Judge United Nation of Islam By Its Works
| 
Commentary by Steve Nicely
The Kansas City Star
Crime and drugs still exist on Quindaro Boulevard, but not as much as before the United Nation of Islam began teaching central-city children and adults to "do right" and embrace a healthful, civilized way of life.
The lessons are taught in classrooms and learned by working in several businesses created from the shells of mostly vacant shops. No one gets paid at United Nation of Islam Establishments, as far as I know.
That's not the normal approach in this capitalistic, profit-oriented society. It causes some to wonder what motivated people to act that way. Is it to attract membership to a group founded by a man called Solomon, the spiritual leader who claims to be Allah, the Supreme Being?
Bringing Allah to urban renewal
|
As politicians call for more religious involvement in communities, an Islamic group targets poverty in the heartland (Kansas City, Kansas).
Abraham McLaughlin (Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor)
Most people here used to do just about anything to avoid driving down Quindaro Boulevard. It was a street lined with signs of inner-city trouble: dingy liquor stores sheathed in security bars, aimless men warily eyeing passersby, and an abandoned gas station that was home to shootouts and drive-thru drug deals.
But that was before the Black Muslims came calling.Now there's the new diner. Its red-and-white star-and-crescent sign - and its conspicuous lack of security bars - beckon customers. Fish nuggets are just $2.50, and they're served by bow-tie clad waiters.
Then there's the renovated gas station, where three men in starchy-straight shirts bustle out to serve each customer. One pumps gas. Another checks oil and tire pressure. The third offers a plate of cookies.
One Nation Begins Building a Business Empire
|
"The Kansas City Globe, (Douglas Coe)"
Martin Luther King , Jr. saw this coming nearly 35 years ago, and Malcolm X knew deep in his heart it would eventually happen. And Marcus Garvey knew it too.
Garvey called it the "Whirlwind." Mr. King labeled it "The Promised Land." Malcolm said it would most definitely come about by any means necessary." Yet , I wonder if any of these black leaders had any idea that it would take place in the heart of America? Just right across the bridge in Kansas City , KS.
Clinic in Quindaro is down payment on a lifetime debt
|
By DONOVAN CORRIGAN Special to The Star 
Dreams can come true. Just ask Marvin McIntosh.
With the opening of the Community House of Wellness in the Quindaro district, he will be able to fulfill a pledge he made to himself when he left Wyandotte County years ago to pursue a career in medicine.
“I made myself a promise that one day I would come back to Kansas City and open up a clinic,” said McIntosh, who was born and raised in Kansas City, Kan. “I wanted to give back to a community that gave me so much while I was growing up.
“Whatever I am of good today, is because of what this community allowed for me to experience yesterday. This is the fulfillment of a life-long dream.”
The United Nation of Islam, They share their secret of success
|
By now it's well-established that some of the most effective community rebuilding in Kansas City, Kan., is being done by scrupulously polite people, who always look as if they're dressed for a wedding and who belong to the United Nation of Islam. The group opened a diner at 18th Street and Quindaro Boulevard in 1996. It now operates a supermarket, a bakery, a gas station, a thrift shop, an appliance repair business, a bus service, a cleaning company, youth programs, a small construction business and a school.
Members are choosy about location. They need a street frequented by drug dealers and prostitutes, where crime is high and that safety-minded citizens avoid at all costs.
That used to be 18th and Quindaro. Now, businesspeople drive from their offices to eat at Your Diner, where everything on the menu is healthful and ridiculously inexpensive and the service never stops. Crime on the corner is almost nonexistent.
Lessons in life (U.N.O.I. Grain Mill)
|
United Nation of Islam, an educational group, restores grist mill in Seaford.
By KIM HOEY
Special to The News Journal
SEAFORD -- A year ago Robert Henderson didn't know how bread was made. Now he's grinding the flour for it. He's also learning how to make bird seed, drive a truck and restore an antique mill. Henderson, 20, originally from Kansas City, Mo., is a member of the United Nation of Islam, which recently bought the Hearns and Rawlins Mill in Seaford. " 'To make the old new' is one of our mottos," said Henderson of the work the group is doing on the mill building, which was constructed in 1885. It is the only working grist mill left in Delaware.
