and theaccompanying strategies in which he just shared at all times . . . He said


“being consciously reflective would help me grow and develop as aman.” At the end of study group . . . students broke into two smallgroups . . . One group practiced vocabulary words and analogies “thekinds of problems that individuals may encounter in rhetoricaldebate,” said brotha Muhammad . . . and another group practiced math. . . In this group one of the members explained that he could teach usbetter “math tricks than the white students use in their schools . . .,”and emphasized that, “it was important for us to study together sothat we can have each others backs in a world full of white duplicitous-ness and deceit . . .”.

I attended many other study groups like the one above and each timea number of supplementary educational activities were emphasized:writing, inquiry, collaboration, role modeling/ mentoring, and career-exploration.21 In this manner, by encouraging the utilization of academictechniques in their religious indoctrination, the NOI is giving explicitinstruction in the invisible culture of the school. In other words, theNOI teaches explicitly in the temple what middle-income studentslearn implicitly at home. Bourdieu (1986) labels the invisible culturethe NOI teaches its pupils as cultural capital. The organizationalhabitus of the NOI gives low-income individuals some of the culturalcapital in the temple that is similar to the cultural capital that more eco-nomically advantaged parents give to their children at home (Bourdieu,1986).

NOI Women as Bearers of High Expectations inthe Midst of a Dysfunctional School

At Eastern High, NOI women were strong achievers in the midst of adysfunctional school.22 As evidence I observed teachers not only allow-ing, but also encouraging students to watch the Jerry Springer show on adaily basis. The following field notes highlight the low level of studentexpectations and meager instructional delivery and support at EasternHigh, as well as the ways in which NOI women responded to this dys-functional educational environment:

One morning in October I went to observe a Spanish class . . . Twostudents in the NOI were the first people to arrive . . . the teacherarrived 15 minutes late . . . The two students in the NOI were amongseven students who actually stayed . . . and around 10 more studentsactually showed up but left . . . When the regular teacher finally arrivedthe teacher promptly put in a Jerry Springer tape in English . . . not asan educational exercise, but as a way to “kill time and make sure stu-dents’ behaved.” The two students in the NOI were the only students

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to ask the teacher for a homework assignment and to sit in the back ofthe class and complete their work . . . all of the other students eitherlistened to walkmans, played cards, or left . . . This teacher practicesthis sort of instructional neglect and blatant disregard for the teachingstandards two to three times a week.

In other classrooms I observed similar practices of institutional andinstructional neglect:

On a mid morning in November I was observing a health class . . . twoNOI women were in the class [a different two students than above] . . .again the teacher as well as the instructional assistants arrived late . . .besides handing out some below grade level handouts . . . the maininstructional activity was to turn on a “boom box,” place it in front ofthe classroom, and abandon students to “educate” themselves for theentire period. Again these teachers practice this sort of instructionalneglect and blatant disregard for the teaching standards daily. Womenin the NOI initially respond by complaining directly to the teacherabout the lack of “real education” offered at the school . . . However,by the end of the month NOI members had resorted to skipping theclass altogether . . . Instead of going to class . . . they began to go tothe library or into the hallway to do their homework and study forother classes . . .

Women in the NOI not only voiced the power of their own agency, theirstatements about advanced placement courses also displayed a criticalawareness of structural inequality:

TIFFANY: We don’t even have any Advanced courses at this school . . .And we have been the ones askin’ for them . . . Like almost beggin’. . . How do you expect us to go to college if we don’t have the samechance to learn . . .

While many students at Eastern acquired “ritual competency,” asGoffman (1959) termed it, by putting their heads down, listening towalkmans, sleeping in class, reading magazines, practical joking, and formany becoming part of the “drop-out rate”—which Michelle Fine (1991)more accurately described as the “push-out” rate—NOI students did not.Instead I encountered a set of institutional arrangements in which NOIwomen developed a different ideology and adopted a different course ofaction than has been described by previous research. More specifically,the NOI provided highly valuable forms of academic and social supportby connecting these seven women (and other members) to an organiza-tional collectivity committed to helping them achieve.


