[I am using the terms "King" and "Queen" instead of names for sake of confidentiality.]
Over the past week from only two interviews and a little of my own research, I have learned so much with so many complexities to unpack over the next few weeks.
As a millennial, we often stray away from organized religion. We question everything, and the way that I was taught religion at Catholic school is that it is not to be questioned. Within Christianity, someone who questions and doesn’t believe without proof is called a “doubting Thomas.” This is not exactly a compliment. It stems from a story of a disciple that doubted Jesus. I’m not sure if there is a similar story told in the Quran as well, but that’s a question for another interview.
I have always been curious about other religions. But my beliefs are more spiritual than rule based and stem from bits and pieces of multiple faiths.
I don’t think that I had any idea about what Ramadan was until I got to college. There wasn’t a high Muslim population where I lived in Westchester, and it’s not information that I received in catholic or public school. The only Quran I knew was 50 Cent's Ghetto Qu'ran. LOL, but really though. When friends of mine in college told me that they did not eat or drink during the day throughout Ramadan, I was perplexed that they went about their daily functions.
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine booked me to do a fitness shoot for him. We decided to move it for after Ramadan because it would be exerting unnecessary energy. At this moment I thought wow, this is a huge commitment that takes an immense amount of mental strength.
This needs to be celebrated...
From there I decided to do a photo series that will lead up to Eid Mubarak and celebrate the strength exhibited throughout Ramadan. I want to be educated on the religion, dispel myths, and display personal narratives. At a time like this, I cannot celebrate without thinking about the vast Islamophobia in this country. There is so much hate driven out of fear, and it is ignorant that people try to even categorize a look to an entire religion because there isn't one ESPECIALLY for millennials.
“There needs to be an active effort to understand the black experience and the muslim experience, otherwise you will be left with the knowledge from these mediums that aren’t providing you with the correct information.” - King
You can see from King's shirt, his blackness and his faith are inadvertently tied. "I CANT BREATH," reminiscent of Eric Gardner's last words. Although, the black experience and the muslim experience are different, there is a lot of hate targeted at both groups in this country. There are a large amount of people who fall into both of those categories. This point of intersectionality is very interesting, especially when you incorporate womanhood into the mix.
King brought The Autobiography of Malcolm X to the shoot, at a park in Brooklyn where he used to practice track during Ramadan.
I asked King a few questions, and here’s an exerpt from his experiences.
Me: Why did you choose this place?
King: "One summer, I decided I was trash at track & field during my freshman year of high school. I decided, ‘Okay, when they have summer practices, I’m going to go to the park and practice with them so that sophomore year I won’t be as trash’. Coincidentally, practices fell during the same time Ramadan was occurring. I would take the A train to the C train and ride over here, walk to Fort Green Park, and practice with them [the track team] while I was fasting. I was also reading this book. I told myself ‘ok [King], you’re gunna go to practice, and you’re gunna practice while fasting. It’s gunna be hard, but I really don’t want to be trash next year.’ I went to practice and participated. It was rough going through the fasting period trying to maintain that focus, while at the same time being aware that I shouldn’t push myself too hard because I couldn’t eat, nor drink. It was during those moments where everything else became quiet and I was in the zone."
This was an immense amount of clarity for a fifteen year old to gain. Ever since gaining that clarity when he was in highschool, he is able to bring his mind back to that place of extreme focus whenever he is fasting.
King explained to me that, “The lessons that I learned in Islamic school on Saturday’s weren’t that different from the things that I was learning in Catholic school.’ These two religions are about peace, forgiveness, and caring for others.”
I thought that, that was a great sentiment because religions seem to be at odds about who is right so often that they forget that they have the same goal. This may be another reason why millennials are resistant to organized religion, but I do think that it is important to learn about the existing religions even if it is looked at through a skeptical point of view. There are some very important moral life lessons that can be taken from them.
After doing the shoot with King and he explained to me the purpose of fasting, I decided I would fast on the days of my shoots. Fasting is supposed to humble you, and get you in the spirit of helping the homeless/starving/poor. You get a small taste of what it is like to not be able to eat whenever you would like. The idea of getting in the mindset of someone who is starving seemed intriguing. Although, I knew that it would be different for me because I wasn’t doing it paired with my faith. I still wanted to do it in solidarity with the person that I was shooting, as well as to get a small understanding of what that struggle felt like.
