Every Sunday night for the past few weeks my husband and I have been watching TLC's "All American Muslim." Neither one of us are in love with this quirky reality show, but still, we're happy that TLC took the risk to feature these families in prime time on Sunday nights.
Our personal complaints about the show have been that Dearborn, Mich., isn't like the rest of the country for Muslims; most of us live as the minority in our cities and towns. Dearborn gives these families a very unique experience of being Muslim in America. Secondly, these families are all Arabs; we don't see any South Asian Muslims, or African American Muslims, who together make up the majority of Muslims in America. The show does follow one formerly Catholic guy who has converted to Islam but finds it very difficult to practice the faith; and as a convert, I can say this is not typical either. But, hey, they agreed to let cameras into their homes, and follow them into the maternity ward, the "man-garage" (a Dearborn-centric practice, as far as I know) and the gridiron. I congratulate them for their bravery.
There certainly have been some cringe-worthy moments in the program, particularly those featuring the story of Nina, the successful event planner who, well, doesn't exactly dress like a modest Muslim woman. Nina's story has been about her struggle to start up a nightclub -- not because selling or imbibing alcohol is strictly forbidden in Islam -- but because fellow Dearborn Muslims are telling her it's not a business for a woman. It's annoying that no one is stating the obvious: It's not OK for any Muslim -- man or woman -- to run a nightclub. We're not supposed to drink or sell alcohol!
However, we watch knowing that in our American Muslim communities there are plenty of Ninas, just as there are plenty of normal young married couples having their first baby like the Aoude family, or football coaching dads like Fouad Zaban, or patriotic law enforcement officers like Mike Jaafar. It's a reality show, right? It's their reality, and honestly they do try to inform America about Islam in their own Dearbornesque way. I'm waiting for an ABCD Muslim to come out. (ABCD refers to the slang, American-Born Confused Desi. Folks from the Subcontinent -- India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh -- often refer to themselves as "Desi" which refers to being from their homeland and culture.) I vote for Aasif Mandvi to produce. Not only would it be funny, it'd let America know that Muslims are incredibly diverse in terms of heritage and ethnicity. After that, I'd look for a Black American Muslim show directed by Bill Cosby. Then we'll know we have arrived as Muslims in America.
Sadly, a small group of anti-Islam bigots were able to hoodwink a major American retailer into thinking this innocuous show is some sort of stealth jihad on America. An insignificant fringe group called the Florida Family Association sent a letter to Lowe's stating, "Clearly this program is attempting to manipulate Americans into ignoring the threat of jihad and to influence them to believe that being concerned about the jihad threat would somehow victimize these nice people in this show." Their letter on the website goes on to say, "The show profiles only Muslims that appear to be ordinary folks while excluding many Islamic believers whose agenda poses a clear and present danger to the liberties and traditional values that the majority of Americans cherish."
Yep, it's a big conspiracy. Nina's nightclub is a subtle ruse enabling Muslims in America to take over the country and rewrite the Constitution. First, Nina's cleavage lulls America into thinking, "Oh, Muslims are just like my neighbor next door," and the next thing you know, we'll be all living under Sharia law.
This would be laughably irritating if it wasn't true that Lowe's has pulled their advertising from "All American Muslim." According to Lowe's spokesperson, Katie Cody, "We understand the program raised concerns, complaints, or issues from multiple sides of the viewer spectrum, which we found after doing research of news articles and blogs covering the show." What viewer spectrum, other than the scaredy-cat bigots who follow the Florida Family Association's hateful blog?
Since the story broke, I've noticed strong protests and boycotting declarations from non-Muslim Americans on the Lowe's Facebook page (make sure you click the "everyone" view at the top of the page or you'll only see what Lowe's posts), on Twitter and on blogs. Hooray! My fellow Americans are coming through against bigotry in all its manifestations, even in support of whacky reality shows.
Now, my husband and I will be watching "All American Muslim" with a purpose; we'll be carefully noting who is advertising during the hour-long show, and we will be buying those products, knowing that those corporations don't cater to bigots. And we won't be buying anything from Lowe's, not even their beautiful flowers in the springtime, unless they rescind this decision. There are plenty of hardware stores, garden centers and other home improvement stores in our neighborhood.
