ABSTRACT
When the Ansaaru Allah Community first moved into Brooklyn in 1973, it was perceived by the local authorities as a new variant of the Nation of Islam; a group that provided a healthy alternative to the crime-ridden, drug-infested subculture in the inner city. By the 1970s, the public authorities of New York City had already received a lesson in racial tolerance from the Nation of Islam. Despite Elijah Muhammad’s heavy-handed myth of “the white man” as a genetic mutant and “devil,” the NOI demanded-and eventually earned-public respect as a congregation of self-disciplined, peaceful and law-abiding citizens.
