21st Century Racism

The Regionalist Perspective - By Joe Wood

21st Century Racism:
By Joseph Wood | bio

One thing I have always had a real problem with is the lack of any American consideration for the Palestinians. I know they typically come off as angry and loud--but we never consider why. Another thing that I don't get is that usually, there are at least two sides to an issue; yet with most Americans, you are either For ISRAEL or against ISRAEL.

The muslims never seem to be part of the discussion, unless it is to condemn them.

After 9/11, I was one of those people who already had dozens of American Flags, and were giving them away. My father gives away flag pins to anyone he meets, even strangers.

I think that we have a huge tendency in America to shed no tears for Muslim people. It may have to do with policy, with our own imaginations and stereotypes, or even with what we have seen on the news for the last 25 years. We are likely to have the embedded image of shouting, angry and violent mustached men and boys, either throwing rocks at tanks, blowing up cars, or burning the American flag.

9/11 only made this impression worse, and made it an almost patriotic thing to suspect Muslims of planning violent acts.

The sad and unfortunate thing is that Muslims are people too, and we treat them much as whites treated blacks during Jim Crow. Many muslims are peaceful and God-fearing, perhaps moreso than many of us Christians are. They have lived under a different society, face different obstacles, and suffer death and destruction more in silence than we would here in America. Many Jews and Christians believe that they are God's chosen people; but some Arabs could just as easily believe that they are God's FORGOTTEN people.

Many of them simply do not want to westernize; they understandably want the centuries old traditional world (centered around God's law) to continue. For them, anyone who will fight their battles is welcomed, even if it can only be a terrorist. They see the West and Globalization as unfair, and imposed upon them. They feel as the Kiowa and the Sioux once did in this country. That is a cause that I can't help but be just the slightest bit sympathetic with.

Many American leaders act as though we need to "season" or educate or tame muslims into living peaceful lives, or to "detox" them into a new way of conducting business. To any student of American History, one may see the paralells to the early slave trade, the taming of Native American"savages", or the imperialistic tendencies of the the gilded age.

Every day, Muslims die, and we see the clips on TV, but don't care about their names, their families, their absence.

We don't identify with them, we do not feel moved. We just feel sickened, and want it all to go away.

Getting justice for 9/11 is very important to me. Terrorism must be stopped, and innocent civilians should not be targets. But if one of the underlying causes of 9/11 was turning a blind eye to the struggles of the muslim world, perhaps we should open our hearts a bit, rather than just seek a taste of revenge with every islamic death on TV.

We need to learn some things:

1-Having an unfavorable opinion of Israel does not make a person anti-semitic.

2-Having sympathy for embattled muslim men, women and children is not unpatriotic.

3-Sometimes Evil grows froma lack of Good;as the poet Dante might have put it, hate comes from perverted or neglected love.

Africa has been neglected, especially seen in Sudan and Rwanda. Nothing new. They are not a priority in the "national interest." Israel's interests, however, have always been in the "national interest."

The world is a big place though. America does indeed have "a role to play in the region"--yet the way that we have responded to it shows our lack of concern, of consideration for their humanity. Just like an urban ghetto, we respond only when it finally gets out of hand, and we start feeling nervous. It is the "too little, too late" syndrome shown the Afro-American community here in America.

What does that say to the world; especially to those concerned, about America? It says this; you are not worth caring about. You are of no VALUE.

That is what I think to myself when another day of gurneys and concerned muslims and crying women flash for a few moments, on my huge flatscreen TV--where is the response, the outcry, the urge to help stop this?

I recall a conversation I had during the coverage of Katrina; and matter of factly comparing the response to Katrina to that of 9/11 in New York. "How strange that people worked tediously to dig through that pile of scrap steel in New York, 24 hours a day, though mostly futile, hoping to save a human being. Then to see so many black faces crying for help, overtaken by water, obvious to anyone's eye; some waving American flags to perhaps earn the sympathy of some unseen rescuer; as if to say, "Don't be afraid to come save us!" I see the daily carnage in the Middle East the same way as I did in New Orleans; they showed up finally, but with guns.

Israel may be an ally, but that does not mean we should rubberstamp everything Israel does. At the same time, the other side should be considered in our hearts and minds too. Is it any wonder why some feel the way they do, and voice it so vociferously.

To think that all muslims hate America, love Osama Bin Laden, are terrorists, and just want to blow things up--and assume their motive as "hating freedom"--is just 21st century racism. To be ignorant to the daily reality of their lives is nuts. To want to act out our revenge by being indifferent to them is simply wrong.

I am reminded of the following words by Elie Wiesel:

"The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.

The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.

The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.

And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference."

tpmcafe