The security videos capture the African-American men, all dressed in suits and bow-ties, as they enter the grocery stores in Oakland. They also capture them smashing the stores to pieces (with special attention to the liquor and beer displays) with their hands and with metal batons.
The arrogant coolness of these "men with a mission" is chillingly reminiscent of the gang of thugs in Stanley Kubric's "A Clockwork Orange."
No one was badly beaten or raped, however, but Charles Johnson at LGF notes that the men's sartorial splendor looks suspiciously similar to that worn as the unofficial "uniform" of members of the Nation of Islam.
Store owners were accused of "poisoning our neighborhoods;" a clear reference to the selling of alcohol, a beverage forbidden in Islam.
Has sharia law come to Oakland?
My guess is, "Yes."
Article comments
1 - Al Barger
I bet that if a shopkeeper shot a couple of these presumptuous dumb sonsabitches, the rest of them would re-think their whole mission-from-God thing. If not, ammo is cheaper than replacing the beer.
2 - Victor Plenty
No shop will sell suits and bow ties to anyone else - it must be the Nation of Islam! Holy Jihad, Batman!
Perhaps, if we're willing to make some more hasty leaps, we could conclude that Carry Nation and the Temperance Union were all secretly Jihadist Muslims, too.
And here's one more little problem with calling such incidents part of any "jihad" as that word is usually understood. It seems most Muslims of the world's mainstream Islamic sects do not regard the Nation of Islam as a genuinely Muslim faith. This makes it problematic to connect anything America's "Black Muslims" might have done with the actions of extremists causing trouble elsewhere around the globe.
In reality it's still far too early to draw the sort of conclusion you're drawing from these Oakland incidents, Bird of Paradise.
3 - Bird of Paradise
Victor, You are certainly correct. The Nation of Islam is not considered to be a Muslim group by any representative Muslim organization. The point of the matter is that THEY think they are Muslim and believe that their interpretation of the Qur'an and other guiding literature justifies them in their occasional forays into strong-arm enforcement of their beliefs.
Perhaps the term 'Jihad' is not appropriate. But, then again, what these thugs did in Oakland is not outside the meaning of that word as it is understood by many Islamist fundamentalists these days.
By the way, if you've ever spent any time in inner-city African American communities you will never see a suit and bow tie being worn by men in groups unless they are members of the Nation of Islam.
If these Oakland thugs were NOT Nation of Islam members then whoever did this were PRETENDING to be members of the Nation of Islam. In Black communities that is not a very smart thing to do.
4 - Al Barger
Shoot 'em all, I say, and let Allah sort 'em out.
5 - Victor Plenty
You make some good points, Bird of Paradise. If these are members of the Nation of Islam, they probably do think what they've done is meritorious in the eyes of Allah, even if hardcore militants from overseas might look down on them because nobody died.
You are correct that in general it is a stupid and dangerous idea for any group to casually pretend to be Black Muslims. However if someone wanted to commit these crimes and create false leads for investigators, disguising themselves as Black Muslims could be a cunning tactic.
Even if the perpetrators really are members of the Nation of Islam, they are surely acting without the blessing of their leadership, who have been around long enough to know this will be nothing but a setback for their community as a whole.
6 - RJ
It's rare you see criminal thugs who are so...dapper!
7 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Holy hateful, Batman, read these comments! Published in Israel, they would be called incitement to violence and those who uttered them hauled into court - particularly because they were aimed at Moslems.
Technically, Bird, the Black Moslems are not recognized as part of the Umma. So this is not Sharia law they practice. It is another version of black nationalism - an effort to get blacks to have pride and self respect. When one considers the damage alcohol and drugs have done to the black community in America and the pathetic response of the white community to it, it all makes a certain amount of sense - though it hurts the delicate sensibilities of people who value products and property above people.
The hoodlums who attacked people in the movie, "A Clockwork Orange," were protrayed as hoodlums - there was no morality in their acts whatever.
The Black Moslems acted with a certain amount of moral sense, though their behavior seemed to be akin to that of a gang.
A merchant ought to consider the consequences of his acts beyond mere profit and loss. That appears to be the message of the well dressed vandals in their destruction of a store.
8 - Al Barger
Holy schmuck, Ruvy. Stupid fucks come into MY place of business and start busting up the joint, they'd get SHOT- Moslem, black, white, or green Martian Xenu worshippers.
It's not the shopkeeper's responsibility to be dictated to by any self-appointed asshole who wants to presume to tell me and my customer what legal products we may or may not trade.
There's no morality in these people's acts, any more than there was in the Clockwork. That they might claim otherwise makes not one bit of difference.
If your country has laws against even advocating defending your own store, then your country has some dumb laws.
9 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Al, your comments (as in comment #1) would be considered incitement to violence and you would be fined for the comments. Particularly because they were aimed at Moslems.
But to your example...
Let's say you had a bookstore in Haifa, say, and you carried books that were not quite respectful of Mohammed. Let's say that a bunch of Arab thugs came in and tried to trash the place running into your projectiles from a Glock or a carbine.
YOU would wind up in jail with the key thrown away - particularly because you had killed Arabs.
