Your community...in renewal
United Nation of Islam has helped transform Quindaro Boulevard into place of hope, pride
By DONOVAN CORRIGAN
Special to The Star
When the United Nation of Islam arrived in the Quindaro area of Kansas City, Kan., in 1996, neighborhood businesses were laced with fortified security bars. Paying customers were sparse.
The area had a reputation for being one of the worst in the city — a place where drug deals, prostitution, armed robberies, shootings and murder were a part of everyday life.
Thanks in part to efforts of the United Nation of Islam, Wyandotte County is working its way to the forefront of urban renewal across the country.
The United Nation of Islam — which shares no ties to the Nation of Islam led by Louis Farrakhan — was founded in Temple Hills, Md. After establishing a branch in Kansas City, Kan., the group moved its national and international headquarters here a year ago.
Members brought with them a passion — a detailed, and some might say, unorthodox plan — to resuscitate and beautify a section of the community that was on life support.
At one time, you could see “drug deals, cars three-deep and prostitutes on every corner,” Sister LaOta Rassoull of the group said. “There were chalk outlines of bodies every day.
“That has not been the case for years. You don't see that anymore.”
Police Capt. Michael Kobe acknowledged the group's effect in the area.
“They have made a great contribution to the community and the people that they serve,” Kobe said. “They have made many positive contributions to the area, including economic. Overall, though, crime rates have dropped throughout the county the past six or seven years.” The group relies on a simple, yet powerful, formula for bringing about change in the area: They set a positive example in the community from day one. “We have been so effective because we don't have a double standard,” said James 2X, the national secretary of the United Nation of Islam. “The community sees that we don't drink or smoke, so the community doesn't bring it around us. When the community sees that we are living what we are saying, it helps us be effective.”
And in this case, signs of success breed success.
“Our seniors say all the time that they feel secure now,” 2X said. “They say that they can come on Quindaro and feel safe. They can go to the store without getting hassled. They can bring their family to a restaurant and sit down and a have a healthy meal.”
Said Rassoull: “We have been here long enough that we actually have a track record of having done right for the community. We have history now.”
The area change gathered steam after the group arrived and opened a small diner, a bakery, a grocery store and a service station to provide residents with basic necessities.
Your Diner at 1846 Quindaro is a small yet stylish family eatery that features a healthy and cost-friendly menu. The diner is staffed by a polite and efficient group of volunteer students in the United Nation of Islam training program, which provides real-world job experience to its students.
The grocery store, which features a soup and salad bar complete with tables and chairs for customers to sit down and enjoy their meals, is clean and the shelves have been meticulously stocked with natural foods, household cleaning supplies and personal grooming products, including the United Nation of Islam's own line of products.
From its University of Islam campus in Kansas City, Kan., the organization produces a line of body lotions, hair treatments, hand lotion, air fresheners and stick deodorant, for sale at the store and online.
Your Store also features everything from apple cider to salmon franks. Beans and rice are prominently displayed along with a unique line of gourmet pasta noodles made by members of the United Nation of Islam. Fresh fruit and produce are also big sellers.
The success of the original business endeavors has morphed into other projects like In Your Midst, an upscale clothing store that opened last year at 10th and Quindaro. The shop that was designed and constructed by students in the group's construction training program has some jaw-dropping features.
It was designed to have no sharp angles and no wasted space. Paintings of a bright blue sky and fluffy white clouds adorn the walls right next to designed business and casual suits made from top-shelf materials and silks. On the second floor, customers cross a mural of rippling water painted on the floor as they peruse the merchandise hanging neatly on the wall. In addition to tailor-made suits, the shop sells women's fashions, belts, shirts, socks, dress shoes and a line of tennis and high-top shoes for children.
Next to the shop is the future home of the United Nation of Islam's new laundry facility, tentatively named Your Laundromat.
In late June or early July, the area will have its own urgent care health facility. All residents, regardless of their income, will be eligible for treatment at Your Urgent Care Center, at 1121 Quindaro. The urgent care center will be used to treat minor emergencies and non-life threatening injuries. Its center will have one full-time doctor, a nurse, a small administration staff and some interns from the University of Kansas Medical Center.
“It's important to have something like this in Wyandotte County,” Rassoull said. “Most of the low-cost medical facilities have gone away. Bethany Medical Center has closed. So this is important to the people in this area.”
Marvin McIntosh, who was the head physician at General Motors in Michigan before committing to reside at the group's urgent care center, will be the resident physician.
His wife will be the main nurse. The center will have a pair of exam rooms. Residents will be charged on a sliding scale based on household income.
More important to this band of believers, the businesses they operate are a way of physically showing the members of their new community that they are there to provide inspiration.
Soon after Your Diner, Your Bakery, Your Store and Your Service Station opened, empty buildings, closed shops, dangerous streets, feelings of hopelessness and fear were replaced by a strong sense of community pride, a feeling of prosperity and hope for the rebirth of the area.
“Every inner city in the country faces a lot of the same things — poor health, crime, drugs and poverty,” said 2X. “We came here with the idea of bringing the community back to life.
“Now, you'll see a total change. You'll see refinement, you'll see civilization and you'll see right in motion. It confirms or proves that what we are doing is right. We see the physical manifestation of what we were thinking, and now we see that we were right,” 2X said.
The United Nation of Islam has tackled the daunting task of fighting urban blight with mathematical precession and a hands-on-approach.
Because of that style, and the fruits born of that labor, interested outside observers have flocked to Kansas City, Kan., to study the program.
“Most activity starts on either the east or west coasts and migrates here. We want to change the direction of that,” 2X said. “People are taking notice of the things we are doing. They are beginning to do it all over the country. We are starting it here and that has caused it to migrate outward.
“People from all over the world are coming here to see what we are doing in the months of June and July. We are providing the blueprint” for urban renewal.
