The Similarity between
Tortilla and Chappati
By Ras H. Siddiqui
Vanessa Colon with a group of Muslims |
The Council on American Islamic
Relations (CAIR) Sacramento Valley (SV) Chapter held an
interesting meeting with Vanessa Colon a writer and reporter
with the Fresno Bee newspaper on February 3, 2005 at the
Fortune House Restaurant in Sacramento, California. Vanessa
has been doing research on Muslim community in the Central
Valley recently, work that has included studying trends
amongst Muslim teenagers in the area and within various
segments of our community such as Latino Muslims.
The Muslim community population changes and the evolving
patterns are also in her sights at the moment. Mr. Rashid
Ahmad the President of CAIR (SV) made the necessary introductions
and laid the groundwork for this meeting of minds. He shared
his views on the importance of the Muslim community in the
California heartland. He also very briefly touched upon
the fact that Fresno is almost the size of Sacramento and
can easily be equated to the larger metropolitan areas within
the Valley. About fifteen community leaders joined this
meeting, sharing Chinese food and interacting with Vanessa
in an open forum where both the tea and conversation along
with ideas/observations flowed in generous proportions.
Venessa Colon of Fresno Bee with others |
First and foremost it was
pointed out that Muslims in the US are of very diverse ethnicity
as Afghans, Arabs, Somalis, Pakistanis, Vietnamese and African
Americans were all represented here at this small gathering.
Vanessa Colon was also interested in the interaction post-9/11
of Muslims and Hispanics in the area. She also pointed out
that Hispanics/Latinos too had borne the brunt of the new
tightening of US Immigration regulations and even wondered
whether it was the overwhelming opposition that Mexicans
(85%) had shown to the Iraq war that made them the object
of mutual affection of Immigration authorities as Muslim
Americans.
That Pakistanis too were singled out is no secret. In spite
of being a “frontline state in the war against terror” and
the relationship between the US and the Musharraf regime
(minus 150 million other Pakistanis who are not yet acknowledged
by President Bush?) the Pakistani-American community and
immigrants from that country have been treated quite shabbily.
At this meeting, one just had to ask why? Another topic
of discussion was the Hijab, the head-covering worn by Muslim
women worldwide. The discussion also covered Muslim-American
women and how they choose whether or not to wear the Hijab,
and the varieties available to them here in the US and in
other countries. Vanessa seemed very much interested in
what the women at this meeting had to say about why the
Hijab is part of their regular attire.
Rashid Ahmad |
A short discussion was also
held as to how young Muslim males here are not as uniquely
visible as females in publicly identifying themselves as
believers in post 9/11 America. The French ban on the Hijab
also came under the critical eye here. As to Muslim-Americans
themselves, some self-criticism came into view. On the pre-9/11
Muslim participation in America Mrs. Durriya Syed said;
“We did not market ourselves correctly.” In post-9/11 America,
the topic of civil liberties has certainly taken center-stage
and generated quite a discussion. On Muslim-Hispanic relations,
besides sharing a somewhat common pigmentation, the topic
of intermarriages between Muslims and Mexicans that have
been going on for almost a century in California’s Central
Valley was brought up.
Known as Punjabi-Mexicans, early settlers from South Asia
(almost all males) started coming to this area during the
early 1900’s. Due to the Asian Exclusion Act they were not
allowed to own land in California, and since their women
did not accompany them, they married Hispanic women who
could own land and reminded them of their own (brown) people
back home. The similarity between a tortilla and a chappati
was not lost to either culture. In conclusion, the current
reaching out between Hispanics and Muslims is commendable.
And beyond that, the interaction between the sympathetic
media (e.g. Vanessa Colon) and the Muslim community, can
prove to be beneficial to both.
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