Partner Spotlight: Inner-City Muslim Action Network in Atlanta

This week we celebrate one of the SPLC Action Fund’s long-standing partners in the fight for racial justice in Georgia. The Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) is a holistic health center led by people impacted by the criminal justice system – ranging from individuals who have been incarcerated to community members affected by the system – that also organizes for social change. In 2016, the organization opened an office in Atlanta and started mobilizing and organizing Georgians committed to its mission. We talked to Kareemah Hanifa, the Atlanta community organizer, about the organization and the ways in which the pandemic has impacted their work.

What is the mission and vision of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network? And how do you see IMAN growing in the next few years?

The Inner-City Muslim Action Network is a community organization that fosters health, wellness and healing in the inner city by organizing for social change, cultivating the arts and operating a holistic health center. I see us continuing IMAN’s grassroots efforts through our organizing and advocacy work. And growing in our capacity to offer services such as health care services centers, food ecos [“food ecosystem” partnerships between the group and a local market that provides fresh produce to communities], criminal justice reform, advocacy, reentry services and other community outreach.              

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the work of IMAN? Do you have any advice for how people can prioritize their health and wellness given the collective trauma that we’re going through now?

The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged us to be innovative in staying connected, through virtual organizing meetings, to our local leaders and the communities they are elected to serve. The pandemic has also created an urgency to distribute healthy food in areas otherwise designated as food deserts.

A great piece of advice is to always make time for community through self-care. We are all connected by the power of storytelling. This is a reminder that we can implement empathy and compassion as a way of life by remembering that we are all experiencing a collective trauma, but it is our narrative that controls our perspective in every experience.  

What are some of the priorities for IMAN for the next year? And how could people support or get more involved in your work?

IMAN’s top priority is to continue to create community engagement by not just identifying systemic injustices but also creating long-term sustainable and holistic solutions. For those who want more information on housing and the Green ReEntry program, you can find more information on our website. For those interested in our campaigns on criminal justice reform, access to healthy food, and ending voter suppression, you also can find more information on our website.

Here at the SPLC Action Fund, we have had the honor of working with IMAN on ending felony disenfranchisement and restoring the rights of those impacted by the criminal legal system. Why do you think this should continue to be a priority for all Georgians, and not just those impacted by the criminal legal system?

We have most recently witnessed in the 2020 election and 2021 runoff that voter suppression is alive and well for Georgia’s eligible voters. While there are 7,395,375 registered voters in the state of Georgia, there are approximately 266,000 disenfranchised voters here too. Those voters are ineligible to exercise their rights because they have been convicted of a felony “involving moral turpitude,” which is a vague and racist relic of the Jim Crow South that remains in our code. One in every three Georgians is involved in or knows someone who is directly impacted by the criminal justice system. This is a direct indication that democracy as we know it is at risk. We must create equal voting rights across the board to establish and maintain true democracy. 

This year, the SPLC Action Fund will be working directly with IMAN and other partners to create a long-term campaign to end felony disenfranchisement once and for all in Georgia. We believe that every citizen should have the opportunity to participate in civic life and vote, even if you’ve been impacted by the criminal legal system. Just as Georgia has eliminated other Jim Crow relics from its code, like its racist citizen’s arrest statute, we will work to ensure that returning citizens get an opportunity to reintegrate into their communities and participate in democracy.

Isabel Otero is policy director in the Atlanta office of the SPLC Action Fund.

Photo at top: Staff, supporters and volunteers with the Inner-City Muslim Action Network join a voting rights rally outside the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021. (Courtesy of Inner-city Muslim Action Network in Atlanta )