Is Respect for All People Too Much To Ask? Thoughts on The Ground Zero Mosque Proposal

I don't like to mix art and politics. Why? We all know that old saying - don't discuss politics or religion if you don't want to fight, or whatever. It's true and can cause an artist to lose some of his support, (never alienate your customers), and can link the art to a place in history, taking away any 'timeless' quality in the work. Yes this is 'just' my blog but still I like to have that boundary of politics and art.

With this post I make an exception because of a story I read on the AP wire - muslim taxi-cab driver stabbed. I was reading this and it just kind of sickened me. The part that got me motivated to speak up though, was that I was not shocked. One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Edmund Burke -

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

And yes, we have heard calls to violence (if not calls then at least whispers) coming from some of the extreme right of American citizens, and even from some of the politicians that represent them. This story in my mind ties directly into another recent event in a New York ground zero protest. Earlier this week a random African-American man was caught up in the protest. A random dude mind you (not involved one way or the other or cared at all) was verbally and physically assualted. And yes I consider a large crowd of people touching and encircling the man while verbally abusing him FOR NO REASON physical assault. Check out the video as seen on HuffingtonPost.com - 

I am still wondering why that story wasn't bigger. Are we all still suffering from the post - 9/11 shock that let the Bush W. team lure us into an illegal and dangerous war that costed us trillions? 10 years later - I don't think so. Don't be afraid to speak out. The anti-Muslim sentiment is dangerous and at a fever pitch. Do what you can to speak up and defuse this dangerous anger. Watching that video was an eye opener for me. Truly shocking. A random black man near this crowd is just standing there. Someone yells 'I bet he voted for Obama' or something and another 'I bet he's a Muslim', and well you can see the rest. Truly weird they way the crowd turned on a random dude.

First of all since when is it bad to be a Muslim? Depending on the estimate, their is at least 1 billion Muslims in the world and 99.9999% of them are not that different from me and you. Second of all I voted for Obama too. Is a crowd of rowdy protesters gonna show up at my house and beat my ass? I mean seriously what's wrong with these people. I recently listened to a piece on NPR that was an interview with an African-American man who was only one of three to survive a brutal assualt and murder on him and two of his friends in the 1950's in the South. 

It was a similar type of hatred and rhetoric-driven, misinformed crowd.  I can't imagine participating in something like that or witnessing it, and it scares the hell out of me that similar incidents are beginning to happen towards Muslim Americans. It doesn't scare me because I am a Muslim or something (I am spiritual but not religious and conform to no solid one viewpoint of any organization, my spirituality is personal). It scares me because it's this type of angry vigilante hate-driven mentality responsible for violence against African-Americans in the early 20th century south, and the same kind of blame the minority in a time of economic crisis rhetoric that seeded Hitler's plan for control in 1920's and 30's Germany.

So I am speaking out against the crowd that assaulted the man in the ground zero protest. I am speaking out against the young man who stabbed a muslim taxi driver in NYC. And don't give me this garbage that these were isolated incidents. The heavy and dangerous anti-Muslim rhetoric that's been surfacing in the media in the past few weeks is the fuel that started the fire. I am not gonna let these extremist right politicians, pundits and citizens have garbage come out of their mouths and then claim innocence when there is a huge landfill that caught on fire and spreading dangerous smoke everywhere.

 When the mosque at ground zero story started getting big I was split on it - you can't call yourself a defender of the constitution and be against the mosque, it's just not possible. Freedom of religion is the first and most important rite in the constitution and one of the reasons this country was founded at all. On the other hand I could sense the anti-Muslim sentiment that this move might bring and didn't think it was wise if you were truly interested in improving the Muslim-American - non Muslim-American relationship. But these events to me are not isolated incidents but the surfacing of a fire that needs to be put out. I might not be for the Mosque at that location, but I am certainly for respecting all people, respecting all religions, respecting the constitution, and acting like a civilized morale human being.