In American history, there have been flash points of controversy, contrasted to continued struggles for equality. Americans from the Muslim community has moved from the former to the latter. Since the summer's media obsession over Park51, wrongly dubbed the "Ground Zero Mosque," we have seen many flash points flare up, from the Murfreesboro Islamic Center protests, to the Oklahoma referendum to ban Sharia being used in court. Most recently, we have seen a Muslim community center in Bridgewater, New Jersey come under attack, without a shred of evidence to suggest it is anything other than a benevolent community center. Tennessee lawmakers are now considering a bill that would outlaw adherence to "Sharia" altogether, essentially making the practice of Islam a criminal offense. It's crept up to the U.S. Congress as well, with Peter King's McCarthy-esque hearings on the "radicalization of Muslim Americans." Rather than seeing these issues merely as a string of events, we must take a step back and look at the big picture.
While few could forget the polarizing issue around Park51, attacks on the Muslim American community have become significantly more concerning. First of all, the summer's protests were around a sensitive issue. Even if we don't agree with the opinions of some the families of 9/11 victims, we must be cognizant and compassionate to their pain. However, protests at mosques in Tennessee, New Jersey, California, and elsewhere, where Ground Zero is nowhere nearby, shows a clear delineation between sensitivity at Ground Zero and bigotry across the nation.
The second issue that is a cause for alarm is timing. Not only was September an anniversary of September 11th, but it also was during an election. When asked on a panel in December why the protests seemed to have subsided, I quipped half-jokingly that the election was over. However, now watching these latest rounds of protests, hearings, and anti-Muslim legislation, there is no anniversary or election to blame. There is just unadulterated rage from one American community to another.
One of the most jarring videos I have seen this year was from a recent protest in Orange County, where a throng of Islamophobic protesters demonstrated outside of a benefit for a women's shelter hosted by the local Muslim community. As families entered the venue for the benefit, protesters shouted "Go home!" and "Why don't you go home and beat your wives? She looks like she needs a good beating!" I have never seen anything in my lifetime from the U.S. that looked so much like the resistance to desegregation during the Civil Rights era.
While the parallels between the Civil Rights Movement and the struggle of Muslim Americans may have similarities, I think the Japanese American experience during World War II is a more accurate historical metaphor. In both situations, a very real threat abroad was projected onto seemingly related American citizens.
After being attacked at Pearl Harbor, America could be justified in defending itself militarily. Japan proved itself at the time to be a real threat to our national security. Also, the US needed to be prudent and prepare for the possibility for espionage attempts as a means of warfare. However, at no point did this justify the internment of tens of thousands of Japanese Americans. It did not make America any safer or freer, as it was a transgression against the Constitution and an affront to our ideals.
I think few people will deny the threat of Al Qaeda and similar groups after 9/11. We also must recognize that an attack can be domestic in nature. However, at no point does the issue of national security justify indiscriminate protests against the building of mosques or the protesting of Muslims engaging in their constitutional rights of prayer and worship. Similarly, America is no more secure or free when communal punishment dictates policy, whether state or national, in word or in law.
Those of us who have chosen to take up the struggle for religious freedom must realize we are in it for the long haul. Not only during the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and the upcoming election cycles, but we must be willing to stand up and speak out throughout the year, and likely for several years to come. However while the wait may be long, if history is any indicator, success is promised. As Eboo Patel, a fellow interfaith activist and a Muslim American, said, "The forces of inclusion have always defeated the forces of injustice, and they always will."
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Islamophobia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
TheReligionofPeace.com - Islamophobia: Exposing the Islamophobes
Mosque Controversy: Does America Have a Muslim Problem? - TIME
A major issue with Islam is that doctrinally, it is very easy for extremist activity to arise from it. I think of this as a Chemistry set. Some religions are more 'reactive' and have a tendency to explode. Others are more 'inert' and have to be seriously prodded before anything major happens.
Islam, alas, is doctrinally dangerous. Having said this, it never helps to suppress opinions one thinks pernicious. Therefore, perhaps mockery rather than suppression is the answer? Oh yes, except muslims often can't take mockery either. Funny how freedom of expression can flip like that...
Perhaps time would be better spent propping up those areas of the Constitution that separate Church and State?
Nope, you lost me. Islamic terror is one aspect of terror, and it exists in America. It's not surprising that Keith Ellison would mistake an attempt to understand the root causes of Islamic radicalization as a blatant attack on all American Muslims. I guess if King had organized a hearing on lung cancer, Ellison would have been critical of it's not being a hearing on all cancers. After all, focusing on lung cancer to the exclusion of all others makes it seems like lung cancer is somehow worse than the others, and that's just not fair.
