I got a sinking feeling in my stomach when I heard that the man who shot to death 12 people at a military base was supposedly a devout Muslim.
Nadal Hassan allegedly committed a horrific act at Fort Hood, TX, and that should be condemned. But there’s been a tendency by some in this country to take the actions of one individual of a certain religious affiliation and blame a whole group of people.
Muslim groups anticipate a backlash. The Council on American-Islamic Relations put out a statement last night urging Americans to stay calm and united.
The group’s National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“The motive of the attacker is not yet known. We urge all Americans to remain
calm in reaction to this tragic event and to demonstrate once again what is
best about America — our nation’s ability to remain unified even in times of
crisis. We urge national political and religious leaders and media
professionals to set a tone of calm and unity.“Unfortunately, based on past experience, we also urge American Muslims, and
those who may be perceived to be Muslim, to take appropriate precautions to
protect themselves, their families and their religious institutions from
possible backlash.”
It’s no secret that Muslims have had to endure the anger of many Americans following the tragic events of 9-11, and that anger made its way into offices, factories and plants.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission saw an uptick in cases of discrimination against Muslims right after. Here’s one 2003 case in a series of cases that summed up what some Muslims were subjected to:
EEOC alleges that Trans States Airliines discriminated against Mohammed Hussein, a pilot employed as a First Officer, because of his Islamic religious beliefs and his Arabic appearance. Mr. Hussein, who is a Pacific Islander and native of Fiji, was fired one week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on September 18, 2001, despite an excellent work record.
And in a case last year, financial services firm Merrill Lynch “agreed to pay $1,550,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act on behalf of an Iranian Muslim former worker who was fired due to his religion and national origin.”
Unfortunately, religious bias complaints to the EEOC have been rising, up to 3,273 in 2008, from 2880 from the previous year.
I suppose it’s human nature to be fearful of something we don’t understand. Jean-Paul Satre, the French philosopher said it best in his book “Anti Semite and Jew”: “people are attracted to the durability of a stone.”
A stone is not scary but the unknown can be.
How do we get to the point where we’re not scared, or at least stop throwing stones?
November 6th, 2009 at 11:20 am
One report I read suggested that the assailant was already under investigation by Federal authorities for comments made on Internet discussion boards regarding suicide bombers. If they make a connection between that investigation and yesterday’s events, I’m afraid we’ll see a new wave of suspicion and bias that will rival that experienced in the days after the 9-11 attacks.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Muslim groups always “anticipate a backlash,” but it never comes. Even after 9/11 people had to work hard to find even a handful of examples. Part of the reason people may be looking more broadly than yesterday’s attack is that Muslims in the Afghanistan police force did the same thing earlier this week. It looks as though terrorist groups are trying to infiltrate military and police forces in Afghanistan to undermine them from within. Given the similarity of the attacks, taking a closer look at Muslims in the U.S. armed forces for similar tactics would seem to make sense. That’s not paranoia, it’s analysis.
Secondly, CAIR, the Muslim group you site, has well-established ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups in the Middle East, or at least to the charities that fund them. Whether or not the shooter at Fort Hood was acting out of mental illness or as a direct agent of their cause, CAIR’s opinion should be about as valid as any terrorist front group.
There are good records of CAIR’s ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups here: http://www.danielpipes.org/394/cair-moderate-friends-of-terror.
I’m certainly not going to start treating Muslims I encounter in my daily life any differently because of this attack but you make it sound like we have no reason to be concerned and you’re given an implicit endorsement to a group that really does have verified tied to terrorists to prove your point.
November 6th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
The link you provide Sean doesn’t show me that CAIR is friends with terrorist groups.
Aside from that, I’m glad to hear you won’t treat Muslims you encounter in your daily life any differently. That was my point with this blog post.
As for analysis, I am all for law enforcement investigating any individuals, Muslim or otherwise, who they have evidence on regarding terrorist acts.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Perhaps if the leaders of the Muslim faith would be actively trying to put out the message that those who use their faith for hate, not just in the US, but around the world, are wrong, evil, etc. they might find more sympathy.
When news of the 9-11 events reached the Middle East, there was widespread celebration. It makes it hard to think of these attacks as being done by “a few misguided people” when you see thousands of people celebrating such acts.
Perhaps the US Army shouldn’t deploy Muslims into the Iraq-Afghanistan area, as we did not deploy Japanese Soldiers into the Pacific. But then there would be cries of discrimination.
Or perhaps, as we are at war, the personnel on US bases should be issued sidearms. As it was, the base (aside from authorized personnel) was a “gun free zone.” If the other soldiers had been armed, the major would’ve been cut down quickly.