American Muslim Under A Hateful Eye, Again

american muslim
Originally uploaded by Art Peace

By Carl C. Chancellor

As soon as the name of the alleged Ft. Hood shooter was broadcast, I am sure the communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations couldn’t hit the send button quick enough on the group’s press release condemning the horrific attack.

Just like hundreds of other American-Muslim groups and individuals, CAIR, America’s largest Muslim civil liberties organization, knew that the backlash, with its ugly recriminations, the questioning of their loyalty, the hateful rhetoric, the suspicious stares, was coming just as it had come before. They knew the drill and did the only thing they could do–denounce the heinous act, point out that Islam doesn’t condone such acts of violence and stress that “American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens in offering both prayers for the victims and sincere condolences to the families of those killed or injured.”

But is America listening? Does it even want to hear?

Any message of shared pain, of condemnation coming from the American Muslim community is being drowned out by the hyperbolic, demonizing rhetoric spewing from flame-fanning conservative talk show hosts and broadcasters. Maybe that is the point–divide our country and foment fear and hatred.

One American-Muslim leader confessed to listening to the news as it came in Thursday and praying that a fellow Muslim wasn’t involved.

I know the feeling, because I was saying a similar prayer when it was reported that the shooter was a convert to Islam. I didn’t want the gunman to be an African-American brother.
It’s a reflex action of those who know the sting of having to answer for the actions of another simply because you happen to share the same pigmentation or worship the same God.

We now know the alleged shooter was Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a medical doctor and licensed psychiatrist, who was born in Virginia to Palestinian immigrant parents and is a Muslim.

What we don’t know is why he did it.

Of course to some that doesn’t matter. He is a Muslim, a follower of the Islamic faith. Enough said. Case closed.

Because of that attitude, which has manifested in anonymous phone threats and bigoted rants filling the blogosphere, Muslim communities across the country are fearful and on alert.

Media personality Michelle Malkin called Maj. Hasan just another “MSA–Muslim Soldier with an Attitude.” Her counterpart, columnist Debbie Schlussel, told her readers to think of Hasan “whenever you hear about how Muslims serve their country in the U.S. military.”
It will serve us better to think of the estimated 15,000 Muslims serving with honor in the U.S. military, according to figures compiled by the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council in Washington, D.C.

It will serve us better to heed the advice of U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, D-Indiana, one of two Muslims serving in Congress, who said the focus should be on the alleged shooter’s mental state rather than on his religion.

“This is no way a reflection of Islam any more than Timothy McVeigh’s actions are a reflection of Christianity,” said Carson, who was in charge of an anti-terrorism unit in Indiana’s Department of Homeland Security.

And, it will serve us better to remember Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, who was awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for his service in Iraq and who now rests in Arlington National Cemetery.