Resistance as Oppositional Behavior

NOI women expressed a belief in their own efficacy to improve their livesand to uplift the Black community. They translated this belief into actionby actively participating in classroom discussions, as well as resistingschool practices that they viewed at odds with their religious tenets andpractices.

The following field note illustrates one of the ways in which culturaldifferences between NOI students and school authorities became politic-ally charged and created conflict:

On a Tuesday morning . . . in mid March . . . around ten o’clock . . . Iwent to observe an American History class . . . in the midst of distribut-ing a written quiz . . . the teacher made the following statements:“You know I don’t trust any of you . . . All students will cheat if they geta chance . . . and I’m paranoid . . . because I don’t trust any of you in thisclassroom . . .”

Immediately three female students in the NOI protested (Tiffany,Safiya, and Latasha) . . . Tiffany lead off by saying that she was “veryinsulted, and unless she received an apology wouldn’t take thequiz.” Safiya said that “her religion doesn’t permit her to cheat . . .cheating is for white people.” And Latasha followed by stating suc-cinctly: “You ain’t no teacher to me . . . cause you act like a white lady(the teacher was black) . . . You don’t teach us nothin’ that’s gonnamake us smart . . . You just give us the same book to read over and overagain . . . and then you be actin’ all paranoid and everthin’ . . . we don’teven need to cheat . . . mumble . . . mumble . . . and white people ain’tshit.”

The teacher responded in a voice full of authority: “I am the teacher. . . and you are not allowed to talk to me like that in this classroom . . .do you understand me young lady . . . I don’t care if you think that youare holier than thou . . . wearin’ that stuff on your head . . . I don’t givea damn . . . you can’t talk to me like that.” Safiya responded, “But this isa democracy ain’t it . . . don’t we have freedom of speech . . . don’t we?”Teacher: “Well your right and wrong young lady . . . cause you see . . . Iteach about democracy . . . but that doesn’t mean I run my class thatway.” Tiffany chimed in, “but who is runnin’ this class . . . cause yousure as hell aren’t.”

As the quiz continued . . . three students were caught cheating . . .However, none were members of the NOI . . . The overt resistance bythe NOI students was acknowledged by the teacher: “I respect thosegirls . . . everybody does . . . but what I don’t like is they think theyknow everything . . . When really they’re the ones who are alwayscausing problems . . . I mean they think cause they dress funny they can

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accuse people of not being black enough . . . who do they think theyare . . . they don’t know what I’ve been through . . . that’s like the potcallin’ the kettle black.”

Many educational researchers have found that African-American stu-dents often protect their pride as Black students by adopting anti-schoolbehaviors (Erickson, 1987). However, NOI students did not respond inthis manner. Their actions and belief statements were neither conformist,assimilationist, nor regressive. Rather, to handle the complexities thatthey encountered, they adopted an instrumental view of education (asthe means to an end), yet were highly critical of their school, teachers,and peers. In other words, unlike Willis’s lads’ who were blind to theconnection between schooling and mobility, or MacLeod’s (1987/1991)“Hallway Hangers” or Foley’s (1990) “vatos,” who withdraw fromacademic pursuits, act up in class, ignore homework and cut classes—and unlike Ogbu’s involuntary minorities who tend to equate schoolingwith assimilation into the dominant group, and thus do not try toachieve academically—members of the NOI resisted the cultural andlinguistic patterns of the majority culture, yet embraced educationalachievement.23

As a result, NOI women’s response to schooling may be consideredtransformative rather than merely reproductive, because the agency thestudents display comes from a unique form of religious socializationwhich produces a social consciousness whereby students are encouragedto politicize their cultural resistance and develop counter-ideologies,while assessing the costs and benefits of not playing the game. In thismanner, by utilizing a Black achievement ideology, women in the NOIavoid what Ogbu (1991) referred to as the victim contributing to theirown victimization by transforming rather than reproducing educationaloutcomes commonly associated with oppositional identity and resistancefor African Americans.

