Islamic Connection: Some Suspects in Dallas Shooting Attended South Dallas Mosque

On July 7, 2016, five police officers were killed by sniper fire in Dallas, Texas. Six other officers and two civilians were wounded. The shooting occurred at a protest against police killings in the aftermath of the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. This is all generally known.

It seems improbable that Black Lives Matter members would fire on a Black Lives Matter demonstration. And that is in fact, not what happened.

Among the five suspects now in Dallas Police custody are self described "Islamic Americans" who attended a Nation of Islam mosque in the South Dallas area. It should be noted that the Nation of Islam itself is splintered into several groups. Louis Farrakhan, who took over the organization in 1981, subscribes to Dianetics and appears to have left Islam altogether. It's ideology is barely recognizable as Islamic.

Update, 7/8: Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings today identified a suspect as Micah X. Johnson, a resident of Mesquite. Micah X. appears to have been named after Malcolm X., one of the founding members of the Nation of Islam. "While in prison, Malcolm X became a member of the Nation of Islam, and after his parole in 1952, quickly rose to become one of the organization's most influential leaders."

Micah Xavier Johnson, who died in a shootout with police, told authorities he was upset about recent police shootings and 'wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.' He is the only suspect Dallas police have publicly identified so far, and also the only dead suspect.

"We cornered one suspect and we tried to negotiate for several hours - negotiations broke down, we had an exchange of gunfire with the suspect," Dallas Police Chief David Brown said. "We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was," he said.

Using a robot to kill a sniper is a procedure never performed before by American police, but common in fighting Islamic insurgencies. In a tweet, defense expert Peter Singer noted that the MARCbot machine, which is designed to tackle bombs such as IEDs, has been used as a weapon in Iraq.

No recognized American Islamic leader publicly promotes violence, though some claim the Nation of Islam is an exception to that rule. However, members of this particular Mosque might reasonably have believed that they themselves were under attack.

A tense, armed protest in front of a South Dallas mosque required Dallas police intervention one Saturday afternoon in April. It happened in front of the Nation of Islam mosque on April 3, 2016, according to CBS Dallas.

Anti-Moslem demonstrators, dressed in fatigues and masks and most of them armed, were easily outnumbered approximately 10 to 1 by the mosque supporters, some of whom were also armed, reported CBS Dallas. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/anti-muslim-protest-in-dallas-features-fatigues-masks-lots-of-guns/

Dozens of police officers stood in between the two groups and also on rooftops to ensure nothing more than words were exchanged.

In a statement released before the April protest, the Dallas Police Department said, "The department is committed to protecting the Constitutional rights of all citizens and will make every effort to keep this protest peaceful."

The was no violence and no arrests. But the seeds of anger and dissent were sown.

Militant Islam Reaches America is a book written by historian Daniel Pipes, published in 2002. It focuses on Islamic fundamentalism and Islamism, reflecting Pipes' view that, as he said in 1995, "Unnoticed by most Westerners, war has been unilaterally declared on Europe and the United States." The latest shooting in Dallas appears to have been a part of that war.

Anti moslem protest in front of the Mosque on April 3. The protest was organized by the Next Generation Action Network after the killings of two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, respectively. It was one of several protests held across the U.S. on the night of July 7. Several hundred protesters were involved in the Dallas protest, and before the shooting occurred, no other incidents were reported and the event was peaceful.

Belo Garden Park, the location where the protest began and near where the shooting occurred, was a popular gathering place for Black Lives Matter demonstrations, such as one held after the death of Sandra Bland at a Waller County, Texas, jail in 2015.

The people firing on the Dallas police used another group's protest event, to settle what they saw as an offense against their race and their religion.

“Among the five suspects now in Dallas Police custody are self described “Islamic Americans” who attended a Nation of Islam mosque in the South Dallas area. It should be noted that the Nation of Islam itself is splintered into several groups. Louis Farrakhan, who took over the organization in 1981, subscribes to Dianetics and appears to have left Islam altogether. It’s ideology is barely recognizable as Islamic.”

