STOCKTON -- The local Nation of Islam affiliate wants to change the perception that Latinos and African Americans don't mix by taking part in Latino-related functions.
"I don't think it's been done before, but I think it's definitely something that needs to be done," said Student Minister Brian Muhammad, head of Nation of Islam's Muhammad Study Group in Stockton.
For several years now, members of Nation of Islam have been visible in the May 1 -- or May Day -- immigration marches throughout the nation, including Stockton. The Muhammad Study Group, Stockton's Nation of Islam affiliate, plans to attend this year's immigration march, too.
Local members have attended and provided featured speakers at forums hosted by Stockton's Mexican Community Center.
Recently, Minister Rasul Muhammad was invited to speak at El Concilio's Latino Leadership Conference at Cesar Chavez High School. Rasul Muhammad, son of the late Islamic leader Elijah Muhammad, talked about unity between blacks and Latinos.
That activism reflects the formation of a relationship between the two groups, as well as the Nation of Islam's efforts in attracting Latinos to Islam.
Blacks and Latinos have more in common than they have differences, said Student Minister Tommie Muhammad, past-leader of the local Nation of Islam.
The two groups share the same social issues, such as high school dropout and expulsion rates, prison and jail inmate rates, low college graduation numbers, health care accessibility and economic issues.
Nationwide, only 53.2 percent of Latino high school students graduate, while only 50.2 percent of black students graduate, according to a 2001 study by the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. On the other hand, the study found more than 70 percent of white, Asian and Pacific Islander students graduate.
Also, national prison statistics show similar disproportions for Latinos and blacks. In 2006, for every 100,000 black males living in the United States, 3,042 were sentenced to prison; and for every 100,000 Hispanic males, 1,261 were sentenced to prison. For every 100,000 white males, 487 were sentenced to prison.
"A unified force definitely helps us politically, because we have the same things in mind in terms of working with social issues," Brian Muhammad said.
"It's all about making our community stronger," said Jose Rodriguez, executive director of El Concilio in Stockton. "We have a common voice."
Rodriguez said El Concilio isn't promoting the group's religious beliefs, since it works with various religious organizations. Instead, he said, the counsel forms partnerships with these groups to work on shared social causes and programs.
The Mexican Community Center has hosted Muhammad Study Group speakers, too. For instance, the group brought to the center featured speaker Emma Lozano, a nationally known immigration-rights activist who helped Elvira Arellano find sanctuary in Chicago before she was deported to Mexico. Lozano and Arellano were key players in the resurgence of the Sanctuary Movement throughout the United States.
"They looked for us and told us they wanted to unite," said Luis Magaña, the immigration-rights activist from Proyecto Voz who runs the center. "We spoke about immigration, civil rights, regular issues."
There is also history behind the relationship between black and Latino people, NOI believes.
Latinos are part of what NOI has dubbed "the original family," suggesting that Latinos come from African ancestry. There is some evidence that suggests Olmecs, a Mesoamerican indigenous group from the pre-classic period in Mexico, were originally from Africa.
"That's a part of our history that was not told," said Theresa X Torres, a San Jose-based Latino representative of NOI who works with Latinos internationally. "If the Olmecs were black, what does that make us?"
Evidence includes the presence of black populations throughout Mexico, Central America and South America; carvings of Mesoamerican faces that resemble the features of African people; and the similarities between Egyptian and Mexican pyramids.
That is one aspect of NOI that attracted John X Mataka, a Latino who became a member of the NOI Stockton affiliate three years ago.
"We're all from one family and we need to start acting like it," Mataka said.