Major Nidal, a man of Jordanian decent, earned his title from years in the United States Army.
...Wait a minute!
Yes, there are Muslims in the U.S. Army. Surprised? If, in fact, you are shocked, then you need to keep reading. The "don't ask, don't tell" policy still exists, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't apply to men who love the Qu'ran.
Now let me begin by offering the tragedy at Ft. Hood, Texas my complete and unadulterated compassion. NPR's Morning Edition told the story of an Army wife whose husband was murdered by the indiscriminate gunman. The newly widowed woman tried her best to express her grief. I could see her tears through the radio. The journalist observed the woman gently holding her enlarged belly. *gasp* I could feel her grief, her confusion and her pain and yet, the only coherent sentence she could form was a question: In the Army there is a brotherhood, why would they do this?
Her question entered my mind and triggered an emotion. I felt a heat rise in my eyes and I asked a question of my own: Why did the (alleged) shooter have to be Muslim?
Her question entered my mind and triggered an emotion. I felt a heat rise in my eyes and I asked a question of my own: Why did the (alleged) shooter have to be Muslim?
Listen, I get it, the man accused of the crime has simply been identified. And as it turns out, he is a devoted Muslim. What's the big deal right? It's just a fact!
... Right.
As consumers of the media it is normal to become accustomed to a particular diet. Follow this recipe: the police officer gathers information about a subject (name, address, DOB, race: the essential ingredients); the journalist gathers as much of this information as possible and adds a pinch of spice (salt, religion and/or character witnesses are all fine); and the news reporter cooks up a big bowl of speculation for us all! Yay, cold gossip stew! Consumers really like this method of cooking. It is a comfort-food of sorts; filling you up with more factoid-calories than you really need and then sending you into a sleepy fog (itis), feeling nourished... satisfied.
Shepard's-pie may make you feel warm inside, but it's not to be consumed in daily doses, at least not for the health-conscious. Just as many Americans have become calorie-counters in the interest of health and longevity, why not try a little factoid-counting with the same goal in mind?
Let's break it down. How does this make you feel?
Are you a non-homophobic heterosexual Christian? How does it make you feel when the media reports these protesters as Christians?
Are you a law-abiding Black male? How does it make you feel when the reporter on your local 11 o'clock news says, "the supsect is a Black male between the ages of 9 and 76"?
If you identified with one of these scenarios then maybe you can imagine how Muslim Americans feel when Major Nadil Malik Hasan was identified as a man who "took his religion very seriously" (NPR, Morning Edition 11/06/09). Choose your unique identifier and ask: does the media exploit it without justifiable reason?
It seems to me, that "the man" has a new favorite target. He fills us up with cold gossip stew, and even the previous butt-of-the-joke gets a bowl. This is one party where even Black folks are allowed at the dinner table. But the "black jokes" have been replaced by with tongue-in-cheek quips about turbans, bindi-dots and the "terrorists" you sat next to on the plane. Sounds to me like people are confusing terms. Since when are "Muslim" and "terrorist" synonyms?
I admit, I probably wasn't invited to this shin-dig. But if I was, when the floor was mine, I'd pose this question: Are Muslim's the new niggers?
I see why you said that your poetry would have a greater power spoken. However, I appreciate your insights. Weather spoken or read, the word is a powerful tool. I'm lookin forward to receiving some more via the e-mail. yxesnam
ReplyDeleteRoger:I had a hard time reading this Kara and fully getting everything you trying to communicate but to share my opinion and answer your question, yes to some degree. People who are ignorant and easily lead by fear(of something not understood and of their own lack of self confidence in just being who they are) and by the media are treating and thinking ... Read Moreof muslims as niggers. I don't agree totally with Omar's point of view on Timothy McVeigh but it's understandable since we are talking about media here to a degree. When I hear of stuff like Timothy McVeigh, those Columbine dudes, etc. I stereotype them as crazy ass crackers but of course, I'm from a majority black neighborhood so my opinion was shaped by my surroundings more than mainstream media. Now with that said, I understand you are from Kansas so I'm guessing you understand what it's like to be a minority in your personal surroundings and you've suffered racial banter, threats, etc. like I have and still have the mental scars to show from that. There's one thing we're both painfully aware of, media likes to stir up shit to sell papers but the part I find missing from your writing is that they do this to sell to their audience which is 70% white and mainly Christain. We really could use some more objective reporting but we probably will have to wait until there is more balanced numbers in the divisions of each region of our world to finally experience this. In the meantime, I'd encourage you to keep writing against what you see as wrong but to balance the negativity crap like this makes you feel with the real truth. There are extreme Musliims, thugged out niggers, speed freak red necks, crazy ass country crackers, etc. that have one thing in common, their high level of disdain and hate.....BUT the majority of us humans feel more love(mainly thru friends and family) than hate so they are very small and should be addressed not as a stereotype but as an hideous, abnormal blemish on the face of civilized, humane society! ;-) Very good writing! I think I understand better why everyone seems to use very intelligent to describe you somewhere in their first five adjectives!
