Column: Xenophobia still exists in the US
Published Aug. 24, 2010
Who are we? That is, who are we as a nation? The answer has practically been trademarked throughout our history, at least that's what Schoolhouse Rock made it seem like.
We are a melting pot.
For the most part, half my ancestors were English colonists. The other half were Germans who fled World War I, and in between are the rest of my relatives who have made me, relatively speaking, a European mutt (with a little Cherokee in there somewhere). But I'm just a speck in the vast array of cultures that have come to make up the word "American."
You think we would've learned to accept different types of people by now. Our nation has seen the obliteration of Native American culture, the enslavement and persecution of Africans, the exploitation of the Chinese, the alienation of Catholics and Jews from Eastern and Central Europe and the fear of espionage, be it from the Japanese or the Russians.
But here we are today, in 2010, and all those demographics, and others which had rough beginnings in our country, are generally accepted and appreciated as part of American culture.
So why, after nearly 250 years of existing as a multicultural nation, can we not put aside a still lingering sense of xenophobia?
I'm reminded of stories I heard in high school. My old world history teacher's wife, who is from Tunisia, faced constant harassment in the months following 9/11 because of what "her people" had done. A classmate, a Somali-American who became a good friend of mine, was afraid to wear her hijab to school, years after 9/11. Another Muslim classmate once told me she and her family had to move several times after 9/11 because her home kept getting vandalized and her family harassed. And yet another friend was blatantly accused of being a terrorist not days after 9/11, but years. And it's not like I'm from a small, conservative town; this all happened in St. Louis.
So, every time I hear about it, I'm more convinced the opposition to the mosque near Ground Zero is a scapegoat for a much larger issue: an opposition to Muslims existing in our country as Americans. And such an opposition makes me sick, because that mosque has every moral, legal and human right to exist in our country, as do Muslims.
It makes me very sad to think that the first time many Americans may have ever heard the word "Muslim" or "Islam" was on Sept. 11. And it makes me even sadder that terrorists have come to be the face of Islam to many, if not most, Americans.
Some think that Al Qaeda and the Taliban are representative of all Muslims. Well, Christians, are the Aryan Nation and the Westboro Baptist Church (see godhatesfags.com. And, no, I'm not kidding) representative of all Christians? Do the views of the Israeli government represent those of all Jews? The answer is irrefutably "no." So why must Muslims be represented by terrorists? It's illogical to stereotype any group by the actions of its biggest jack asses.
Yes, 9/11 was a tragedy seemingly beyond the realm of human understanding, at least mine. But a mosque (though it's more of a community center with a mosque inside it) is not a monument to the murder of 3,000 innocent people by terrorists. And also, let's not forget that over 90 other nations lost citizens in the towers as well, many of which were Muslims.
The Cordoba Initiative, an organization founded a decade ago that "seeks to actively promote engagement through a myriad of programs, by reinforcing similarities and addressing differences" between Islam and Western Cultures is the sponsor of the mosque/community center.
Watch out, Manhattan, the "terrorists" have moved to town.