Sickening Servility
By Dr Mahjabeen Islam
Toledo, Ohio
Indeed you can take a Pakistani out of Pakistan but you cannot take Pakistan out of him. The attachment, love and allegiance to Pakistan are the wonderful side of this aphorism. The servility and colonial mindset among a plethora of other things, is the downside.
The United Muslim Association of Toledo does a great job of socio-political activism. The mayor, congressional representatives and law enforcement officials in the city attend its annual Ramadan iftar dinners. Commendably it is working on a Ramadan iftar to be held at the city government level.
This last time however, one of its office bearers in typical hands folded, slightly leaning over stance repeated what is his mantra in essentially all events: “thank you for protecting us and thank you for letting us practice our religion”. My fasting hunger quickly turned to nausea and I toyed with the idea of walking out but logistic, read food issues, and not wanting to make a scene kept me there.
We are the third wave of immigration to the United States but we are as much citizens as the first immigrants that docked here. The right and freedom to practice our religion does not come from the protection of the local sheriff, or the generosity and indulgence of our neighbors, but the constitution of the United States. When the arson occurred at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo in 2012, law enforcement and the US Attorney’s office did a great job and we are very appreciative. This must not be the narrative, all the time though, of, “thank you, thank you, thank you”. They are after all doing their jobs.
This obsequiousness arrogates to us automatic second-class citizenship. And then we fret and fume that we are being treated unfairly and there is so much Islamophobia around. A Mahjabeenism: “The world treats you the way you make it treat you”. So let's drop the servility and behave like the equal citizens that we are.
APPNA, Association of Physicians of Pakistani-Descent of North America, in its annual convention this July had a Pakistani-American oil company owner as one of the keynote speakers. His rags-to-riches story was touching until he gushed over his adoptive country, belittled Pakistan and called us “Mozlims” and “Pack-istanis”, and not so subtly accused Pakistani-Americans of not keeping a close enough eye on their youth to ensure that they didn’t transform into terrorists. I’d paid a lot of money for that event, and a real live comedian was to follow, so I again didn’t leave.
It isn’t just desi-Americans but Arab-Americans as well who have this penchant for calling a white person an American. If it is an African-American they are referring to, they will call them black. But if you are desi and an American citizen for decades, you are still Pakistani or Arab. In the minds of desi and Arab-Americans, Caucasians have monopoly on being called American.
At the same APPNA convention I attended a presentation on APPNA Free Clinics. The first two presentations were very informative. The third presenter was a Muslim-American psychology PhD, invited to share his experience with setting up free clinics. At the inception of his talk he asked the roughly 50-person audience the question that “if something happens on the road, who is more likely to help the person, an American or a Muslim?” Five or six people raised their hands to American and the same to Muslim. I was so done by now. I hated to interrupt, I said, but this comparison was invalid as Americans can be Muslim just as Muslims can be American. Momentarily the presenter was embarrassed and admitted his mistake, but proceeded in the same self-hating rant that he had come prepared with, ignoring the interruption of the moderator to stay on point. I had reached the end of my tether and this time did walk out.
The classism of color and socio-economic status rampant in Pakistan has taken root and proliferated among Pakistani-Americans. The assimilation spectrum goes all the way from left to right. The ultra-left with its uncomfortable American twang, peppered with Mozlim and Pack-istani, has fully adopted the larger American culture. The ultra-right live in Muslim ghettos, either physical or virtual, and have zero interaction with their neighbors and minimal with their co-workers. Though the majority lies between these two extremes, it is still trying to find its niche and has many confused folk within it. As though answering this angst, Azhar Azeez former president of ISNA, the Islamic Society of North America, gave a succinct Juma khutba during the APPNA convention. With the confidence that comes from control of the facts, Azeez persuaded the congregants to be proud of being Muslim-American, relishing our history and the lives of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X.
To be treated equally and to be taken seriously, Muslim-Americans must shed their cowed-down, ingratiated, yes-man attitude. We have not rented American citizenship; we own it. With all its rights and responsibilities.
(Dr Mahjabeen Islam practices addiction and family medicine in Toledo, Ohio. Her email is mahjabeen.islam@gmail.com)
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