Anas Canon, 37, is founder and pro-ducer of Remarkable Current, a re-cord label that brings positive mes-sages to the masses through music. He also runs The Hip Hop Ambassa-dors program.

Canon said he grew up around music, and with his own father a professional musician, he always had the passion for it.

Born and raised in the Bay Area in California, he actually got his start through dancing and that eventually paved the way for him to get into the music industry.“I was kind of a heavy breaker back then and kept dancing for a long time. In the mid ‘90s I switched over and got into music.”

These days you can find Canon work-ing on a variety of projects, but for

Anas Canon - bringing positive messages & music to the massesBY MARIAM SOBHHIJABTRENDZ

more inside

` Arab rappers band together to create song of solidartiy for the Middle East and North Africa..............................................................` Changing jobs is a great time to make your 401K halal..............................................................` Talk about eating disorders with your teenagers.............................................................` Meet, Kareem Salama, a Muslim singer who is taking on the country music scene..............................................................` Mattress Firm refuses to sell to woman wearning niqab ..............................................................` Plano ISD needs leaders who will create strong vision for our children..............................................................

CANON continues on page 4 >>

Joining Gov. Rick Perry’s declara-tion for a three-day period of “Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas,” the Texas chapter of Council on Amer-ican-Islamic Relations (CAIR-TX) had called on mosques across the state to of-fer prayers for rain.

Perry’s declaration was for prayer from Friday, April 22 - Sunday, April 24 - the three-day Easter weekend.

“Throughout our history, both as a state and as individuals, Texans have been strengthened, assured and lifted up through prayer,” Perry said. “It is fit-ting that Texans should join together in prayer to humbly seek an end to this ongoing drought and these devastating wildfires, and for the safety of the brave firefighters and emergency management officials who have worked tirelessly to

protect lives and property around the state.”

CAIR-TX urged state mosques to offer special Is-lamic prayers, called Salatul Is-tisqa. This prayer was tradition-ally offered by the Prophet Muham-mad during times of drought.

“Texans of all faiths should offer whatever spiritual as-sistance they can in the effort to mitigate the negative impact of this drought on our state,” said CAIR-Texas Executive Director Mustafa Carroll.

In 2007, Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue

convened a prayer service at the state Capitol when his state was suffering its own drought.

The state currently is affected by the worst drought since the 1930s, which

CAIR-Texas calls on mosques to pray for rainBY MARIUM F. MOHIUDDIN

DROUGHT continues on page 9 >>

After five weeks of reporting on revolts around the Arab world, Al-Jazeera finds itself at the center of a new uprising — and this time, it’s fueled by American interest.

Once maligned (“a mouthpiece of al Qaeda” and “inexcusably biased,” former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said), the Qatar-based news channel is enjoying positive press and more demand from inside the U.S. than at any other point in its rocky history. It prides itself on layered, in-depth

coverage of global events stretching from the favelas of Brazil to the rubble of Haiti, and it has offered some of the most comprehensive, round-the-clock coverage of the disastrous earthquake and tsunami in Japan thanks to reporting teams stationed in the region before the disaster struck.

When Al-Jazeera English (AJE) launched in 2006, few really expected this experiment out of the Gulf to work — after all, it was born in a region where media is largely a tool of the government, so what could it possibly know about competing against other global network-news giants? It kicked off by hiring veteran journalists from the West,

AL-JAZEERA continues on page 8 >>

Why American networks won’t carry Al-JazeeraBY LORRAINE ALI &MARISA GUTHRIETHE HOLLYWOODREPORTER

Al-Jazeera broadcast center in Doha, Qatar.

If God gave you skill set, it’s your duty to share it with the world

-- Anas Canon

“

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03 FEATURE

Did you say good-bye to a former employer and leave your 401(K) account languishing on the doorstep? Long gone are the days when people worked for a single company from their first job through retirement. Workers today often change jobs (if not their careers) frequently. That can add up to a lot of 401(K) accounts being left behind.

If you’ve moved on to a new job, I have some good news for you. Your 401(K) options just got bigger and better. But first, you may be tempted to cash out of your former employer’s plan. Keep in mind that your decision will generally result in a current income-tax liability on taxable amounts and, possibly, a 10% early distribution penalty. Moreover, you’ll lose the tax deferred benefits that come with investing in a retirement plan. For most people, cashing out your plan

should be your last resort.

Changing jobs means you’ll be able to roll over your 401(K) to an IRA. Why is that a good thing? For starters, you’ll no longer be limited to your former employer’s plan’s mutual fund options. That means you can have your retirement start growing in a Shari’ah compliant (halal) manner.

If done correctly, you won’t incur any tax consequences and your retirement nest egg will be invested according to your values. Your earnings will continue to grow tax free until you withdraw them at age 59½. Expenses are something else you should consider.

Some employers may charge former employees account maintenance fees for leaving their money in a plan, which could take a toll on your returns. By rolling over your plan money into an IRA, you’ll be better able to control your account’s fees.

BY AYMAN KHALILINVESTMENT ADVISER REPRESENTATIVE AZZAD ASSET MANAGEMENT

Changing jobs is a great time to make your 401(K) halal!

401K continues on page 13 >>

04 HEALTH

What is an eating disorder?

An eating disorder is an obsession with food and weight that harms a person’s well-being. Although we all worry about our weight sometimes, people who have an eat-ing disorder go to extremes to keep from gaining weight. There are 2 main eating dis-orders: anorexia nervosa and bulimia.

What is anorexia?

People who have anorexia are obsessed with being thin. They don’t want to eat, and they are afraid of gaining weight. They may constantly worry about how many calories they take in or how much fat is in their food. They may take diet pills, laxa-tives or water pills to lose weight. They may exercise too much. People who have anorexia usually think they’re fat even though they’re very thin. They may get so thin that they look like they’re sick.

