That Priceless Look of Poverty
"Who Are the 10%?"

Regardless how well intended and proficient doctors may be, they are in the sick business. If they healed patients we would rarely need doctors so they "treat" them instead -and the pharmaceutical companies aren't mad about it. The same can be said about lawyers; they are in the crime, personal injury and family dysfunction business. If it weren't for drugs, violence, accidents, divorces and etc., we would rarely need them too. I'm sure my barber is glad indestructible haircuts don't exist yet because he would be out of business too. Whether we are mechanics, school teachers, dentists, politicians, pastors or etc., there's a certain degree of job security that comes along with fixing things or even striving to insure that things remain broke, as in "poor."


Here in New York, according to the 2014-2017 Community Health Assessment Niagara County Department of Health released in 2013, "23% of the people in our live below the poverty line and 44% of the population—almost one in two—is either in poverty or struggling financially and at risk." In the city of Niagara Falls, approximately 60% of our residents receive public assistance such as food stamps, welfare, unemployment insurance and Medicaid. According to 2009 data, 67% of the families in poverty are female headed households with no husband present, and 70% who are poor are unemployed. Another important statistic is that foreign-born residents are 94% above the poverty line.


When it comes to statistics, people can manipulate them to serve whatever political agenda they want. For example, in regards to 67% of the families in poverty being female headed households with no husband present, some people may simply say it's because they're not marriage material. Some people believe that the 70% who are poor, unemployed, are just lazy. The 94% foreign-born residents who are above the poverty line? Some may say they all work harder. Whatever statistics say there's always an angle of what can be said, which is oftentimes inaccurate or disingenuous.


One of the misconceptions people in my area tend to have about welfare [public assistance] is that their taxes pay for it. In part, they do. All of us who work allocate a certain portion of our taxes towards supporting our public assistance program. The reality is my county receives financial support from [New York] state and the federal government to fund our public assistance program. Because of the statistics related to poverty, and accompanying socioeconomic factors such as teenage pregnancy, poor education and etc., my city [Niagara Falls] receives a larger portion of that state and federal support. In other words, if the city were a person named Nia G. Falls, they would be living below the poverty line, receiving public assistance and parenting thousands of children.


Another misconception is that the face of welfare is "Lazy La'Shaniqua" who has 7 children by four baby daddies living in public housing. Actually, the largest portion of state and federal support any impoverished county and city receives for public assistance goes towards contracts, personnel, employee benefits and administrative services, not a welfare check. So the real face of welfare or those benefiting most from our city's poverty have more common names than La'Shaniqua. They are most likely home owners with a two income household that don't live in inner city zip codes. Do you get that picture?


Now you're probably wondering who we can blame for this. Well I'm not in the blame game business. We need more hands working, less finger pointing and the sober realization that fixing the things that are broke about our cities requires a multifaceted approach; collective work and responsibility. In the process, we also can't be naive to believe that there aren't people invested in things remaining broke [poor]. There are people like that, and they don't look like the broken.


Like with any family going through a financial hardship, we are not alone. On the other side of Canada lives Nia G. Falls’ poor cousin Dee Troit -who has also fallen on tough financial times. Maybe we, and cities like us, need to consider what strategies Dee is using to change their financial situation. That insight, may be priceless.


Peace,
Saladin

Ms. "Jordan" Ladd

Every "Jordan" Doesn't

Play Basketball

 

Since putting out my FULL PRESS RELEASE I've monitored the various local news sources to see how they'd cover the story. Not one of them have printed my press release in its entirety. All of them took only parts of it, put their own spin on it, and gave it back to the public the way they saw fit. While I do appreciate some of the publicity, there are other things I saw that were completely inaccurate. You can read my FULL PRESS RELEASE here: Saladin Q. Allah Official Press Release

Now, The Niagara Falls Reporter printed, and I quote, "Allah is a convert to Islam and changed his name as is customary for Muslims converts."

I am not sure where they got this from. I never spoke to anyone from The Niagara Falls Reporter about the weather let alone religion. I never said that, it's not in my press release, it's not in anything I've published online, and it is completely inaccurate. I am not Muslim nor was my name change for religious reasons. The Niagara Falls Reporter did accurately state, "Allah says his ancestor was Rev. Josiah Henson, who is said to be the inspiration for the fugitive slave in 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'." Yet it's this very part of my ancestry that would have given them more insight about me, my family background, and my name change if they asked me. Since they didn't, I can tell you directly.

