Opinion

We Run the World
By Dr. Ghulam M. Haniff
St. Cloud, MN

A climate of bigotry and anti-Muslim hatred has been intensifying in recent years together with acts of vandalism against Islamic targets. One of the latest includes the burning down of a small mosque in the tiny community of Columbia, Tennessee that authorities believe to be the work of arsonists. On the walls of the building was scrawled crude graffiti bearing the words: “White Power – We Run The World.”
That racist message, direct and to the point, conveyed to the Muslims that they do not belong in that Southern town. Perhaps, not even in the state or even the world run by white power. Left on the smoldering walls was also a Nazi swastika, the frightening symbol of hate for the non-whites. Since the time of its creation that symbol has stood for the unequivocal superiority of the white race.
Despite Muslim coalition building, interfaith dialogue and engagement in political process there has been no let up in racist targeting of Muslims.
During just one month, that of February alone, several incidents of hatred in action targeted Muslims not only here but elsewhere in the West. Besides the overtly reprehensible acts there is also the vilification of Islam and Muslims on television talk shows, in the print media, the pulpit and the political arena.
The talking heads, the self-styled pundits and the instant terrorism “experts” demean Muslims in the same way that the white racists poked fun at the “Negroes” until a few decades ago, the 1950s.
Just within days of the Tennessee incident the Muslim community on the other side of the world, in the town of Graz, Austria, had gravestones uprooted to underscore that Islamic presence is unwanted. According to authorities right-wing thugs were involved in that heinous activity though the racial climate certainly facilitated the vandalism.
On the heels of that incident a right wing legislator from Austrian Freedom Party submitted a proposal to prohibit the building of mosques and the wearing of headscarves in the southern region of that German speaking country. Another party member reviled Prophet Muhammad in the vilest of terms, calling him a “pedophile” among other things.
While that fracas was going on thousands of miles away in the American Midwest a Muslim owned business in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was gutted by a firebomb. Once again the vandals left behind a swastika, the telltale racial symbol that the Nazis carried as they wiped out entire communities of religious and racial minorities.   The perpetrators of the crime are suspected to be right-wing extremists with the usual political agenda. The destruction of the business has meant the deprivation of the main source of income for the newly arrived immigrant family.
Within days of these incidents the Attorney General of Florida, through an assistant, notified state employees to view an anti-Islamic film while on taxpayers’ time. According to reports he had already presented the film to private groups to make them understand “the terrorist threat to Florida and the West by radical Islam.” The most disturbing aspect of this episode is that state resources were used to malign Islam and demonize Muslims. Of course, Muslims are also taxpayers. It so happens that the Attorney General is the highest law officer of the state that Muslims turn to when confronted with hate crime.
In another example of the use of public resources for anti-Muslim propaganda was the invitation by the respected Air Force Academy in Colorado to three speakers to discuss Islam and terrorism. All of the experts painted Islam as inherently evil while no other perspective was offered. The threesome, who claimed to be former Muslims and violent terrorists, seemed to have curious background. They are the subjects of a lead article in the March issue of InFocus Magazine. The Air Force Academy is a federal institution of higher education supported by taxpayers.
These events also coincided with the reprinting of the notorious Danish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. In the most recent reincarnation these appeared in twelve additional European newspapers. One German state minister wants them to be published widely throughout the West. It may be recalled that the cartoon caricature of Jesus was refused publication by the very same paper that started this controversy.
The announcement of an anti-Islamic film made by right-wing Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders also came up during the same month. It will be broadcast on the Internet to show the world the vile nature of the Muslims. The Dutch producer is simply baiting Muslims to fall into his trap. Obviously, their extreme reaction is likely to be contrasted with the white man’s superior intellectual outlook. This too would be done in the name of the freedom of speech.
During the month of February and earlier the Republican presidential candidates outdid one another in the use of phrase “Islamic terrorism.” No one was more brazen in that usage than Rudy Giuliani who criticized Democrats for evading the phrase. His competitor, Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, called Islamo-fascism “the greatest threat this country has ever faced.” For their insults to the intelligence of the American public the two were given the boots in the primary election.
.The maligning of the Muslims is a daily affair. It ranges from the pulpits to the graveyards to the public square and everything in between. No Muslim leader anywhere has stood up to denounce the bigotry and racism inherent in the practice. Owing to the absence of mainstream leadership the extremist elements have reacted violently and will continue to do so.
The “darker-skinned” races have been the object of ridicule from the time Christopher Columbus took captive natives back to Spain for slavery. Down the road, five hundred years of colonial subjugation was to demonstrate the inferior status of the “other,” the people of color. Present targeting of Muslims is simply to remind them where they belong and to assert the “white man’s” superiority.

------------------------------------------------------------------------