ReplyDeleteOmar said: @Kara..thanks for posting a very stimulating topic. I've enhanced my understanding of how others are interpreting this tragedy and its ramifications. @Roger..I'm from NYC, born and raised. Though a so-called melting pot, racism is rampant. When a black person commits a crime, its deemed as something characteristic, stemming from him/her being ... Read Moreblack. When a white person commits a crime, its deemed as something environmental, stemming from his/her current condition. Even with this attack, there is nothing in the reports saying that he committed these attacks as a reprisal for insults against his religion, however they continue to bring up how he was angered when he was insulted about his religion at another Army Post. Why hasn't this been termed a act of workplace violence, not respective of religion? The following day a man in Florida went into his former workplace and gunned down several people. He was white and christian. They immediately deemed an incident of workplace violence. I only make note of Timothy McVeigh because he did commit the act for racist reasons, he killed many more people, and there was a religious slant to his crime; he belonged to the Aryan Republican Army and the White Nationalist Church headed by Robert G. Millar. The Oklahoma City Bombing was the worst terrorist act in the U.S. until the 9/11 Bombings. If you do research on Timothy McVeigh, what you'll find is a lot of information about his troubled childhood, his experimentation with illegal drugs, and his feelings against the U.S. government as being tyranical. In fact, the Oklahoma City Bombing is offically termed as McVeigh's response to the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents. It is only until you look as his accomplice Terry Nichols, who is serving life at a supermax prison, that you even get a glimpse into the racist aspect of it all. The money used to fund the bombing came from an Aryan Republican Army bank heist the McVeigh and Nichols participated in prior to the bombing. The bottom line is that the Fort Hood Massacre could be and should be looked at as something other than a relationship to the shooter's race or religion until it is discovered to have been such a relationship. Additionally, it is more than just an instance of slanted reporting since it is the media that delivers the information to us. How else has anyone of us received any news as to what happened? I too come from a predominently Black neighborhood, and I didn't look at the Columbine incident as a 'bunch of crazy ass crackers', no I understood it to be an instance of those being bullied reaching their breaking point and lashing out against everyone. But even in their attack there was a high level of premeditation, whereas in the Fort Hood Massacre the only premeditation that can be discerned thus far is the fact that he gave away furniture on the morning of the attack. @Tonya..I could fall in love with a concious woman like you! You said it best, give it time and we'll be back at the bottom. It is where they feel comfortable having us. And by they I am referring to those who continue to perpetuate racism in society today. Not all white people support racism, just as not all black people support this division either. We as humans need to get beyond this and try to solve the ills of society without looking at criteria that has nothing to do with the problems. Let us all live in peace so that we may all peaceably live!
ReplyDeleteAyers:Omar-Just got done reading an article that was the second one that came up when I googled Fort Hood shooter. Apparently, ol' dude was asking a lot of funny questions about how Muslim soldiers felt about killing fellow Muslims to his friends, fellow students, and co-workers which would seem to suggest his thought process was deemed Muslim by the ... Read Moreshooter himself. The article also stated that his priest or whatever you call a Muslim leader told him that he was full of anger and needed help which points out the author wasn't making it a general slant against Muslims. Through heresay, I've also heard that he put up a facebook post six months ago comparing the bombers to a soldier falling on grenade to take the blast himself. Sounds like a lot of this was one sick son of a bitch's Twisted perverted way of protecting of his religion. Now let's be honest about the two religions, both of them have some nice things about them but ultimately both of them teach annihilation of anyone outside of their belief system and both were written by men not God or Allah. It's funny too the way you just said they don't report on white folks' racism, religion then you turn around and lay out knowledge on Timothy McVeigh that makes me think at this age that he was a crazy ass "cracker". Why bring race into it? Because McVeigh did and unless you knew him personally, clearly someone reported everything you just mentioned. As for Columbine, you may not have thought crazy ass cracker but me and my boys were joking around about those crazy crackers listening to Marilyn Manson and all that other cracker music. Keep in mind this was my mentality when I was a teen and in school in the south in East Point, GA. None of us ever cared to investigate because we had sports to watch and comedians to listen to. Now back to the point I was on, white folks aren't going to buy papers(majority white country, majority white audience) that stare at the skeletons in their closet. Who wants to look at their imperfections? Herego, why print something that doesn't sell? I'm also going to point out here that you investigated Timothy McVeigh like you did and it doesn't sound like you've done much research on the Fort Hood shooter. Hmmm....My second point is until we live in John Lennon's Imagine world, it's going to be that way. If you live in a white, Christain county, you can expect the news to be reported that way. Ever wondered what the news is like in Nigeria? Brazil? China? We are in a information and travel age that is unprecedented. It's on us to make the future different than the past. We won't see it our lives but Imagine a world with no races, no countries, and no religion and you'll Imagine a world without the major ways that humans are seperated or different. Then maybe we can focus on real problems like disease, famine, and one day overpopulation not imaginary ones that we've created like race(does skin color,hair texture determine mindset or our perception of how colors "act?), religion(Is it really okay to kill and/or condemn because "God" said so? I don't worship that God!), and country("You stupid Americans!"-..lol.. Had to throw in some Team America. Fuck yeah!!..lol.. but I think we all get this one). I wonder do babies when they're born know their race, religion, and country or is that losing our innocence means we've conditioned our selves to put labels on everything we shelve in our minds?
