Who Is Kamaal Ahmad?

            My VIP for this week is Kamaal Ahmad, an African American Muslim man living in Salt Lake City. He was busy planting his vegetable garden when he learned that a police car was set on fire in his city. Even though he planned to work in his flower garden, he dropped his plans and jumped in his car. 


            Ahmad did not go to protest but to defuse the problem. He knows many people in the minority communities, and he is a schoolteacher. He went looking for students or acquaintances with the hope that he could influence them to leave the protest. He did not see anyone that he knew and headed home. The people that he saw were “opportunists who saw a moment.”

Nothing in Kamaal’s experience suggested that Salt Lake police deserved such abuse. He’d never personally felt mistreated; never felt profiled.

“When you talk to the African American community here that’s the thing you’re going to notice,” he said. “It’s pretty much the same. No issues, no targeting. In my view the police here have a great relationship with the minority.” …

“I’m just leaving the protest,” he tweeted, “and I have no idea what in the world was going on there, but that wasn’t about George Floyd, that wasn’t about racial equality in our country, that was about people who want to cause harm and conflict. We owe it to our city to help our law enforcement. This isn’t Chicago, this isn’t New York. Our police department has a great reputation. They are good people.”

            Kamaal’s message got out. His video was retweeted 20,000 times, and 100,000 viewers saw his Facebook and Instagram posts. He later “organized a rally to promote peace and progress that was held this past Saturday not far from where the police car burned the week before.” When someone said, “You’re protesting the protest!” he replied, “Yeah, isn’t that beautiful? You should be able to protest. That’s what makes America America, that’s what makes us great. It’s the violence I don’t agree with.” 

Kamaal wants to start a movement to showcase Salt Lake City uniqueness and to be a good example of how other cities can “move forward with race relations to make a positive environment and culture that is sustainable.”  He still has not planted his flowers.