Painting All Who Practice Islam With Same Brush Reflects Prejudice

By Michael Thompson
Wed Oct 27, 8:17 pm ET
Courtesy Of "Yahoo News"

Na'eem is more an acquaintance than a friend of mine. He sometimes visits us with his wife. I know him through my in-laws.

He an African-American who practices his faith at the Islamic Center of Saginaw here in central Michigan. I've never felt quite acquainted enough to ask him about his faith, although he is highly soft-spoken. There are usually more than the two of us at such occasions as backyard cookouts, and talk normally turns to sports and the like.

On one occasion, the television in the basement happened to be turned to a cable news channel. A segment was shown featuring one of the protests against Park 51, a plan to establish a Muslim Community Center, including a mosque, a couple blocks from Ground Zero, commonly and incorrectly called the "Ground Zeromosque."

This was the occasion in which some of the white common clay jostled and threatened a black fellow who was wearing a skull cap. Fortunately, none of them had a brick or worse yet, a gun. Their wounds were all verbal. Out of either incredulity, or a simple desire to escape safely, the guy tried to explain that just because he was wearing this fabric headwear -- it didn't mean he was a Muslim. One person in the mob, wearing a blue hard hat, called him a coward, nearly provoking a riot.

I thought about saying something to Na'eem and his grown sons. Maybe, "How do you feel in witnessing this?" Or simply, "I'm sorry." But I didn't. It didn't seem the proper place.

This sort of Islamophobia causes me distress and anger the first place, and the impact was multiplied during this scenario. The emotions were doubled because of shame and frustration. Of course, it had to be worse for Na'eem and his kids. This was why, rightly or wrongly, I said nothing.

Then we have Fox's Bill O'Reilly asserting that the world has "a Muslim problem" and that Park 51 shouldn't be near Ground Zero because "Muslims attacked us on 9-11," viewpoints that caused Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar to trip out on "The View." We have Newt Gingrich applying his anti-mosque sentiment as such: "Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington." We even have liberals such as Howard Dean stating that maybe the location could be changed, in the name of being sensitive to the families of 9-11 families. (Dean didn't have much of an answer when asked, where do you draw the appropriate distance line? If not at two blocks, then four blocks? Six? A dozen?)

O'Reilly didn't lose his Fox job, and Gingrich would still probably get plenty of votes for president.
On the other hand, Juan Williams got sacked at NPR for stating that people in Muslim garb make him feel "nervous" on an airplane. I'm feeling more sympathy for Williams essentially for his role in the writing and production of the civil rights saga "Eyes on the Prize," and for an outstanding biography of Thurgood Marshall's life.

We all can make unfortunate choices of words and actions, and Williams indeed may have been a victim of the overused cliché "political correctness." But not O'Reilly, Gingrich, Sarah Palin and the rest. They know full well what they're saying, and they mean it. Sad and scary.

But I don't want to appear preachy, so please consider this basic logic: Osama bin Laden is not a trueMuslim. Neither is any terrorist. You're not really a Muslim, or a Christian, or a Jew, or a Hindu, if you don't practice the faith. So why do we refer to "Muslim terrorists," or "Islamic extremists?" After all, during Germany's Nazi era, Hitler and his minions were not described as "Christian terrorists." All Christians were not blamed for Hitler

Here's what is says on the website for Na'eem's church, the Islamic Center of Saginaw:

"Islam is not a new religion, but that same truth that God revealed through all His prophets to every people. For a fifth of the world's people, Islam is both a religion and a complete a way of life. Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy and forgiveness, and the majority have nothing to do with the extremely grave events which have come to be associated with their faith."

I find that this statement falls short only in that "the majority" should be replaced with "the vast majority."

I also like what Colin Powell said about people who insist President Obama is a Muslim: "What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America."

Note: This article was written by an Associated Content Contributor. To become a Contributor and start publishing your own news articles, go to Associated Content.