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Tony Muhammad
Other namesAbdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad
OccupationNation of Islam Minister
Years active1995–present

Tony Muhammad, also known as Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad, is the regional representative for Nation of Islam on the American West Coast, a Scientologist and anti-vaccination activist.

Biography

Muhammad described his youth with his nine siblings as difficult, with a mostly absent father and a mother struggling with alcohol addiction.[1] He was an athlete in college, playing football and baseball.[1]

Before becoming a Nation of Islam minister, he worked as the real estate executive of a fast-food chain and was an Eastern Air Lines manager in Atlanta. A former drug dealer, the Eastern Airlines job allowed him to get past airport security with shipments of cocaine.[1]

Nation of Islam

Muhammad joined Nation of Islam in 1985.[1] As minister in the South before being chosen by Farrakhan to hold the position of Western regional Minister in 1995, leaving Atlanta with his family to California. He eventually took on the name of Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad.[2][3] Counting only a thousand members when Muhammad arrived, he says he built the Nation of Islam in Los Angeles congregation back to 3,000 members, which was its record high.[1]

His term got off to a rocky start, his congregation being forcibly evicted from the building they occupied in 1996, for failing to fulfill the conditions of their lease-to-buy contract. Muhammad was rebuked by other Muslim leaders for predicting California would be hit by a major earthquake as retaliation for the eviction. Muslims do not generally believe that God reveals the future to the faithful.[4]

Muhammad was credited for bringing a more collaborative style to the organization in Los Angeles, favoring dialogue between the community and police forces. His efforts at bridge-building were recognized by the region's police chiefs, who acknowledge his conflict resolution skills.[2][1] Muhammad denounced both police brutality and gang violence, using the Nation of Islam's influence to try to quell street violence. Non-violence advocates recognized his role in making communities safer.[2] Since 2012, Muhammad and Reverend Alfreddie Johnson host Peace Rides to promote non-violence in Los Angeles County, such as in Compton.[5]

In 2005, Muhammad was injured during a scuffle with officers from the Los Angeles Police Department. The officers were surrounded by a group that included Muhammad and gang members when they approached to ask that double-parked SUVs be moved during a vigil for a victim of gang violence. In the scuffle that ensued, an officer was pushed to the ground, another used pepper spray and Muhammad ended up being handcuffed and suffered bruised to his face, either from a fall or being hit by the officers.[2][6] Two of Muhammad's bodyguards were arrested on suspicion of obstruction of justice. The altercation provoked protests against the LAPD.[7] LAPD Chief William Bratton requested that Muhammad and his bodyguards be charged with a battery misdemeanor, but the Attorney decided not to lay charges.[6]

Scientology

In 2005, Muhammad got Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan interested in Scientology, saying Scientology helped him recover from the psychological shock of his police arrest. Farrakhan has since then organized mass Scientology seminars for Nation of Islam members.[8][9][10]

Muhammad has been appearing in Scientology promotional videos and in 2017, received an International Association of Scientologists Freedom Medal award.[11] He was a guest of honor at the opening of the first Church of Scientology in Ireland in 2017.[12] After more than a decade as a scientologist, Muhammad went clear in 2020, attaining a high status within the organization.[13] Reverend Alfreddie Johnson, with whom Muhammad holds joint events, is also a Scientologist.[13][10]

Anti-vaccination

Muhammad speaking to a group of protestors against California Senate Bill 277 in 2015.

Starting in 2015, Muhammad made opposition to vaccination for the African American community a focus of his activism.[14] Although he rejects being labeled as an anti-vaccination activist, he has hosted several events denouncing vaccines and promoted several conspiracy theories involving vaccines and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[15] Drawing on parallels from the Bible, Muhammad has been preaching that pharmaceutical companies and the United States Government are using vaccines to specifically harm African American and Latin male children.[15][14] Muhammad credits a meeting with anti-vaccination activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his ideas on the dangers of vaccination.[14]

With Kennedy's anti-vaccination group Children's Health Defense, Centner Productions, Kevin Jenkins and Curtis Cost, Muhammad is listed as one of the co-producers of the video Medical Racism: The New Apartheid, a 2021 video production promoting conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines.[16][17] The March 2021 hour-long video elaborates on Muhammad's conspiracy theories, claiming that the United States government seeks to harm ethnic minorities with COVID vaccines, along with rehashed anti-vaccination stories about autism, Bill Gates and the Centers for Disease Control. Like other such conspiracy theory videos, it inserts true historical events into its narrative to make its fantastic claims appear more believable.[17][18] By targeting Black Americans with messaging linking COVID-19 vaccination with the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and other instances when ethical violations have been committed against minorities as part of medical studies, the video's producers are likely to hurt the Black community by increasing vaccine hesitancy within that vulnerable population.[19][15][14][20][21]

