--------- Forwarded message > > NEW YORK AND TOUBA, SENEGAL > > IT MAY have taken the murder in > February of Amadou Diallo, a Guinean, by the New York > police to open New Yorkers' eyes to the West Africans in > their midst. But there are plenty of them, and perhaps > none > more obvious than the ones who work along the main > tourist > drags, surreptitiously flashing briefcases glittering > with fake > Rolex watches and Ray Ban sunglasses. These street > traders are part of a Sufi brotherhood, the Mouride, > founded > by Cheikh Amadou Bamba in Senegal at the turn of the > century. They operate round the world, from Paris to > Tokyo, > but their headquarters-in-exile is New York. > > "It has special significance for us Mourides," says Modou > Sarr, a shopkeeper. Mr Sarr arrived at the age of 17, > speaking no English; the police arrested him on the first > day > for peddling without a licence. But this, he says, is > simply one > of the trials and tribulations the Mourides expect on > their > journey towards God. Now, at 33, Mr Sarr is an American > citizen and owns a high-rent tourist shop on 42nd Street > at Times Square, on one of the corners where he used to > dodge > the police. "They would confiscated [sic] my goods and > arrested me but I managed to save my pennies and keep my > faith. I knew that Amadou Bamba prevailed, so so could > I,'' > he says. > > Uptown in Harlem, many Mourides have opened legitimate > restaurants and shops. By so doing, they are changing the > face of a depressed area. According to Randy Daniels, the > deputy commissioner for economic development in New > York state, "African fabric shops, travel agents and > telephone call-centres are internationalising the > economy." > Immigrants from other countries in West Africa are also > settling in Harlem and across the Harlem river in the Bronx > (where Diallo was shot). But 116th Street and Malcolm X > Boulevard, around the mosque named after the radical > black > leader, has become known as "Little Senegal", with more > than 80% of businesses now owned by Senegalese. A > Mouride religious centre is under construction. The city > of > Manhattan has proclaimed an official holiday in Harlem > for > Amadou Bamba, as has Cincinnati, another favourite > destination for the Senegalese. > > Many American blacks are converting to the Mouride faith. > One of them, Alpha Elias Abdul Latif, once a member of > Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam, praises "the > uncompromising stance of Amadou Bamba against the European > dominatio > n of Africa and the world." Other > blacks > see parallels with their own heroes, particularly Booker > T. > Washington, who admonished blacks to pull themselves up > by their bootstraps. Bamba did not do so much for his own > people, apparently consigning them to a life of poverty > as > peanut-providers for the French colonial rulers in > Senegal. > But he has a clear advantage over Booker T: he supposedly > performed miracles, including walking on the water after > the > French had put him on a ship to send him into exile. > > Astonished by this, the French authorities granted Bamba > semi-autonomy over the "holy city" of Touba and the land > around it. > Today, Touba is squalid and overcrowded, with > little water or sanitation. Yet it has a giant mosque and > a > library with 10,000 books, including Bamba's original > writings; and, for blacks in Harlem, it carries the same > romantic allure as kibbutzes once did for American Jews. > Abdul Latif calls it "the ideal Islamic experience." A > popular > Mouride bumper sticker reads "Fly Air Touba", although > this > is a purely spiritual journey: Touba not only has no > airline, but > also no airport. > > What is real is the Mourides' international trade > network. > According to Cheikh Seye, the executive secretary of the > Mouride Isl > amic Community of America, about $100m is > transferred from New York to Senegal every three months > through informal banking arrangements. "We're a > self-supporting community," he says from an office at the > back of an international telephone centre on 116th > Street. > "When people first arrive, we find a place for them to > stay in > New York and we help them look for business." > > The problem, as Modou Sarr found, is that the start-ups > are > mostly peddlers who are unlicensed and illegal, and the > city > keeps a tight rein on the number of street-vending > licences it > issues. The lucky few get them through a city-organised > lottery syst > em; the rest are always on the run from a > special > police task force that cruises midtown streets in > unmarked > cars. Police admit (unofficially) that, of the roughly > 1,300 > arrests they make each year, 90% are Senegalese. "We > arrest the same guys over and over again," says one > officer. > One Italian-American policeman claimed that when he was > on holiday in Rome, he saw a Senegalese peddler he knew > from New York: "When he saw me, he ran." > > The Mouride community helps peddlers when they lose their > goods. Often they are back selling on the streets the > same > day. But the police and city officials have cited that fact > as > evidence of an organised crime network, and since 1992 > the > task force has been arresting peddlers on more serious > criminal charges. "Before, they'd just spend a day or two > in > jail and do some community service time," says the task > force's new chief, Robert D'Onofrio. "Now we often > charge them with selling counterfeit goods, which means > they can do up to a year in prison." It also leaves them > with > a criminal record that can jeopardise their immigration > status. > But Seydina Senghor, executive director of Afrika > Business > Community and an advocate for the Mourides in New York, > complains that the police make a habit of beating and > harrassing bla > ck immigrants whether they have licences or > not. > > Few Mourides have made formal complaints, however. "We > knew it wasn't going to be easy before we came," said > Amadou Thiam, who hawks T -shirts with fake logos. "But > this is business." ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! 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