What is bulimia?

Bulimia is eating a lot of food at once (called bingeing), and then throwing up or using laxatives to remove the food from the body (called purging). After a binge, some bulimics fast (don’t eat) or overex-ercise to keep from gaining weight. People who have bulimia may also use water pills, laxatives or diet pills to “control” their weight. People who have bulimia often try to hide their bingeing and purging. They may hide food for binges. People who have bulimia are usually close to normal weight, but their weight may go up and down.

What causes eating disorders?

Doctor don’t know exactly. Possible causes include feeling stressed out or up-set about something in your life, or feel-ing like you need to be “in control.” Soci-ety also puts a lot of pressure on people to be thin. This pressure can contribute too.

What’s wrong with trying to be thin?

Eating disorders: facts for your teens

QA&HEALTH ADVICE

DISORDER continues on page 5 >>

Did you know?8,000,000 or more people in the United States have an eating disorder.

90% are women.

Victims may be rich or poor.

Eating disorders usually start in the teens but may begin as early as age 8.

Source: National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.

05 FEATURE & HEALTH

DISORDER continued from page 4 >>

It’s healthy to watch what you eat and to exercise. What isn’t healthy is worrying all the time about your weight and what you eat. People who have eating disorders do harmful things to their bodies because of their obsession about their weight.

If it isn’t treated, anorexia can cause the following health problems:

• Stomach problems• Heart problems• Irregular periods or no periods• Fine hair all over the body, including the face• Dry, scaly skin

If it isn’t treated, bulimia can cause the following health problems:

• Stomach problems• Heart problems• Kidney problems• Dental problems• Dehydration•

Can eating disorders be treated?

Yes. For people who have anorexia, the first step is getting back to a normal weight. If you’re malnourished or very thin, you may be put in the hospital. Your doctor will probably want you to see a dietitian to learn how to pick healthy foods and eat at regular times. For both people who have anorexia and bulimia, family and individual counsel-ing (talking about your feelings about your weight and problems in your life) is helpful.

When Andrew Mitchell, the cultural affairs officer at the US Embassy in Egypt, heard that a Muslim dude was making a go of it as a country star, he thought it was "the funniest thing I'd ever heard."

So Mitchell began checking out Kareem Salama's stuff—his two self-released albums, Generous Peace and This Life of Mine, and his 2007 hit song "Generous Peace," whose video is as wholesome as an ABC After-School Special. "Gentlemen, I'm like

incense; the more you burn me, the more I'm fragrant," Salama sings, echoing the writings of the eight century Islamic scholar Muhammed Al-Shafi'ee.

"That is a concept," Mitchell recalls thinking, "that if I could broadcast anything to this part of the world, that's what I would say."

Salama is an American, born of Egyptian parents—engineers both—who came to the US for college and

ultimately settled down here. They raised Kareem and his three siblings in the rural town of Ponca City, Oklahoma. The town had no mosque, and only one other Muslim family lived there, but the children learned Islamic traditions at home. Salama, now 33, considers himself devout; he prays regularly, and doesn't drink.

A devout Muslim, Salama is also a rodeo-going, country music-loving southerner. "I grew up in a place where country music is kinda like crickets," he explains in his heavy drawl. "You just hear it everywhere you go."Culturally, though, he identifies as a rodeo-going, country music-loving southerner. "I grew up in a place where country music is kinda like crickets," Salama explains in his heavy drawl. "You just hear it everywhere you go."

The more Mitchell learned about Salama, the more excited he became about the stereotype-busting potential of his story. Egyptians (and Americans) tend to associate country music—and the American Islamophobia.

Hats off to Kareem Salama, America’s Muslim Country Star

SALAMA continues on page 11 >>

MATTRESS FIRM REFUSES TO SELL TO NIQAB-WEARING WOMAN

(ST. LOUIS POST DISPATCH) - Syeeda Hussaini has suffered from neck pain the past few years, to the extent that it’s difficult for her to drive and get a good night’s rest.

So on a recent weekend, she, her husband, and their three kids loaded up the car and drove less than a mile to Mattress Firm. Her husband, Mohammad, encouraged her to lie on differ-ent beds to see which one felt best.

She said the store manager approached, but oddly didn’t want to help. He told the family that he wouldn’t sell them a mattress for security reasons, she said.

Hussaini, 27, who is Muslim, covers all but her hands, feet and eyes in public to show respect for femininity and her religion. She said the manager told her she needed to show her face for ser-vice. Mohammad, a pathology resident at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, tried to explain that his wife dressed this way to be modest, much like Catholic nuns. But the manager stomped off, they say.

Hussaini wrote a letter to a regional representative of the company after the March 12 visit to the store. An official at Mattress Firm headquarters in Houston said the company “has a zero tolerance policy on racial and religious profiling.” Spokeswoman Sunni Goodman would not comment specifically about the manager, but she confirmed the encounter happened.

“As soon as we were informed of the incident, we took appropriate action to address the situ-ation,” she said.

The manager no longer works for Mattress Firm.

BULLIES HANG 8-YEAR-OLD MUSLIM BOY IN BATHROOM STALL

(BET) - The father of an 8-year-old Lou-isville, Kentucky boy, found hanging on a hook in his school’s bathroom stall last week, wants answers and says the school could have done something to prevent the episode.

The incident occurred last week while Mo-hamed Hussein’s class at Frayser Elementary school was on a bathroom break.

He told me that he was in the bathroom and that when he tried to get out, two boys pushed him in, his father told a Lexington television station via a translator. Kateba is a Somali im-migrant whose family moved to Kentucky in 2005.

“They hold my neck and try to break my neck. When they tried to break my neck, they pulled me in and hang me up,” Kateba said his son told him.

A school security guard found Hussein unconscious. He sustained serious injuries and was just released from the hospital this week.

