An American Identity

The emergence of a rigid definition of an “American” identity may actually be a response to the rise of multicultural diversity. A decade of finger-pointing has increased this phenomenon and there seems to be too much to overcome towards initiating a way of reversing this social shift.

Even with globalization and multicultural interaction around the world,  the evolving human mind and its psychosocial needs have not transitioned to the point of favorably responding to the varied definitions of Islamic culture. Both the human mind and other religious institutions of our societies increasingly struggle with tolerating Muslim beliefs, even though to more than a billion people worldwide, Islam is a way of life, a belief system, and a guide.

There has never been a time when the mainstream classes of our modern societies were more aware of and living with conflicting religious claims, sharply distinct sources of meaning, and widely variant claims on ethical norms. Among it all, Islam is the least of the appealing. Dubbed by both its advocates and critics as a political religion, bizarre and unconventional concepts of Islamic fundaments have emerged. In spite of the multiplication of Islamic organizations, Islam remains an enigma to Americans because its essence is still unknown to the average American, although it continues to affect many Americans.  There is, therefore, a profound fear of the unknown or an unwillingness to discover.  

And this is one of the major obstacles towards Christian-Muslim dialogue initiated some time ago, but still at its initial stage, remains cognitively impaired in the United States. 

When Will We Wake Up From the "Dream?"

Every year we celebrate the virtues of Martin Luther King. We celebrate the “Dream.”

I wonder if the “dream” is nothing but a palpable illusion we use to trick ourselves into believing in a democracy that does not truly exist. The “dream” is, sadly, taking us away from the truth. The “dream” is not allowing us to acknowledge that we still manipulate the labor of the poor, segregate schools, disenfranchise the poor and deny our own moral impotency. The “dream” is becoming a familiar myth in progress: a celebration of self-awarded respite from concern for those who continue to suffer and from those who continue to be oppressed in “the land of the free.” 

Three years ago, a group of interfaith torchbearers met in Tel Aviv to commiserate about peace and justice. It was lead by the son of Martin Luther King, Jr. Since then, I have noticed, progress has not picked up speed and moved at rates un-”dreamed” of. American children still go to bed hungry and teeth still rot in the ghetto. 

The “dream” is more of a hallucination. It is like mental illness. There is no basis for optimism. Rage surged in Martin’s time and continues during our time. Rage is more technologically advanced and it has grown worse. Twisted and contorted, the lives of Latinos, Palestinians, detainees at Guantanamo Bay, gender oppressed women, the homeless, the hopeless people of color - all these lives have grown only more intricately twisted into a nightmare that we continue to deny and give proof to the fact that “time does not heal all things” but only makes more of us passive, tranquil and invulnerable observers of the numerous scenes of pain. 

Omid Safi, professor of Islamic Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, summed it up best when he said, “It is time to stop and ponder not who killed Martin, but who kills the Dream now. A bullet killed Martin on April 4, 1968. We kill Martin every day, we kill the Dream now, when we stand aside and look, when we ignore the prophetic challenge that this beautiful liberated man of God posed to us.”

We as Americans have the most powerful military in the world, a dominant and pervasive culture, some of the best universities, and still one of the most creative economies. As Spiderman once said, "With great power comes great responsibility." This day, every day, if we want to honor Martin, let us realize that: "Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love."

Next year, same time and hopefully significant change in the moral state of mankind

Khalilah Sabra

Muslim American Society

Immigrant Justice Center, Raleigh, NC

Invocations to Lived visions

MAS Immigrant Justice Center MESSAGE CENTER

What About the Children?

Time can be the teacher of harsh lessons. By the time children reach puberty, there's a part of them that may be already dead, and hard to bring to life again. Some call it innocence. It happens to children in a subtle way: they become passive spectators of television and other forms of media, like the internet. These mediums become powerful education tools, as well as entertainment. It is important for parents to protect their children from the paranoia against Islam that are often transmitted through them . Children need clear guidelines to help them filter the distorted images that are filling the information highways. In regard to the young, it has been said that "they are like molten cement. Anything that falls on them makes a lasting impression."

Muslim students in America are becoming extremely hesitant to present their religious self in any way to their classmates or teachers.  As inhabitants in both worlds, young Muslims are struggling to achieve an ideal cultural self that will be productive to the values of both traditions during a period in which many Americans are expressing a lot of opposition to Islam. Synthesizing the core of two identities is not an easy task when one of these identities has become such a contentious topic. 

A young and inexperienced mind can become crushed from the weight of difficulties raised by such dualism. Islam's attitude towards democratic ideals had been clarified many times by community elders but America continues to be inundated with slanderous distortions.

Self-determination is an inheritable right of all America’s citizens, including Muslims. Most have lived in predominantly Christian communities since birth. They, too, deserve to see themselves reflected positively in as many ways as possible. Sadly, Islamophobia may be destroying whatever social bufferers against negative messages offered by the larger society today.

Muslim parents often hear from their young children about the embarrassment they have felt in school when the subject of 9/11 comes up in the classroom, ironically one of the few times that the subject of Muslims and Islam is included in the school curriculum. Embarrassed by the portrayal of their group as terrorist, they fidget in their chairs as they feel the eyes of non-Muslims looking to see their reaction to the sordid details.

Such comments may unintentionally set the foundation for self-rejection. It is important to consider the kinds of thoughts children are acquiring about the relative worth of being Muslim. If  islamophobia is harmful adults, what kind of an affect is it having on Muslim children?  Not only do children need to be able to recognize distorted representations, they also need to know what can be done about them. Learning to recognize cultural and institutional racism and other forms of inequity without also learning strategies to respond to them is a prescription for despair. Unfortunately, few adults feel empowered to stand against the demeaning or derogatory depictions of Muslims and Islam. How is a child suppose to respond to being the target of prejudice or discrimination?

This nation’s people should do what they can to encourage positive development rather than interfere with it. Parents, along with the community, are obliged to provide the Muslim adolescents with identity-affirming experiences and a space to practice and take pride in their own cultural groups.  Youth sometimes struggle emotionally due to feelings of marginalization and rejection. But when one is able to freely explore his own spiritual connections, he is more likely to internalize a strong sense of personal security. He is much more likely to be willing to establish significant associations across group boundaries with others who are tolerant of his self-definition.

The last decade has shown that this country has a limited understanding of the different cultures, and it has not, by any means, integrated well enough to understand and respect the differences that lie in between. This means we all have a responsibility to address such ideological bigotry, whether we are the recipient or a bystander.  If we simply allow behavior grounded in injustice to be made, we convey that we tacitly approve the behavior. The task for parents is to support their children’s developing a positive sense of where they come from and who they are. These skills included recognizing insensitive jokes and developing constructive, practical solutions for confronting racist behavior directed toward Muslim adolescents.

        Life, liberty and happiness are the rights of all America's children. Isn't it time we all worked towards making this possible?