Love, hate and Islamophobia

[umbertino]

by: Jennifer Ashrafi

November 18 2015

 

 

This article is reposted with permission from the blog of Becky Sarwate, president of the Illinois Woman's Press Association.

 

Sarwate writes, Nov. 17: I'm exceedingly proud to introduce my first guest blogger since the launch of the website earlier this year - my eminently talented and thoughtful younger sister, Jennifer. I will not be posting this week because nothing I have to say is nearly as urgent, and this deserves our collective attention. Please read and share.

 

In 2001, I met a man at work who intrigued me. We began dating shortly after the tragic 9/11 terrorist attacks. In 2003, I married this man, and in 2007 we had our first child together - a beautiful little girl to join my older daughter from a previous marriage.

 

In 2016, we will celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary with our children at Disney World - our favorite place on Earth. Max loves me more than seems justified, but he's exactly the father my kids deserve, the kind of man I wish I'd been able to look up to as a child. Everyone he works, prays, plays or engages with loves and respects him. He's one of those rare people who doesn't seem to have any enemies. But there's just one little thing. Max is a Muslim.

 

The sad fact is, despite the qualities listed above, and the other terrific nuances that make Max a better man than most, some people that don't know him at all hate him because of his religious beliefs. Oh, and they hate my eight year-old daughter too. Facebook taught me that yesterday. In fact, Facebook has been educating me about the inherent disgust for my family for years now. However after last Friday's senseless tragedy in Paris, the rejection of my loved ones reached a fever pitch.

 

It was a former aunt by marriage who posted a "fact" sheet (which I have not yet vetted) that delivered the blow that led to this post. The data in the meme purported to reflect Japanese restrictions on Muslims in their country. Said aunt (who has, it must be owned, recognized her prejudicial error, removed the post and apologized) added the editorial comment, "And so should the US," in reference to Japan's alleged closed door policy to Islamic people.

 

It's not like I haven't experienced different forms of hate or racism by proxy over the course of my relationship with Max. Quite the contrary. I've had my luggage contents dumped on the floor for all to see in an airport in Omaha. You know, because I was traveling with a bearded brown man. A hateful employee at O'Hare, the world's largest as well as one of the most diverse travel hubs, attempted to prevent my husband and I from flying on the same plane to our honeymoon destination.

 

More recently, I was waved through a security checkpoint at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City even though my bracelets were tripping the metal detectors. However my cousin by marriage, wearing a hijab, was harassed about a blue dolphin statue that I purchased for my daughter at the Museum of Natural History. My cousin had been kind enough to tote the item for me on her stroller, and her kindness turned into an ugly memory.

 

I've asked these questions a million times. Does every Christian (or even an atheist gun owner) pay the price every time a rogue member of the flock shoots up an abortion clinic? Did every white American male have to apologize for or denounce the Unabomber? How about Timothy McVeigh? Did we close the borders to white Protestants after the evils perpetrated by the Klu Klux Klan? The obvious answer to all of these queries is "No." Why obvious? Because it's absurd to expect every American or Christian to denounce the distorted beliefs of a crazy person in order to stave off personal suspicion. As a culture, we do not afford the Muslim community that same courtesy.

 

You know those people that spout racist speech but then take cover under dubious claims when caught? They'll say "Oh, I have black friends" after making pointedly ignorant statements about African-American culture. This phenomenon exists in discussions about the Islamic faith too. When I'm frustrated and emboldened enough to call someone out for their hate speech, and this has happened a few times, some are very quick to tell me they have Muslim friends who are "good people." All better then, right?

 

1) No. I don't believe you have Muslim friends. Because if you did, they would tell you that your gross, painful generalizations are unfounded.

 

2) I don't think a Muslim - or any religious/ethnic minority - would befriend you knowing your opinions.

 

3) The second you protest that you have a ____ friend and are not a prejudiced against ______s as a result, you have lost the argument.

 

Max is a man of seemingly limitless tolerance and patience. But I'm not. Those security disasters I mentioned? My husband waits for them to end with humility. He does what he's told and asks me to remain quiet so we can get through it and not draw extra attention to ourselves. He accepts that additional layers of mistrust and scrutiny are his lot in life - that he has to deal with being unnecessarily harassed for the good of the country. I sit there incensed and mortified. He just endures. I've learned to internalize my anger because if Max is willing to undergo racial profiling so we can board our plane to Disney World, who am I to presume greater entitlement to respect? Who am I to disrupt the peace he so desperately wants? But instead of getting used to the repetition of these indignities, they fester inside

 

This is the world my daughters will inherit, the youngest of whom is being proudly raised in the Islamic faith. That's what hurts and scares me the most. My husband is a big boy who can take care of himself. He was an adult with excellent coping skills before, during and after the horrible events of 9/11 that changed our country. But my baby girl is sweet and innocent, thinks the best of everyone. I dread the day she realizes that some will reject her based on one part of who she is. How will she react the first time she's on the receiving end of a racist remark or hate speech about the only religion she knows? How will I react? My nearest and dearest should start saving bail money.