School officials say that the teacher was standing near the bathroom, but didn’t hear any indi-cations that anything was wrong.

Kateba says he complained to the school about his son being bullied before and that they could’ve done something to squash the problem early on. “They are not treating my child like a human being,” said Kateba.

School officials say they don’t have record of Kateba complaining about bullying. Police are investigating the incident.

VOLUNTEER FOR MASJID AL ISLAM’S HUMANITARIAN DAY

On Saturday May 21, 2011 Humanitarian Day DFW will present its 10th bi-annual Humani-tarian Day/Day of Dignity event devoted to helping make a difference for those in need in the Dallas Fort Worth community.

The event will take place at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center at 2922 MLK Blvd. in Dallas, Texas. The Event will run from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Donated items

06 BRIEFS

Briefs . . .

BRIEFS continued on page 7>>

Mohamed Hussein with his father, Kateba.

07 BRIEFS

for the event will be new and lightly used clothes, nonperishable food items, hygiene items, pampers, toys, and much more. A health fair is scheduled to run concurrently with 40+ volunteer doctors and nurses performing diabetes, cholesterol, tuberculo-sis, and HIV testing, blood pressure checks, dental, eye exams and a general health screening. Volunteers of this year’s event expect to serve 4000 Dallas residents.

Humanitarian Day DFW is a group comprised of different religious, social service and busi-ness organizations within the DFW metropolitan area, all working together to give back to the community. To assist in this event, dozens of business, civic and political leaders have been invited to help make this event a success. Some co-sponsors of the event are: Dal-las Area Rapid Transit (DART), Martin Luther King Community Center Dallas and Dallas County Schools to name a few. Everyone is welcome!

Humanitarian Day DFW understands and empathizes with DFW residents that are experi-encing challenging situations. We are working to make a difference with this special day. We invite everyone to participate by contributing to this worthwhile effort, either financially or physically. Please visit our website at www.dfwhumanitarianday.com. Or call 214-205-0846 for more information.

AMANA FUNDS RECEIVES BEST GLOBAL EQUITY FUND AWARDS

Saturna Capital Corporation, a U.S. investment management company, has received two “Best Global Equity Fund” awards for the performance of the Amana Income and Amana Growth Funds, the world’s largest shariah compliant equity funds open to the public. The official announcement came during the Sixth Annual 2010 Failaka Islamic Fund Awards Ceremony on April 17, 2011, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Amana Growth Fund won Best Global Equity Fund in the one-year category by achieving the best performance among 30 shariah compliant equity funds for the one-year period ending December 31, 2010. Amana Income Fund won Best Global Equity Fund for its performance among six shariah compliant funds for the five-year period ending December 31, 2010. Saturna Capital, adviser to the shariah compliant Amana Mutual Funds Trust since 1989, has accumulated 10 Islamic Fund Awards in various categories and has earned at least one Failaka Award each year since Failaka Advisors inaugurated the annual event in 2005. “The Failaka Awards are unique to the Islamic fund industry. They help us gauge our performance against a global set of peers which adhere to Islamic principles of finance, in addition to the evaluation we receive against U.S. funds by Morningstar and Lipper rating agencies,” said Nicholas Kaiser, portfolio manager of the Amana Funds, and chairman and founder of Saturna Capital. “As the market for Islamic in-vestment instruments continues to grow rapidly, particularly in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the Failaka Awards helps us to differentiate our firm by demonstrating our long track record of success in sharia compliant asset management.” Failaka Advisors, established in 1996, is a globally recognized research and consult-ing firm serving the shariah compliant fund industry. Last year, Saturna accepted the Failaka Islamic Fund Award for Best Global Equity Fund in the three-year category for Amana Income Fund. In 2008, the Amana Income Fund swept the Best U.S. Islamic Fund category with performance awards in one-, three- and five-year categories.

DEPT. OF JUSTICE MAY RE-OPEN MALCOLM X ASSASINATION CASE

The U.S. Department of Justice is studying whether to reexamine the 1965 assas-sination of Malcolm X.

Department spokesman Xochitl Hinojosa said the department is reviewing “the re-quest to open the Malcolm X murder. We decline further comment at this time.” Alvin Sykes of Kansas City — architect of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act who in an April 6 letter asked the Justice Department to review Malcolm X’s assassination — praised the department’s consideration.

He said he is hoping Attorney General Eric Holder will bring “more investigative resources and prosecutorial jurisdiction to credibly address the guilt or innocence of a broader net of past, present and potentially future suspects in this case.”

A new biography by the late Manning Marable raises questions about who was involved in Malcolm X’s killing at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on Feb. 21, 1965 — less than a year after he had left the Nation of Islam. Sykes said the Justice Department should examine the assassination to see whether anyone has evaded prosecution, he said. It’s just as important, he said, to also determine if anyone was wrongly convicted.

Two men convicted of the assassination of Malcolm X, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, have maintained their innocence.

BRIEFS continued from page 6>>

08 FEATURE

Al-Jazeera English seen as more ‘credible’ sourceincluding David Frost and Dave Marash, and broadcasting from dedicated new bureaus in London and Washington. Today, AJE gathers news from 70

bureaus around the world (compared with CNN’s 33 foreign bureaus) with 400 reporters, and it is available in 100 countries and 255 million households.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently held up Al Jazeera as a paragon of objective journalism, asserting that the network provides “real news,” in contrast to its would-be cable news competitors.

“It is real news instead of a million commercials and … arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news,” she said as she stood before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in March.

“Like it or hate it, it is really effective.” But the network remains shut out in America — including areas with large Arab populations such as Los Angeles, New York and Detroit — largely because cable operators have no interest in carrying it.

The station has managed to secure carriage in only three U.S. markets: Washington, Burlington, VT, and northwest Ohio. (Several major operators including Comcast, DISH Network and DirecTV reversed earlier plans to carry the channel in 2007.)