"I had no idea about flour nor of the whole process. Learning this has broadened my vision, especially when I see things in the store,"
The United Nation of Islam is a nonprofit, nonreligious organization out of Kansas City, Kan. Not to be confused with the often militant Nation of Islam, founded by Louis Farrakhan, this group was founded by a man named Solomon to teach family and community development in a lesson format they call "civilization development."
Your Community...in renewal
|
United Nation of Islam has helped transform Quindaro Boulevard into place of hope, pride
By DONOVAN CORRIGAN
Special to The Star
When the United Nation of Islam arrived in the Quindaro area of Kansas City, Kan., in 1996, neighborhood businesses were laced with fortified security bars. Paying customers were sparse.
The area had a reputation for being one of the worst in the city — a place where drug deals, prostitution, armed robberies, shootings and murder were a part of everyday life.
Thanks in part to efforts of the United Nation of Islam, Wyandotte County is working its way to the forefront of urban renewal across the country.
Quindaro Takes Turn For The Good
|
KANSAS CITY BUSINESS JOURNAL
The Metro Area's Most Comprehensive Business Coverage
by Dan Margolies - Staff Writer
The changes are subtle, but Quindaro Boulevard, one of the roughest stretches in a rough part of KCK, is looking kinder and gentler these days.
At 18th and Quindaro, what used to be a gathering place for drug dealers, prostitutes and pimps is now a homey-looking restaurant serving vegetarian cuisine.
A Block away, at 17th and Quindaro, an aging furniture outlet has been transformed into an immaculate grocery and bakery selling fresh produce and baked goods.
Four Blocks southeast of the grocery, at 13th and Quindaro, a once-run-down service station has been spruced up, its apron cleared of weeds, its bays freshly painted.
Another four blocks southeast, past boarded-up storefronts, a small home-appliance store has supplanted a once-marginal convenience store. The store opened just last week.
The four businesses, and others as varied as a construction company and a cleaning service, go by names such as "Your Diner," "Your Supermarket"and "Your Service Station," as if to stress their down-home ties to the community.
United Nation of Islam has a community model worthy...
|
The Kansan
The Daily Newspaper for Wyandotte County
United Nation of Islam has a community model worthy of closer scrutiny.
Doing "right" is its own reward. It's an interesting philosophy but [to] the United Nation of Islam in Kansas City, Kan., it's more than a philosophy, it is an effective tactic that is producing some visible results.
We've noted that, as the group works to create business in the Quindaro area, drug dealers, addicts and other negative elements seem to be moving out or gaining the respect [for] the people who are "doing right."
Not even the hardest of cynics could deny that their clean shops, their dedicated volunteers and the businesses that are starting up are impressive. This is in an area that has been all but forgotten by investors and potential business operators.
Rebirth in Quindaro United Nation of Islam focuses on doing it 'right'
|
The Kansan
The Daily Newspaper for Wyandotte County
Kenneth X (Left), manager of Your Diner, 1846 Quindaro, puts together some sandwiches for delivery Wednesday morning, The restaurant is owned by the United Nation of Islam which also operates several other businesses in Kansas City, Kan., including Your Service Station, 1313 Quindaro. Efrain 2x (lower left) cleans the windows of a customer's car at Your Service Station Wednesday.
A curious thing is happening in the Quindaro area. Wherever the United Nation of Islam moves into a neighborhood, drug dealers, addicts and other negative elements move out.
This can be seen in various areas on Quindaro Boulevard where the group has started several businesses. " We don't ask them to move out," said James 2X, the National Secretary who is in Kansas City for a community model project. "They know that we do 'right'.
Religion | Good Works and Bean Pies
|
A United Nation Of Islam building in the Kansas City, Kansas community that the organization has been administering since 1996.