ReplyDeleteBranch:I agree with alot that you are saying Roger except its been years since McVeigh, so of course there is more info out there about him. Immediately after the incident, I couldn't make any inferences about him except that he may have blown up a federal building with many innocent people. That is all I'm saying about this incident. Until it is ... Read Morediscovered, we shouldn't call it anything it isn't. Race played a role in both incidents, and so did religion. As time goes by there will be more information available as to why this man did this, especially since he is alive. Hence we will be able to make definitive inferences later on, to make them initially based solely on his religious preference and his race, he is an American born muslim with middle eastern heritage, is wrong.
ReplyDeleteHere is where I disagree, just because this is a mostly white christian country doesn't mean that the opinion press should relect that of the paid media. I am not referring to the associated press when I say the folks are wrong for jumping to conclusions, I am talking about the population at large. No one is paying folks to comment on blogs and postings about the tragedy, but these are the folks who are jumping to inappropriate conclusions. In fact the paid media has taken some precaution to avoid making such blanket acusations. When you have folks throwing out opinions like damn hum-du-li-lahs, and ragheads, its just a matter of time before they start saying nigger. I'm just saying don't be a band wagon jumper just because he is muslim, and if you are going to be one, be one unilaterally.
November 8
Roger:
ReplyDeleteMan, I feel a lot of what you're saying too and I'm not saying because it's a white country that it's right for the media to dictate the... Read More opinions of society, I'm just saying, a lot of people are like sheep and simply follow with no thoughts of their own and it is what it is right now. It's not quite on a Hitler level because the average Joe today is way more knowledgeable than he was then but but what I was getting at was people view everything through their own limited peephole on mortality. Herego, maybe you came to a point where you wanted to know about McVeigh because of an incident in your life that caused you to be curious and I don't mean a physical or life altering incident or anything. Maybe it was just a conversation with a friend. Same as what caused me to read an article about the Fort Hood shooter. I don't pay attention to the news much. I watch sports, movies and comedy. There's isn't so much serious stuff there except for the movies. I'm emotional and don't care to see what's going on in the world because I feel powerless when it comes to stopping most of it. So with that said, I've been sneaking up on people and POP QUIZZING them. ..lol.. Apparently most people are aware of Tim McVeigh's actions, why he did them, and how they found out about it. Now I don't know how it was layed out timewise in the media from everyone but when I POPPED Steve Isbister, the national sales manager for Olhausen Billiards, the largest pool table company in the world, he said it was all over the news, he was in OKC doing a sale at the time of the incident, and, without asking him, said that there were suspicions up front of why McVeigh did what he did from what he had said to those that were close to him and they proved to be true. I mean, I don't think either of us would be surprised if Kara went to South America to backpack in the Andes just 'cause of what she's relayed on her facebook page. I also think it's relevant to point out here that my man, Steve, is a Korean American about 50 years old so he isn't black or white and he is someone who I hold in the highest of esteems as a self-made successful indiviual even though he's a Cavs fan and they crushed my Hawks last year. ..lol.. But I digress and get back to the subject at hand, the paid media always tip-toes with their words. *I'm looming! I'm looming! And I'm a lawsuit for lible.* ..lol.. So let's extend my social experiment......Black woman with a 14 year old daughter and husband comes in to my store on Sunday. She brings her daughter in to finalize the sale by picking colors but yet, she chooses all of the colors I suggested with my expertise against her daughter's wishes. As we get up to the counter, she starts asking me questions about my kid. I see an opp so I pull out a pic and show her Caleb. She tiptoes, "Is his mom foreign? He looks dark-skinned." "*she continues to pop her gum* No, she's black!" Laughter. I tell her my stories from the hospital and the birth. More laughter. Questions are asked. "His mom is beautiful. She's great!" ...."Well, why......" Questions keep flowing...We get along great when we're not in the same house and we have space. "Are you both Christain?" "Well, I was raised Christain and her family was raised Muslim". Man, I can't put her expressions into words at the moment but if you'd've seen what her face looked like when I told her that my kid's mom was one of the nicest families I'd ever had the pleasure of meeting and how they overwhelmed me with love at the family reunion, you'd reaffirm why Kara is asking this question. But back to my original answer, to a degree. Muslims can be any color, any garb, etc. so they aren't as easy to point out.
As for the word nigger, man, they've been called sand niggers for years. The difference between now and then is people aren't saying those words in quite the same joking manner anymore. Laughter as in orgin was told to me this way. A pack of pre-historic people were out and about when a wolf came around the bend. Everyone ran but one dude tripped up. Scared shitless, he turned around to face death and instead he saw the wolf trapped in a bunch of vines and started laughing his ass off 'cause he had nothing to fear. Thiings start getting scary when people quit laughing and exetremists realize that but do the craziest shit ever to make their point and instead of making their point, they cause people to support the other side. Brilliance is in the modern is best characterized by leaders like Gandhi, MLK, and one of my favorites, Malcolm X at the end of his life. And with all of this, 'nuff said! :-)
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