Now let's say you had killed Jews instead - right-wing Jews who were angry that you carried books that made fun of Judaism... You reacted the same way. You'd get jail time, but not a life term - religious Jews here are worth less than herring.
The laws are not so much stupid here as the lack of due process which makes them discriminatory.
Yeah, Al. It sucks the big one.
Now settle down before you give yourself a stroke.
10 - Al Barger
Ruvy, your comments are not in any way establishing or significantly arguing that anything that I've said is wrong, immoral or irrational. All you are saying is that Israeli laws are all out of whack.
Also, you are incorrect in saying that my comments are aimed at Moslems. They are not. I wouldn't care who it was. If some Scientologist thugs showed up and started trashing my place, then it might be Kirstie Alley catching a deer slug.
You are also incorrect to characterize it as "hate" speech. It's practical speech. I wouldn't shoot someone just because I dislike them, or "hate" them, but because they are a practical threat.
You can march up and down the sidewalk talking about my mama all day long, and more power to you. You brandish a weapon and start threatening me and destroying my property though, you're taking your life in your hands.
11 - Bird of Paradise
Hey, gang....."Why can't we all just get along?" lol If we can't pull it together in our little thread here imagine how hard it is in Israel, where even the Jewish groups seem to have trouble being respectful of each other.
Still, we're doing better than the Palestinians who continue to shoot themselves in the foot by continuing to elect the very people who have been sowing the seeds of their own destruction for the past 50+ years.
There, now....let's all just kiss and make up, shall we? And set a nice example for all the other troubled peoples in the world!
Actually, keep up the debate, please! I learn so much more from the comments than I do in writing down what I already think I know!
12 - Bliffle
Al: you sure you want to use a deer slug for that application? Offhand, one might imagine one might favor 00 buckshot in ones "oops, I accidentally sawed it off" 12 gauge. Just a thought.
13 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Hey Al,
You wrote,
"your comments are not in any way establishing or significantly arguing that anything that I've said is wrong, immoral or irrational. All you are saying is that Israeli laws are all out of whack."
Yup. You're right.
"You are also incorrect to characterize it as "hate" speech. It's practical speech. I wouldn't shoot someone just because I dislike them, or "hate" them, but because they are a practical threat."
YOU may not regard your words as hate peech, and were I sitting in a bar, sipping a beer with your, I certainly wouldn't - but the er "constituted authorities" (I could use a more accurate, less polite phrase to describe them)in my beloved country would. We're back to that first paragraph again, eh?
"Also, you are incorrect in saying that my comments are aimed at Moslems. They are not. I wouldn't care who it was."
I set up a hypothetical in which your calm and even tempered self would blow away Moslem thugs - because they would happen to be the thugs coming into your hypothetical establishment. I believe that your deer rifle is an equal opportunity killer.
Kirstie Alley is into Scientology? I didn't know that. What a loss for humanity.
14 - Al Barger
Damn it Ruvy, how am I going to be pissy with you if you're just going to be all friendly and reasonable like this?
Also, this is only marginally hypothetical. I come from a family of shopkeepers. We sold the store in 01, but I've spent a good many hours running a family convenience store.
We wouldn't have much in the way of Nation of Islam out here in the rural Indiana countryside, but then there are some good Pentecostal tee-totaler types still. Some would-be Carry Nation could have a very bad day in our hood. I'm just saying.
15 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Al, generally, I'm the friendly and reasonable type - just don't let that out to other Israelis. They only pay attention when you scream and bang your fist on the table and tell them that their mother is a whore worth less than camel dung. That's just to get their attention...
There is a moral issue here though. I speak to you as a fellow who managed a Burger King for a dozen years and as the son of a man who sold food to restaurants for a good part of his life. Most days during the lunch rush, I worked the till.
This meant that I was responsible for "helping" the customers decide what they wanted to eat from our menu of delicious food. That is not said in sarcasm. I love the food at Burger King. I wasn't particularly religious at the time, so it mattered little to me that the food sold in the States was not kosher (most Burger Kings here ARE kosher).
The food there, IMHO, is damned tasty when made right. But that does not change the fact that it was and still is the surest road to a heart attack and/or a stroke at a young age. This is also something I knew. And if I didn't know it, getting a heart attack at age 52 taught me for sure.
Al, a heart attack is a heart attack is a heart attack. It doesn't matter how "mild" it is. Once you have one, you have a damaged heart, a fact that never really strays too far from the mind.
Anyway, enough whining. During the lunch rush, I'd see these big bruisers, truck drivers and such, guys wirth their bellies hanging over their belts, come in and order a double whopper with cheese, fries and a soda.
I was supposed to get them to order more - "would you like large fries and a large soda for just 25 cents more?" You know the drill - nickel and dime them and swell the register.
I'd look at these guys - or at the fellow in the drive-thru who made car sink when he sat in it - and wonder if I really should be stuffing yet more artery clogging food down their throats.
I know, if the idiot came in and stuffed his face, it was his decision to kill himself. I understand all that. But did I HAVE to help him to his grave sooner for the sake of a quarter or forty cents??
That is what I mean when I say a merchant has a responsibility to his customers that goes beyond profit and loss.
It is in his enlightened self-interest, at the very least, to see to it that his customers are healthy and RETURN to help swell his register.