Meetings between Muhammad and Kennedy quickly led Nation of Islam to adopt an anti-vaccination stance in 2015.[14] The two men co-hosted a Facebook event in September 2020, discussing the same themes that were eventually presented in the video.[22] Muhammad was already equating vaccination with the Tuskegee Study when he campaigned alongside Kennedy against Bill 277, a California legislation restricting vaccination exemptions in the state. Several African American leaders testified on that occasion that contrary to Muhammad, they supported California's efforts to have a greater number of children vaccinated.[23][8]

In 2016, Muhammad joined Andrew Wakefield and Del Bigtree for the promotion tour of the anti-vaccination Vaxxed, using the Nation of Islam to bring people to thirty screenings. Muhammad and Bigtree were still appearing at the same anti-vaccination events in 2021.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Watanabe, Teresa (February 13, 2002). "A Call to Let Go of Hatred". Los Angeles Times. p. A1. ProQuest 421701083. Retrieved March 27, 2021 – via Proquest.
  2. ^ a b c d Watanabe, Teresa (October 3, 2005). "Incident Changes Role of Minister; Tony Muhammad says he wants to be a source of help to the LAPD, not controversy, in the wake of his alleged beating by police officers". Los Angeles Times. p. B1. ProQuest 422052251. Retrieved March 26, 2021 – via Proquest.
  3. ^ "Muhammad Mosque". Nation of Islam. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  4. ^ Johnson, Tracy (August 17, 1996). "Farrakhan Said to See Quake in Next 30 Days". Los Angeles Times. p. 3. ProQuest 293472269. Retrieved March 27, 2021 – via Proquest.
  5. ^ "Peace, the Mission". United in Peace Foundation. Archived from the original on January 22, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  6. ^ a b McGreevy, Patrick (July 29, 2006). "Minister in Scuffle With Police Won't Be Charged". Los Angeles Times. p. B6. ProQuest 422076674. Retrieved March 27, 2021 – via Proquest.
  7. ^ Winton, Richard (August 31, 2005). "Group Demands Firing of Officers in Beating of Minister at Vigil". Los Angeles Times. p. B3. ProQuest 421972661. Retrieved March 26, 2021 – via Proquest.
  8. ^ a b "Playing the race card on vaccines". Sacramento Bee. June 23, 2015. Archived from the original on January 12, 2021. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  9. ^ Gray, Eliza (October 5, 2012). "Thetans and Bowties". New republic. Archived from the original on January 7, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Westbrook, Donald A. (2018). Among the Scientologists: History, Theology and Praxis. Oxford Studies. ISBN 9780190664978.
  11. ^ "Nation of Islam". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  12. ^ "Senior Nation of Islam minister helps launch Scientology in Ireland". The Journal. October 12, 2017. Archived from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Nation of Islam Western Regional Leader Tony Muhammad Goes Clear in Scientology". Scientology Money Project. March 18, 2020. Archived from the original on November 30, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2021.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Merlan, Anna (June 26, 2017). "The Anti-Vaccination Movement Is Working with the Nation of Islam to Scare Black Families". Jezebel. Archived from the original on March 24, 2021. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  15. ^ a b c Gorski, David (October 26, 2015). "Antivaccinationists and the Nation of Islam protest in front of the CDC, but don't you dare call them "antivaccine"". Science-based Medicine. Archived from the original on September 30, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  16. ^ "New Movie from Children's Health Defense, Medical Racism: The New Apartheid, Premieres Today". Cision. March 11, 2021. Archived from the original on March 15, 2021. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
  17. ^ a b Hale Spencer, Saranac; Fichera, Angelo (March 11, 2021). "RFK Jr. Video Pushes Known Vaccine Misrepresentations". Factcheck.org. Annenberg Public Policy Center. Archived from the original on March 12, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  18. ^ Zadrozny, Brandy; Adams, Char (March 11, 2021). "Covid's devastation of Black community used as 'marketing' in new anti-vaccine film". NBC News. Archived from the original on March 14, 2021. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  19. ^ Callaghan, Timothy; Moghtaderi, Ali; Lueck, Jennifer A.; Hotez, Peter; Strych, Ulrich; Dor, Avi; Franklin Fowler, Erika; Motta, Matthew (January 4, 2021). "Correlates and disparities of intention to vaccinate against COVID-19". Social Science & Medicine. 272: 113638. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113638. PMC 7834845. PMID 33414032.
  20. ^ "Clinton Apologizes To Tuskegee Experiment Victims". CNN. May 16, 1997. Archived from the original on June 18, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  21. ^ Zadrozny, Brandy; Adams, Char (March 11, 2021). "Covid's devastation of Black community used as 'marketing' in new anti-vaccine film". NBC News. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  22. ^ Stacey, Kiran (February 23, 2021). "Anti-vaxxers are targeting black people, warns US Covid adviser". Financial Times. Archived from the original on June 5, 2023. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  23. ^ McGreevy, Patrick (June 22, 2015). "Nation of Islam opposes California vaccine mandate bill". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
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