 

I spent part of yesterday morning watching President Obama's speech at the G20 Summit in Turkey. I mentally applauded a particular quote as it was uttered, but in light of this recent, personal emotional roller coaster it bears repeating:

 

"I had a lot of disagreements with George W. Bush on policy, but I was very proud after 9/11 when he was adamant and clear about the fact that this is not a war on Islam. And the notion that some of those who have taken on leadership in his party would ignore all of that, that's not who we are. On this, they should follow his example. It was the right one. It was the right impulse. It's our better impulse. We don't discriminate against people because of their faith. We don't kill people because they're different than us. That's what separates us from them."

 

 

 

Photo: beckysarwate.com

 

 

 

http://www.peoplesworld.org/love-hate-and-islamaphobia/

 

[dog53]

Oh come on

 

REALLY? 

 

Lets be real

 

fanatics come in all colors granted

 

BUT

 

wait a minute

 

BIG  BUT

 

They dont come 300,000 at a time !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Sorry about your luck lady

[bohica]

Based upon history and fact I believe the world has every right and reason not to trust or like Islam.  That does not make them 'phobic' against Islam, it simply makes them wise to look at the fruit of the tree.  

[DinarMillionaire]

She lost me...as does every idiot that brings up a rare instance of a nut case like the Uni-bomber, Timothy McVeigh and other lone actors that happen to be this or that. The problem with Muslims is, it isn't just a nut job Muslim every few years doing something stupid. There are thousands of the f'kers trying to kill us in the name of there religion. That's a big f'n difference to use potty mouth Joe's words.

[new york kevin]

"I had a lot of disagreements with George W. Bush on policy, but I was very proud after 9/11 when he was adamant and clear about the fact that this is not a war on Islam. And the notion that some of those who have taken on leadership in his party would ignore all of that, that's not who we are. On this, they should follow his example. It was the right one. It was the right impulse. It's our better impulse. We don't discriminate against people because of their faith. We don't kill people because they're different than us. That's what separates us from them."

Read more: http://dinarvets.com/forums/index.php?/topic/211824-love-hate-and-islamophobia/#ixzz3sMwMkw6Q

 

She lost me...as does every idiot that brings up a rare instance of a nut case like the Uni-bomber, Timothy McVeigh and other lone actors that happen to be this or that. The problem with Muslims is, it isn't just a nut job Muslim every few years doing something stupid. There are thousands of the f'kers trying to kill us in the name of there religion. That's a big f'n difference to use potty mouth Joe's words.

 

My fine Italian friend, I agree with you on this one. It has never ever ever been a war against Islam, Sunni, or Shitte.

 

 It also is not Islamophobic to want to put a end to ISIS. It is not Islamophobic to want to keep Islamic Terrorist from coming to this country and dong to us what they did in Paris and on 9-11. Oh yeah, do you remember what happened in New York city on 9-11? Islamophobia would indicate a "irrational fear" of Islam. I and the vast majority of Americans have no fear of Islam, nor of Muslims from either Muslim church. From our experiences (9-11, Paris. Malli, et al) we have seen what Islamic Terrorists intend to do; as they strive to achieve what they have said is their goal. Their goal is world domination, via mass murder, rape, and hideous torture of anyone (little girls, little boys, men and women) who will not convert to their version of Islam. Imagine the millions of lives that could have been saved if we stopped Hitler when he was starting out grabbing their first bit of territory that was not theirs. If only we stopped the then German Imperialism.

Self-preservation in the face of brutal evidence of what will happened if Islamic terrorists are not stopped is not Islamophobia, it is not bigotry. What it is, is a line in the sand that they crossed. 

and slowly the world is collectively doing something about it. 

