Sherman A. Jackson and the Possibility of a “Blackamerican Muslim” Prophetic Pragmatism

Abstract

In this paper, I argue that in his endeavor to reorient Muslim American priorities and perceptions of authority in the name of a “Blackamerican Islam,” Sherman A. Jackson's conception of “protest appropriation” and its concomitant blending of epistemological and social critique informed by the experience of black suffering stands in the tradition of African American forms of pragmatism, especially that of Cornel West. Just as West's “prophetic pragmatism” enabled him to develop a religious tradition of social criticism informed by Christian elements and the experiences of African Americans, so too does Jackson's “Blackamerican Islam” evince certain pragmatic sensibilities in its quest to do the same for Sunni Islam in the face of white and immigrant Muslim ideologies. In the process of making this argument, I hope to make distinct the harmonies and dissonances between Jackson's and West's work, and thus better ascertain the possibility of a “Blackamerican Muslim” prophetic pragmatism.