Oral History Interview with Imam Saleem Khalid on August 20, 2020
Oral history interview with Imam Saleem Khalid conducted by Samayyah Cook on August 20, 2020. Interview written by Dr. Alisa Perkins (Research Director) and Samayyah Cook. Imam Saleem Khalid was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan. His parents, who hailed from Tennessee and Illinois, moved to Michigan in the 1940s. Imam Khalid grew up attending a Baptist church with his family, and frequented weekend religious school. After graduating from Kalamazoo Central High school, Imam Khalid continued his education at Kellogg Community College and Wayne State University. He then moved to Detroit to take a position with Standard Federal Saving, where he developed a specialization in business and financial consulting, eventually becoming the organization’s first African American Vice President. Imam Khalid reverted to Islam in the 1970s, inspired by the example of an influential Muslim American family in Detroit. He began attending Masjid Al-Mu'mineen in Virginia Park. With this religious re-orientation, Imam Khalid changed his career to one in which he could serve economically disadvantaged communities. Imam Khalid became Executive Director for the Detroit Alliance for Fair Banking, and devoted himself to ameliorating the effects of the city’s legacy of redlining. Imam Khalid also served as the Executive Director of New Detroit, helping organize a response to the 1967 Detroit Uprising, and facilitating conversations between Black and white community leaders. After devoting himself to the study of Islam over many years, Imam Khalid became a prominent teacher who is frequently called upon to lecture at area mosques. Imam Khalid now leads the Muslim Enrichment Project (MEP), where he works to help facilitate the integration of Michigan-area Muslim integration into their local Muslim communities. In the interview, Imam Khalid discusses his long-term work toward dismantling systemic racism in the Detroit community as a religious leader and through his career. He celebrates the many organizations in Detroit that are promoting community development, including Dream of Detroit, Dar Al-Rahma, and Al-Ikhlas Training Academy.
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