Countering Violent Extremism: Learning from African-American Muslim Experiences

The experience of African American Muslims has largely been absent from public policy discussions regarding Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). As a result, one of the most successful deradicalization programs in American history remains unknown. Following the 1975 death of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, his son WD Muhammad led the Community of Imam W. Deen Muhammad (CWDM) in a step-by-step program of reform that transformed the group and led it to abandon its more extreme racial and anti-government views.

To discuss the specific CVE experience of African American Muslims and the example of the CWDM, New America welcomes Muhammad Fraser-Rahim, co-author of Transforming the Hate that Hate Produced, a new report on the subject, director of Quilliam North America, and a former counterterrorism analyst with over a decade of experience at the Department of Homeland Security, National Counterterrorism Center, and Office of the Director of National Intelligence. New America also welcomes Yaya Fanusie, Director of Analysis at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance and a former CIA analyst and Imam Talib Shareef, President and Imam of the “Nations Mosque” Masjid Muhammad. 

Participants: 

Muhammad Fraser-Rahim, @mfraserrahim 
Co-Author, Transforming the Hate that Hate Produced 
Director, Quilliam North America 

Yaya Fanusie, @SignCurve 
Director of Analysis, Foundation for Defense of Democracies Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance 

Talib Shareef, @NationsMosqueDC 
President and Imam, Nations Mosque Masjid Muhammad 

Moderator: 

Peter Bergen, @peterbergencnn 
Vice President, New America 
Director, International Security Program, New America