Bigotry, Racism and American Media

[Godfrey A. Whyte]

phil...@my-deja.com wrote:
>
> Bigotry, Racism and American Media
> Mohammad Arshad, Sacramento, CA
>
> As an American Muslim I am both saddened and frustrated at what is
> going on in our media. We are seeing blatant racist and bigoted slurs
> used by many pro-Israel commentators to incite anger and hatred while
> responding to the current crisis in the Middle East. Congressional
> candidates and syndicated columnists have portrayed Islam
> as “Murderous” and Palestinians as “lower than pond scum” or “ rag
> heads”, “pieces of S—t” and “turds.”
>
> The “Murderous” claim came from Los Angeles Times syndicated columnist
> Cal Thomas who also stated that Islam is “the threat of the present and
> immediate future.” He also stated that American Muslims are a threat
> to this country, warning that “the killing of racial minorities” will
> be “emulated…not just over there but in this country.” Is he trying to
> incite violence against the American Muslim minority? Are Muslims in
> America a fair game for bigots and racists such as Cal Thomas?
>
> Ric Keller, Republican candidate for Florida’s 8th District, said at an
> October 12 event: “I fully support the forceful and swift response of
> the Israelis to the brutal attack of two soldiers who were killed by
> the Palestinian mob. I think the Palestinians are lower than pond scum
> for what they’ve done.” Does he remember that over a 125 Palestinians
> have been killed by the Israeli, including children as young as 18
> months old? Are Jewish lives somehow better than the Palestinian lives?
>
> On October 14, columnist Scott Shuger in Microsoft’s online publication
> Slate.com called one of the Palestinians who had participated in the
> killing of two Israeli soldiers “a piece of s—t posing as a human
> being” and other Palestinians as “turds.”
>
> MSNBC’s Don Imus called Yasser Arafat a “dish rag head” in an October
> 17 broadcast. (Accuracy in Media) In a speech on October 13, former
> Secretary of Education William said, “There is no moral equality
> between Israel and the Palestinians, one is a nation of violence and
> terrorism and the other is one of democracy and peace.” (The Virginian-
> Pilot). How did this man with such a biased mind become the secretary
> of Education in America?
>
> These attacks on Islam, Islamic Civilization and the Palestinian people
> appear to be part of a desperate attempt by the pro-Israel lobby to
> deflect attention away from that state’s brutal and extremely excessive
> attacks on Palestinian civilians with automatic machine guns,
> helicopter gunships and tanks. The current cycle of violence and
> indiscriminate and excessive use of force by the Israeli Army and armed
> fanatical settlers has cost the lives of over 135 people. All but eight
> have been Muslim Palestinians.
>
> These Israeli apologists are using tactics of dehumanization and
> demonization similar to what Hitler did to Jews before and during WWII,
> supporters of Jim Crow in the 60s, and of Apartheid in the 70s and 80s.
> It didn’t stop the march of freedom then, and it will not do so now.
>
> Israel is the only so called democracy in that part of the world that
> treats its Arab citizens like the South Africans treated blacks during
> the apartheid era Israelis have kidnapped people and have been holding
> them illegally against international law. Some of these people whose
> only crime is that they are Muslim have never seen the sun in years
> because they are kept alone in windowless dark cells. Yet Jewish
> settlers can murder Palestinians and get away with it or serve a few
> years in jail where they get to go home for weekends. Every year their
> sentences are reduced and eventually they are freed after serving a few
> years in the so-called jails. Why do you think the Jewish butcher who
> killed a child in New Jersey and dismembered his body with a chainsaw
> fled to Israel? He will be out in a few years when things calm down.
>
> Amnesty International reported and all of us have vividly seen that
> Israeli security forces consistently breached all international human
> rights standards and their own rules of engagement, which allow the use
> of lethal force and firearms only when life is in imminent danger. In
> trying to crush demonstrations since Sept. 29, Israeli military forces
> have repeatedly resorted to excessive use of lethal force in
> circumstances in which neither their lives nor the lives of others were
> in imminent danger, resulting in murder and unlawful killings.
>
> We saw much hysteria after the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal
> Building. Jewish supporters saw an opportunity there and took full
> advantage of it. People like Don Imus, Cal Thomas, Steven Emerson, and
> countless others rushed to blame Muslims. Don Imus claimed on his
> national radio that this was the work of a well-trained Muslim
> organization stretching from Florida to Seattle and Maine to San
> Diego. As a result this caused a wave of hate crimes against Muslims.
> There were over 200-reported hate crime incidents against Muslims and
> many more went unreported. We all now know who the real killers were.
>
> Ariel Sharon, the man responsible for many Muslim Deaths, has gotten
> away with his crimes and may be further rewarded with a position in the
> Israeli government. He has managed to wreck the Middle East Peace
> Process, what little was left of it after the previous Israeli hard-
> line leader. Mr. Netanyahu was done with it. He knew exactly what to
> do to attract attention and pressed the right buttons. He went to the
> Al-Aqsa Mosque not as he claims “in peace” but to show the Israelis,
> Palestinians and the world who really is in charge of Haram-Al
> Sheriff. He is the man known in the Muslim world as the Butcher of
> Lebanon. His own country’s commission found him guilty of the massacre
> of over 5,000 Palestinian men, women, and children in the Sabra and
> Shatila refugee camps. He has managed to display and completely get
> away with his hatred for the Muslims once again. This man should be
> indicted for war crimes and put in prison where he belongs, not in the
> Israeli Government.
>
> Because of some bigoted people we are seeing new laws in our country
> that are violating our own constitution. Muslims are targets of racial
> profiles, discriminated against, and imprisoned using the so-
> called “Secret Evidence”. This is where you don’t know what you are
> charged with, you can’t see the accusations against you, you can’t see
> the evidence against you and you can’t face your accusers. Does this
> sound like a democracy? As Presidential candidate Mr. George Bush
> stated in the second Presidential Debate, Muslims are the targets of
> this little known law that allows immigration authorities to imprison
> people indefinitely. Most of the people in jail under this farce of a
> law are, you guessed it, Muslim.
>
> Any violence stemming from this media tirade against Muslims will fall
> squarely on the shoulders of people who somehow have managed to ignore
> every wrong by Israel and have convinced themselves and now are trying
> to convince us that the aggressor is somehow the victim. So please let
> us at least try to be fair and show some spine while dealing with the
> very delicate question of Palestinian rights within the Mid-East Peace
> Process.

And yet Muslims are expected to vote for Bush who has received the
endorsement of the largest group of American Muslims.

At least give Ralph Nader a chance.

Cal Thomas will be voting Republican too. Perhaps a chat outside the
voting booth might lead to better understanding.

Godfrey