Follow Kari Ansari on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KariAnsari
We've been here before in our history with the Irish, the Jews, the Vietnamese.... If we don't learn from history we are destine to repeat it which we seem to be doing.
I am Irish Catholic - and seeing all this, I am the first to say: BOYCOTT LOWES
My parents were immigrants and when I was growing up I use to walk out the door into America but when I came back home it was like living in a foreign country. I can totally relate to the 5 family's who walk the line between assimilation and honoring their heritage. I'm neither Arab or a Muslim but yet they remind me of myself and my family a great deal.
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I wonder, though, how the same folks that are up in arms about ad withdrawals from this show would feel about a series that showed another side of Muslim America.
It's so patently ludicrous that it shames me to think Americans could fall for such an absurd statement.
They equate not being able to ram their religious views into malleable schoolkid's minds and legislate their religious myth into science's domain, with being attacked instead of what it really is.
America holding true to the Founder's vision of a country undominated by religious quackery, persecution and intolerance.
And they even have the gall to wrap themselves in the flag when they do it.
No one is denying them the right to build and attend their churches.
No one is denying them the right to catechize their children at sunday school or similar even parochial schools.
No one is denying them the right to live by their Book's rules and standards or even to believe in its unprovable myths.
All they're being denied is the right to FORCE everyone else to convert to their way, to legislate THEIR credo into Law and the right to persecute any who don't bow down and accept it all.
I call that being pretty anti-American.
And I closed my Lowes account.
Who wins that fight?
You don't think they'd give $$ to anyone they thought wan't a supporter of their own narrow-minded bigotry, do you?
Search for that Swiss anti-Islam who opposed the mosque minarets but ended up embracing Islam, for his heart melted woth his own hatred of something he did not fully understand and appreciate.
The Google links are here:
http://www.google.ca/search?q=swiss+politician+converts+to+islam&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari
While I appreciate your thought here, it is pretty much a given that "party stores" aka small stores that sell liquor, are largely owned by either Christian or Muslim Arabs in the Detroit Metro area.
I am amazed that men seem to skate on many religious restrictions while women are held seemingly to a much higher standard; of course Islam is not the only religion with that viewpoint.
That said, I'll take my business to the local hardware store or Home Depot. Lowe's pandering to some loud fringe sect is loathesome.
I stand against all forms of bigotry, even when it's against philosophies that completely contradict my own like Islam or Christianity. But to the muslims out there whining about the bigotry I ask this:
how many of you have stood up for anyone's rights for you own? How many of you have fought for GLBT rights, or against the bigotry in your own faith?
It gets tiring standing up for the rights of other individuals who only stand up for issues that directly impact themselves.
Civil Rights is a human issue. Not a Muslim issue. Not a GLBT issue. Not an African American issue.
And until we all stand up for each other, it will _never_ stop.
According a recent ABC News report, AMERICAN Muslims have over $12,000,000,000 (that's billion) in ANNUAL spending power in the United States, not to mention their fellow fair minded non-Muslim neighbors who are also choosing to buy their home improvement goods and services at other retailers. It looks like Lowe's ardent supporters will need to be buying a lot of hammers and ten-penny nails to make up the difference.
I think Muslims are getting tired of being everyone's scapegoat for the bad economy, the Black President and everything else in the world that feels scary and out of our control. I think there is also an anti-Islam machine, AKA, Robert Spencer, & Pamela Geller, et al who are fueling a fire that is really burning out of control among the less informed and less sophisticated segment of our society. Sadly, these people seem to be unaware that they are being used for this purpose.
Have a look at Lowe's facebook page today and you'll see more than 20,000 comments there, with the majority of them being just hateful, but what is more telling is that they often spew the same rhetoric that those folks I mentioned have been perpetuating.
It's really sad.
"Progressive," join the club. Fall in behind Nazi, Communist, Fascist, and socialist.