It streams content on a dedicated YouTube channel, its own website and a smattering of other satellite and Internet channels. And in the wake of the uprisings in Egypt, streaming player Roku added it to its Newscaster channel.

Cable and satellite providers in the U.S. have received more than 40,000 e-mails from customers urging they carry AJE, according to AJE managing director Al Anstey. The network’s website traffic shot up 2,500 percent in the wake of the ongoing revolts, with half of that originating in the U.S.

Al Jazeera’s 24/7 coverage of the uprisings, coupled with its stream of reporters on scene, also proved invaluable to U.S. news networks.

Fox News and MSNBC used Al-Jazeera’s feed and referenced its reports after American news teams bailed out amid the chaos. “Al Jazeera almost has an element

of political correctness now,” said analyst Matthew Harrigan of Wunderlich Securities. “There’s a sense they’re fostering democracy in the Middle East.”

All of which must be gratifying for the

journalists and executives at “English,” as the staff has dubbed the network. But if AJE is in better position than ever before to land a significant carriage deal, then its spring awakening comes as the cable news market might have peaked.

After more than a dozen years of audience growth, all three of the top U.S. cable news networks — Fox News, MSNBC and CNN — have experienced audience erosion, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ).

“It was a real blow to AJE when they couldn’t get their foot in the door when they launched,” said television news analyst Andrew Tyndall. “Now the irony is that the great heyday of making money off a cable news operation is over.”

Viewership for CNN, Fox News and MSNBC was down 13.7 percent in aggregate during 2010 for a sharper decline than in any other sector, according to PEJ’s annual State of the News Media report.

And for the first time in the dozen years since PEJ began monitoring cable news networks, every channel was down (spikes such as the current ones for Japan coverage are fleeting).

CNN, with its well-publicized primetime woes, was off the most in 2010: 37 percent, to 564,000 viewers. Fox News, the No. 1 cable news network, declined 11 percent, and MSNBC — which finished 2010 ahead of CNN — was down 5 percent. Any objective measure of AJE’s ratings potential must be weighed against what might be a downward trend in cable news.

But AJE also offers the possibility of a highly targeted niche audience. The network does not specifically target Arab-Americans; it is presented in English, after all. But with more than 4 million Americans identifying themselves as of Arab descent, according to the nonprofit American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, AJE has a measure of built-in brand recognition.

“A very targeted audience attracts advertisers,” said PEJ deputy director

Amy Mitchell. “The argument there is, yes, their potential audience is small, but it’s very targeted so you know what kinds of ads you want to place.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, median income in Arab-American households is 19 percent higher than the national average, and Arab-Americans with postgraduate degrees earn nearly double the national average.

And Al-Jazeera’s executives are determined to capitalize on the recent groundswell. Anstey described recent meetings with executives at Comcast, Time Warner Cable

and Cablevision as “very positive.”

“I do believe it’s a question of when, not if, we strike a deal,” he said. “We discussed the fact that AJE is increasingly being described by people in the United States as a journal of reference.”

But unless you’re Oprah Winfrey, it’s difficult to maneuver onto increasingly crowded cable and satellite systems at a time when companies are scrutinizing ratings for niche channels in an effort to reduce costs. “Even if the cable operator doesn’t have to pay, he’s indirectly paying in the sense that he’s providing real estate, and real estate has value,” said Jon Swallen, senior vp research at Kantar Media. “And all that he’s going to recoup is local

ad revenue. So you’ve got to assume that a cable operator is looking at this and saying, ‘What’s the revenue potential to me for giving up this slice of real estate?’ ”

The availability of video-on-demand channels that don’t suck up precious linear bandwidth also is a complicating factor. “The idea is, ‘Why should we launch a channel when we can throw some content on VOD?’ ” said Derek Baine, senior analyst at SNL Kagan.

For AJE in particular, he adds, the move could be even more difficult because it is an anomaly in the broadcast world: “I could see more of a shared channel block; Comcast has done that in the past so they don’t have to pick up the whole channel.”

Of the three companies that carry AJE, one is municipally owned and one is a nonprofit, and none pays a fee to carry the network.

Burlington Telecom reaches about 3,000 subscribers; Washington-based MHz Networks, which reaches nearly 5 million households, is a noncommercial broadcaster that specializes in international and educational programming; and Buckeye CableSystem serves 150,000 subs in northwest Ohio.

In the argument for AJE, public service

AL-JAZEERA continued from page 1>>

Today, Al-Jazeera English gathers news from 70 bureaus around the world (compared with CNN’s 33 foreign bureaus) with 400 reporters, and it is available in 100 countries and 255 million households.

It is real news instead of a million commercials and ... arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news. Like it or hate it, it is really effective.

-- Hillary ClintonSecretary of State

“

AL-JAZEERA continues on page 8>>

09 FEATURE

has resulted in extreme wildfire danger.

More than 8,000 wildfires, fueled by the drought conditions and abnormally ab-normally strong winds throughout the spring season, have resulted in the loss of several lives, destruction of 400 homes, killing three people since last year, and more than 2 million acres devastated.

However, after repeatedly saying he wants the U.S. government to keep out of the affairs of Texans, Perry recently sent a letter to President Obama request-ing more federal resources, including money, to fight the wildfires.

Those prayers have, if conducted, re-mained unanswered for the most part, as much of the state still finds itself strug-gling with a lingering drought of ex-treme and exceptional proportions.

FEMA spokesman Bradley Carroll states Perry’s letter for statewide disaster dec-laration is under review.

“Texas continues to pull all resources available toward fighting these fires, and we’re doing everything at the state level to continue fighting this and en-sure that we protect property in Texas as best as possible,” said Catherine Frazier, spokeswoman for Perry’s office, accord-ing to CSM.