Another cultural incongruity between NOI women and the school wasthe lack of opportunity to practice their faith in accordance with Islamicprinciples. Generally speaking, Black Muslims are required to pray fivetimes a day, an obligation that does not cease on school days. Prayer timesvary in accordance with sunrise and sunset, and early and late prayersusually do not conflict with the school day. However, the midday andmid-afternoon prayers did present problems for all seven women inter-viewed, as did rituals of absolution which are required before each prayer.The following interviews with Safiya and Kesha highlight the waysin which NOI women resisted schooling practices that they viewed atodds with their religious tenets while maintaining a strong orientation toacademic achievement.


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Please add: The kind of resistance that the NOI women display is not “self defeating” resistance in which there is some critique of oppressive social conditions but little to no motivated with respect to social justice, or conformist resistance which is motivated by social justice yet lacks a critique of systems of oppression (Solorzano and Bernal, 2001:317). Rather the type of resistance that NOI women display is what Solorzano and Bernal (2001) refer to as “transformative resistance” –which is motivated both by social justice and a critique of systems of oppression (p. 318). (See Figure 9.2 in Appendix.)

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Please replace: As a result, NOI women’s response to schooling may be considered transformative rather than merely reproductive, because of the combination of social justice, self-determination, agency, and critiques of system of power and oppression that the students display (Delpit, 1995). Their transformational resistance comes from a unique form of religious socialization, which produces a social consciousness whereby students are encouraged to politicize their cultural resistance and develop counter-ideologies, while assessing the costs and benefits of not playing the game.

AA: Is it difficult to find prayer time at school?SAFIYA: Yes . . . whenever I have to pray I either ask to go to the bath-

room . . . or just skip out of class all together . . .AA: So does that mean that you skip school everyday?SAFIYA: Yeah . . . but I make up for it in the study group that we have at

the temple every week . . .KESHA: This school don’t respect our beliefs . . . so sometimes we have

no choice but to break the rules . . . but I ain’t gonna let that stopme from getting to college . . . or from doin’ what I’m supposed tobe doin’ in school . . . I’ll do whatever it takes to keep up . . . I don’tmind workin’ hard . . . but I’m a black Muslim first . . . before I’manything else . . .

Members of the NOI not only withdrew from classes due to prayer, butalso because of unacceptable or offensive curricula. Tiffany stated thispoint succinctly:

All I kno’ is in history class all they teach about is White people . . . wedon’t learn nothin’ about Black history or Black achievements . . . andeven when we do it is like a little tiny bit of class time . . . but when welearn about white people it goes on and on and on . . . for weeks . . .That’s why other kids listen to me . . . cause they kno’ that I kno’ aboutblack history . . .

Tiffany added:

People don’t respect our religion around here . . . They don’t careif we pray or where we pray . . . they don’t care what we eat . . . andthey don’t honor how we dress or our need to fast . . . But I guaranteeyou if it’s a white holiday their gonna celebrate it . . . Why do youthink that is? It’s cause we don’t believe in a white God that’s why. . . that’s why they treat us bad even though we’re good honestpeople . . .

These interviews and field notes illustrate that at Eastern High a simpledichotomy between “resistance” and “conformity” overlooks the com-plexity of student behaviors and responses. More specifically, women inthe NOI demonstrate that accommodation is not the only path to successin school, nor does opposition necessarily lead to failure. Rather, NOIstudents resisted what they perceived as acts of oppression within theschool, while at the same time pursuing strategies that enabled them tobe academically successful. By combining strategies attributed to recentUnited States immigrants with a black achievement ideology—women inthe NOI displayed a unique mobility strategy usually not expressed by

210 A. A. Akom

low-income African-American youth or other involuntary minoritygroups (Gibson, 1998). Adding these complexities to notions of resist-ance suggests that we reexamine the relationship linking resistance withfailure and accommodation with success (Lee, 1996), because in womenin the NOI we find both qualities exhibited by the same students.

