Of course, it’s not the fault of the extremists in Islam. It’s been said that just 1% of Muslims are the hardcore violent jihadis. That would mean there are 16 million worldwide. Some estimates of Muslims who are radicalized, meaning they believe in a hardcore version of Islam (meaning they are following what the Quran says, things like stoning women for adultery, executing gays, implementing Sharia law, a Caliphate, etc), put the number at 10-25% of the 1.6 billion Muslim population. Even Democrat Loretta Sanchez admitted a similar number. But, hey, it’s those who are concerned over this that are apparently the problem, as Mubeen Shakir tells us at the Washington Post in an op-ed
A 12-year-old girl is beaten at school in New York, is called “ISIS†and nearly has her hijab torn off by her classmates. A 16-year-old Somali American dies in a fall from a six-story building in Seattle that his family and the Muslim community in the city suspect was the result of foul play. Rocks are thrown through the windows of a Muslim family’s home in Plano, Tex. A shop owner in Queens, N.Y., is attacked at his business by a man shouting, “I’ll kill Muslims.†This is only a small sampling of the recent violence and hate crimes against Muslims, which have reached record highs.
While all disgraceful actions, which should be condemned, two Islamists shot up a center in California. Two others used bombs at the Boston Marathon. Many others attacked a Free Speech convention in Texas. Two gays were murdered in Seattle. A Muslim man shot his lesbian daughter and her lover in Texas. There are many, many more. Not too mention 9/11. And all the attacks and attitudes of Muslims around the world.
Oh, and as far as the one who fell of the building? Where’s the proof of foul play? What about all the gays thrown off buildings in ISIS controlled areas?
These days, sermons at mosques in the United States, rather than focusing on community and religion, conclude with advice about how Muslims can protect themselves from attack. The fear that any non-Muslim American feels about his or her safety in the face of terrorism is felt tenfold by Muslim Americans. I am 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, a Rhodes scholar and student at Harvard Medical School. I am not used to feeling so afraid for my body.
I am afraid that on the train home from the hospital, someone will think my backpack contains a bomb. When I walk through a crowd, I fear being accosted by young men calling me “Arab†or “terrorist.†I am afraid that all the talk of Muslim registries, rabid dogs and closing mosques will lead to someone shooting at the mosque that my mother attends every day. If I feel this way walking down the streets of Boston, with the privileges of a well-educated, English-speaking male, I can only imagine the fear of the many people who share my religion without such privileges.
I certainly feel for Mr. Shakir and the Muslim community that is non-violent and not intent on implementing political Islam within the United States. They shouldn’t be harrassed or worse because of what others in Islam believe. But, this fear is self-induced. While some Muslims speak out against the extremists, denounce them (no, they do not need to apologize for the behavior of the extremists, though, interestingly, every White person in the US is supposed to apologize and grovel for slavery for which they had no part of), rarely do we hear about it happening. Nowhere within this opinion piece do we read anything along the lines of “most of us have nothing to do with the extremists”.
In fact, right after a paragraph mentioning the Paris attacks, for which Mr. Shakir expresses no remorse or condemnation…they hold special importance, though, because they occurred near the time of his father’s passing anniversary…we read
Muslim leaders should indeed answer the calls to work to improve our communities. But to suggest that the solution lies solely with Muslims is deeply unfair. There are no calls to reform white Christian communities after mass shootings such as the one allegedly carried out by Robert Dear at Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs. Of course we must ensure our youth are not attracted to radicalization and that all members of our community have sufficient mental-health resources. The same should be said of all religious groups, of any community.
No, there are no calls, because we’ve said we do not support nutballs like Dear nor his actions. We denounce his actions. There will always be nutballs within just about every segment of communities, whether religious, political, national, environmental, etc. There aren’t 16 million anti-abortion terrorists willing to murder in the name of Jesus, especially since this against the teachings of Jesus. The 16 million jihadis are just following the example of Mohammad.
It is cute how Mr. Shakir attempts to say “all religious groups.” Other religions aren’t attempting to force their religion on people at the end of a sword in modern times.
What we, as Americans, need now is solidarity. The physical and political violence perpetrated against Muslims in this country will only worsen unless we stand together against this fear-mongering. No one should be a bystander on a train or at a school as Muslims are assaulted and our rights questioned. We need others to speak out and stand with us.
Interestingly, this is the same thing that many hardcore, extremist, fundamentalist Muslims say as they are pushing their hardcore, extremist, fundamentalist view of Islam, crying Islamophobia all the while. This is not to say that Mr. Shakir or his congregation is extremist, but, instead of the poor me act, maybe he should recognize exactly why people are concerned and fearful. They are trying to paint themselves as victims, and the solution should start with Muslims who do want peace, who aren’t practicing political Islam, who do not want to implement Sharia law, etc. and so on.
