The Inner-City Muslim Action Network is a left-of-center Muslim activist organization that operates in Chicago and Atlanta. In addition to various educational and charitable community programs, ranging from the provision of food and housing to education, the organization also lobbies for changes to criminal justice laws in both Illinois and Georgia. Notably, it advocates allowing felons to vote after their sentence has been served and has drawn a connection to the number of felons unable to vote in Georgia to the narrow margin of Joe Biden’s victory in the state in the 2020 presidential election. 1 2 3 4 5
Founding and History
The Inner-City Muslim Action Network was founded in 1997 to attempt to improve neighborhood social conditions in Chicago’s South Side. In 2016, it expanded by opening a second branch in Atlanta, Georgia. 1
Finances
In 2021 the Inner-City Muslim Action Network reported $25,574,850 in revenue, of which $21,785,503 was derived from contributions and grants, $3,117,455 was derived from program service revenue, and $667,071 was derived from investment income. It reported $13,457,498 in expenses, of which $6,985,893 was allocated towards employee compensation and benefits. It ended the year with a surplus of $12,117,352 and net assets of $20,544,262. 6
Organization Philosophy
The Inner-City Muslim Action Network is focused on fusing Islamic spiritual principles with principles of social organizing and activism. 7
Activism
Chicago
The Inner-City Muslim Action Network supports various measures designed to reduce recidivism rates among criminal offenders. The group has lobbied in favor of and claims to have helped write legislation that would provide free health screenings and various educational programs with the goal of reducing recidivism. 2
Atlanta
The Inner-City Muslim Action Network supports a variety of alterations to criminal-justice laws in Georgia. These changes include the expansion of record expungement laws, increasing the minimum age to be tried as an adult, and ending cash bail. 3
IMAN advocates overturning Georgia law that forbids convicted felons from voting after the completion of their sentences. It claims that it is unjust to impose taxes on felons unable to vote and that denying felons the ability to affect the government in this way undermines the entire basis of America’s system of democratic governance. It notes that more than 250,000 Georgians are denied the ability to vote under this law. 4
The political implications of changing this law are barely concealed on IMAN’s website, with a post from November 2020 pointing out that the 2020 Presidential election in the state was decided by less than 15,000 votes, whereas over 250,000 felons are unable to vote. It also accuses the law of being a legacy of racial inequality and being a form of voter suppression. 5
Leadership
Rami Nashashibi is the founder and executive director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network. He has a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. He has been profiled in several national publications. In a Twitter thread from May 29, 2022, Nashashibi claimed that Jews who came from the United States to Israel were colonial settlers and that if any other group undertook their actions such groups would be identified by the U.S. government as terrorist organizations. He also stated that such activists were aided by white evangelical Christians in the U.S. who raise money in support of Israel, and that the U.S. government should “go after” them as well. 8
In October 2023, Nashashibi was reportedly the only Palestinian-American out of five Arab and Muslim American leaders invited to the White House by President Biden to discuss the ongoing Israel-Hamas war that began earlier that same month. 9 On October 7, 2023, members of the terrorist organization Hamas invaded Israel from the Gaza Strip and conducted a series of terror attacks that resulted in the killings of over 1200 Israelis while over 240 individuals were taken hostage back into the Gaza Strip. 10
References
- “About – Inner-City Muslim Action Network.” Accessed August 21, 2023. https://www.imancentral.org/about/.
- “Criminal Justice Reform – Inner-City Muslim Action Network.” Accessed August 21, 2023. https://www.imancentral.org/chicago/organizing-advocacy/criminal-justice-reform/.
- “Criminal Justice Reform – Inner-City Muslim Action Network.” IMAN. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://www.imancentral.org/atlanta/organizing-advocacy/criminal-justice-reform/.
- “No Taxation Without Representation – Inner-City Muslim Action Network.” IMAN. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://www.imancentral.org/atlanta/organizing-advocacy/no-taxation-without-representation/.
- “Georgia’s Missing 266,000 Voters – Inner-City Muslim Action Network.” IMAN, November 11, 2020. https://www.imancentral.org/updates/georgias-missing-266000-voters-15746/.
- Inner-City Muslim Action Network, return from an organization exempt from taxation (form 990). 2021 Part I
- “IMAN’s Principles of Change.” IMAN. Accessed August 21, 2023. https://www.imancentral.org/imans-principles-of-change/.
- Rami Nashashibi- [@RamiNashashibi]. “Tweet Thread on Israel.” Twitter, May 29, 2022. https://twitter.com/RamiNashashibi/status/1530933863039614976.
- “Community organizer was the only Palestinian American voice at White House meeting.” NPR, October 27, 2023. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/27/1208946036/community-organizer-was-the-only-palestinian-american-voice-at-white-house-meeti
- Weinthal, Benjamin. “Biden admin accused of aiding Palestinian ‘pay for slay’ as terrorists profit in Hamas deal, experts claim.” Fox News, November 26, 2023. https://www.foxnews.com/world/biden-admin-accused-aiding-palestinian-pay-for-slay-terrorists-profit-hamas-deal-experts-claim