When
the word radicals and terrorists are mentioned, what is your first thought?
Since
the horrific events of 9/11, people of a certain skin tone or religious
preference have been stereotyped, profiled, harassed, and pre-judged as being
anti-American or terrorist. No one has the ability to identify a terrorist by
simply looking at a picture, or based off the spelling of his or her name.
People
who behave or believe this way have a phobia against Islam or Muslims, more
commonly known as Islamophobia. Islamophobia is prejudice against, hatred
towards, or having an irrational fear of Muslims or Islam. We have seen and
heard a lot of anti-Islamic talk in the media after the bombing at the Boston
Marathon.
Instead of trying to
understand and respect other religions, the conservative voices on the radio
and television immediately start name-calling, placing labels and demonizing
others for choosing to worship the God of their choice. I don’t understand how
anyone could group all people of the Islamic faith into one general category,
or try to make them out to be a monolithic people.
Some of our fellow
Americans either have short memories, or practice a selective style of
remembering historical events in relation to present day events when they start
making a case to demagogue a religion different than their own.
Just because a person
proclaims to be associated with a religion does not mean that they represent
the entire faith. For the record, all Muslims are not terrorists and all
terrorists are not Muslims.
If
we were to use the very conservative approach to analyzing terrorists, every
American should be scared to death of young white men. The numbers don’t lie
when it comes to who has historically committed acts of terror on American soil
against fellow Americans.
The
criminal profile of most perpetrators in mass shootings and serial killers has
historically been young white men, but there is not a call by the conservative
media to stereotype, profile, or harass them. When a non-Arabic person or a
person who isn’t a Muslim commits an act of terror, they are called lone
wolves, or crazed individuals.
A
Feburary 27, 2013 article by Mother Jones, “A Guide to Mass Shootings in America” there have
been 62 mass shootings in the last 30 years. A whopping 44 of the terrorist
were white males. With that being said, it would be careless and ignorant to
stereotype white men the same way people of Arab decent, or Muslims have been
treated. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map
A
wonderful piece of journalism by Soledad O’Brien shined light on this subject
in the documentary, “Unwelcome: Muslims Next Door.” The story was based off of
a very controversial court case in Rutherford County, Murfreesboro, TN. The nasty
court battle was in response to an attempt to block a group of Muslims who
wanted to build a huge Mosque in the county.
A majority of the
people interviewed claimed that the Muslims who wanted to build the mosque are
of the same religion as the people who flew the planes into the building. How
soon did they forget that they were of the same religion of the people who
enslaved, murdered, and lynched hundreds of thousands of Native Americans and
African slaves? I’m sure they forgot about the people who bombed the 16th
St. Baptist Church in Birmingham, or burned crosses to intimidate or terrorize
fellow Americans.
One of hip hops brightest
artists; Jasiri X produced a masterful song about Islamophobia called Wandering Strangers. The video can be
viewed by clicking the link below. At a hearing on Muslim Radicalization held
by Rep. Peter King a few years ago, you can clearly hear the hatred in the
voices of the people screaming, “Go Back Home” and “Muhammad was a terrorist” amongst
other nasty and vile obscenities. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8v1Du790HM
How
soon we forget the Catholic Church and its long and disturbing history of child
molestation, but priests and bishops are often times given a pass or moved to
another state where they continue to prey on young, innocent people who do not
have the ability to defend themselves against these monsters.
How
soon we forget who the terrorist was in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater
shooting, or who the terrorist was that shot-up an Arizona Congresswoman’s town
hall meeting, or who the terrorist was in the Sikh Temple shooting in
Wisconsin, or who the terrorist was in the Sandy Hook Elementary school
massacre, or who blew up the building in Oklahoma City.
Radical, religious
extremists are all over the world and are bad for humanity. They use religion
to justify bigotry and violence against other people. Child molesters, rapists,
murderers, and the people hoarding weapons and ammunition in their basements
are the people we should really be concerned with. Don’t forget who the real
criminals are and the people we definitely have to keep our eyes on.
“If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people
being oppressed, and loving the people doing the oppressing.” Malcolm X