 

Since the majority of Americans do not trust Mr Obama when he says " ah we  are  throughly vetting the Syrian refugees " and yet no one in his staff or administration will state exactly what that process is, we Americans do not want the refugees to come to our soil. Even Senator Dianne Feinstein who's politics I do not like is saying "pause" the Syrian refugee program. While every news site carry stories that the majority of the "Syrian Refugees" are men of fighting age between the ages of 18 - 45, plus women and children; while every news site carry stories about ISIS official statement that they are sending ISIS fighters to various countries around the world including the US among the very same Syrian refugees; while every news site carries stories about 20 people (men, women, and children) carrying fake Syrian passports and ID's in Mexico and South America;  Mr Obama says shame to Americans who are scared of women and children who ae the Syrian refugees. What would you have us do, sponsor a Islamic terrorist to come into our home, to rape and murder our families because we won't bow to their god ... would you have us do that? The fact that you and others like you try to shame us, that you try to irrationally blend the demon of bigotry in the US with that of our accurate distrust of Islamic Terrorist ... that is shameful. The fact that Mr Obama tries the very same thing is shameful and un-american.

 

The last time you brought up this topic shortly after the Paris attacks I blew up on you and other who tried to conflate the distinctions between rationally distrusting Islamist Terrorists and the root of bigotry in society. You attempted then and now to tie the black and white divide in the US with this justifiable distrust of Islamic Terrorists. Shame on you. It is such tactics as yours that continues the racial divide in the US. No sane man or woman is proud of the history of bigotry in America. You would think otherwise if you listen to the President and the likes of those who think like him. Yet it is what it is. I embrace it on that historical level as a ingredient that has made America what it is. As I contemplate this dark time in our past I determine each time to never forget its lessons, and to never allow it to be repeated again in our future. I have grown beyond it. If I don't I would always be enslaved to it. The Lord Jesus Christ is my only master. I am merely a imperfect man joyously struggling daily to follow where He leads, to incorporate and then emulate His teachings. There are far better witnesses of Jesus than I. I look to the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. on how to go forward from what kept Americans apart in the past, while promising to never repeat the mistakes that allowed such stinking thinking to take root in America to begin with. Which is why I repeat, Hitlers atrocities and ISIS atrocities are fairly identical, we turned a blind Obama eye to Hitler then and paid with blood. Therefore stop ISIS now anyway the world can. If that means pause the Syrian Refuge program until we get a detailed policy in place, a policy that refuses entry into the US to those who's background cannot be verified, then we do that. 

Such thinking IS NOT now or ever will be Islamiphobia.

 

To those who I offended two weeks ago, including Umbertino, Roths & Shabs, I apologize. I should not have allowed myself to articulate my disgust of your premises of tacit support of Islamic Terrorist conflated with bigotry so close to the tragedy of Paris, with cuss words and the like. I can effectively express myself otherwise.

[Shabibilicious]

To those who I offended two weeks ago, including Umbertino, Roths & Shabs, I apologize. I should not have allowed myself to articulate my disgust of your premises of tacit support of Islamic Terrorist conflated with bigotry so close to the tragedy of Paris, with cuss words and the like. I can effectively express myself otherwise.

 

It's all good with me, kevin.  I was never offended though....you just broke the rules and I pointed it out, sans moderator intervention.    

 

GO RV, then BV

[Xtaxguy]

Islam is officially (per it's foundational book) far, far more violently aggressive than any so called religion of which I've ever heard; it's even beyond the the order of battle plans of Attila, Hitler, Stalin, etc.  They, too, were quite willing to kill any possible opposition in sight, including women and children.  But usually preferred to turn them into supporters, or at least abetters, of those regimes.  But islam, and sharia law, demand that the local thugs in charge harshly penalize all who do not bow down or who violate whatever they happen to say their law is today, including torture and death.  The vast majority of muslims, like the author's husband, appear to me to be at most what I think of as "faux muslims," paying lip service to avoid the s**t storm the local thugs would otherwise bring.  Think "jack morman" or "wandering catholic" or "dancing baptist," but with a lot more motivation to pay the lip service due to more dire consequences.

 

In the civilzed world, one of the worst clerical abberations in history was the Spanish Inquisition.  But the horrendous excesses of that era of religious terrorism was neither prescribed or sanctioned in the bible; it was an effective tool to exterminate all "others" learned from the Moors who had occupied Spain for centuries and had used it freely to control the European population. 

 

If the Koran's really your book, you must be an enemy of all non-muslims and non-muslim states, with a duty to attack them whenever and whereever possible.  You therefore simply cannot possibly qualify to become a permanent resident, let alone citizen, of the US.  If you're already a citizen, you can and should be tossed in jail for treason if you, being true to your sol called religion, take overt acts aginst the US or anyone in it.  But note, unlike Islamist, we won't hurt you for what you think, however absurd it might be, but rather just for what you actually do.  But if you choose to run with a pack of rabid wolves, you should expect to be closely observed and tested from time to time.