At a recent public event in Washington DC, Ilhan Omar, a US Congresswoman from Minnesota, had a harsh rebuttal to a question about female genital mutilation. The questioner wanted Ms Omar to condemn FGM.
Ms Omar, quite appropriately, pointed out that implicit in the question was an assumption about her record on the issue, and about Muslims in public life more generally. Beyond FGM, there are a number of questions that should be asked about what assumptions lie behind our questions to visibly Muslim westerners – not only in public life, but more generally in our society, too.
Comments(2)
THE RACISM CONUNDRUM In 2006, the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo featured ugly cartoons pertinent to Islam. A Muslin organisation sued the editor for insulting their religion. The editor won on the grounds he targeted only terrorists and not the Muslin community at large. Unlike America, the French enforce hate speech laws forbidding communication intended to incite discrimination, hatred, etc. In America jokes and satire presupposes only minor moral standards. There are some pundits and influential leaders in government who like Charlie Hebdo chose to wave even these minimum standards when referring to Muslins, Mexicans, and Black people. They make everyone to believe that their incitement to hatred and discrimination have a useful purpose. IT DOES NOT. In 2015 French Islamists shooters killed twelve Charlie Hebdo staff cartoonists. In America from 2016-2019 white supremacists shootings have raised the carnage; El Paso shooting targeted Mexicans. Racism is going to be among us for a while, but it is the current political rhetoric that is fuelling violence and inciting people to do evil; it needs to be tone down. People of all colours are encroaching each other’s space more often, and it is going to be this way moving forward. If we want to coexist peacefully, we must respect our differences and sensibilities. It is respect not hatred that would show our adherence to democracy and freedom of speech.
Absolutely correct. Another example was Michelle Obama comment that the only time in her life that she was proud to be an American. This does not reflect the attitude of all the people of her race. Many people of the race are proud to be Americans not just at inauguration.
Comment Policy
Comments that include profanity, personal attacks, or other inappropriate material will be removed. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, steps will be taken to block users who violate any of the posting standards, terms of use, privacy policies, or any other policies governing this site. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.