DROUGHT continued from page 1>>AL-JAZEERA continued from page 8>>

eclipses dollars and cents. Executives stress that the network offers coverage in a part of the world where bottom-line-conscious Western news organizations long ago shuttered bureaus.

The Arab network doesn’t have to rely on advertising or carriage fees for its revenue. It’s funded by Qatar Media Corp., an operation subsidized by the state and chaired by Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Anstey said despite being funded by the rulers of an Arabian emirate, the network maintains a balanced journalistic approach, even when covering Qatar.

When the network launched in 1996 out of Doha with dedicated bureaus in Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington, Al-Jazeera was based on the BBC model: straightforward newscasts cultivated through hard-nosed reporting.

But even then, it didn’t always strike a balance between unbiased news and a viewpoint sympathetic to Arab causes.

The network was criticized in the U.S. for an alleged anti-Israel bias and derided in the Middle East as so anti-establishment that it influenced news rather than reporting it. Al-Jazeera also caught flack from the Bush administration for reporting, in a very graphic manner, on civilian deaths in Fallujah following

the American-led invasion of Iraq. And while Al-Jazeera has received public support in high places, it’s courting controversy-averse U.S. cable and satellite carriers as the country is mired in a public debate about Islam and radicalization.

In December, Houston radio station KPFT drew protests from the community when it began airing an AJE-produced news hour. “The anti-Muslim, anti-Arab hysteria is beyond comprehension,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based Muslim advocacy group.

“It’s distorting our national dialogue. It’s

distorting our nation’s interests and image around the world. But it seems to be gaining traction. So of course [companies] want to avoid the hassles of having a bunch of people e-mail them and call them and protest outside their building.”

Even the reliably progressive enclave of Burlington has not been immune to flare-ups. In 2007, Burlington Telecom threatened to dump AJE over what management described as persistent viewer complaints. A series of public

forums produced a lopsided majority in favor of keeping the channel, and in 2008 it reached a new deal with the city-owned cable carrier.

Still, many believe it’s only a matter of time before wider distribution comes. “The Gulf Region has become a tourist destination, a stopover travel hub and a media center,” Tyndall said.

“Really the Las Vegas and the Singapore of the Middle East — Al-Jazeera is part and parcel of that push. It’s establishing itself as a modern face of the Arab world. People around the world know about that. The U.S. is really the last to discover it.

Despite being funded by the rulers of an Arabian emirate, the network maintains a balanced journalistic approach, even when covering Qatar.

-- Al AnsteyAl-Jazeera English Managing Director

“

his day job he works as a recording en-gineer in the mainstream music industry.

“I produce and write music for film, TV and independent artists.”

Canon also produces a free weekly mu-sic set that anyone can download and listen to. He’s got a desire to share his talent with the world and give people a chance to hear music from a variety of genres.

As far as his own musical influences he says it shifts around week to week.

“I don’t listen to much new music. It’s mostly only as a reference point for what is going on. I like a lot of old stuff. I don’t wear or listen to anything after 1965.”

Canon is passionate about his work be-cause he said the music industry doesn’t really give an artist that much freedom.

“The responsibility is on the individual. Companies do what companies do. Their job isn’t to educate, it isn’t to push forward. Their job pretty much is to manufacture a product or deliver a service and that’s what they do. There is no excuse to not go out and see what’s beyond the horizon.”

Canon feels very strong about the need for folks to support independent artists.

“There are a lot of people who like the idea of independent artists, but if you’re

not sponsored, then you’re working a day job. It’s important to support indepen-dent artists. Sometimes it’s just reaching out and writing nice letters. If I see a fan letter written from the heart about how a piece of music changed their life, it’s touching and it motivates me.”

His advice to aspiring artists is to fig-ure out what your intention is. He says to ask yourself whether you want to make music so you can make money? Or do you really feel compelled to do it because you love it as an art form?

Canon said the difference between do-ing it for commerce or for arts sake is that for the first one you’ll have to as-sess the market and see what sells. But if you go for the latter you’ll have a much more pure piece of art because you’ve already accepted that you may not make anything off of it.

As far as where Muslim women fit into the whole equation of arts and entertain-ment, Canon says it’s kind of tough to navigate, because people have so many different interpretations. But ultimately it’s up to the individual to decide wheth-er they’re willing to deal with some of the stigma that may come from it.

“We’re not in a situation particularly here in the West where we need to ask permission. The women standing on the sidelines who want to contribute, if they’re feeling shy or concerned about what will come from the community, the only thing stopping them is them. If God gave you a skill set, it’s your

duty to share it with the world.”

He’s been very supportive of women in the performing arts and has helped produce material for The Hijabi Mono-logues and Poetic Pilgrimage.

“As a label owner and a producer. I seek out good art. I don’t really look at it whether it’s coming from someone from a particular religious background or gender or ethnicity. Many people would love to see women contributing more- especially in the Muslim com-munity. Women just have to go and do it and be willing to go with the stigma.”

Last year, Canon and Remarkable Cur-rent were able to spread their wings be-yond America. They took a two-week tour of Indonesia, performing hip hop

shows to thousands of Indonesians at concerts that were broadcast throughout Southeast Asia to millions of viewers.

As cultural ambassadors, Remarkable Current also provided person-to-person outreach through panel discussions, Q & A sessions, press conferences, radio interviews and musical collaborations with young people, from orphanages to universities, with a message of peace and unity.

The response was unprecedented and the tour received more press coverage than any other arts program invited to the region.

If you want to keep updated on Remark-able Current and their various projects, make sure to join their fan page on Face-book or check out their website at re-

10 FEATURE

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Anas Canon performed in Ramallah, Palestine

Many prominent Arab hip-hop artists inspired by uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have released music

in solidarity with protesters in the re-gion.

Though the messages of these new songs are not necessarily new to Arab hip-hop, the urgency and relevance of

this new music has gained these artists increasing international attention.

