Black Muslim Representation Matters

“What do you want for dinner?” I asked the Kid.
She replied, ‘Empanadas’.
I was surprised because I didn’t think she knew what they were. We have never eaten or made them before. But I agreed to make them.
A few days later, I did. While eating dinner, I asked her why she wanted to have them. She replied, she had seen multiple signs for a new empanada restaurant and that made her what to try them.

That was an ‘a-ha’ moment for me. I know that children are affected by what they see on TV and in their environment. But I have never seen it the effects so clearly. In that moment, my child demonstrated how TV and advertisements can affect her wants and desires. She saw signs for this new place and without ever trying or seeing an empanada, she wanted one. Advertisements work. The reality is that media, in all of its forms, have an effect on our impressionable children.

I try to protect her from most forms of media. She watches very limited amounts of TV, the shows are mainly cooking and home renovation shows where the participants are diverse. She’s a fan of AM Joy, Property Brothers, Zumbo’s Just Desserts and we recently started watching Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby. I make a conscious effort to ensure that she watches shows that have a diverse group of participants because of #RepresentationMatters. Multiple articles and papers discuss how the lack of representation and stereotypical representation have on Black children. Stereotypically roles for Black women including the sassy, snapping fingers best friend. Black men are your thugs and sometimes can be the love interest as long as the woman is not black. See Hitch. It is rare to see a multidimensional portrayal of Black people in the media. What is the message Black children are receiving? That they are invaluable, unintelligent, criminals and that they do not matter.

Positive representation of Black people, especially women, is slowly improving. See Black Panther. Finally, there is a big budget action movie centering Black people and starring women who will fail the paper bag test plus have beautiful natural hair. I teared up seeing people that look like me and my Black family on the big screen. My first thought after watching the movie was I cannot wait to watch this movie and experience with the Kid. But there is no positive representation of Muslims in this film. It was not lost on my husband that during the fight scene where Nakia saved a group of girls from a  Boko Haram-like kidnapper, he uttered the Islamic phrase, Walahi’.  This is the only time Muslims/Islam was mentioned and it is a negative one. Was this an unintentional slight against Muslims? Did the director include this dramatized nod to Boko Haram to remind the audience of the plight of the kidnapped schoolgirls?  Was the use of this Islamic word necessary to this scene? Because my child is Black and Muslim, I ‘m concerned if this scene will register with her.  What effect if any, will it have on her?

I can push all types of positive Black representation on her but what about her Muslim identity. I frequently worry about the message she is receiving about her Muslim identity and how it affects her self-esteem plus her overall perception of Muslims. In the last few years, there have been several YA books published with Muslim characters but the majority of them have an Arab or Desi as the protagonist. I begrudgingly nudge these books to the top of her pile thinking at least there is a Muslim character. But I’m still concerned. Is the message she receives from these books is that all Muslims are Arabs, that Black Muslim do not exist, that she and her family are an anomaly? I can tell her the stories of Black Muslim women from the Prophet (peace be upon him) time including Hajar and Halimah. But where’s the representation for modern times?  Where’s the media that I can show her? Where’s the Black Muslim children and women in cartoons, books, movies and TV shows?