(8 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
Today, while perusing articles at ColorLines, I was struck by several that had to do with what it means to be Muslim in America.
Their lead story is by Seth Wessler and is titled Silenced in the Classroom. It tells the story of Khalil Gibran International Academy, started in NYC in 2007.
The Khalil Gibran school was to have been a refuge in the midst of post-Sept. 11 New York City, a place where a mixed group of Arabic speakers and non-Arabic speakers would learn together. The school, which opened in 2007 with a sixth-grade class, was designed to grow into a middle and high school in the spirit of the more than 65 dual-language schools in New York City, which teach in Spanish, Creole, Russian and other languages. By graduation, it was expected that Khalil Gibran students would have a command of Arabic and an understanding of the cultural context in which the language exists.
But not much of that dream has come true. The silencing was begun before the school even opened when Daniel Pipes, Director of the Middle East Forum, published an editorial in the New York Sun (sorry, no link available). From the article in ColorLines:
Pipes’s editorial, titled “A Madrassa Grows In Brooklyn,” referred to the Khalil Gibran school as a “madrassa,” the Arabic word for school that has come to be associated with Islamist extremism, and he called Almontaser (the school’s Principal) by her given first name of Dhabah, even though she has called herself Debbie since she was a toddler.
Pipes’s stated problem, though, was not just Almontaser; it was the existence of the school itself. “Arabic-language instruction,” he wrote, “is inevitably laden with…Islamist baggage.”
Following the editorial, Pipes became an adviser to a group that called themselves “Strop the Madrassa” and, with collaboration from the New York Sun, hounded the principal and other teachers to the point that most were either fired or left due to stress. The school is now a shell of its former self.
Sixth-grade students at the newly opened Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn were probably surprised last year when they opened their Arabic books to find photographs cut from the pages. “We cut pictures of mosques out of the Arabic books,” said Hassan Omar, an Egyptian man who until last spring taught Arabic and humanities at the academy, the country’s first Arabic-English, dual-language public school. “We are afraid that anything could be taken out of context.”
Could there be a more clear example of what happens when ignorance meets fear? At a time when our security and sustainability as a planet might hinge on our ability to come together DESPITE DIFFERENCES, I believe that people like Pipes are the ones posing the greatest threat.
Also at ColorLines, Yasmine Farhang writes a book review of How Does It Feel to Be a Problem: Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumi.
From the story of Rasha’s family being detained in 2002 after the FBI identifies them as terrorists simply for being in immigration limbo to Sami’s experience in the marines where his commanding officers watch him like hawks to be sure he is not “too sympathetic” to the Iraqis, readers see each person attempt to come of age in an environment that has already decided who they are. As Bayoumi gets to know Rasha, Sami, Yasmin, Akram, Lina, Omar and Rami by spending time with them in their homes, workplaces and favorite hangouts, the theme of navigating simultaneous Arab, Muslim and American identities takes shape. Patterns become clear, such as facing law enforcement, being targeted by authority figures in different environments (teachers, military officers, employers) and-perhaps just as bad-the frustrating paranoia of constantly being unsure whether you are being targeted at all.
Finally, a story in our local papers today is about Representative Keith Ellison recently making the Hajj and being the first US Congressperson to do so. I am not a religious person and can’t say that I really understand the significance of this pilgrimage to Mecca. But I very much admire Ellison for having the courage to do this in light of all the anti-Muslim bias that continues to percolate in this country. Perhaps instead of vilifying this religion, we non-Muslims have something to learn.
“It was an amazingly transformative experience. I’ll never forget it,” he said. “Three million people, from every inch of the globe, all getting along together in a world where there’s a lot of turbulence.”
Along the way, Ellison said, he met a wide array of people, from the vice president of Bosnia and a former Saudi deputy oil minister to humble street cleaners. But on Hajj, everyone is treated the same.
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I admire him too, for not downplaying his religion when no one would be surprised if he felt the need to. I take it he was just re-elected?
The lack of Arabic speakers in our intelligence services should make a compelling case for schools like the Khalil Gibran academy. Ignoring the culture is never going to work.
votes can do to the outcome of an election
it does not take very much at all
key precincts in key states
caging lists the tried and true method of manipulating the vote count
and it is the count that counts so to speak is it not
i think i told you, two young men of Arabic descent were walking down a grocery store aisle, sort of huddled together and speaking on a cell phone. i froze, just stopped dead in my tracks and stared at them for what seemed like forever. then all of a sudden i thought, “Oh dear god, they’re probably on the phone to their mom asking her what to get because she’s too afraid to come out in public.” i was so ashamed at myself for staring, for reacting so visibly to their gender and heritage.
believe it or not, that small town had an Islamic Center. i went there a couple of days later, i don’t know why, just to talk, i think. no one was there but there were tapes and literature on a table. i walked out. a few days after that i read in the newspaper that a brick had been thrown through their window.
just a ramble. but maybe illustrates a little bit at the distance that exists and the fact that there are so very few roads and paths to a common center.