It would be nice to say that "we" get along just fine at Eastern Market, that there are no differences that divide "us". That would be nice to say...and it would be a lie. In a very real sense, the exhibitors and farmers who make up the majority of Eastern Market are the world, with the world's differences and challenges. "We" have some at the market who are "characters," who by their "style", talk, personalities, and actions stand out from the rest. Noor-ul Islam is one. And for a very long time he got on my last nerve.
(Noor-ul Islam, Noor's Collections)
Unlike most of the exhibitors at Eastern Market, Noor-ul Islam is a D.C. native. He was born and raised on 16th and East Capitol Streets, N.E. He confirms that he was born around 1948. Hence, he has a unique view on the growth and changes that have marked the United States, the District and Eastern Market. He started vending at The Flea Market At Eastern Market in 1989.
I came to D.C. in 1989 to attend graduate school at a University on 7th street NW. I often saw and was accosted with a "hey sista" when walking down 7th street, coming and going to university, by folks who looked like Noor. Now, I only have one brother, and he lives in Florida. These guys (for they were always men) were (and are) the street corner preachers, philosophers and/or teachers. Their theories, while interesting, were limited; a constant diet of it for two years was enough. Then I came to Eastern Market and heard Noor. He is very loud--as is Jesse Dunham (produce merchant at EM for twenty-five years). For many years one could hear a cross-cultural loudness, ranging from NE to West Virginia, on Sundays at Eastern Market.
For years, I ignored him. He never stopped saying hello, or trying to be humorous. In that time, I set him straight a time or two about my name--it is not sweetheart or darling. You see, I am a card carrying member of W. E. B Dubois's "Talented Tenth," and a fang-bearing feminist, among many other parallel and contradictory things. Noor and I come at the world from different perspectives. I am an artist. He, to my eyes, was a street vendor who sold at the Flea Market at Eastern Market.
However, history teaches us to question our prejudices, to research and go to the original sources to find answers--or, better yet, the right questions.
One Sunday morning about three years ago, I was driving into the Market from my home in Baltimore. Outside all around was the wintry mix--rain, snow, sleet and wind, just the kind of day on which one wants to stand outside and smile at folks for nine hours. As I was coming in, I was listening to one of my favorite Sunday morning gospel music stations. I had just pulled into the market, when here came Noor with a smile on his face, a twinkle in the eyes. I could just tell he was ready to say something annoying about the weather. But it was February; he started with a "HEY" I could hear with my car door closed. I opened the door, and I said, "Listen." We both did, it silenced us. We heard a re-broadcast of an interview with Fannie Lou Hamer from the nineteen-sixties. She spoke of being beaten while in jail. She was jailed for "breaking the law." Her offence? registering pour southern sharecroppers to vote during legalized segregation in the south of the 1960's. We heard. We listened.
I cannot remember exactly what Noor said, but it was something like. "Well, hey, our day won't
be that bad." I think I laughed and said, "no, 
not even close."
not even close." Noor-ul Islam's humour is something of a mask. As a child he was introduced to Islam by a "play uncle" when he was just a toddler. This uncle was the first person to cut his hair and was his barber until he was sixteen years old. This uncle's shop was on H street NE. Noor was at the March On Washington in 1963. He started University at Howard University with a focus on mathematics and chemistry, then went on to Knoxville College in Tennessee. That is where he was when King was killed. He road the "Freedom Train" and was on the Mall with the "Freedom Fighters." He later went back to school, this time to Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. He never finished. He now says, "a degree is just a piece of paper." From 1968-1970 he was a Black Panther. Later he became a member of the Nation of Islam.
Nowadays, Noor and I speak. I hear him behind me on Saturdays and Sundays. He loves his 1970's R&B and plays it every weekend. Recently, he has been playing a great deal of Michael Jackson--a tribute, I think. After he has set up his two tents (Noor's Collections)--in spring full of imported print dresses for women and "outfits" for men, and in winter full of hats, scarves and always soaps, incenses, and oils) he starts in with "HEY!" This is the call. Other exhibitors (from long-time produce Merchant Dave Morgul to newbie Taylor Caudle of Wisteria Gardens) answer with an even louder "Hey!"--the response. On Sunday's this is kinda like church. Other exhibitors are completely under his spell; Mitch and Pia Phulsuksombat ( Smiley Crafts-from Thailand, jewelry markers and importers) call him "Poppa Smurf.".
A week or so ago, I asked him, "what are you, now--Sunni or Shiite?" He told me, "I have evolved into peace with myself and Allah." It's clear that at Eastern Market, "we" grow understanding, and together .
Witnessing,
(Noor-ul Islam arranging his stand at
Eastern Market)
Sonda T. Allen
Turtle's Webb
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