"What's the matter, boss, we sick?"
6 Imams Removed from Twin Cities flightResponse?
"We are concerned that crew members, passengers and security personnel may have succumbed to fear and prejudice based on stereotyping of Muslims and Islam," - Nihad Awad, (executive director of the Washington-based Council on American Islamic Relations)
"May have succumbed?" Like peer pressure or something? As long as so-called Muslim rights organizations like CAIR remain so spineless and apologetic (so as to not upset "Massa"), and so long as they remain kinda "concerned," you know, like maybe this unending series and patterns of incidents might have something to do with systemic racism and bigotry, just maybe - NO progress will ever be made in the respect and protection of rights (or dignity) of Muslims.
"What's the matter, boss, we sick?" - Malcolm X (on this same kind of tendency)
posted by malangbaba at
11/21/2006 11:21:00 AM
4 comment(s):
By
Leila M., at
11/21/2006 11:50:00 AM
Why would these Imams contact the FBI in advance in the first place? We got Muslim "civil rights groups" working hand in hand with the FBI --- talk about a conflict of interest. The more people give in to this kind of nonsense - the more these kinds of incidents will take place.
If taking these Imams off the plane is wrong, it is plain ludicurous that people are notifying the FBI/police voluntarily. Even if you say you did nothing wrong, the very fact that you keep saying that you did nothing wrong will leave an impression that you did infact do something wrong. This kind of "cooperation" is part of the problem. It reduces the space for Muslims, because a precedence is set that we are going to be giving "advance notification" for Muslim events. The problem is also the kind of "Muslim leadership" that advocates bending over backwards for the FBI/homeland security et al.
Altaf
He also expressed frustration that, despite efforts by
>him and other Muslim leaders since even before the Sept. 11 terrorist
>attacks, that so many American know so little about Islam.
>
By
redwood, at
11/21/2006 12:38:00 PM
By
Anonymous, at
11/22/2006 03:37:00 PM
This is a link to a "pray-in" (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003446938_prayin25m.html) which was published in the Seattle Times of November 25, 2006.
I have my reservations about "pray-in"s, as I don't think we should mix the actual ritual with a political event.
The issue here is how can people's suspicions override the security clearance. Wearing sunglasses, speaking Arabic or any other foreign language, doing salaa and requesting seat belt extenders do not threaten the security of an aircraft. Bombs, guns, knives, etc do. If someone sees suspicious behavior, then should not the airport be able to verify in a reasonable amount of time that a passenger or passengers do not pose a threat and then allow that passenger to board?
I had recently been in the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport riding Airtran, which is in a seperate, smaller terminal. In that terminal, there is no interfaith chapel.
I think we Muslims and other religious communities should work to ensure the existence of these places designated for prayer, starting with hub airports. Hartsfield in Atlanta has one before the security check in. The Denver airport has a room specifically for Muslms, complete with a mihrab (niche in the wall indicating the direction to Makka).
By
Ayman Hossam Fadel, at
11/26/2006 06:55:00 AM
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