Nation of Islam history. Another Muslim hate organization!

MEDIA & CULTURE
What Is The Nation Of Islam? History, Beliefs, Practices Of The Religious Movement
BY ZOE MINTZ @ZOEMINTZ ON 02/26/15 AT 11:39 AM

Every year, followers of the Nation of Islam celebrate the birth of its founder on Feb. 26. The holiday, known as Saviours’ Day, is commemorated by a three-day series of lectures, speakers and workshops in Chicago.

This year marks the 85th anniversary of the movement’s birth. Events were held on Feb. 20-Feb. 22, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the death of Malcolm X, the civil rights leader who was assassinated when he was 39.

Malcolm was largely known as a spokesman for the Nation of Islam, a religious movement based on Islam. He joined the group after he was released from prison in 1952 and ministered at several temples including the largest one in Harlem in New York City. His influence led the group to grow from 400 members in 1952 to 40,000 in 1960.

On Feb. 26, the Nation of Islam celebrates the birth of its founder on a holiday known as Saviours’ Day.PHOTO: FLICKR
He broke with the group shortly before his death on Feb. 21, 1965. Radical Nation of Islam members shot and killed Malcolm while he was speaking at a rally for Organization of Afro-American Unity, a more moderate group Malcolm X founded in 1964.

For those unfamiliar with the Nation of Islam and its beliefs, below are answers to four common questions about the organization.

1. What’s the history of the nation of Islam?

Wallace D. Fard, originally from Saudi Arabia, founded the Nation of Islam in 1930 in Detroit. He established a temple, the University of Islam and a corps of male guards called the Fruit of Islam that year.

According to the group’s website, Fard preached that African-Americans belonged to “the Tribe of Shabazz from the Lost Nation of Asia,” who had been enslaved in America for more than three centuries.

“His mission was to teach the downtrodden and defenseless black people a thorough knowledge of God and of themselves and to put them on the road to self-independence with a superior culture and higher civilization than they had previously experienced,” the website states.

The group mixed the belief systems of Islam — they read the Quran, worshipped Allah as their God and accepted Muhammad as their prophet — with Black Nationalism. Fard believed that African-Americans should prepare for a race war and Christianity was a religion for slave owners. Members’ given names, which he believed originated during slavery, should be replaced with Arabic ones.

In June 1934, Fard reportedly disappeared in the woods. His followers believed he was an incarnation of Allah. Today, they celebrate his birthday, known as Saviours’ Day, on Feb. 26.

The group was left to the leadership of Elijah Muhammad who advocated a more radical approach. He preached for the foundation of a separate state for African-Americans, advocated anti-white theology and called for adherence to a strict moral code.

At the time of Muhammad’s death on Feb. 25, 1975, the group had grown to 250,000 members. Afterward, the group fragmented. One faction was led by his son, Warith Deen Mohammed, who advocated for a more traditional approach to Islam. Louis Farrakhan, another Nation of Islam leader, did not like this direction and began his own version of the Nation of Islam based on Elijah Muhammad’s teachings.
Farrakhan remains the group’s leader to this day. He is a polarizing figure who comments on a variety of social issues, including the country’s government, educational system and urban communities.

One of his latest speeches, given on Dec. 1, encouraged his audience to “tear this goddamn country up,” referring to the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. “You may not want to fight, but you better get ready. Teach your baby how to throw the bottle if they can, bite. We’re going to die anyway, let’s die for something,” he said.

The Nation of Islam does not state how many members it has. In 2007, Lawrence A. Mamiya, a professor of religion and African studies at Vassar College, told the New York Times he estimates there are 50,000 members. There are strong followings among the American prison population. There are several smaller chapters outside of the U.S. in England and the Caribbean.

http://www.ibtimes.com/what-nation-islam-history-beliefs-practices-religious-movement-1829370

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