CONCLUSION: FROM ANALYSIS TORECONSTRUCTION OF THEORY

This chapter charts a theory of Black educational achievement. It doesso by challenging the work of Ogbu (and others) by examining whichclaims have held up, need to be complicated, or should be reconstructed. Ibegin by illustrating how a group’s original terms of incorporation, whilesignificant, are one of a number of different variables that shape theschool-adaptation patterns for an involuntary minority group. Academicengagement depends not only on historical, political, and economic real-ities facing students, but also on day-to-day experiences in school, in thecommunity, and in what John L. Jackson (2001) referred to as the per-formative dimension of race, that is, how specific cultural practices areused to constitute racial identity. In the case of the NOI, their Blackachievement ideology is intentionally organized in opposition to theideology of white supremacy, and as such, counters folk theories concern-ing Black intellectual inferiority—contributing to a culture of academicachievement.

The NOI’s ability to create a Black achievement ideology suggests thatwe reconstruct Ogbu’s typology that categorizes separate and distinctideologies for voluntary and involuntary immigrant groups (see Figure9.1 in the Appendix). Women in the NOI do not fit this typology. WhileNOI women describe a system that is not sympathetic towards Blacks ingeneral, and Islamic women in particular, they maintain that it is possibleto better themselves, their sub-cultural community, and society at large,by being disciplined, avoiding drugs and other vices, practicing ethicalintegrity, and working hard.

The NOI’s Black achievement ideology, which is simultaneouslyculturally and academically affirming, further complicates the traditionalrelationship between academic achievement, socio-economic status, andeducational success. Women in the NOI understand the importance ofdeveloping culturally appropriate social behavior, academic skills, andachieving academically. At the same time, due to the fact that they prac-tice Islam in a non-Islamic setting, they also represent a challenge tocommon sense notions of what are (or are not) the culturally appropriatenorms, attitudes, and behaviors.

The NOI’s Black achievement ideology also problematizes the “burden


of acting White” thesis because NOI women have transformed the “bur-den of acting White” into the “honor of being Black.” In this manner,NOI women demonstrate the heterogeneity of the African-Americanexperience.

Previous research has assumed a binary or dichotomous pattern ofcultural orientation for low-income students such as those in the NOI—one in which individuals are either accommodating or resisting, succeedingor failing, involuntary or voluntary. However, my research documentshow innovation occurs precisely because NOI women simultaneouslyengaged in: 1. structural assimilation (promoting traditional values suchas hard work); 2. separation (affirming their own racial and culturalidentities); and 3. resistance (problematizing key tenets of the achieve-ment ideology by not conforming or assimilating to school rules or socialetiquette) while, at the same time, understanding the importance ofacademic achievement.

As a result, NOI women provide fertile ground for reinterpreting popu-lar notions of resistance which suggest that working-class studentsget working-class jobs because they refuse to develop skills, attitudes,manners, and speech that are necessary for achievement in a capitalistsociety. My research contradicts key aspects of resistance theory bydocumenting how resistance for women in the NOI is transformative,rather than merely reproductive of existing patterns of social relations.NOI women’s response to schooling may be considered transformativerather than reproductive because they utilize a Black achievement ideol-ogy and a dual frame of reference to produce positive educational andsocial outcomes—and achieve working-class mobility. Paul Willis (1981)in particular, and resistance theory in general, tend to understate the roleof race, immigrant status, community forces, and power relations, inthe production of educational achievement, and as a result, do notadequately account for nuances in variations of achievement amongstinvoluntary minority groups.

However, focusing on the NOI does not mean that I am placing theonus of educational success squarely within the minority communitiesthemselves and leaving the educational system exempt from responsibil-ity. Rather, by extending the Bourdieuian theoretical framework I haveattempted to reveal how individual actors’ lives are influenced by anorganizational habitus that is rooted in racial and religious distinctionsand how often times the concept of oppositionality originates in and isnurtured by schools themselves.

