Michael Dyson Quotes
It doesn’t matter that the President believes in Jesus. The Klu Klux Klan believed in Jesus. It doesn’t matter how you do the rhetoric; it’s how you do the reality.
Michael Eric Dyson, Author and Scholar, State of Black America Forum, Washington DC, February 3, 2001
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
[This was the first Abolition appeal written by a Black Man. It was published in Boston and despite the fact that it was very critical of whites, was very popular going through two more printings within the next two years.]
Lopez had come from Portugal and had been living in Rhode Island for 9 years and was active in shipping, whaling and candle making. He, and another Jew, Issac Elizer, petitioned the Rhode Island Superior Court for naturalization and citizenship rights. The court turned them down and they appealed to the Rhode Island Assembly—then not only the legislature but the highest court in the colony. The assembly came up with a compromise. The Jews were allowed to continue to live and work in Rhode Island but they could not hold public office or vote. They told the Superior Court to reconsider the case however as Lopez and Elizer were model citizens—but for religion just the kind the colony wanted. This case and many others were known to the founding fathers who were determined to put a stop to the practice of conditioning voting and office holding rights on adhering to the particular sect of the majority of the colony. Lopez and Elizer then appealed again to the Superior Court.
This is a noteworthy quotation for two reasons: First, it shows part of the motivation for his murderous acts. Second, it illustrates a unique characteristic of Islam. Most people in the world first view themselves nationally or tribally, then often locally or occupationally, and then religiously. Eg ‘I am a French, Parisian, attorney who is Christian. For many Muslims, they are first a Muslim and the other identities follow. Eg ‘I am a Muslim, Nigerian teacher.
He was one of the few Muslim political leaders who at that time called for reform of any aspect of Islam where reform and change are considered blasphemy and heresy by most Islamic theologians and clerics.
Michael Eric Dyson is an American academic, author, and radio host. He is a professor of Sociology at Georgetown University. Described by Michael A. Fletcher as "a Princeton Ph.D. and a child of the streets who takes pains never to separate the two", Dyson has authored or edited 18 books dealing with subjects such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Marvin Gaye, Nas's debut album Illmatic, Bill Cosby, Tupac Shakur and Hurricane Katrina.
