"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Monday, May 16, 2022

New documentary appears to be a fishy apology for Islam, involving 1973 incident from NYC

There's a new documentary out called "Hold Your Fire", focused on an incident involving a hostage situation in 1973 and the following gushy review suggests it may be a whitewash of Islam:
“Hold Your Fire” uncovers the untold story behind the longest hostage siege in New York Police Department history that also became the origin story of modern hostage negotiation. Director Stefan Forbes’ “Rashomon”-esque examination of policing in America, told from a triad of conflicting perspectives, arrives as the country finds itself amid a relitigating of the historically volatile relationship between police and African American communities.

In January 1973, a fatal 47 hours at John and Al’s Sporting Goods store in Brooklyn began when four young Black men — Shuaib Raheem, Salih Abdullah, Dawud Rahman, and Yusef Almussidig — were cornered by the NYPD after they attempted to steal guns and ammunition. The four men took hostages, a gun battle ensued, and soon police officer Stephen Gilroy lay dead on the sidewalk.

[...] Journalists did misreport that the young Muslim men were members of the Black Liberation Army, an anarchist organization with a goal of armed war against the United States government. In truth, they were comprised of a transit worker (Raheem); a college student (Rahman); a TV repairman (Abdullah); and a carpenter (Almussidig). “Four squares,” as Raheem says in the film.

Forbes’ documentary reveals a more complex background. Earlier that month, seven Muslims were brutally executed in a Washington, DC home owned by former professional basketball player Kareem Abdul Jabbar. The target was Hamaas Abdul Khaalis, leader of the Sunni Islamist Hanafi Movement, who wrote letters highly critical of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad. The murders brought attention to the armed conflict between Sunni Muslims and NOI Muslims.

Raheem, a Sunni who also challenged NOI ideology, was convinced that he was also a target and an assault was imminent. That led him, along with his Muslim brothers, to John and Al’s Sports for a gun and ammunitions heist to protect themselves.
And I'm wondering why it's made to sound as though robbing firearms from a store was acceptable, rather than seek police protection and testify against NOI? So, it's troubling there seems to be an apologist lens this history is being told through by the press. Yet that's long been par for the course over the past 20 years and more. And for all we know, this documentary could also be an insult to law enforcement too. One more reason why it'd be better for realists to avoid this production.