On the day of the next shoot that I had with Queen, I decided to fast. I knew I would struggle with it, but I didn’t know I would struggle with it so early. There have been days where I went a very extended time without food if I didn’t have access to it.
On that day, I had the shoot at 3 pm. At around 1130 am, I started to become incredibly hungry and I wasn’t even sure that I would be able to hold off until 3 pm. By about 12 pm, I had convinced myself that I needed to have a sip of water to take with my medication (which very well may be true, but I really wanted it because I was thirsty). I can’t even relay to you how much better I felt afterwards. Before I left to go to the shoot, I had to brush my teeth again because it felt like I had cottonmouth.
It felt as though my sense of smell was heightened. I could smell someone cooking food from another apartment while I was in my room. I thought that it might have been easier to fast if I was with my family or if I prayed...
While I was at the shoot, I forgot all about my hunger. I mean of course we talked about it, but it took the back burner in my mind. After I left the shoot, I passed by a fruit and vegetable cart. After I passed it, I turned around and purchased 4 peaches and 2 bananas for $2. I told myself I would save it for later. Around 6, I found myself eating the banana. Within a half hour I decided that I had already broken my fast so I might as well eat. To put it simply I failed at fasting until 9 pm.
But that made me realize that throughout Ramadan, Muslims have to pass by food every day and not eat it. And then I thought even further about homeless people passing by food, begging for help, being in a daze from lack of nutrition, and people ignoring them. So although I technically failed, the goal of thinking outside of myself was reached.
One thing that I was told during the interview with Queen was not to focus too hard on the fasting. If you fast without it being combined with the acts of service, prayer, humbleness, and general effort to be a good person, I would merely just be starving myself. So I have decided to go more towards acts of kindness, and participating in a community service effort that a future interviewee is facilitating. The next time that I will fast, will be if I am invited to a breaking of the fast feast because I would like to experience that.
“I never felt more beautiful, than I did once I started covering my head” - Queen
Queen explained that she feels no need to try to be beautiful for anyone else but herself. This is the first Ramadan that she has been making a very conscious effort to consistently cover her head. Covering her head, as well as dressing modestly as is expected within Islam has provided her with heightened confidence. Queen has been reading the Quran, and that has given her a lot more clarity. She does not wear a hijab, and she mentioned that it may have altered her experience as a Muslim woman if she had because people directly correlate that with Islam. Even though this is an incorrect correlation that people make because it is often worn by women for cultural reasons, not necessarily religious.
It was interesting to interview Queen after King because Queen shared some different experiences she's had as a woman. One was, not being able to wear nail polish during Ramadan. Being a black-muslim-woman is a level of intersectionality that I had assumed would have adverse effects. According to both of them, people hardly ever assume that they are Muslim by the way that they look, so this intersectionality may have helped avoid religious persecution. But I did notice from both of them that a pressure to be the perfect Muslim exists. While being black in America, a similar strive for perfection exists due to the negative stereotypes that exist about us. This doubling down on pressure for perfection adds stress that you probably can't imagine if you do not fall within any of these lines of intersectionality.
One of the reasons why I stated earlier that "especially millennials" would be tough to categorize to a look for a certain religion is because we tend to stray away from traditional ways of doing and dressing. Queen discussed the empowerment she feels by dressing modestly and covering her head which is still not exactly traditional but different from the mindset many young people have.
Queen stated this, and I thought it was perfect: "One thing that I really love and respect when it comes to covering your head, Is that I truly believe that its a personal choice. It should never be an issue where someone who covers their head thinks they're better than or judges someone who doesn't cover their head or for someone who doesn't cover their head to think that they have the upper hand on someone who does cover their head. I think that it is completely up to you what hair styles you choose to have, how you choose to cover yourself or if you choose not to cover yourself. How you choose to practice is between you and your God."
-V.
Morals:
1. Don't categorize or stereotype people based off of the way that they look.
2. BE HUMBLE.
3. It should never be forgotten that the main goal of religion is peace. The rest of it is supposed to just be guidelines on how to create peace, but read and do what works for you. Times change, and so do people.
4. If you're interested in being part of it please contact me!