Beginning in the early eighties the "Food and Liquor" neighborhood store seemed to be the most prevalent type of business, while subsequent decades witnessed the rise of Muslim-owned gas stations and "fish and chicken" fast food restaurants. More recently, a string of Muslim owned clothing stores, wireless phone outlets and even tax agencies emerged across urban America. In cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland these businesses were often owned by Muslims of Arab descent, mostly Palestinian, Jordanian and Yemeni. Many people associate these businesses with an array of negative characteristics such as: poor lighting; over-priced food; liquor, blunts and pornography; dilapidated and poorly kept buildings; bullet-proof glass counters and shady business transactions that include exploitative cash exchanges for food stamps.
The Solution: Muslim Run
IMAN's "Muslim Run" Campaign speaks to the challenges and opportunities of Muslim owned inner-city businesses and will introduce a model that can inspire change and hope for a different future. There are thousands of Muslim - owned businesses throughout America's inner-cities.
Since its early inception, the founders of IMAN have been keenly aware of this issue and have sought to address it in many ways. The fact that IMAN was galvanizing and bringing together African American, Arab, and other Muslim communities enabled it with direct access to the multiple perspectives surrounding this social phenomenon. Within months of its incorporation in July 1997, IMAN launched what it called its “Alternative Business Initiative” which sought to find ways to stimulate an alternative set of business practices among Muslim business owners.
The "Muslim Run" model lays out five guiding principles that aspire to standards informed by:
1) Specific Spiritual Injunctions,
2) Community Cooperative Models,
3) Nutritional Health and Wellness Regulations;
4) Aesthetic Values & Standards
5) Employment and Training Opportunities
The “Muslim Run” Campaign will initially seek to find two Muslim owned inner-city businesses that are publicly willing to transform their businesses by adhering to these five guiding principles. IMAN, along with key Muslim institutions, foundations and governmental agencies will raise the necessary financial support to subsidize the costs associated with the campaign. IMAN will take responsibility for initiating a large media campaign that profiles these models as an attempt to create an alternative set of community-empowering business practices.
Mickey Halsted produced a video entitled "Liquor Store" that analyzes the relationship of liquor store owners and the marginalized communities they work in.
Here's an excellent cover story by Sandra Guy. The first part of thestoryis how the storequalified as a "grocer" in your neighborhood by the federal government might just as likely be a liquor store.
Mari Gallagher has provided her research exclusively to the Sun-Times pinpointing West Englewood as the worst-hit part of Chicago's "food desert," where liquor stores are a major food-stamp source even though they are classified by the USDA as convenience or grocery stores.
IMAN's Muslim Run was featured in the national magazine on race and politics, Colorlines, produced by the Applied Research Center. The article explores immigrant-owned and run businesses in Black Neighborhoods.
