SCN: Well said

[Steve]

x-no-archive: yes

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Something we all need to keep in mind....

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I'm Not the Enemy  

(Reshma Memon Yaqub, WA Post)---Like every American, I am outraged. 
And I want justice. But perhaps unlike many other Americans, I'm feeling 
something else too. A different kind of fear. 

I'm feeling what my 6 million fellow American Muslims are feeling - the fear 
that we too will be considered guilty in the eyes of America, if it turns out 
that the madmen behind this terrorism were Muslim.  

I feel as though I've suddenly become the enemy of two groups - those who 
wish to hurt Americans, and those Americans who wish to strike back. It's a 
frightening corner to be in. 

In the past, when lone Muslims have committed acts of terrorism - or have 
been mistakenly assumed to be guilty, as in Oklahoma City - hate crimes 
have abounded against American Muslims who look like they're from "that 
part of the world," against American mosques, against American children in 
Muslim schools who pray to the same peace-loving God as Jews and 
Christians.  

I am now not just afraid, as we all are, for our safety as Americans. I am 
also afraid for the safety of my sisters-in-law, who wear head scarves in 
public, and I implore them not to walk alone in the streets of our hometown. 
I am afraid for my brother, a civil rights lawyer who defends Muslims in 
high-profile discrimination cases. 

I am afraid to hear people openly state that Muslim blood is worthless and 
deserves to be spilled, as I heard when I was in college during the Persian 
Gulf War. I am afraid that my son won't understand why strangers aren't 
smiling at him the way they used to. 

I am afraid that we will be dehumanized because of our skin color, or 
features, or clothing. My heart aches each time a friend or relative calls, 
CNN blaring in the background, and sadly reminds me, "It's over for us now. 
Muslims are done for."  

I was briefly heartened to hear author Tom Clancy, interviewed on CNN, 
explaining that Islam is a peaceful religion and that we as Americans must 
not let go of our ideals of religious tolerance, because it's the way our 
country behaves when it's been hurt that really reflects who we are.  

Still, I'm afraid that Americans might view the televised images of a few 
misguided and deeply wounded people overseas celebrating the pain that 
America is now feeling, and will assume that I too must share that anti-
American sentiment, that I, or my family, or my community, or my religion, 
could be part of the problem. 

In fact, every major American Muslim organization has decried this 
violence against us all. In fact, Islam forbids such acts of violence. In fact, 
all the Muslims I know cringe at the idea of our faith being used, abused, in 
the name of political agendas.  

And though I, like other Americans, want the perpetrators brought to justice, 
I shudder to think of the innocent lives that may be unnecessarily lost 
overseas in that pursuit. Children like ours. Mothers like us.  

Every time I hear of an act of terrorism, I have two prayers. My first is for 
the victims and their families. My second is, please don't let it be a Muslim. 
Because unlike when an act of terrorism is committed by a Christian or a 
Jew, when it is a Muslim, it's not considered an isolated act perpetrated by 
an isolated group of madmen. The entire faith is characterized as barbaric, 
as inhuman. And, my fellow Americans, I stand before you, as broken as 
you are, to tell you that it's not. That we are not. That we Muslims love our 
country as you do, and that we are bleeding and grieving alongside you.  


Copyright 2001 The Washington Post Company  






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