Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
“Hip Hoppa Locka” turns stereotypes on their heads.
At a Minnesota shopping mall seven years ago, breakdancer and choreographer Amirah Sackett overheard a scornful remark that changed her career. Standing behind Sackett, who is MuslimAmerican and wears a hijab, a female clothing store employee muttered, “I’m getting tired of seeing all these covered women.”
“I got mad, but then I realized, she just doesn’t get it,” Sackett recalls. “There were so many misconceptions about the beauty of Islam, about the hijab as a symbol of our faith. Besides, I’m never down with anyone telling me what to do with my body. I’m a woman, and I’ll do what I want.”
After that incident, the Chicago-based Sackett decided to form a hip-hop dance trio called We’re Muslim, Don’t Panic, and wear a hijab for every breakdancing performance. Today, Sackett will do so again during “Hip Hoppa Locka,” a celebration of Muslim women in hip-hop culture, at the ARC in Opa-locka.
A free, Knight Foundation-backed afternoon focused on hip-hop music and tolerance, “Hip Hoppa Locka” will feature breakdancing from Sackett, who will be joined by Queensborn Muslim-American rapper Aja Black and Washington, D.C.-based graffiti muralist Cita Sadeli. The gathering is part of MDC Live Arts’ Muslim arts-centric program, “Ojala /Inshallah: Wishes From the Muslim World.”
For the past two weeks, the women have been artists in residence at the Arts Academy of Excellence in Opa-locka, teaching middle-school students about combating Islamophobia through the language of hip-hop. Those lessons will culminate in a new dance performance with students onstage at the ARC, a mural-painting activity with Sadeli and an original rap song with Black, Sackett says.
“Hip Hoppa Locka” received a $50,000 Knight Arts Challenge grant in December, says MDC Live Arts director Kathryn Garcia, who organized the event and the artists’ residency. She says she invited Black, Sadeli and Sackett because they represent different facets of hip-hop culture.
“We wanted to throw some stereotypes up on their heads,” Garcia says. “The media has portrayed these women often as suppressed, or forced to wear hijabs. That’s not the case for these strong, independent women.”
“Hip Hoppa Locka” will also feature a performance by the Reminders, the hip-hop duo of Black and her husband, Brusselsborn rapper Big Samir; spinning by DJ Man-OWax; and breakdancing from Mary Mar.