"I wouldn't dare come down here before they came to this community," Lillie Welch told the Kansas City Business Journal. "Now I bring my car down here all the time. They have done a remarkable job. And the children are all so respectful."
"We are a people living in perfection and perfect peace. We are doers of the word, we are not going out to sell papers and bean pies," said United Nation of Islam National Secretary James 2X while showing me around his group's Kansas City, Kansas, "Civilization Center."
Renewal that comes from within
|
"The Kansas City Star, (Lewis Diuguid)"
The restaurant's name threw me at first, but Wayman X Favors cleared that up when we ate breakfast at "Your Diner."
Life on Quindaro Boulevard in Kansas City, Kan., has changed since the United Nation of Islam moved in, exposing the distressed community to some uplifting ideas. Favors, general counsel for the religious group, and I ordered the "Eye Opener" meal at Your Diner and talked about the past, present and future of the African-American community.
A year ago the 18th Street and Quindaro Boulevard area was the scene of drug sales, shootings, robberies and muggings. "It had one of the worst reputations in the city, " Favors said.
"But men and women who avoided the area are now making it their business to stop here," he said. The difference is the one story brick restaurant; its wholesome breakfast, lunch and dinner menus; and its devoutly committed new ownership.
Your Diner offers food, food for Thought
|
"The Kansas City Kansan, (Denise Graves)"
In the quietly developing business area on 18th and Quindaro there is a restaurant that serves courtesy, kindness and great food.
According to United Nation of Islam National Secretary James 2X, Your Diner represents a new way of thinking that is healthy and nutritious. It's the reflection of a thinking pattern. That is evident in the food service, atmosphere, and food selection.
Your Diner now operates in a historic location that most recently boasted of Paula's and Gabriel's soul food restaurants. This unique eating establishment is renovated completely. The decor is earthy and airy. The walls are paneled with light vanilla colored wood, as are the opening door and entry way trims. The floors and ceiling are bright almost white complemented by ceiling fans. The most important fact is that when a person enters the restaurant they are kindly greeted with smiles, existence approval, pleasant music and a quiet almost southern hospitality.
Allah Temple Teaches it's [members] critical thinking
|
The United Nation of Islam's Allah's Temple Academy in not a place for followers. Instead, it is more on the side of a classroom where its members learn how to develop a stable community and how to think in a factual, mathematical manner.
"Our will is to produce a place where the people in the community can come and learn how the reverse the decay process in the community," explained the national secretary, who assumes the name James 2X. He said Solomon was the author of this idea and their spiritual head, but "we don't follow him. He established the mathematical thinking class and taught us how to use the formulas, but by learning, this makes us independent of him."
He said this teaches the members how to be a "knower," not a follower. "Either you know that one plus one equals two, or you don't," said 2X.
He said the Academy also teaches a civilization class. Here people learn everyday skills, such as how to take care of a household and how to treat everyone right, according to Solomon's idea.
2X said the students are expected to practice what they have been taught. The person's household or business is considered an extended classroom. "By practicing what we have been taught, we start thinking outside the realm of belief and into knowing," said 2X.
Best Place to Get a Healthy Meal in KCK
|
It's hard to stay healthy in the inner city. Sometimes it seems the only dining choices are artery-cloggers like Burger King, KFC and McD's. But thanks to the United Nation of Islam (not to be confused with Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam) there's a safe alternative.
Your Diner on Quindaro Boulevard is more than a restaurant, it's a pathway to a better life. Its tasty entrees are crafted from organic vegetables -- tomatoes, squash, potatoes, onions, zucchini, garlic and even wheat for fresh-baked bread -- trucked in from the UNoI's farms in Maryland and West Virginia. The only meats served are salmon and white fish delivered fresh from Alaska. According to James 2X, national secretary for UNoI, the restaurant is part of the group's ongoing effort to "magnify life" within the hearts and souls of individuals and, subsequently, in the community at large.