Salim Muwakkil

Salim Muwakkil (born Alonzo James Cannady, January 20, 1947) is an American journalist and political commentator, based in Chicago. He is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and an op-ed columnist for the Chicago Tribune.

Muwakkil writes on African-American issues, Middle East politics, and US foreign policy. He is a Crime and Communities Media Fellow of the Open Society Institute, and teaches a seminar on race, media, and politics for the Urban Studies Program of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest.

Muwakkil, born in New York City, attended Rutgers University in New Jersey; he graduated with a BA in Political Science in 1973.

Background and career After graduating from Linden High School, Muwakkil joined the U.S. Air Force in 1964. After serving five-years as an administration specialist in Germany, he returned in 1969 and enrolled at Rutgers University, graduating in 1973. He joined the Black Panther Party directly after his discharge.

Shortly before his graduation, Muwakkil began his journalism career at the Associated Press in Newark, New Jersey, as a reporter.

Later, he joined the Nation of Islam. He moved to Muhammad Speaks and its successor Bilalian News as a copy editor and then managing editor. He is now a former activist in that movement. He has also been a contributing author of other works as listed below.

Journal of Ordinary Thought, Summer 2008: Authors of History, Neighborhood Writing Alliance, 2008 Appeal to Reason: 25 years in these times, Seven Stories Press, 2002 States of Confinement, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2000 The Farrakhan Factor: African-American writers on minister Louis Farrakhan, Grove Press, 1998 The Bell Curve Debate, Times Books, 1995 Collateral Damage: The New World Order at Home and Abroad, South End Press, 1992

Other publications in which Muwakkil's work has appeared include The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, The Chicago Reader, The Progressive, Newsday, Cineaste, The Baltimore Sun, Z Magazine, Toronto Star, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Utne Reader. 1997 Black Rose Achievement Award - League of Black Women 1994 Top Ten Media Heroes - Institute of Alternative Journalism