In sum, this research suggests that guided cultural and social resourceswithin an ethnic community, regardless of voluntary or involuntary sta-tus, increases the chance for educational success and increases the likeli-hood that youth will not deviate from paths of mobility. In other words,the best course for many youth is to remain securely anchored in their

212 A. A. Akom

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Transformational

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etiquette, operationalizing social justice, self-determination, agency, and critiques of systems of power and oppression)

ethnic communities while pursuing a strategy of selective acculturation orsegmented assimilation. However, this research differs from previousresearch on selective accommodation or segmented assimilation bydocumenting the ways in which involuntary minority students can beacademically successful without being conformists and without rejectingtheir racio-ethnicity.

Consequently, if we extend the case of the NOI we can make thefollowing predictions about the kind of environments that are likely topromote academic achievement among African-American youth: (a)African Americans will achieve in school environments that create cul-tures of achievement extended to all members with a strong sense of groupownership where high expectations are explicitly and regularly com-municated in public and group settings; (b) African Americans can achievein these environments regardless of class backgrounds and prior levels ofpreparation; (c) regular and rigorous academic support services must beavailable to ensure that all students are able to achieve; and (d) deliberatesocialization is important so that all students develop practices, beliefs,behaviors, and values that support cultures of achievement (Perry, 2003).Obviously, further research is needed to uncover the extent to which thecase of the NOI is generalizable, as well as to determine the extent towhich school racial composition, gender, grade level, and other socio-economic factors affect school-related behavior and attitudes amongblack students in general, and NOI students in particular. Hopefully, thiswork will stimulate other researchers to address similar questions. Iexpect that with time some of what is presented here will be supersededby knowledge generated by better research. I theorize that there are otherachievement ideologies that exist, and that society, social science, and themedia will benefit from the illumination of their complexity.


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Please the citation from (Perry, 2003) to (Perry, Steele, & Hilliard, 2003)

APPENDIX

Table 9.2 Interview data summary

Name Grade Highest parental/guardian level ofeducation

Mother orgrandmother’soccupation

Family structure

Aisha 11th H.S. Dropout Dishwasher Single parentResides with motherNo siblings

Erikka 11th H.S. Diploma Elderly careprovider

Parents separatedResides with mother3 siblings; one older

Kesha 11th H.S. Diploma Disabled Resides withgrandmotherOne younger sibling

Latasha 11th H.S. Dropout Unemployedliving on welfare

Single parentResides with mother2 siblings; one older

Rochelle 10th H.S. Dropout Employed at localfast-foodrestaurant

Single parentResides with mother2 older siblings

Safiya 11th H.S. Diploma Unemployedliving on welfare

Parents separatedResides with motherOne younger sibling

Tiffany 11th H.S. Dropout Unemployedliving on socialsecurity

Resides withgrandmotherNo siblings

1 Admittedly, the Black achievement ideology and the mainstream achievement ideology as termsare rather unsatisfactory ways of naming processes of cultural mutation, yet as processes ofinclusion and exclusion as well as mobility processes they are integral to identity formation anddefining of community boundaries.

2 Weber (1958) argued that the “the Protestant ethic,” “the inner-worldly ascetism” rationallyexpressed in work as a calling, resulted in the creation of “the spirit of capitalism.” A similarprocess can be discerned in the NOI’s version of the Protestant work ethic, which because of itsban on wastefulness and demands for hard work, has resulted in the formation of an economicempire with assets estimated to be as much as $80,000,000 (Mamiya, 1983, p. 245).

214 A. A. Akom

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NOTES

1 The oppositional cultural explanation has three main components. The firstconcerns the way that minorities are treated or mistreated in education interms of educational policies, pedagogy, and returns for their investment orschool credentials. Ogbu and Simons (1998) referred to this as the system.The second component is about the way minorities perceive or respond toschooling as a consequence of their mistreatment. The last is how and why agroup became a minority in America in the first place. All of these factors,including explaining minority disadvantage in education as a result of a cul-ture that discourages academic effort by branding it as “acting White,” con-stitute the oppositional cultural explanation (Ogbu & Simons, 1998).

