The Governor's
Cold Shoulder to Muslims
By Shakeel Syed
Los Angeles, CA
Earlier this month, with war raging in the Middle
East, I saw that my governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
was meeting with rabbis and others who support
Israel. As executive director of the Islamic Shura
Council of Southern California, a federation of
more than 75 mosques and Muslim organizations
serving half a million Muslims, I thought that
such a high public official should also meet with
members of my community. I wrote to him on Aug.
7.
I wanted to talk to the governor about three important
points. I wanted him to know that my community
felt that the deaths of innocent Israeli civilians
from the rockets of Hezbollah were painfully tragic,
and just as tragic as the deaths of innocent Lebanese
people and the destruction of their country's
infrastructure by the Israeli bombing. I wanted
to ask him to listen to another, equally important
side of the story. And I wanted to urge him to
remember that the governor should represent and
listen to all the people of California.
After waiting for more than a week, and following
up with at least 10 phone calls to the governor's
office, I had gotten no response. I felt it was
my duty and my right as a citizen to avail myself
of a public forum to reach the governor. When
a reporter from the LA Times called, I spoke with
him and, on Aug. 16, The Times correctly reported
my perspective: The fact that the governor had
ignored my request to meet was disrespectful and
insulting.
I believe what I did comes under the heading of
Democracy 101. Politicians govern and win elections
by responding to the populace. And when they do
not, the populace has two remedies: the power
of the vote and the power of public opinion.
Finally, when the governor agreed to meet with
two Muslims, it was as individuals, not on behalf
of any organization. He refused to meet with me.
His communications director, Adam Mendelsohn,
was forthright in a public statement: "We
did not meet with Mr. Syed [because] it was inappropriate
for the governor to meet with someone who uses
the media to demand meetings and threaten political
retaliation."
I think the governor's communications director
needs work on his communication skills. What he
calls demanding a meeting, I call paying attention
to constituents; what he calls political retaliation,
I call voting.
I think that deliberately avoiding a meeting with
me solely because I made use of my 1st Amendment
rights is simply un-American.
This isn't a personal matter between me and the
governor. It's about making sure that the half
a million people I represent are heard in Sacramento.
Marginalizing Californians who are Muslims subtly
reinforces anti-Muslim stereotypes, which all
too often cast us as outsiders. This is not principled,
it's not good politics and it's not good for the
state.
In these volatile times, with attacks on Muslims
and our mosques, we cannot afford to be ignored
by our governor; we can't stand by when his actions
deepen religious and cultural divisions.
Californians are, by and large, decent and well-intentioned.
They want to solve problems; they want to break
down barriers.
Shouldn't their governor be helping them bring
down the walls that separate us rather than building
them higher?
(The writer is Executive Director of the Islamic
Shura Council of Southern California)
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