An Interview with Dr. Shanté Paradigm Smalls.

In the end, all this work brings me back to where I started, working to build community among people that the larger society seeks to divide along class, race and economic standing, working through hip-hop to build bridges and community.

Since I can remember I wanted to be a dancer, and since then my mother said no to that idea. See, growing up a Black Muslim girl dance is very much a part of Black culture and not very big in Muslim cultures or, so I thought.