2 Authors ranging from Ogbu (1987) to Portes and Zhou (1993) have writtenabout the ways in which voluntary immigrants who wish to be identified as“American” and not foreign, acculturate into an oppositional subculturedeveloped by involuntary youth (i.e., African-American). Portes and Zhou(1993, p. 83) cited the example of Haitian children in Miami, who feelpressured to choose between remaining “Haitian” and being looked downon by their African American peers, or adopting an African-American iden-tity, which generally carries with it counter-school attitudes and behaviors.While these studies have added much to our understanding of the relation-ship between “community forces” and positive immigrant school perform-ance, few have taken sufficient account of the role of involuntary minoritycultures of mobility in shaping student identity, school experience, andacademic performance.

3 According to Hemmings (1996) Black high achievers in different school con-texts have different definitions of “Blackness.” In comparing Black highachievers in two high schools, Hemmings found that the way they reconciledbeing a “model student” and “being Black” differed. Black high achieversin a predominantly middle-class high school experienced pressure to actmiddle-class, with no distinction being made between White and Blackmiddle-class behavior. By contrast, Hemmings found that high achievers ina working-class school experienced pressure to conform to peer images of“Blackness,” which involved rejection of “Whiteness.” Hemmings’s find-ings point to the significance of school context and social class in shapinginvoluntary perceptions of “model,” “resistant,” and approaches to aca-demic success.

4 See also Cook and Ludwig (1998); Downey and Ainsworth-Darnell (1998).5 For this study, I find the concept of organizational habitus more useful than

the similar concept of organizational culture because of the former’semphasis on structure (Horvat and Antonio, 1999). While organizationalculture concentrates on the meaning conferred by the set of practices, beliefs,and rules of an organization, organizational habitus is more concerned withhow the same set of (in this case) religious-based practices, beliefs, and rulesnot only provide meaning but also structure social interaction.

6 According to the American Heritage Dictionary, third edition, ideologyrefers to (1) the body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of anindividual, a group, a class, or a culture or (2) A set of doctrines or beliefsthat form the basis of political, economic, or other systems.

7 In America, Islam is also a mosaic of many different ethnic, racial, andnational groups. The majority are first- or second-generation immigrants orAfrican-American converts (Haddad, Yasbeck & Esposito, 2000).

216 A. A. Akom

8 See Lincoln (1973); Essien-Udom (1962); Halasa (1990); Lee[M or S?](1996); Gardell (1996). However, none of the studies mentioned deals withthe relationship between the NOI’s religious socialization and enhanced edu-cational aspirations and performance. Previous research that does addressreligious socialization and its impact on educational outcomes suggests thatmany of the socialization experiences emanating from religion are conduciveto a number of positive outcomes including educational achievement(Hopson & Hopson, 1990). However, most of these studies focus on Protes-tantism, the Black church, or Catholicism, and fail to illustrate the ways inwhich processes of religious socialization influence educational achievementfor non-conventional faiths (such as Black Muslims).

9 A discussion of how I was able to establish rapport is provided under thesub-heading the setting and establishing rapport.

10 Within research literature, aspirations are often defined as those life outcomesthat are preferred or desired by individuals (MacLeod, 1987/1991).

11 Data on grade improvement were taken mainly from three sources: selfreports, school records provided by the students, and teacher records regard-ing course examinations. At Eastern, students are divided into what areknown as Small Learning Communities (SLCs). SLCs range in size between165 and 330 students. Seven teachers generally provide basic instructionin various subjects—Math, English, Science, Social Studies (the two largestSLCs, out of 9, have 28 teachers between them). Many of the women whom Iinterviewed were in different SLCs; however, all spoke of noticeable increasesin educational and occupational aspirations, study habits, and skills, sincejoining the NOI. Five out of seven indicated that their GPAs had increasedbetween .3 and .9 percent since joining the NOI per year. And the othertwo indicated one year increases of 1.1–1.3. All had joined in the 9th or 10thgrade.

12 See Burawoy et al. (1991).13 Out of a population of 1,700 students it was impossible to measure the exact

number of Black Muslim students since this information is not part of schoolrecords data. However, the Black Muslim population “appeared” to besignificant.

14 Table 9.2 Interview Data Summary.Information on occupation of fathers is omitted because none of the partici-pants had significant economic or social ties with them. All of the participantswere the first in their immediate families to join the NOI.

