Scott Collier traveled from Washington, D.C. to his hometown of St. Louis for the Tauheed Youth Group reunion, April 6-9, to support and assist Brother Anthony Shahid, the group’s founder and prime mover.
A retired St. Louis police officer who now works in security for the federal government, Collier said he owes “a debt of gratitude and appreciation” to the activist and organizer from North St. Louis.
“When I was injured in the line of duty in 1993, Anthony was there as a supporter from day one,” Collier said. “Literally every day I was in the hospital, he showed up and prayed for me.”
“He flew in for me,” Shahid said of Collier, “because he remembers how he would always hear that prayer, in Arabic and in English. He was with me Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. We did street patrols together.”
The practical reason for the reunion was also a motivator for Collier, he said: “Anthony said he wanted to address the problems of black-on-black crime.”
Hajj Sultan Muhammad co-hosted the reunion of the mentoring group with Shahid. Featured speakers at the various events included Michael Brown Sr., co-founder of Chosen For Change; Imam Abdul Malik, originator of Islam on Capitol Hill; and Minister Akbar Muhammad, the international representative for the Nation of Islam.
With them on the streets of St. Louis was Victor Ali, who was released from prison last year after serving 30 years for murder. He served in prison the entire 30 years since Shahid founded the Tauheed Youth Group and only learned about Shahid while watching television in prison. He noticed an unusual, older brother in the mix of young activists and organizers leading Ferguson protests.
“I said, ‘Who is this black man on the front line having a voice?’” Ali said. “I asked almighty God, Allah, to please bless me to meet this man upon my return back home.”
Once Ali was back on the outside and in St. Louis, a nephew took him to the Gamble Center to meet Shahid, and they have been together ever since.
“It was a very beautiful blessing,” Ali said. “Brother Shahid goes in jails and tries to help these youth. I was once a youth myself. Changes were made in my life because of a mistake I made, and I went to prison for murder. But God, Allah, blessed me to go back home and meet a man like Brother Shahid who is doing something for the black cause.”
Like the prayers that Collier thinks saved him in the hospital, Ali said, “It was praying in prison that allowed me to restructure my life.” And now he wants to work with Shahid to help other young men restructure theirs.
“I don’t want to see no youth out here go to prison like I did,” Ali said. “God blessed me to come back home. Brother Shahid was the missing link in my life. The reunion was beautiful. I can not say enough about what I learned.” And what he now feels compelled to teach others.
“They listen to me,” Ali said of the hard youth the group is trying to reach. “I’ve been through what they’re going through. A lot of black mothers are losing their sons at an early age to the prison or to the graveyard, and it just destroys me.”
