The Community, N. Jamiyla Chisholm
The Community, N. Jamiyla Chisholm
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The Community
A Memoir

Author: N. Jamiyla Chisholm

Narrator: Karen Chilton

Unabridged: 6 hr 37 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/01/2022

Synopsis

An arresting and emotional memoir about a family’s indoctrination into a religious cult, a daughter coming to terms with a parent’s devastating choices, and the trials ahead in post-9/11 New York.In 1978, when Jamiyla was two years old, her mother, Ummi, quit her job, converted to Islam with her husband, and moved into an exclusive Muslim society in Brooklyn. Once inside the Community, the family was separated by its powerful and charismatic leader, Dwight York, who was hiding behind the name Imam Isa. Instead of the devotional refuge they’d imagined, the Community was a nightmare of controlled abuse and unspeakable secrets.Forty years later, Jamiyla was ready to excavate and understand a past buried in bad dreams, disturbing memories, and inexplicable rage. It was a place Ummi never wanted to return to. Jamiyla had to.Jamiyla’s emotional memoir tells her family’s story of life inside and outside the cult, and of escaping into new challenges as conservative Muslims in the secular Brooklyn they left behind. A harrowing and deeply personal history fraught with racial tension and devastating personal betrayals, The Community is also a hopeful story brimming with Black pride, justice, and the long-overdue healing between a daughter and mother.

About N. Jamiyla Chisholm

N. Jamiyla Chisholm was born in New York City and grew up in Brooklyn. She graduated from City College in New York City, received her master of arts in teaching from the University of Southern California, and received her MFA from the Writer’s Foundry at St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn. As a journalist, Jamiyla has written countless articles focused on culture, race, and women, and she has worked with numerous media companies and publications, including COLORLINES, Essence, TIME’S UP, VIBE, and The Source. Jamiyla is an avid traveler, runner, and language learner. She lives in Brooklyn with her cat Reesies.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Harry on May 06, 2022

From the title and introduction, one would think that “The Community” is about the Black Muslim cult, Nuwaubian Nation, and its founder, Dwight York or Imam Isa. But the book is more of an autobiography of a Black woman, brought by her parents to the Community at the age of two, physical and mental......more

Goodreads review by Sharon on May 18, 2022

Disappointing and poorly written. There’s very little about the Community or its infamous leader, and no actual discussion about how he eventually comes to be charged with crimes and convicted. Instead there’s a long section about 911, Ground Zero and the anti-Muslim sentiment of the time, leading i......more

Goodreads review by Monet The Book Sniffing Unicorn on June 08, 2022

Sooooooo this wasn't at all what I was expecting from the book description. I had never heard of The Community, or Dwight York before, but was interested to find out more. While we get some brief insight into why he was arrested, that's where it ends. We learn no more about how he started out. How h......more

Goodreads review by S.J. on October 28, 2022

People were bitching about this being a memoir and not a history lesson on The Community, but I am not one of them. I knew this was a memoir when I picked it up and found the story both interesting and poignant. This is just one woman's story about how her time living in a cult with her parents prof......more

Goodreads review by Scott on May 13, 2022

A few contemporary threads weave this memoir together: an Islamic Community in New York City whose leader ended up going to prison for child abuse, the never ending stresses of a de-centered family, and being a Muslim in New York City during 9/11. Chisholm begins her narrative explaining youthful dr......more

Quotes

“Journalist [N. Jamiyla] Chisholm debuts with a transfixing look at the secretive Muslim commune her family joined in 1978…As Chisholm untangles their complicated past and the trauma her mother refused to acknowledge, what emerges is a compassionate interrogation of the ‘universal emotion of desperately wanting to belong’ that her family fell victim to. In its striking search for redemption, this uncovers a uniquely human tale.” —Publishers Weekly“The author expertly balances passion with compassion, and her vulnerability electrifies the often harrowing narrative…A heart-wrenching memoir about surviving a religious group helmed by an abusive leader.” —Kirkus Reviews“Chisholm, a journalist, offers a nuanced examination of how and why people make decisions that harm them, and of the difficulty in extricating oneself from destructive situations.” —Booklist

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