In the WP comments, we read
Instead of whining about your “fear,” why don’t you tell us all about what you are doing to address the rabid behavior of your co-religionists?
Yes, please do.
More than 1% of Americans think they should round up all the Muslims in the U.S. and ship them off to ISIS. Some think the Middle East should be turned to glass, or that Mecca should be nuked.
It’s bad enough when a majority of Americans support attacking the ‘wrong’ country.
There are groups that instead of focusing on the fear and “victimhood” on Muslims are doing something about it:
Groups called “The Muslim Reform Movement” is making the points as well:
What Americans and the world want to see is members of Islam “cleaning their own house” so to speak. These groups and actions go far beyond the mantra of “this is not Islam.” This goes far beyond the idea of “calling for peace and understanding.” These are Muslims looking out for and taking care of the problem within their own belief system. They should be acknowledged, applauded and supported.
Nothing to worry about.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/12/breaking-cops-find-buried-explosives-in-mid-missouri-before-mysterious-cell-phone-purchases-were-made/
Z,
The wrong people??? Try 60 years of muslim terror. 60 years of muslims killing innocent people. When are we going to say enough and make these people enter the modern world. The Muslims are the exact opposite of everything the liberals claim they want, but they will not confront them as it might show they are bigoted, yet they have no problem being bigoted in everything else. Trump got my support when he doubled down on Islam, that cult sucks and needs to go.
Of course, there will never be enough evidence to convince CAIR or Political Islam’s legions of useful idiots that America has an ongoing problem with Muslim terrorists that is growing more serious every day.
http://www.israpundit.org/archives/63611548
Fearing a civil liberties backlash and “bad public relations” for the Obama administration, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson refused in early 2014 to end a secret U.S. policy that prohibited immigration officials from reviewing the social media messages of all foreign citizens applying for U.S. visas, a former senior department official said.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/secret-us-policy-blocks-agents-social-media-visa/story?id=35749325
As a responsible journalist why don’t you look into the genesis of your “evidence”? A lot of things have “been said”. It’s been said that President Obama was born in Kenya. It’s been said that homosexuals should be killed.
America has a long, fertile history of blaming minority victims for their own victimization. Blacks brought it on themselves. Abused wives bring it on. Now the Muslims are responsible for anti-Muslim attacks. Why can’t they be more like real Americans???
It’s not surprising that far-right Christianists defend violence against non-Christians, gays and abortion providers. Same as it ever was.
The right is attacking (verbally and physically) individuals and churches that were not involved in the San Bernadino or Paris terrorist attacks.
William is repeating bigoted slurs when he calls all Muslims prone to violence. It would be like calling all conservative Christians violent for the rare (thankfully) violent acts of some of their adherents (like the PP terrorist).
You linked to the odious Gateway Pudendum, jimhoft. He’s a proven liar and is referred to as the “stoopidest man on the internets”.
Anyway, neither local law enforcement nor the FBI concluded that the bulk phone buys were associated with terrorism. People buy burner phones cheaply at Wal-Mart and re-sell at a profit in areas without a Wal-Mart. Think inner cities and in some rural meth producing areas.
Stealing propane tanks in MO? Check out how the crystal meth producers (unfortunately, a MO product!) store their anhydrous ammonia. That said, a recent attack on an abortion provider in Colorado included propane tanks that fortunately did not explode.
jimhoft’s “breaking news” is a couple of months old. A hunter in mid-state Pulaski county found buried explosives and reported it. The police exploded the cache.
The odious jimhoft linked these things together to spin a yarn of local terrorism. I’ve asked hoft on several occasions to change the name of his website as it embarrasses St. Louis.
More unfounded bigotry by conseratives. Nothing to fear.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/12/illinois-national-guardsman-pleads-guilty-in-islamist-plot-to-murder-over-100-innocents/
Who should walk in fear? FBI statistics, 2014,for religious hate crimes: Jewish-59%, Islamic- 14%.
In 2014 it seems that both Jews and Muslims were victims of violent right-wing Christians. This year Muslims are moving up the list.
And according to FOX there’s a war against Christians.
Since 1996 through 2014 anti-Jewish hate crimes decreased 50% while anti-Muslim hate crimes increased 500%. 2015 will reach a new high of anti-Muslim terrorism, against both Muslims and property.
According to William, it’s the fault of Muslims. You don’t want to hurt them, but they make you hit them.
Ah, the little puppysucker learned some new right-wing nonsense, misinterpreted as expected.
From what silly right-wing hate site did you mis-learn the terms? The Gateway Pudendum? Asshat Shrugged? Daniel Pimps?
We’ll file this under The Mis-Education of Sucking Puppies. I feel embarrassed for you.
From the same CNN article you used and the stories made up by CAIR.