Kendrick Meek Wins Florida U.S. Senate Primary

Islamophobia: Mainstream Hate

The proposed construction of a Muslim community center two long blocks away from ground zero has exposed and unleashed a rabid new wave of anti-Muslim hatred. Without doubt, the opposition to the mosque is rooted in prejudice and hate. Essentially, the opposition views all Muslims as terrorists or potential terrorists. That is primary reason why they oppose building a mosque near ground zero.

The opposition to building mosques is not confined to the area near ground zero. For instance, as noted in the New York Times article by Laurie Goodstein titled Across the Nation, Mosque Projects Meet Opposition,

In Murfreesboro, Tenn., Republican candidates have denounced plans for a large Muslim center proposed near a subdivision, and hundreds of protesters have turned out for a march and a county meeting.

In late June, in Temecula, Calif., members of a local Tea Party group took dogs and picket signs to Friday prayers at a mosque that is seeking to build a new worship center on a vacant lot nearby.

In Sheboygan, Wis., a few Christian ministers led a noisy fight against a Muslim group that sought permission to open a mosque in a former health food store bought by a Muslim doctor.

In addition to protests against the building of mosques, there are other examples of anti-Muslim hatred. For example, one church plans to hold a Quran burning ceremony on September 11, 2010. Moreover, as pointed out on the Rachel Maddow Show, the hate group Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE) seeks to outlaw Islam in America.

This hatred is also reflected in polls. According to TIME magazine’s poll,

61% of respondents oppose the construction of the Park51/Cordoba House project, compared with 26% who support it. More than 70% concur with the premise that proceeding with the plan would be an insult to the victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Twenty-eight percent of voters do not believe Muslims should be eligible to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Nearly one-third of the country thinks adherents of Islam should be barred from running for President....

The discussion centering around President Obama’s faith is another example of anti-Muslim hatred. Many view being a Muslim as a blot on one's character. For instance, President Obama has been forced to repeatedly explain that he is a Christian and not a Muslim. Nonetheless, many Americans remain unconvinced. Shortly after the President voiced support for building a mosque near ground zero, the Pew Research Center released the results of a national survey. According to the survey,

[N]early one-in-five Americans (18%) now say Obama is a Muslim, up from 11% in March 2009. Only about one-third of adults (34%) say Obama is a Christian, down sharply from 48% in 2009. Fully 43% say they do not know what Obama’s religion is. The survey was completed in early August, before Obama’s recent comments about the proposed construction of a mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center. The view that Obama is a Muslim is more widespread among his political opponents than among his backers. Roughly a third of conservative Republicans (34%) say Obama is a Muslim, as do 30% of those who disapprove of Obama’s job performance. But even among many of his supporters and allies, less than half now say Obama is a Christian. Among Democrats, for instance, 46% say Obama is a Christian, down from 55%in March 2009.

Frankly, as Muslim, I find this anti-Muslim trend to be frightening because it is not just coming from the lunatic fringe. Mainstream politician politicians such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Republican Governor Sarah Palin and Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio joined the hateful chorus. Newt Gingrich compared Muslims to Nazis. Some hypocritical politicians like Republican New York gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio are actually pimping the 9/11 tragedy to score political points. Under pressure from the anti-Muslim right, feeble Democrats such as U.S. Senator Harry Reid and former Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean have capitulated and now oppose the building of the Muslim community center.

It is particularly disturbing to see victims of discrimination embrace this new form of antisemitism. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has a long and distinguished history of fighting discrimination. Yet, ADL issued a press statement opposing construction of the Muslim community center. I was shocked to learn that even some prominent black bloggers have jumped on the hate Muslims bandwagon.

It is time to stop the hate.

The Ongoing Crisis in the Black Community

In his New York Times Op-Ed titled Too Long Ignored, Bob Herbert writes:

The Schott Foundation for Public Education tells us in a new report that the on-time high school graduation rate for black males in 2008 was an abysmal 47 percent, and even worse in several major urban areas — for example, 28 percent in New York City.

The astronomical jobless rates for black men in inner-city neighborhoods are both mind-boggling and heartbreaking. There are many areas where virtually no one has a legitimate job.

More than 70 percent of black children are born to unwed mothers. And I’ve been hearing more and more lately from community leaders in poor areas that moms are absent for one reason or another and the children are being raised by a grandparent or some other relative — or they end up in foster care.

Black men, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, have nearly a one-third chance of being incarcerated at some point in their lives. By the time they hit their mid-30s, a solid majority of black men without a high school diploma have spent time in prison.

Homicide is the leading cause of death for young black men, with the murderous wounds in most cases inflicted by other young black men.

White families are typically five times as wealthy as black families. More than a third of all black children are growing up in poverty. In Ohio, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty, the percentage is more than half.

The aspect of this crisis that is probably the most important and simultaneously the most difficult to recognize is that the heroic efforts needed to alleviate it will not come from the government or the wider American society. This is a job that will require a campaign on the scale of the civil rights movement, and it will have to be initiated by the black community.

During the Civil Rights Movement, the problem was easier to identify and target. Through sustained demonstrations, litigation and legislation, we were able to break the chains of the oppressive Jim Crow era. Similarly, today, it is easy to demonstrate against high profile incidents of police brutality. It is easy to boycott or condemn modern manifestations of blatant racism such as the rantings of Don Imus, Glenn Beck or Dr. Laura Schlissinger.

