From Brooklyn To Staten Island To Brooklyn: Abdullah Akl Just Wants To Make A Difference

Abdullah Akl is an 18-year-old Egyptian-American. He was born and raised in Brooklyn and moved to Staten Island a few years ago. He used to say the N-word when he hung out with his friends. And then, he stopped. He educated himself, he said. Now, he holds a megaphone, perches himself on his friend’s shoulders, and leads chants of Black Lives Matter. Education is key, he said.

Even though Akl currently lives on Staten Island, he is in Brooklyn about 95% of the year. “Home is just a quick hotel to go to sleep, do some work, and get back to Brooklyn,” he said. When we asked which was the better borough, he laughed. “My answer will always be the same. It’s Brooklyn all the way. I will move back the first chance I get.”

Brooklyn is where a lot of his work is based. It is where he has been attending Black Lives Matter protests, helping to organize some of them, demanding an end to police brutality. The most recent protests he attended were the Muslims Against Police Brutality and the Jummah prayer at Barclays Center. The energy at both was unbelievable, he recalled.

“We weren’t expecting honestly this kind of turnout. For the Friday Jummah, we put out the flier on Thursday,” he told Bklyner. “It was really short notice and we weren’t expecting that people would be coming out like this. But the amount of support Muslims had for this matter really showed unity.”

The matter he was referring to is racism, and it also exists within the Muslim community. For example, there is a term some Arabs use when referring to Black people. The word is derogatory and its literal translation is “slave.” According to Akl, to address racism, Muslims need to be educated.

“A huge part of it is misinformation. People don’t know their Muslim history very well. If they did, they would never treat a Black Muslim differently,” he said. “The word that Arabs use is disgusting. It’s almost as equivalent to using the N-word. So, I think if Muslims educate themselves and look at religion more, they would realize that these kinds of words and these actions against Black people, specifically Black Muslims, are not tolerable.”

He gave himself as an example.

“I’ve definitely said the N-word in the past and I look at myself now and understand how much it really means,” he said. “Growing up, many people would just be like ‘Well, Black people say it too, so what’s wrong with me saying it?’ But the history behind that word, what that word really means, speaking to some of my Black friends about that word, it made me realize how much of a hurtful word it is.”