The United Nation of Islam
They share their secret of success
By BARBARA SHELLY - Columnist
The UNOI Construction Company transforms an abandoned building into a medical center which is located in the heart of a dilapidated area of Northeast Kansas City, Kansas.
By now it's well-established that some of the most effective community rebuilding in Kansas City, Kan., is being done by scrupulously polite people, who always look as if they're dressed for a wedding and who belong to the United Nation of Islam.
The group opened a diner at 18th Street and Quindaro Boulevard in 1996. It now operates a supermarket, a bakery, a gas station, a thrift shop, an appliance repair business, a bus service, a cleaning company, youth programs, a small construction business and a school.
More plans, such as a health clinic, are in the works. And now the group -- which is not connected with Louis Farrakhan or the Nation of Islam -- is looking east, to Kansas City.
Members are choosy about location. They need a street frequented by drug dealers and prostitutes, where crime is high and that safety-minded citizens avoid at all costs.
That used to be 18th and Quindaro. Now, businesspeople drive from their offices to eat at Your Diner, where everything on the menu is healthful and ridiculously inexpensive and the service never stops. Crime on the corner is almost nonexistent.
If they wish, customers can then stop nearby at Your Service Station, where attendants in starched white shirts will pump gasoline, check the oil and offer cookies.
On Thursday the staff of Move Up -- the organization formed by the merger of the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime and Project Neighborhood in Kansas City -- toured the United Nation of Islam's businesses.
James Nunn, Move Up's executive director, wanted his staff to glimpse a different approach, one that seems to be working.
The United Nation is seeking help and cooperation for the Missouri group. But not money. The group accepts no financial assistance from the government or private foundations, only private donations and in-kind services.
"Our purpose is not to make money," Sister LaOta Rassoull told the visitors. "It is to bring communities back to life."
For five years people have looked for something sinister about the United Nation of Islam.
But all anybody can find is a band of sincere, courteous people who believe in a set of principles and carry them out through their actions.
"They have been very excellent citizens and neighbors," said Don Denney, spokesman for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan. "We've seen nothing negative in any form."
People in the United Nation of Islam follow the tenets first laid out by a man named Solomon. The religion became a formal entity in 1993.
"We're not interested in theology," said James 2x, the national secretary. "Our interest is in the proven."
For instance, he said, it is proven that cigarette smoking is bad for one's health. Therefore, it's "right" to avoid cigarettes.
The United Nation's headquarters is in Maryland, but it chose Kansas City, Kan., for its first outreach attempt.
The group has begun setting up operations in other cities. Recently it opened a sandwich shop in Wichita.
"What we've done here we want to do in Missouri," said Sister LaOta, as she escorted the Move Up group on a tour of businesses.
On the way back to Kansas City, the Move Up team was already talking about abandoned buildings their newfound friends might take a look at. They think they can find just the right neighborhood.
