My baby sister wonders if she will have to wear a bulletproof vest during Eid prayers.
If this isn't terrorism, then I don't know what is.
A week ago, a hate-fueled mass shooting by a domestic terrorist left six Sikhs dead in their own house of worship in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Yet the media still refuses to call the mass shooting of Sikhs "terrorism," let alone call the shooter a "terrorist."
Neither President Obama nor First Lady Michelle Obama has visited families of the victims or the injured in the hospital as they did two days after the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado on July 20.
A week has gone by since Oak Creek's shooting, and there has been barely a word from either candidate after their initial statements. To add insult to injury, Michelle visited Aurora just this weekend, while the Oak Creek victims' blood is still fresh.
On Sunday, Obama was in Chicago while Romney was in his running mate Representative Paul Ryan's hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin--both cities an equidistant 90 minute drive to Oak Creek. Yet neither politician visited.
The swing state of Wisconsin is a political minefield for both candidates, but as the son of the murdered Sikh temple president says, politics should be set aside for humanity when it comes to a national tragedy.
And yes, it's a national tragedy.
Each day that our elected leaders remain silent about Oak Creek, a very loud message is sent across America about how seriously they take Islamophobia and xenophobia. And each day, another, even louder message from hateful people is sent.
Last Sunday, the same day of the temple murders, the sign for a mosque in Rhode Island was smashed with hammers.
The following day, Monday, a mosque in Missouri was destroyed in the second fire this summer.
On Tuesday, pig legs were thrown at a mosque in California while people prayed there.
On Thursday, Representative Joe Walsh, from my home state of Illinois, accused Americans, who happen to be Muslim, of plotting murder against their fellow citizens in suburban Chicago. And that too, in response to an Egyptian-American's own urging to crack down on Islam.
Nevermind that Muslims in America are Americans--is Representative Walsh sure it's not the other way around? If applying his logic to the past week, white Americans are the ones trying to kill Muslims. And each day that Obama and Romney remain silent about Oak Creek, it continues.
On Friday, no less than 36 hours after Walsh's incitement in suburban Chicago, while 500 people prayed inside and many children played outside, a white man fired shots at the suburban Chicago mosque I frequented as a kid.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, paintballs were fired at a mosque in Oklahoma.
Later on Sunday night, a bottle of acid was thrown at an Islamic school and mosque during evening prayers.
The media needs to take Islamophobia in America seriously by reporting on it in the context of a pattern, not minor, isolated incidents. We need the media to go a step further and do its job of facilitating healthy national discourse.
But more importantly, if politicians like Obama and Romney truly hope to lead our country to a better future, they should speak up--not to ingratiate themselves with Muslims by hosting iftar dinners at the White House--but to make the voices of solidarity and peace louder than the anti-Muslim incitement of their hatemongering colleagues Representatives Joe Walsh, Peter King, Michelle Bachmann, etc.
Rep. Walsh refuses to apologize and "bow down to political correctness."
This isn't about "political correctness" and it doesn't affect only one community of Americans. This is about a widespread hate that endangers the very fabric of American society.
This isn't just about Islamophobia. This is about an atmosphere that condescends the undoubted brownness of this country.
This isn't just close to home. This is home.
And the longer Obama and Romney stay silent, the longer this week will get.
Follow Ghazala Irshad on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ghazalairshad
The reality of Islamophobia in America - Los Angeles Times
Bin Laden: Father of American Islamophobia - CNN
Fear, Inc.: America's Islamophobia Network | The Nation
Islamophobia: Does America Have a Muslim Problem? - Time
TIME Magazine Cover: Is America Islamophobic? - Aug. 30, 2010 ...
I remember the outrage of the black community, but what I remember most is what they said "now you are going to tell us that our eyes don't see what our eyes see." I don't remember which black commentator on the news said this, but it was often repeated over the ensuing weeks and months regarding racism against black people by the police and larger community. I never forgot that comment "because" it was true!
Racism can be very subtle, so subtle that in fact it is the most subtle creature that LG made.
Perhaps it is that the white community doesn't even recognize it in themselves, and this too has been an historic complaint by black people. And it's true. We can all be forgiven our ignorance, once we see it, but it is that refusal to see it that is especially hurtful.
That said, it is the same on the otherside as well.
