This is what the two most successful groups in America over the past two decades, women and gays, have been so successful at effecting. Not only have they made enormous political, economic, and legal gains, they have radically altered the manner in which society views them as citizens, simultaneously promoting and defending their self-defined identity as women and gays. In these achievement (and whether we agree with the substance thereof is irrelevant) women and gays have exemplified the distinction between "indigenization," that is, carving out a space for oneself in society and "assimilation," that is, accepting the place in society assigned to one by the dominant group. In the case of Blackamerican Muslims, this is a critical distinction, for, as both blacks and as Muslims, experience has suggested that the dominant culture does not have all the answers and that in many instances accepting the invitation to be included in the latter might be tantamount to accepting admission into a burning building.[80]-Dr. Sherman A. Jackson, Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking toward the Third Resurrection
, pg. 168-9(If you follow this blog and don't have this book by now....): :)
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