Invisible Lives
By Mowahid Hussain Shah
40 years after the end of the Jimmy Carter Presidency – during which Palestinian aspirations for an independent homeland were openly articulated and advocated – Muslim lives have not truly mattered in Washington conversations. This fact has been overshadowed by the BLM protest movement.
A classic teachable moment occurred during the Clinton Presidency when Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, interviewed by Lesley Stahl, on CBS “60 Minutes” on May 12, 1996, was queried about the horrific humanitarian toll on Iraqi babies as a consequence of US sanctions. It would be instructive to present the exchange verbatim:
Lesley Stahl: "We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"
Madeleine Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price – wethink – the price is worth it."
Muslim lives didn’t matter when George Bush and his neocon allies – without approval from the UN – launched an unprovoked attack on Iraq in March 2003, at a country which had not attacked the United States. That onslaught was supported by ‘liberal lions’ such as Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Tom Friedman, David Brooks, and John Kerry, with the notable exception of Barack Obama. In its aftermath, it midwifed the birth of ISIS, whose consequences reverberate in the Mideast and the wider world.
Flouting international law and applicable UN resolutions, Palestinian lives and homes (predominantly Muslim) have been squeezed by the government of President Netanyahu. And yet, when he addressed the Joint Session of the US Congress, on March 3, 2015, no-one had received such a crescendo of standing ovations. Significant it was to witness that this was an implicit attack by a foreign leader, in the heart of the American government, on a sitting US President – Obama. It is a reflection on the state of US polity.
On September 22, 2019, there was a massive “Howdy Modi” rally at Houston, Texas, where the Indian Prime Minister was serenated by adoring crowds in the presence of the US President. It is noteworthy to mention here that the same Mr Modi was banished for 10 years from entering the United States pursuant to the directive of the US State Department, which had compelling evidence of his direct complicity in massacres of Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat, where Modi was then its chief minister. Not to forget his misdoings as Prime Minister, on Kashmir. Pakistani policymakers have to be seriously faulted for not highlighting this inconsistency in US policy and not bringing to public light the basis on which the State Department had banned Modi.
Another egregious step, directly violative of the US Constitution, was the blatantly discriminatory imposition of a Muslim travel ban by the White House.
Putting these examples together has sent, over the years, a loud and clear message of indifference to Muslim lives and well-being. In this connection, one would be remiss not to cite the contributory role of the ineptness and incapacity of the 10 million strong Muslim American community not to frame a coherent counter-argument.
The under-achieving American Muslim community mirrors the under-achieving Muslim governing establishment around the world. The presence of sham leaders has estopped the emergence of bona fide leaders.
The American Muslim community, for the most part, has preferred to put its head down and not speak Haq about its under-representation in areas that matter. Its focus on what is tantamount to inconsequential issues does send a timid message.
Mainstream America still doesn’t look at and duly acknowledge Muslims in their midst. Invisible presence carries its own consequences. The overlooked don’t get a seat at the table.
BLM does give a glimpse to Muslims in America of what can be achieved through collectively raising a voice of conscience. Individually, 50 years before, Muhammad Ali set a splendid example.
Taken together, it perhaps can awaken Muslims to the fact that, thus far, they don’t matter enough in the United States.
