|
Aberdeen News – January 21, 2007
Shameful U.S. Islamophobia spreading
By Rick Riedel
Imagine the scene: The year is 1492, two tribal leaders are standing on the seashore as a ship drops anchor and several smaller boats make their way toward land. One of the tribal leaders turns to the other and says: "We need to overhaul immigration or before you know it there will be hundreds of these people coming here."
My apologies to my Native American brothers and sisters for my tongue in cheek introduction to a topic that is not actually funny, but one has to laugh to keep from crying.
I am referring, of course, to a recent idiotic statement to come from the religious right and other severely confused people. (I say recent only because I haven't checked headline news in the past five minutes). While working out (by working out I mean walking slowly around the track at the YMCA) I noticed that one of the news channels was covering a tremendously important story. I had no idea that America was so close to the brink of extinction because of one newly elected official.
It all began when Keith Ellison was elected as a state representative from Minnesota. The first time this was brought to my attention, I was informed that the only reason he was elected was because he hails from a highly Muslim-populated area. Of course, the Muslims, not understanding the American way of doing things, voted for Ellison only because he was Muslim.
Far be it from me to point out that it is truly the American way to vote for those who think, act, worship and believe like we do.
The problem is that Ellison, being a Muslim, wanted to place his hand on the Quran (Muslim Holy Scriptures) rather than on the Bible to be sworn in. This is where it really gets interesting. The outrage began immediately. Comments ranged from the absurd to the bizarre.
Some comments were: "This country was founded on Christian principles and the Quran is a slap in the face to those principles ...This is just one more attempt by Muslims to Islamisize America." It seems to me we need to be more concerned by McDonald's attempts to super size America, but that's another article.
Finally there is the comment from Republican Rep. Virgil Goode of Virginia. He wrote: "The Muslim representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don't wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Quran."
He goes on to call for an overhaul of our immigration system before many more Muslims make their way to our shores. Folks, this comment is wrong on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin.
It seems that Virgil Goode would like to separate the voters who elected Ellison from actual American citizens. I haven't actually seen the voting list in Minnesota but I'm guessing the voters who elected Ellison are pretty much all American citizens. Then there is the issue of elected officials wanting the Quran instead of the Bible. For Goode and others this is a travesty of the American way.
Goode goes on to point out that "The Ten Commandments and 'In God We Trust' are on the wall in my office...when I raise my hand to take the oath on swearing in day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe the using the Quran in any way."
Well that makes me feel better about the state of affairs in Washington. Knowing that an elected official can hold a Bible in his/her hand to be sworn in and then stand by their bigoted ways is reassuring. Over the years, I've watched dozens of senators and representatives place their hand on the Bible, swear an oath and then lie, cheat and steal their way through decades of elected service….
[Rick Riedel is owner of Riedel Consulting, a conflict management and negotiation firm.]
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/local/16512114.htm
|