While Arab hip-hop started to gain its recognition in the ‘90s, tracing back the history can be difficult in light of the

fact that it stems from such a complex fusion of diasporic communities, peo-ple, art and culture. In North America, for instance, artists such as Fredwreck and The Narcicyst are cited as pioneers of Arab hip-hop, while groups such as DAM are credited with jump-starting the movement in Palestine.

“Yeah, there’s an Arab hip-hop scene, but it’s a global scene, it’s not like a lo-calized scene,” said Excentrik, an East Bay music producer, “actionist” (action activist and oud player). “Unfortunate-ly, there’s not enough cats doing quality s**t that have like a [single] place to go in any of these cities... It’s an esoteric scene, it’s random because it’s so big and so spread apart.”

While there are certainly active indig-enous Arab hip-hop scenes throughout much of North Africa and the Middle East, the majority of the most celebrat-ed emcees in the global scene are based in North America and Europe, where hip-hop has had a longer history and

Arab rappers sing for solidarity ofuprising in Middle East and North Africa

BY AISHA FUKUSHIMA NEW AMERICA MEDIA

Anas Canon performed in Ramallah, Palestine

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South—with conservatism. And they tend to associate conservatives withIslamophobia. Egyptians will say, "'Oh, he's a cowboy. He's a conservative. He hates all Muslims,'" Mitchell says. "We can show them: Here's an Oklahoma cowboy who not only doesn't hate Muslims, he is a Muslim!"

In US diplomacy terms, Salama was a "total winner all around," Mitchell says. So he pulled some strings. Last summer, Salama was invited to participate in a six-week, US government-sponsored tour of the Middle East. The program included both concerts and group discussions at schools and community centers. Salama jumped at the opportunity. "I like to focus on a message of reconciliation and bringing people together," he says.

Everywhere he went—Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Morocco, Kuwait, and Syria—there were droves of people at his appearances, especially children. "A lot of times when we talked about things like respecting people who are different than you and being tolerant, it was clear that they had already discussed those things in school," Salama recalls. (He included some tour footage in the video for his pop song, "Makes Me Crazy.")

But Salama refused to engage Middle Easterners on controversial topics. If, for example, an audience member asked why the US government was sponsoring his tour while simultaneously providing billions of dollars in military aid to repressive Arab regimes, Salama dodged the question.

"I'm not a politician and I don't like to talk about politics," he explains. "I told them that I don't answer political questions. And

the press corps was like: Why? And I said because, at the end of the day, I think it's a waste of your time. Most of you have never voted in your lives or effected any change in the government whatsoever. And the intelligent person always focuses in their lives on the things that they can actually do something about."

Sometimes, Salama would simply redirect the conversation. "There was a moment when we were in Jordan when a kid who was of Palestinian descent asked me something about America's foreign policy. I looked at JJ [an American friend], and I put my hand on his shoulder, and I said, 'Did JJ ever do anything to you?' And his face completely changed. He softened in that moment and just goes, 'No he hasn't.' And that was it."

Salama's songs can be spiritual, but they're not overtly Islamic. Nor do his lyrics criticize American foreign policy. One song, "Baby I'm a Soldier," tells the fictional story of two dying soldiers from opposing sides, emphasizing their common humanity—but it takes no jabs at US military actions.

In Bahrain, Salama performed at schools that primarily served the country's more-affluent Sunni community. At the time, he was unaware of religious tensions

in Bahrain, or that the Western-backed government, which has close ties with Saudi Arabia, systematically represses and discriminates against the country's Shiite majority. "I'm pretty woefully ignorant of Bahrain in general," Salama acknowledges.

But he did tell audiences in Bahrain and elsewhere about his idyllic childhood in Oklahoma. "I didn't experience much" discrimination, he told me, adding that he even played the lead in his sixth-grade Christmas play.

"There's an old Arabic poem that says, 'It's sad to see a man who has 100 good days, and he always complains about the one bad day.' Even if there was something bad that happened, I've had such a beautiful life and a beautiful experience growing up where I did."

Salama is pretty patriotic. Even so, he sometimes encounters bigotry online. In 2007, after he appeared on Fox News to talk about racial profiling, some anonymous Fox commenters claimed he was a "terrorist hiding in the open," and not a "real" American.

The 2010 tour was part of a larger "public diplomacy" program that costs US taxpayers more than $100 million each year in the Middle East alone,

according to a State Department official. Every embassy in the world has a public diplomacy division that engages in various outreach activities, hoping to nurture person-to-person relationships between Americans and foreigners.

That's in addition to the Peace Corps, a federal program whose budget was $400 million last year. Another $1.3 billion has been allocated to the Muslim World Outreach Program—this multi-year federal initiative, launched in 2003 by the National Security Council, aims to "transform Islam from within" by supporting secular, liberal Arab organizations as well as the work of secular, liberal Muslim scholars.

Mitchell believes cultural-exchange programs help combat extremism, and implies that many Arab civilians are simply unaware that most Americans are decent human beings. He offers a hypothetical scenario where a kid meets Salama and is later approached by a jihadist who insists that America is "the Great Satan." That kid, Mitchell says, "is going to say, 'Wait a minute. I met an American. And he was a Muslim. And he was nice. They are not all the Great Satan.'"

In March, inspired by the revolutions sweeping the Middle East, Salama released a new song and video called "Be Free Now." But out of respect for pro-democracy activists, he's postponed the release of his latest album, City of Lights, until May 24.

The new album is a mix of country-western and catchy pop tunes. "I guess it's just a gut feeling," he says of the postponement. Releasing it now "might appear like, 'He's over there in America busy with his music and stuff, and we are going through this much more important thing.'"

Oh, he’s a cowboy. He’s a conservative. He hates all Muslims. We can show them: Here’s an Oklahoma cowboy who not only doesn’t hate Muslims, he is Muslim.

