Latino Muslims in the U.S. Are For Reals

Hey everyone, I just thought with recent anti-Islam sentiment and the silliness that was Juan Williams last week, it would be a good time to bring us back down to Earth.  There are Latino muslims, lots of them are converting from Catholicism (for the children?), and some sources say Latinos make up a growing segment of muslim converts in the U.S.

Here are a few videos I found on YouTube, but also an interesting snippet from an article written by one such convert, Aaron Sibert-Llera:

“The point should nonetheless be made that Islam is not a new religion in the Latino experience. Aside from more ancient links to Islamic Andalusia, there has been a large influx of Arabs, particularly from Syria and Lebanon, beginning in the 1860s. The number of Muslims currently in Latin America has been estimated at between four and six million, with 800,000 Muslims in Argentina and 1.5 million in Brazil alone. And Islam has not remained the exclusive domain of Arab or Indo-Pakistani immigrants. Aside from conversions among some of the ethnically African populations of Trinidad or Jamaica, for example, a few “indigenous” Muslim communities have likewise taken root. In the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, a group of Tzotzil Mayan Indians have embraced Islam, establishing their own mosque and zabiha restaurant and butcher shop.”

Much more interesting information at the link.  Here are the videos.