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American Muslims Hopeful in the Post-Ashcroft Era
By Shaik Ubaid
Al-Jazeerah, December 9, 2004
Despite promises by President Bush, this community's fears of a backlash are as strong as ever
The last few years have been a difficult period for the American Muslims. The twin dawns of post-Ashcroft and post-Arafat eras bring more hope for us; as does the report by the Defense Science Board of Pentagon that echoes the stand of the American Muslim leadership.
The Pentagon report describes US public diplomacy as being in crisis and urges the creation of a strategic communications apparatus within the White House. It says that improving public relations is not enough. "Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies," it concludes. The Board recommended that Washington make some immediate changes to its attitude toward Muslims
American Muslims are deeply hurt by the persecution of Muslims in other lands by their own corrupt and tyrannical rulers and by foreign occupiers. Feelings of betrayal and guilt are added to this hurt by our government’s support of these oppressors.
Domestically we feel acute anxiety caused by the growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the US. It is the propagation of the unexamined perception of Islam and terrorism being synonymous by certain right wing elements in the US that has led to this state of affairs.
American Muslims are a fast growing multiethnic group. Economic and other "quality of life" factors have brought the immigrant Muslim American community to this country. Like their indigenous Muslim American counterparts they have no greater wish than to witness the end of conflicts, occupations, dictatorships and other political excesses that lie at the root of terrorist violence. Only then can they get on with their quest of realizing their American dreams and securing a better future for their children without perpetual fear of the increasing Islamophobia in America.
The US decision this year to storm Falluja without waiting for Ramadan to be over and to actually initiate the attack on our most holy night of Lailatul Qadr filled us with despair. Muslims have started to feel that their faith and things they hold dear are of no consequence to the powers that be. The deaths of thousands of civilians and young American soldiers in Falluja and other Iraqi towns make our hearts heavy with grief. The conclusion that the ongoing battles will further destabilize Iraq is a sobering one.
Significantly Muslims participated in this year's US elections at an unprecedented level. In 2000 Mr. Bush had won the support of the immigrant Muslims because he had promised to ensure that their civil rights would be respected.
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks when Mr. Bush went all out to assure the American Muslims that they would not be made the victims of a backlash, the community felt vindicated about having supported him.
They began to feel gravely concerned however when it became evident that Mr. Bush's assurances were not supported or even endorsed by the policy makers in the Justice Department and the Pentagon. Substantiated reports of innocent Muslim immigrants being rounded up and of witch hunts among the military personnel serving in Guantanamo Bay exacerbated their fears.
The Neo-Conservative policy makers' exhortations to launch preemptive strikes on Muslim nations and the invasion of Iraq under a false pretext gave the American Muslims had greater cause for concern.
On the one hand was the horrifying thought of devastated civilian lives in those countries and on the other was the specter of terror in our own. We realized that the natural consequence of America executing unilateral war on other countries would mean retaliation by the extreme elements within these nations. This then would ensue an inevitable anti Muslim backlash accompanied by severely discriminatory security measures by our own government. Life for the American Muslim would be constantly fraught with perils.
Mr. Bush's acquiescence to Israel's hard line policies and its unapologetic violent military occupation of Palestinian lands has earned US the ire of vast segments of the Islamic world. The end result would again be increased violence against the US. The brunt will again be borne by the Muslims making them more vulnerable and jeopardizing their very existence as free citizens in America.
It was in this backdrop that majority of Muslims decided to support Mr. Kerry. The trend among the second generation Muslims and the African American Muslims has always been to vote for the Democratic Party because of its civil liberties agenda.
More than disappointment Mr. Kerry's defeat has instilled greater fear in the minds of many of his Muslim supporters. Coming as many of them do from countries governed by despots and dictators they are only too well aware of the penalty of dissent.
It is vitally important that both the Muslim leadership and the administration address these issues and concerns.
During the last few years Muslim Americans have developed good rapport with Civil Rights organizations and moderate religious leaders of other faiths. Muslim leadership must now develop links with the administration to facilitate the furtherance of this rootedness in the American society. For the American Muslims to fulfill their religious and patriotic duty of acting as a bridge between the US and the Muslim world we will have to win the confidence of the administration first.
President Bush had promised to reach out to those that voted for his opponent. Though this does surely include Muslims supporters of Senator Kerry, an explicit symbolic gesture to this effect by the president will go a long way in allaying fears and restoring the confidence of American Muslims and retaining their active participation in the democratic process.
It is my earnest hope that the Muslim leaders will extend a hand of cooperation and that Mr. Bush will reciprocate.
The Muslim world cannot fail to notice this. This coupled with an evenhanded American policy to settle the Middle East conflict in the post-Arafat era may well serve to diffuse some of the anti-American anger on the Muslim Street.
The Pentagon report endorses the American Muslims’ assertion that changes in our government's policies domestically and internationally are in the interest of not just our community but our country as well.
An abridged version of this article appeared in Newsday on 12-8-04 (link below). The article was submitted to Newsday before the Pentagon report was released and later modified to include the reference to the report.
Shaik Ubaid, MD, is president of the Indian Muslim Council-U.S.A. and a founding member of the Council of Mosques and Muslim Organizations of Nassau and Suffolk.
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04). | ||
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03). |