From Skinhead to Islaam

It was the summer of 1987 and I was visiting NY from Florida. I caught up with my older cousin and we were talking about hardcore music(a music derived from punk rock)from NYC and the like. Then he played for me a band called Skrewdriver. At first the music didn't impress me ,but when I got back to Florida I asked a friend about them. He had told me he really like them. I then decided to purchase an album by them called,"White Rider." To my surprise on the cover was a pic of a Klansman on a horse. For me being raised all my life by an African-American stepfather and having bi-racial sisters this took me aback. Even still I decided to listen to the music. It was not hard and heavy like hardcore but more bouncy. I came to find out this music was called Oi! A skinhead rock music ,you can call it out of Great Britain. I then found myself humming the melodies and then singing the lyrics. These lyrics spoke of how the white race is disintegrating,how England is falling to immigration,and how the Jews run the medias of the world. I found myself relating to this for some reason and slowly becoming a White Nationalist. I was not one to fall into blind racism and didn't become a Neo-Nazi or White Supremacist,but I was proud to be white. I thought the white man should be just as proud of his race as were the African-Americans were doing in the late 8os. Nevertheless, I continued my path towards this way, arguing with people who felt differently. Ironically enough even as a skin I listened to Hip-Hop at that time the likes of Public Enemy,Big Daddy Kane,and Eric B. & Rakim. All of these artists had Black Nationalism,but mixed w/some traces of Islaam. Now they may have been deviant traces ( The Five Percent Nation and The Nation of Islam),but it was a foreshadowing. In 1989, I moved back to NY I was still a skinhead ,but in the next 2 years that way would drastically change. As Hip-Hop became more nationalistic and people like Malcolm X and The Black Panther Party were being spoken about it peaked my interest! I then read the Auto-Biography of Malcolm X and then Seize the Time by Bobby Seale. This put me on the path,esp. the reading about Malcolm X,towards learning about Islaam. My first stops were learning about the 5%ers and The Nation of Islam. After that I started learning about the Ansarullah. One thing I found was all these groups said the white man was the devil! Now I was white does that mean I couldn't be a Muslim?I was confused, but Alhamdulillaah a brother who I knew since I was like 5 was also an Imaam. I asked him about Islaam and he told me to come to their halaaqa on Sundays. I proceeded to do so for about 3 months and then in January of 1992 I accepted Islaam. It is funny how I look at my life today and see how all the things that happened good or bad led me to where I am today!I praise Allaah for guiding me to Islaam and pray that He keeps me upon it! Ameen.