However, Bob Herbert's call to action is a far greater challenge. Every weekend, I hear about another shooting in Baltimore. Such violence is the norm in Baltimore, D.C., Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, Chicago, Gary and other major inner cities. The other weekend, 12 young African Americans were shot by other African Americans in Baltimore. We can march in the streets until our feet fall off. Will that stop the drugs and guns from flooding the inner cities? Will marches and prayer vigils ever stop young brothers and sisters from shooting and killing each other? Will lawsuits increase the black high school graduation rates? Will legislation force fathers to raise and guide their own children? Of course not.

To address these problems, some activists have advocated for more mentoring programs. Others have urged religious institutions to play a more significant role in community. Unfortunately, such efforts alone will not remedy our myriad of problems. Such problems stem from entrenched, institutionalized racism and structural inequality.

Good Riddance Dr. Laura!

Yesterday, Dr. Laura Schlissinger announced on Larry King Live that she is ending her radio show because she "wants to regain her First Amendment rights." Dr. Laura said that she wants to be able to say what is on her mind and in her heart without someone getting angry and attacking her affiliates and sponsors. She went on to whine about how her First Amendment rights are being usurped by angry groups that want to eliminate and not debate. Although she acknowledged that she was wrong for repeatedly using the "n" word, Dr. Laura attempted to justify her actions by claiming that she "wasn't dissing anyone".

During the show, Dr. Laura admitted that her sponsors Netflix, Motel 6, Onstar and Advance Auto Parts withdrew their support from the program following her "n" word rant. However, she claimed that her program gained sponsors as well. Who are they?

It is worth noting that renown African American linguist and conservative John McWhorter essentially supports Dr. Laura. In his article on the Root, he actually wishes that Dr. Laura did not apologize. Mr. McWhorter contends that Dr. Laura's African American critics failed to make the distinction between an assertion and a quotation. Contrary to Mr. McWhorter's claims, Dr. Laura was not simply quoting the "n" word. She said the "n" word over 11 times. Her racial insensitivity was on full display. Throughout her conversation with the caller, Dr. Laura repeatedly and dismissively described African Americans as "hypersensitive". She went on to say that maybe such "hypersensitive" people should not marry outside of their own race. She further asserted that African Americans voted for Barack Obama solely based on his race and not based on the issues. Clearly, she was expressing racial animus.

For those reasons, I salute Media Matters for launching the boycott. I commend Dr. Laura's sponsors for pulling from the program. Although Dr. Laura has a First Amendment right to use offensive and racist words, her critics have the same First Amendment right and responsibility to express their outrage. Good riddance Dr. Laura! At least for now.

Portraits of Self Hatred

“Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the color of skin to such extent that you bleach to get like the white man? Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips? Who taught you to hate your self from the top of your head to the soles of your feet?” Malcolm X





In the historic Brown v. the Board of Education case, the U.S. Supreme Court found that:

'Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law; for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to (retard) the educational and mental development of Negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial(ly) integrated school system.’

The Brown court cited several studies to support the above assertions. One of the studies cited was Kenneth B. Clark’s study. In 1947, Dr. Clark conducted a doll test with a group of African American children. Using for two brown dolls and two white dolls, Dr. Clark asked the children to: “(1) give me the doll that you would like to play with; (2) give me the doll that is a nice doll; (3) give me the doll that looks bad; (4) give me the doll that has a nice color…” The majority of children decided to play with the white dolls. The majority of the children selected the white dolls as the nice dolls. The majority of the children selected the white dolls as the dolls with the nice color. The majority of the children picked that the brown dolls as the dolls that look bad. Fast forward over 60 year later.

Last week, CNN’s Anderson Cooper re-aired segments of Black and White Kids on Race and provided updates. Similar to Dr. Clark’s doll test, CNN assembled a team of experts to conduct a pilot study of black and white children. Experts showed the African American and white subjects a picture of five children ranging in complexion from dark brown to white. The experts asked the children the following questions:

(1) Which child is the dumb child?
(2) Which child is the nice child?
(3) Which child is the mean child?
(4) Which skin color do you want as your own?

According to Anderson Cooper, white children and, to a lesser degree, black children showed substantial white bias. White bias is the tendency to view lighter skin positively and darker skin negatively. White bias is simply a euphemism for white supremacy.

Here, we are over 50 years after Brown. For the most part, America is no longer a segregated society. In many ways, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream is now a reality. As Dr. King said, black and white children are able to join hands as sisters and brothers. We have been told that children do not see race. That makes it even more heart breaking to see these beautiful African American children in the above CNN videos express such self hatred.

We experienced the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights and the Black Power movements. However, black and white children are still programmed to embrace the myth of white supremacy. Years later, many of us continue to hate ourselves. Years later, many of us continue to think that white people are more beautiful than black people. Many of us continue to think that white people are more intelligent than black people. We continue to believe in the myth of white supremacy. Years later, many of us continue to idolize white people and despise black people. Apparently, integration is not a panacea.

Obama Supports Building of a Mosque Near Ground Zero

During his speech regarding Ramadan, President Barack Obama announced that he supports the building of a mosque near ground zero. He said, "This is America. Our commitment to freedom of religion must be unshakeable." That's right Mr. President!

Dr. Laura's "Nigger" Rant: "Don't N Double A CP me!"

This audio speaks for itself. On her August 10, 2010 show, Dr. Laura said the word "nigger" at least 11 times. When an African American caller condemned her usage of the "n" word, Dr. Laura described the caller as "hypersensitive".

We need to put pressure on Dr. Laura's advertisers. No decent, respectable company should endorse such racism.