Umar Lee (born Brett Darren Lee; September 18, 1974 in

St Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which ...

) is an American writer, media personality and political activist.

Religion

Coming from a white

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

background, Lee converted to

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagre ...

in the 1990s and quickly associated himself within the

Salafi The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generat ...

movement. In 2007, Lee authored a ten post blog series entitled ''The Rise and Fall of the Salafi Movement'', which focused mostly on black converts to Salafism in the United States, in a lineage of interest in Islam which he traced from

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of Is ...

onward. Lee's writing about the movement, which was mostly lamentful, portrayed a disillusionment with various aspects of the Salafi movement such as a separation from the real world, divisions, and overseas influence. During this time, Lee's blog won the award for "best series" in the

Brass Crescent The Brass Crescent is an umbrella term for the blogs, websites, newsfeeds and other new media devoted to analysis and discussion of modern Islam. Coined by Muslim blogger Aziz Poonawalla, founder of the webloCity of Brassand cofounder (with Shahed ...

Awards. In 2017 Lee criticized the Georgetown Islamic Studies Professor Jonathan Brown after he attended his lecture on slavery.

Political activity

Lee, while working as a cab driver, campaigned against the introduction of ride-share companies to the St. Louis Market. In 2014, Lee covered the Ferguson Unrest and was interviewed on several national outlets. During his coverage of the

Ferguson unrest The Ferguson unrest (sometimes called the Ferguson uprising, Ferguson protests, or the Ferguson riots) were a series of protests and riots which began in Ferguson, Missouri on August 10, 2014, the day after the fatal shooting of Michael Brow ...

, Lee was arrested on two occasions Lee was subsequently fired as a cab driver and contended that it was for his political activities in Ferguson. In 2016 Lee briefly announced he was running for St. Louis

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

. Lee also writes Noir Literature that is based in St Louis. Since June 2018, Lee hosted St Louis Speaks, a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

that fosters dialog about St Louis and the surrounding area. The podcast was co-created and is produced by historian Mark Loehrer In 2020 the podcast changed its name to Informal History STL and added several local historians and writers while adding a quarterly print publication. In 2021, he began hosting a podcast with Father Augustine Wetta entitled "Disagreement."

Personal life

Umar Lee was born to James D. Lee and Karen Arnold, in St Louis, Missouri into a blue collar family. Lee's 19-year old nephew, an aspiring SoundCloud rapper named Shelbyon Polk (also known as "Lil' Chubb"), was found dead with gunshot wounds to his torso on Thanksgiving Day 2017 in St Louis. Lee's mother, Karen Arnold, was murdered on December 18, 2018 in

Kirkwood, Missouri Kirkwood is an inner-ring western suburb of St. Louis located in St. Louis County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 27,540. Founded in 1853, the city is named after James P. Kirkwood, builder of the Pacific Railroad th ...

by unknown assailants who broke into her apartment while she was sleeping and shot her.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links

The Rise and Fall of the Salafi Dawah in America: a memoir by Umar Lee
1974 births Living people American male writers American political activists Writers from St. Louis Converts to Islam from Protestantism American Salafis {{US-writer-stub