"MU TODAY, YOU TOMORROW": Artists Rally to the Defense of Mujahid Carswell, the son of FBI-Assassinated Imam

by Steve da Silva - Reporting from Detroit

Mujahid Carswell (right) and brother Jamil, sons of the assassinated Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah, rapping at ‘Mu Today, You Tomorrow’ Benefit Concert.

On December 10, 2009, the downtown Detroit venue The Shelter hosted the ‘Mu Today, You Tomorrow’ Benefit Concert to raise funds for the legal defense of Mujahid Carswell – the son of the FBI-assassinated Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah (see BASICS coverage on this issue).

Over 25 artists and speakers rocked the mic that night, including Professor Griff of Public Enemy – the legendary Long Island hip-hop group founded in 1982. Undoubtedly one of the most influential hip-hop groups of all time, in 2004 Rolling Stone magazine ranked Public Enemy as 44 out of the 100 “Immortals: The Greatest Artists of All Time.”

The crowd was also graced with revolutionary poetry of living legend Umar Bin Hassan – a founding member of The Last Poets, the group of poets and musicians founded in 1968 whose rhythms and raps have been credited with laying the foundation for the emergence of hip-hop.

Detroit rappers Invincible and Finale also threw down, along with a spoken intervention by Minister Malik Shabazz of the New Black Panther Party. An incredible performance and some words were also provided by the assassinated Iman’s sons Mujahid Carswell and his brother Jamil. ‘Mu’ showed the crowd the ankle bracelet he was forced to wear since his release and had to leave the show early to make his curfew.



The large crowd and jam-packed bill of performers and speakers demonstrated that the people of Detroit haven’t being duped by the “counter-terrorism” lies propagated by the FBI and the monopoly media, which have served to justify the assassination of a community leader and the legal targeting of twelve other individuals associated with his mosque, including Mu Carswell, ten other members of the Masjid Al-Haqq in Detroit, and two Canadians from Windsor. Speakers and artists made no mistake in identifying the killing of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah as targeted assassination by the FBI, another black leader killed in the long list of state-sponsored assassinations conducted under the auspices of the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO).

Community organizations in Detroit are now fighting for a genuinely independent People’s Commission of Inquiry to bring to light details of the assassination.