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E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
Defend Liberty, Dismiss Subtle Hate
On September 11th 2001, I became a full American citizen. It was local Election Day in Detroit, Michigan. As an 18-year old political nerd, I had been waiting for my first voting day for a long time.
There were three fears I had on September 11th. I feared that the attack was only the beginning of something much bigger, and that bombs would soon be going off in major cities across the USA. I was partly wrong about that.
Secondly, I feared that Detroit would soon be under government siege and investigation, since our city is the hub of Arab-American communities. Outside of the Middle East, only Paris, France has a larger population of Arabs than metropolitan Detroit.
Finally, I feared that recent divisions in Detroit between Blacks and Arabs - sparked by incidents of mutual disrespect at Arab-owned gas stations - would grow into something more terrible.
While my second and third fears were worse than reality at the time, over time it seems that they were justified.
As far as private citizens, I noticed defamation of Muslims who appear Middle Eastern, who are all called “ay-RABS” in Detroit. Most disturbingly was the sentiment of relief expressed that the baton of hate had been passed from Blacks to Muslims.
As far as government, in Detroit, secret deportation hearings began for many Arabs who had lived here much of their lives. My own congressman was on the airwaves demanding to get access to these secret hearings, but was denied.
On local and national Christian television, I saw my own faith twisted into something that was determined to diss Muslims at every turn. Preachers pretending to reveal the truth about Islam were instead violating the command of Christ to love our neighbors as ourselves. In Detroit, our neighbors our Muslims, but some preachers decided to add a footnote to those words of the Christ.
As we mourn our losses, and defend our nation, we can only truly be patriotic if we stand up for American liberties for all Americans regardless of their religion.
Let us insist that our Congress and our president put back all the protections that were eroded through wiretapping programs and unusual deportations.
Let us ourselves take responsibility to not consume hatred from any source - be it from TV preachers or fear-mongering politicians.