*Los Angeles Muslim Heritage Month was observed and celebrated this week by Los Angeles City leaders who invited Muslim leaders to City Hall to be honored and recognized with a city resolution signed by each Council member and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Civil rights leader Najee Ali CEO of Project Islamic Hope and the founder Muslim Heritage Month stated:
“It’s a very important resolution. It’s historic, “It will help bring Los Angeles Muslims closer to the mainstream and civic life and affairs of our city where we will have a chance every year to highlight the various cultural traditions of the Muslim community.”
He added:
“We can share understanding for many of our fellow Angelenos who know very little of the Muslim community, except for what they see on TV and the media, which is mostly negative.”
Also joining Ali was representatives from The Council on American-Islamic Relation (CAIR) and Muslim Public Affairs Council. Ali who is celebrating 30 years of activism this year has been at the forefront of the social justice movement in South Los Angeles for over 2 decades. His career began in 1988 as a campaign aide to Rev Jesse Jackson in his quest for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States. Ali stepped into the national spotlight in 1997 serving as the spokesman for the family of Sherrice Iverson the 7-year-old child who was kidnapped raped and murdered in a Las Vega Casino bathroom. Ali then went on to help spearhead AB-1422 The Sherrice Iverson Bill. A new California state law signed by Gov.Gray Davis in 2001. A law that helps protect children against pedophiles and the first law in the nation named after a slain African-American child, since then Ali has been a fixture in South Los Angeles and is known nationally. He’s been at the forefront of police reform and social justice issues.
This also includes his role as the lead organizer of the successful 2016 boycott and protests of the Oscars.Ali called for and demanded that then Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs change the voting rules to include more diversity and women. Since those changes were made by Boone Isaacs. A record number of black talent have been nominated and won Oscars. And more diversity and women continue to be invited by the Academy as voting members.
Ali has worked with or for everyone from the late King of Pop Michael Jackson to President Obama. Muslim Heritage Month in the city of Los Angeles is due to his activism and visionary leadership.
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