The upshot, then, is that potentially very little public inquiry into Muslim radicalization in America will occur. It'll just have to be taken up behind closed doors. It already has been, and it will continue to be.
http://www.mpac.org/assets/docs/publications/MPAC-Post-911-Terrorism-Data.pdf
He was making statements along the lines of the proper sentence for homosexuality as being death.
Someone please explain to me what the moslem religion's position is on gay and lesbian rights?
It is not the Muslims who are against repealing DADT or support DOMA. There hardly any incidents of crimes against Gays by Muslims in America but on the contrary there are 100's of incidents committed by non-Muslims in America.
Of course, every time an American Muslim plots to bomb an airport or shoot up public gathering, the deafening silence of broader Muslim American community doesn't do much to sooth any concerns. Some of the wounds American Muslims are suffering are self-inflicted.
There are several Muslim organisations in USA (also in rest of the world) who have condemned terrorism in the strongest possible terms and by the own admission of the law enforcement agencies that Muslim are actively supporting the efforts to curb terrorism.
Here is comprehensive list of fatwas and statements by Clerics and Organization from around the world, including America, condemning terrorism in any form in strongest possible terms
http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/muslim_voices_against_extremism_and_terrorism_part_i_fatwas/0012209
Also check this link http://www.cair.com/americanmuslims/antiterrorism.aspx and http://www.isna.net/articles/Press-Releases/default.aspx
Your claim of "deafening silence of broader Muslim American community" is a LIE and I may call you a lier but I will give you the benefit of doubt and assume that you were unaware of the condemnation of terrorism by Muslims hence it was not a lie but mere ignorance on your part.
I am assuming that "deafening silence" means lack of condemnation. If I am wrong then let me know what you meant by "deafening silence" so that I can frame a proper reply with resources for you to learn.
But I'm a little conflicted on the Peter King hearings. In Ayaan Hirsi Ali's book "Nomad," she talks a lot about how the radicalization of Muslims in America is a problem that should be focused on. Maybe this is okay because it's coming straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak... In my mind, King holding the hearings shows that Congress knows that *most* Muslim-Americans are cooperative and peace-loving people, so together they should be able to figure out what about the teachings are driving some people to act in destructive ways. Having an insider's point of view could lead to more understanding, and could maybe show people that Muslims are upstanding citizens (however sad it is that people need to be shown!) I think if the media were more open to that idea and would hold back some of their stronger language, there wouldn't be as much controversy and backlash from people who are just waiting for opportunities to show their ignorance--you know how people shudder and bristle up at an "attack" from the "left."
The Japanese internment during World War II is a compelling metaphor, but I think these days the internment is more grassroots than governmental... Which one is harder to contain?
May be you have seen this earlier but a recent RAND report did a through analysis of almost all the domestic terrorists incidences involving Muslim and the report is worth reading. http://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/2010/RAND_OP292.pdf
The author of the report clearly warns against alienating American Muslim community based on the action of few. In fact, the analysis suggest that most of the Radical were recent converts, had prior criminal history, were looking for some actions, and found their ideas of violence from internet. Most of them were loners.
Most Muslims I am in touch with are forgiving about all of this, albeit frightened, saying that this too shall pass. It might take a long time, but it shall pass. They are aware that every society resorts to "otherizing" someone in order to keep its own sense of identity. This has led to injustice and violence over and over again all around the world. Yet, many of us hope is that 'not otherizing' IS our true American identity!
As a systems analyst, my bent is to examine expressed needs, look for truth, then create a solution meeting the conflicting goals of the client - here, the USA, whose goal is securing the "Inalienable Rights" of its citizenry, starting with "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness".
The rights in the ensuing Constitution cannot be read in isolation; they inherently conflict with one another, and must be evaluated as a whole, in the context provided by the document from which they were derived, the Declaration of Independence. "Freedom of religion" does not mean, for example, Jim Jones and his murders and mass suicides are acceptable merely because, after all, his followers worshipped him as God's messenger.
Now Islam alone among today's religions – past evils of other religions are not germane -- includes a terrorist subculture dedicated to the total annihilation of our way of life. That subculture is not isolated as "moderate" Muslims claim. Indeed, it is financed, massively, by those "moderates" who deceptively disown the perpetrators as "perverting" Islam. The reality: The Qur'an and those anonymous wealthy supporters provide the motive and opportunity for Islamic terrorists to pursue their unholy war against our very existence.
Suspicions of that religion whose goal, dictated by the Qur'an, is implacably opposed to the fundamental tenets of our country is NOT bigotry, but an essential response to an actual, self-confessed enemy.