Is It Our Turn Now?
By Nadir Khan, PhD
Alta Loma, CA.
The shrill voices about the so-called Ground Zero Islamic Community Center seem to have subsided a little. The 9/11 anniversary and mid-term electioneering made the situation much more damaging and volatile. .
The involvement of some politicians did not make the situation any more palatable. Now the anniversary is over and in the next couple of weeks the elections will be out of our way.
The Muslims in this country have been under assault for a long time but it has been kept under rapt. American media hardly reports on the vandalization of mosques. We are also aware of, and have talked about, double standards for a long time. But who is counting and listening? Islamophobia has joined the American lexicon as the newest word and is becoming a common term in the street lingo as well.
During the heated debates one very important and interesting argument to emerge was that what Muslims were going through was a norm in this country and had happened to other ethnic and religious groups and would ultimately come to pass. Indirectly we were being told to take it easy, put up and shut up.
Even an imam, in his long and disoriented Friday sermon, was trying to convince his congregation that this was Allah’s will and as good Muslims we should be patient, because Allah loves those who are patient. In the meantime we will be looking for new victims because we as a people really enjoy this game.
Having lived in this country for almost half a century, I never thought that I would live to see this day. During Inquisition, the Torah and the Qur’an were burned in Spain. The Nazis burned literary works of both German and non-German authors and there are groups in this country which would like to remove certain books from the libraries because they hurt their sensibilities. Are we next in line to be sent to camps like Manzanar in Southern California desert or to be deported to our native lands? That will certainly take care of the immigration problem!!!
First, there were the native Americans. We took care of them and they are now living happily on their reservations and we have gotten them hooked to casino gambling for their livelihood, as if they did not have enough problems to begin with. Then came the blacks from the Western coast of Africa. We treated them according to our Constitution, which claimed that “all men are created equal.” Jefferson was crazy to include those words and forgot that there were people who were not entitled to “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.” I have lived in this country long enough to be denied service in certain restaurants in Northern USA. I was a witness to see dogs being unleashed on civil rights marchers in the South and Afro-Americans being denied admission to the University of Alabama.
Then came the loyal Japanese during the Second World War. Every year Muslims from Southern California, under the auspices of CAIR, go to Manzanar camps in the desolate deserts to learn and remember and share. Earl Warren, who was Governor of California at that time and participated in those ugly deportations, received his penance later by becoming one of the most important Chief Justices by cases like Brown vs. Topeka which opened opportunities for Afro-Americans to go to some better schools and then Miranda, which protected victims from illegally obtained confessions.
Then there were the Catholics and the Jews, and the Italians and the Poles, who were constantly made fun of. My fundamental question is: Why have we not learned any lessons from our past, and why does every minority have to go through this ritual of pain and suffering to get to their destination? Why do we always apologize after making people suffer from our actions? I would like to argue that this cyclical pattern of our national behavior needs to come to an end. I do not want our people or any other people to go through this humiliating and painful experience just because we refuse to learn from our past mistakes.
Several theories have been propounded to explain this cyclical phenomenon. One suggests that there is “a deep-seated strain of racism and disdain for strangers simply runs through the American character.” A second one suggests ”our ambivalence toward the ‘other’ is tied to economic cycles. ”.A third one suggests “precisely because it is a nation of immigrants” and another one attempts to explain it on” an inner emptiness.”
My forefathers did not come on the May Flower. But those who came, and were called pilgrims, were seeking refuge from religious persecution. We are seeking the same protection for the believers of Islam. Our people are seeking a haven for peaceful coexistence with all other people who are part of the American family. Just because we have a different skin color and belong to a different faith should not be factors to be taken into account. I am an American by choice, not by birth. This land is as much my land as it is of those whose forefathers came on the May Flower. My home is not where my grandparents are buried, my home is where my grand children are born. This is my home now. I am permanently and forever part of the American landscape.
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