Sounding off on saying nothing
In a recent article on the Huffington Post, Steve Clemons sounds off on Obama’s latest religious gaffe: his failure to stand against the resignation of Mazen Asbahi, his Muslim-outreach coordinator. Once again, the reasons for a Muslim’s career coming to a halt has to do with tenuous ties to an extremist way back in the history of his history.
Why is this allowed to happen? Brushing shoulders with someone on the street should not be grounds for suspected terrorism. Briefly serving on a committee with an extremist and then never having anything to do with that person ever again should not be grounds for suspected terrorist ties. Clemons says:
Obama is a Christian. I get that. I’m a secularist hard core — but I won’t stand by to watch more good people be flushed down the political drain because they are Muslims trying to work for a balanced and level playing field in America.
Clemons reviews Obama’s series of campaign (non)moves that have frustrated Muslims hoping for a more equal playing field in the U.S. Read the rest of the article here.
For more details on Asbahi and his supposed extremist ties, read this article by Michelle Malkin.
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As an aside, why even cover this issue? After all, unless Obama starts actively spouting hate-speech and paints himself as a avid racist and islamophobe, he will always be the better candidate for Muslims in America as compared to John McCain.
The issue here is really that, as Muslims, we should expect more. Not just from Obama, who certainly has the exposure to outside cultures and faiths, as well as his own mixed heritage, to recognize racism when it rears its ugly head. We should expect more from the entire system. A system which is heavily Christian-oriented. Where is the separation of church and state? That doesn’t exist here. What does exist is a separation of mosque and state, and Muslims are expected to both accept and understand that.
I once had an email exchange with a commenter on an old blog post who expressed that she believes the random searches at airports are necessary even if they were not random. She said that as a non-Muslim, non-Arab, she felt better knowing that people who looked suspect to her were being searched. After all, her own family members (also non and non) were searched. What I gleaned from the exchange, though, was that she believed Arab-looking men were probably Muslim, and if so, much more likely than any other man in this country to commit an act of terrorism. However, according to FBI statistics, Black men are more likely to commit or be the victim of homicide within their group than any other group. And who comes next? White men. Now compare the number of White men to Black men in this country, extend the stats through our entire population, and think about what that means in terms of who is most likely to commit a violent crime in this country. Hint, it’s not Arab-Muslims. (Click through the site for info on other groups and crime.)
So why are Muslim-looking people all we’re screening? Simple. The media in cahoots with the government is telling us to by providing coverage of these acts in ways that play into our deepest fears as sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. We’ve known that for awhile. Who is that scary man in the background? The image is dated: As he steps out of the shadows, his features become clear. What do we see? A beard. Darker skin. A thobe. And, gasp!, a kufi. That religious signifier, just bigger than a yarmulke, is terrifying!
August 7, 2008 10:56 am 3 Comments
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By MR. LEE X SLAVE, August 7, 2008 @ 11:10 pm
AKEE, IT AIN’T THE MUSLIM THING SO MUCH, BECAUSE YOU ALL DO NOT CONSIDER THE ISLAMIC FOUNDATION IN THE UNITED STATES TO BE “REAL MUSLIMS” I AM TALKING ABOUT THE NATION OF ISLAM. THIS COUNTRY RIGHT NOW REALLY HATES ARABS. YES WE AS THE BLACK MUSLIMS HAVE CAUGHT HELL ITN WAS MORE SO FOR BEING TOO BLAQCK AND TOO STRONG THAN BEING MUSLIM.
SO DO NOT GET IT TWISTED. OUR MOSQUE’S DO NOT GET BOTHERED NOR ARE HARRASED.
By Shawna, August 8, 2008 @ 1:28 pm
Salaam Mr. Lee X Slave–
That’s very interesting. Would you be interested in writing a full post regarding this differences you see in how Muslims of different colors are treated in the U.S.? I’d be very, very interested in it. submissions@islamonmyside.com
wasalaam,
Shawna