Sunday, August 22, 2010

Creating the divide between Americans and American Muslims

Watching the news media in the past few weeks I have felt exceedingly alienated with each day. I didn't realize what effect all this negative propaganda had on me till I was sitting at work and a news item about the Cordoba center came on. I suddenly found myself feeling self conscious and I looked around at the people sitting at the tables. I tried to catch their eyes and read their thoughts. To see if they regarded me as an 'other' and all I was met with were eyes that looked passive. I steeled my heart because I realized that all over America people might be watching the same channel, and perhaps their eyes were as passive as the ones around me.

On 9/11, I was on campus drinking my coffee and catching up on notes when I saw the first images of the towers going down. It was shocking and I remember saying a quick prayer to God for mercy on all the souls that were going to be touched by this tragedy. The next day I got text messages about not coming to school because of fear. I remember my mother asking me to stay home but I was so sure of this country, my country. Apart from some odd stares here and there I didn't feel any fear at all. So tell me why the other day as I was driving with my window down and listening to Quran I felt fear creep into my heart when I stopped at a red light. I noticed an eerie silence and I chanced a look to my left. A man was staring intently at me. I smiled at him and he didn't return the smile and kept staring daggers at me. I looked back to the road and tried to shake the creepy feeling off me.

My tale is not singular in essence. The illusion of the 'other' in American history has led to certain minorities being persecuted i.e. Japanese, Jews, Blacks. The foolhardy, short sighted plan of the political candidates as well as cultural leaders is slowly unfurling the very fabric of the pluralistic and tolerant society that is United States. Scapegoating Muslims and Islam for political capital has long lasting effects that feeds off the fear of some Americans. I am as American as the next person. My religion is a personal choice that is protected by the constitution. Do not marginalize the American Muslims, who are contributing members of society, for the sins of the few. Division in society has never led to prosperity and I should know for Somalia has been mired in war for 20+ years due to divisions.

This is not only about the Cordoba Center anymore, this is about standing up for values that are intrinsically American; freedom, democracy, religion, acceptance, diversity, loyalty etc.  As a society that shares these common beliefs, I implore you to live out the motto "E Pluribus Unum" {Out of Many One}.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

What you are talking about has been going on for the past 20 years here in Europe. No election circle goes on without the usual scapegoating and fear mongering. When Murdoch established himself in the US it was bad news. The irony is that Saudis are invested in that news corp. I think Obama's flip-flopping isn't good news either. I hope people stand up to these bigots.

SleepDepraved said...

There are plenty of people who see this farce for what it is but the ones who are vocal are the ones who are twisting this to their benefit. Inshallah I keep praying it will pass.

Unknown said...

Inshallah. What we don't have over here is Jon Stewart's a card-and-yellow-highlights:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-august-19-2010/extremist-makeover---homeland-edition