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West African Muslims In The Bronx

West African Muslims in the Bronx
On March 7, 2007, a chilly evening welcomed the warmth of an electric space heater. The setting was an overcrowded home in the Highbridge area of the Bronx. A total of 23 Soninke immigrants from Mali occupied the four-story house, with a staggering 17 of these being children. The two families that occupied the home were from one of the hottest regions in the world, and as the space heater warmed the first floor to a bearable degree, sleep began to take hold of the occupants. What happened next blurred their distinction between nightmare and reality. The space heater’s overheated electric cord ignited a small fire. While the woman sleeping on the first floor hurriedly warned and sought help from others in the house, the fire intensified beyond their control and within minutes had engulfed the entire building. In the aftermath, a total of ten people died, with nine of these being children. Apart from 9/11, it was New York City’s deadliest fire in 17 years.
The families involved in the tragic fire were Soninke, an ethnic group that numbers around two million total people. They, along with other ethnic groups from Francophone West Africa, are almost exclusively Muslim. When the news of the tragic event spread, thousands of dollars were donated from individuals and businesses to assist the families involved. However, the most newsworthy responses from New Yorkers came not from removed donators, but from the West African community itself. While West African mosques and associations gathered, organized, and represented West Africans and the families involved in the fire, America received a candid look into the culture and religion of Muslim West Africans in the city.
West Africans’ Space in the Larger Muslim Community

Hailing mainly from such countries as Mali, Guinea, Gambia, Senegal, Niger, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone, West African Muslims are just one fiber in a convoluted thread of Muslim ethnic groups in the...