African-American Muslims In U.S. Reject al Qaeda Statement

On Friday, according to CNN, leaders of New York's African-American Muslim community issued a statement denouncing recorded comments from al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Zawahiri video tape, released on the Internet last Wednesday (Washington Post), denounced President-elect Barack Obama. It said that Obama represents the "direct opposite of honorable black Americans" like Malcolm X. In a statement read during a news conference at the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and Cultural Center, the African-American Muslim leaders said: "We find it insulting when anyone speaks for our community instead of giving us the dignity and the honor of speaking for ourselves." The Council on American-Islamic Relations also condemned Zawahiri's statements.