Check out this great chat session on the 23/6 website between Obama and AllahBPraised. It’s guaranteed to make you laugh and it raises some good points .

Apparently, Muslim Americans are not feeling very “Yes We Can” these days. Obama’s efforts to battle accusations of his being a Muslim has been kind of a turn-off, and Muslim leaders complain of feeling snubbed. They don’t like that Obama’s website refers to the accusation of his being a Muslim as a “smear,” and they really don’t like that Muslim women in headscarves are getting pushed out of Obama photos. They just want a little love from Barack, it sounds like. Perhaps these two should sort things out via IM…

September 11th Cartoons

If you get a chance, check out these comics from the cartoonstock.com September 11th archives. The most poignant for me has a little girl saying, “I may not know where America is on a map, but at least I know September 11th was when Iraq attacked our tower thingys.”

I think that speaks to the education Americans are receiving regarding terror and the war on terror, and also to the hypersensitivity Arabs and other people of color are subjected to when it comes to attempts to visually (or otherwise) identify an enemy. I’d love to know what you think.

Stoner film tackles racism post-9/11

The New York Times takes a look at the new Harold and Kumar movie, which delves into post-9/11 politics via stoner farse.

In devising the plot the filmmakers borrowed from Mr. Penn’s own travel experiences since the Sept. 11 attacks. “That’s probably one of the only parallels between Kumar and me,” Mr. Penn said. “We both get pulled out of line at airports.”

This became a routine occurrence when he and Mr. Cho were flying around the country to promote the first film. “Once we were with a friend of mine — he’s the same age, same height as me, except he’s white,” Mr. Penn recalled. “I was stopped at security, but he went through even though he had a hunting knife that he forgot to take out of his backpack. They were so focused on pulling out the brown guy, they didn’t even notice.”

You can view the full article here, and consider the deconstruction of what the filmmakers have termed “post-9/11 paranoia.”

Rolling with the punches

Ali Eteraz fights stereotypes with cheeky wit. Check out his post on Jewcy and have a good laugh.