15 Ogbu (1983) and Ogbu and Simmons (1998) hypothesized “that the study ofcommunity forces would shed light on why immigrant minorities do well inschool while non-immigrants do less well” (p. 157). However, to my know-ledge neither of these researchers has analyzed or provided empirical data onthe role of community forces in the academic achievement of involuntaryminorities.

16 Individuals who share the same race as NOI members are often viewed aspotential members.

17 I also disagree with the notion that unless individuals have shared a specificexperience or background they will be unable to understand and appreciateone another. Indeed, as Collins noted, Black feminist thought challenges thenotion of additive oppression and replaces it with a conceptual framework inwhich “all groups possess varying amounts of penalty and privilege in onehistorically created system” (1991, p. 225); one need not win the oppressionsweepstakes in order to understand and appreciate the pain of exclusion anddomination (Horvat & Antonio, 1999).


18 This is important because it rules out the possibility that the associationbetween NOI membership and strong academic habits and aspirations aredue to selection into the NOI, rather than effects of NOI membership.

19 The NOI’s recruitment efforts have been particularly successful with respectto incarcerated criminals and drug addicts. Their record of rehabilitatingformer convicts and addicts has been acknowledged by social workers anddocumented by scholars and journalists alike (Lincoln, 1973, p. 84). This isimportant because it rules out the possibility that the association betweenNOI membership and strong academic habits and aspirations are due toselection into the NOI, rather than effects of NOI membership).

20 Muhammad refers to W.D. Muhammad, the founder of the NOI.21 Similar to AVID (Mehan et al., 1994), the NOI’s formal study groups

emphasized writing, inquiry, and collaboration, as well as role modeling/mentoring, and career-exploration. More specifically writing for the NOI isseen as a learning tool. Students are encouraged to take notes and developquestions based on their notes. In addition to note taking, members areencouraged to work through curricular readers on topics of import to theorganization. Inquiry for the NOI is viewed as a rhetorical strategy used tohelp combat white discrimination and prejudice as well as a tool to facilitateself empowerment. In order to develop inquiry as a rhetorical strategy NOIministers often use a Socratic method of questioning in their “speeches” thatinevitably guides members to a logical conclusion foreseen by the minister(see above dialogue between minister and congregation). The Socratic methodis also practiced in study groups by not giving the participants answers, butinstead encouraging them to clarify their thoughts through provocative ques-tioning. Collaboration is also a formal instructional strategy employed by theNOI. Collaboration is used by the organization to encourage members towork together for educational or entrepreneurial goals. More specifically,collaborative groups allow members to work together as sources of informa-tion and to establish boundaries in order to differentiate between whobelongs to the NOI and who does not.

22 Recently, the low expectation and the loss of “state social capital” came tofruition when Philadelphia became the first city in the country to turn over42 of its public schools to private and non-profit industry (See New YorkTimes, April 12, 2002).

23 Mac an Ghaill (1988, pp. 26, 35) termed this strategy “resistance withinaccommodation.” However, women in the NOI complicate this terminologyon two counts: first, because a central tenet of their religious indoctrinationadvocates for ‘accommodation leading towards separation, and second,because unlike Mac an Ghaill’s “Black sisters” or Gibson’s voluntary minor-ities, NOI women feel that they must (and do) speak out when the school isoperating in discriminatory ways. Consequently, the accommodation thatNOI women display is not consistent with the accommodation hypothesisoffered by Gibson (1988) or Mac an Ghaill (1988).

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Please add: Delpit, L. (1995). The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children. In Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. New York: New Press.

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220 A. A. Akom

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Should be Patillo-McCoy, M

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Should be Perry, T., Steele, C., & Hilliard, A.

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Please add: Solorzano, D. G., & Bernal, D. D. (2001). Examining Transformational Resistance Through a Critical Race and Latcrit Theory Framework: Chicana and Chicano Students in an Urban Context. Urban Education, 36 (3, May), 308-342.

reexamining resistance as oppositional behavior

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