-- Andrew MitchellCultural Affairs Officer U.S. Embassy in Egypt

“Kareem Salama, an Muslim American country singer, seen performing in Kuwait in May 2010, is breaking stereotypes and boundaries.

12 OPINION

Plano ISD needs new leaders for sake of our children’s futureWe love our children and do our best to bring them up well. But do we ever write a vision statement for their lives? Our founding fathers wrote a vision statement for our country and made it the preamble to our country’s constitution.

If I were to write a vision statement for my children’s lives I would borrow from the U. S. Constitution, I would envision a life for my children where they live in a land of justice, a land where their lives are full of peace and tranquility, a land of prosperity and abundance. This is a paraphrase of part of the preamble.

I cannot give my children such a fine future, and neither can you, but perhaps together we might achieve this dream for all our children. A just society, for example, is a blessing from God to righteous, God fearing people.

No matter how hard we try to create a just society, a land without virtue cannot produce justice. But if our communities embrace virtuous living and follow a Godly path, then our children might live in a land of

justice, peace, and tranquility.

A good education can help our children live in a land of prosperity and abundance. The skills we can impart to our children through a good education empower them to create inventions, products, businesses and jobs.

An education with insufficient skills squanders our children’s future. Some of us home school our children. Some of us send our children to private schools,

but most of us rely on the public schools to provide our children with the skills they need to achieve a prosperous life.

When we look at our property tax bills we can see that the largest part of our tax bill goes to our public schools. Our schools are vital to our children’s future and we spend a great deal of money on our schools, but we do not follow very closely how our money is spent.

By buying a building and committing to new financial commitments at a time when teachers are being laid

off, the old board of Plano ISD trustees has placed a heavy burden on the new board.

We need the best people available to join the board, deal with the heavy financial pressures, and help our children achieve the bright future we envision for them.

I encourage you to vote for Michael Friedman and David Stolle for the Plano ISD Board of Trustees. I have heard them in numerous meetings, including the meeting at the Mosque on Independence Parkway. I believe they are the men we need to help our children achieve a bright future.

Robert Canright is a writer, educa-tor, scientist, mathematician, and en-gineer. Canright has taught math in Texas public schools and taught cir-cuit theory to engineering students at a university. He has done Re-search & Development at a Fortune 50 company, as well as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software engineering, and systems

engineering. He has been a candidate for the Plano ISD Board of Trustees and has written a philosophy book: “Achieve Lasting Happiness.” Canright holds degrees in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and mathematics. He is a licenced professional engineer in electrical engineering.

faces less challenges in terms of cen-sorship.

That said, artists still find opportunities to collaborate and work together across both national and international lines. “Most of us Arab rappers are very well connected,” said Rush of Cairo’s pre-mier rap group, Arabian Knightz. Col-laborations between rappers can be re-corded from different studios and files can be shared with the click of a mouse. “The combination of hip-hop and the Internet, and the ability to record it and put it up online immediately and bypass all these typical media outlets and typi-cal industry outlets is what makes it so powerful,” explained Syrian-American rapper Omar Offendum in a phone in-terview from Los Angeles.

In North America, Iraqi-Canadian rap-per, The Narcicyst and Omar Offendum are two of the most highly acclaimed emcees in the global Arab hip-hop

scene. Omar Offendum often evokes the work of Arab poets through his lyrics, emphasizing the links between poetry and hip-hop. The Narcicyst, who recently released a book entitled “Fear of an Arab Planet: The Diatribes of a Dying Tribe,” touches on themes ranging from Orientalism to homeland security in his music. One of his most popular songs, ‘P.H.A.T.W.A.’ released in 2009, is set in an airport. “We went from, supported to subordinate, can’t afford it, ordered / My motherland smothered and mortared, morbid, at borders / I’m sorted out from beard-less cats that boarded the plane as I was boarding,” The Narcicyst raps.

The UK also boasts some of the world’s most recognized Arab rap artists such as Lowkey, who is of British and Iraqi heritage, and Palestinian rapper, Shad-ia Mansour, also known as “The First Lady of Arabic Hip-Hop.” Both are known for linking artistry and activism, rapping about topics such as Palestinian resistance, occupation and terrorism.

“They calling me a terrorist / Like they don’t know who the terror is / When they put it on me, I tell them this / I’m all about peace and love / They calling me a terrorist / Like they don’t know who the terror is / Insulting my intel-ligence / Oh how these people judge,” raps Lowkey in the song “Terrorist.” Together, they have toured extensive-ly and collaborated on titles such as “Long Live Palestine” which incorpo-rates Mansour’s distinctive Arabic flow and emotive singing voice.

Rapping in the Middle East

In Tunisia, a young emcee by the name of El Général was among the first in the Arab hip-hop scene to gain inter-national attention for his raps related to the most recent waves of political unrest in the North Africa. He released two songs “Rais Le Bled” (President Your People Are Dying) and “Tounes Bladna” (Tunisia, Our Country) which were both included on the Mish B3eed mixtape put out by ‘Enough,’ a Libyan

movement voicing dissent against the Gadhafi regime.

According to The UK’s Observer news-paper, “Rais Le Bled,” released in No-vember 2010 “lit up the bleak and fear-ful horizon like an incendiary bomb,” reaching audiences around the world through new media platforms such as YouTube. “My president, your country is dead / People eat garbage / Look at what is happening / Misery everywhere / Nowhere to sleep / I’m speaking for the people who suffer,” he raps in Ara-bic. The song was quickly banned in Tunisia, but Al Jazeera Television and Tunivision were still able to pick up on the El Général story followed by other notable media outlets such as TIME magazine. Shortly thereafter, the re-lease of “Tounes Bladna” (Tunisia, Our Country) resulted in the 21-year-old rapper’s arrest from his family’s flat in the town of Sfax in Tunisia. El Général was released after three days of interro-gation thanks to an outpouring of pub-lic protest in his favor.