 

Article in the Niagara Gazette about my Grandmother Inez Frank (1986)

 When some of my ancestors were brought to America during the trans-atlantic slave trade, they were enslaved and forced to give up their cultural identity, regardless of their religious ideology. They no longer were allowed to speak their own language, use their own names, maintain the same diet, or even establish stable family units. This process continued, by law, for approximately nine generations or three hundred and ten years. So while some people of Italian descent can trace their last name to an actual village in modern day Italy, or others can trace their lineage to a Family Crest or Coat of Arms, tracing my lineage has consisted of looking at cargo logs for ships or doing DNA tracking to find out the geographic location of my ancestors. The trans-atlantic slave trade, and slavery, interrupted the cultural identity and arrested the development of an entire group people. It interrupted the cultural identity and arrested the development of the people enslaved and the slave holders.

In indigenous societies of the past and today, our birth names where a central part of our cultural identity and role we played within our societies. For example, when a child was born a name would be given to them, usually by our elders, to communicate a part of that child's purpose and destiny. This was sacred and ceremonial, not done without consideration. If the child's name meant "sincere counsel", that was an important role our elders knew our society needed to birth and cultivate. It's no different than people giving birth to a child and providing them with all the support and resources they need to become a productive member of society. Many of our ancestors wisely took it a step further by making sure this support was reinforced by a person's actual name. So instead of simply providing a child with the resources to become sincere counsel, we gave them that name to live up to as an attribute. During slavery this cultural tradition was interrupted. Slaves who were bred to produce children for labor no longer had the power to name them. These children were sold off to other plantations and given names to identify them as a master's property. So a slave named "Smith" was identified as Master Smith's slave. "Walking Henson" was known as Henson's slave who walked alot. Not only was this naming method used to track the slave masters property, but it was also used for insurance purposes. There are many wealthy companies and families today, that accumulated their wealth, from Slave Insurance.

Many present day African-Americans can trace the last names we currently have, whether it's English, French, or etc. directly to the slave masters who once owned our ancestors. Again, regardless of our ancestors religious views or how we chose to worship, this slavery system legally interrupted our cultural identity and arrested the development of us all.

 

Article in the Buffalo News and letter from African Ancestry Inc.
about my International Family Tree Project (2005)

The reason I legally changed my name was to reconnect to my ancestors cultural identity, and build upon this rich legacy that was almost entirely destroyed. In 2005 I received a grant for my L.I.F.E. Afterschool Program and partnered with the Washington DC based genetics company African Ancestry Inc. to create an International Family Tree Project. With this Project I was able to provide twenty DNA Kits, free of charge, to families in our Community, Pittsburgh, Missouri, and Canada who were interested in finding out where their maternal ancestry came from. I found out my maternal ancestors came from Cameroon and my tribal affiliation is the Tikar Tribe. Saladin, pronounced Sa-la-dean means "Honor or Righteousness of the faith". A great Muslim King popularized this Arabic name, yet the name is Arabic, not Muslim. Arabic does not equal Muslim and to assume that would be no different than assuming my nephew plays basketball just because he has the name "Jordan." My middle name Quanaah, pronounced Kwa-ni-ah means "fragrant". In honor of my indigenous american (native american) ancestry, I chose this name. It's Quahadi in origin and comes from the Last Comanche Chief Quanah Parker; who successfully made the transition from Chief to Statesman and was responsible for founding The Native American Church. My last name, Allah, is also Arabic which means "The God." Again, Arabic does not equal Muslim. There are many arabic speaking Christians and other Religions who refer to God as Allah, simply because they speak the arabic language. So my name, Saladin Quanaah Allah, means "The honorable faith and fragrance of the God." Since taking this step to change my name in 1999, I have since published a book entitled 'How To Change Your Name Without A Lawyer' and have assisted many others change their name for various reasons (cultural, religious, stage name, immigrants, and etc.)

In closing, I didn't appreciate the Niagara Falls Reporter for even citing what they believe my religion to be, making an assumption about what it is, and then printing misinformation without even asking me about my worldview or my reasoning for changing my name. That was poor reporting and prejudiced. I am a scientist of life and study all religions. I am just as much Muslim as our Commander and Chief, President Barack Hussein Obama. My perspective about any religion is that people should strive to have a personal relationship with who they worship. A relationship that's so personal, that they strive to live in such a way that others can see their creator within them.

Peace,
Saladin