"This is about an atmosphere that condescends the undoubted brownness of this country."
This is subtle racism against white people, Christians, republicans for sure, in spite of the actual facts. This is picking on the majority for the sins of the minority.
Prejudice against white people is as long, historical and egregious as it is against brown people, black people, Asian, etc.
Why she mentions Sikhs and Islam together is because of the very visible undeniable difference that the followers of either of these faiths display on a regular basis: they look out of the norm, not just by color of skin, but by beards, turbans, dress, scarves etc. The us and them mentality, that even after being here all your life, being born here even, if you look different, you will never truly belong, your safety will never be a priority and your patriotism will be continually questioned.
as a minority, as a recent immigrant, it is hard not to feel completely undervalued when your own president. who you support, will not pay his respects due to the "optics" of the situation. Aurora was senseless, this was too- but in this case, in oak creek, you know exactly why they were targeted- and a major teaching moment was missed. Are we as a nation that stoo pid or that hateful that we cannot call out injustice in our midst?
Equally, it is unture that this was not noted as "terrorist", in fact it was repeatedly called an act of "domestic terrorism" by the "prolific" coverage by the news media. Why the author would say otherwise bewilders me.
To Rephrase: "When the members of a community realize that there are those among them are attempting or planning actions against the Nation where they are living, why won't they just show the legal authorities who the Perpetrators are?" You have to realize that their actions are going to hurt the community image, why do you allow it?
I lived in the Greenville section of Jersey City during the first WTC bombing. It is a deeply mixed community and everyone got along passably. I numbered among my 'friends' several of the Muslim faith to the point of going to dinner at their homes and discussing Religion and our differences.
A few weeks before the bombing they started getting nervous and then, without giving reason (and yes, I asked) they up and sold their business and disappeared. Please don't tell me that it was a coincidence because their friends in a different section of town did the same thing. THEN CAME THE BOMBING.
I wouldn't call it "Isalmaphobia" when your own people give a reason BY THEIR ACTIONS to hold them in suspicion.
your entire rant proves what this poster says- you and others are too ignorant to learn or recognize that people who look different from you are not different in their motivations. And your hate seems to lend you that smidge of an excuse you need to lash out against anyone who looks different- if you could recognize either, there would be hope for you.
Do you expect to be held accountable for every despicable act by Christianity? crusades, genocide, slavery etc.? then why would you do that to someone else? Islam and Muslims are of different sects, different outlooks etc. but share belief in 1 text- akin to all Christians and the bible which is filled with as much h@te by the way.
islam penalty for apostasy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XRCYlZ4XOQ
''First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.''
this is the TRUE danger of turning a blind eye to these things...as AMERICANS we should stand together against violence and hatred in all its forms.
On the other hand, if it is found that a member of the victim religion's community perpetrated the crime it should be automatically treated as the highest level of hate crime due to the blame being automatically directed by the public at OTHER religions first and foremost!
But right now, the Muslims are the "bad" guys. Much like the Russian Communists were the "bad" guys for decades. The press doesn't want to report that the "bad" guys may actually not be bad because if they do, who will they write about to get people to read? Where will the drama come from? What will get people fired up, talking about what they saw on the news the night before, getting others to check it out, increasing ratings?
The Press doesn't want to show that 99.9% of Muslims are like everyone else, good people who do good things, who speak out against bad things, and want to live peacefully and help their neighbors.
I'm glad you're not in charge.
Newer immigrants to the United States have always been targeted for discrimination -- the African slaves of the 18th century, the Irish of the early 19th Century, the Eastern Europeans of the later 19th century, Latinos of the 20th century, and now people of MIddle Eastern or North African descent. It's based on race, not politics.
Unfortunately, because the only Muslims we see or hear about are the ones saying women are second-class citizens, or are killing innocents or crying Death to America, we tend to think all Muslims are like that, which exacerbates the problem new immigrants face. Even more unfortunately, because the exposure of most Americans to Sikhs and Hindus is limited, too many people tend to think they're all the same.
The act of murdering the Sikh worshipers in their temple by the White Supremacist who committed it was an act meant to inspire fear and follows the group's agenda. Therefore, it is political and it is terrorism.
www.sikhs.org
Go to the site and learn the truth about what they believe. Then you will understand the differences.