The January 25 uprisings in Egypt sparked a second wave of protest music from the global Arab hip-hop scene, fu-eling an outpour from prominent artists such as The Narcicyst, Shadia Man-sour, Lowkey and Omar Offendum. This time, the songs would be multi-national collaborations, incorporating news clips from Al Jazeera and photos from demonstrations in the music vid-eos.

On February 4, just weeks after the Jan-uary 25 demonstrations, Egyptian rap group Arabian Knightz posted the song “Not Your Prisoner” featuring Shadia Mansour, and Palestinian-American producer, Fredwreck on YouTube. Lyr-ics alternate between English and Ara-bic, opening the dialogue to a larger international audience. “Destructive destruction, running my district / Anti-

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You may be able to roll over your plan’s money to your new employer’s 401(K) plan. Before embarking on this path, you’ll need to find out if your new employer allows such rollovers.

You should also check out the investment choices in your new plan. If your new plan doesn’t offer halal investment options or choices, an IRA may still be a better option for you.

Simply put, rolling over your 401(K) to an IRA can offer you more control and better investment choices that fit your Islamic investment guidelines.

Changing jobs can be a great opportunity to convert your 401(K) money into a halal IRA. The process may seem daunting at first but an Azzad investment adviser representative can guide you, 888-862-9923.

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tichrist running it, spittin’ evil wisdom!” raps Rush (one of three members in the group). The song became an instant YouTube success, accruing thousands of views within 24 hours of being posted.

When asked in a Skype interview about the role of their music in bringing about social change, Rush replied, “The people who started the revolution are teenagers. I doubt that the motive of the revolution, the music they were listening to while plan-ning all these things, was ‘habibi’ music. I am sure it was hip-hop.” The ‘habibi’ mu-sic Rush refers to can be described as sen-timental, easy-listening pop that is wide-spread in Arabic media channels. That music, according to many Arab hip-hop artists, fails to address the real concerns of youth on the front lines of protest through-out the Middle East and North Africa.

The North American Connection

A few days later, North American artists The Narcicyst, Omar Offendum, Free-way, Ayah, Amir Sulaiman and producer, Sami Matar contributed to the dialogue with a collaboration entitled “#Jan25.” The song, posted on YouTube, has drawn nearly 200,000 views, and even caught the attention of Al Jazeera, which interviewed Omar Offendum shortly af-ter the song was released.

“I heard ‘em say / The revolution wont be televised / Al Jazeera proved ‘em wrong / Twitter has ‘em paralyzed / 80 million strong / And ain’t no longer gonna be ter-rorized / Organized - Mobilized - Vocal-ized / On the side of TRUTH,” raps Omar Offendum in the opening verse of the song. The use of graphic Al Jazeera news clips and gorilla photography throughout much of the music video is illustrates the grassroots nature of the Arab hip-hop scene, using a combination of audio and visual media to communicate their mes-sage to a growing audience of listeners.

In the meantime, mounting tensions in Libya inspired 26-year-old Chicago rap-per M. Khaled to release a music video entitled “Can’t Take Our Freedom,” fea-turing UK rapper, Lowkey. The first lines of the chorus, “You can’t take our free-dom, or take our soul / Take our freedom or take our soul / You are not the one that’s in control / You are not the one that’s in control,” sum up the overall message of the song speaking to the Gadhafi regime.

“It was never my intention to be a political rapper, or write political songs,” said M. Khaled in an interview with Arab Detroit News. Even so, this most recent release has become one of his most popular tracks to date. This song also seems to tie back to the legacy of his father, Mohamed Ahmed, who was reportedly held as a political pris-

oner in Libya for five years after leading student protests against the Gadhafi re-gime. “Like, could we be this close? Nah, couldn’t be / But if the people in Egypt and Tunis could do this, decide their fate...then why wouldn’t we?” raps M. Khaled.

Although the original music video for “Can’t Take Our Freedom” was removed from You-Tube for reasons that are not entirely clear, several fans have reposted the song using their own personal online accounts. In ad-dition to gaining popularity online, the song attracted the attention of media outlets such as ABC World News and CNN that profiled the story of the young rapper.

The Solidarity Rap

Each of these new protest songs in their own way illustrates a collective con-sciousness around growing political un-rest in the Middle East and North Africa among artists in the Arab hip-hop scene. Solidarity with protesters is the central theme that runs throughout much of this new music. This solidarity is also reflect-ed in the collaborative nature of many of these pieces featuring hip-hop artists who are spread across different cities and continents. Even on a local front, Bay Area hip-hop pioneer Davey D released a “Beats for Revolution Mixtape” that fea-tures “Not Your Prisoner” and “#Jan25,” alongside the sounds of Dead Prez, Pub-

lic Enemy and Immortal Technique.

As political unrest continues to unfold throughout much of the Middle East and North Africa, many Arab hip-hop artists are optimistic, but cautious. “One thing governments cannot take away from the people is the will to live,” wrote Lebanese-Armenian Bay Area rap artist Tru Bloo in an e-mail. “I think we, in the U.S., have a lot to learn from these movements,” she added.

“There is a hopefulness and a sobering feeling,” said Oakland-based Lebanese American soul singer, Naima Shalhoub, of the ongoing events.

Still, artists involved in the Arab hip-hop scene remain inspired by the significance that music has in motivating and empow-ering youth. “The way kids listen to music is a really powerful thing,” said London-based rapper Logic after his concert at the University of California, Berkeley with Shadia Mansour and Lowkey last month.

Realizing the power that their music has to speak to youth in the face of ad-versity, Arab hip-hop artists do not take their work lightly. “Music plays a big role in influencing people,” said The Narcicyst, “and I almost think for our generation... music speaks to us louder than politics does.”

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