Fear and ignorance fueling racial profiling after Sept. 11

Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | 9/19/2002 | Acel Moore

[2banana]

ear Mr. Moore:

Are you suggesting that the USA has declared "war" on the world's 900 million Muslims or the 2 million Muslims in America? The question is irrelevant – many of them have declared war on us. When one side knows it's at war and the other thinks peace and brotherhood prevail, guess who wins? Every one of the hijackers who flew airliners into the World Trade Center and Pentagon were professing and practicing Muslims, as is Osama bin Laden. The Al Qaeda network is based in Muslim countries and supported financially by pious Muslims.

I wish I could point out a bunch of Muslim countries that are peaceful, democratic and full of tolerance towards all. With the possible exception of Turkey (which bans Islamic parties and candidates from running or holding office) every Muslim country is a brutal place to live (especially towards non-Muslims).

Your example of Oklahoma City. If the people who conducted this act of terrorism came from and were supported by an all white, male, caucasian country (what a boring place!) with a religion that called for the killing and bombing of Americans, we should have went in and retaliated against that country and condemn that religion. However, this terrorist act was conducted by a few crack pots with no links to any government or religious cause.

You know, I keep "hearing" about all those Muslims who "abhor" what the extremists are doing but I see little of it. When they hijackers crashed the planes into the WTC and Pentagon, I saw celebrations in the streets of Muslims countries but not one "march for peace" or "demonstration against the corruption of Islam." The Muslim population in Dearborn, MI just had a 9/11 "remembrance for peace" vigil. A whole 50 people showed up (out of a Muslim population in Dearborn of near 300,000). Some tolerance.

I am not being a cynic but a realist.

Regards,

2banana

[Paul Atreides]

You know, the next time some white guy kidnaps a little girl, and the police start looking for white guys, I am going to holler "racial profiling."

[Moonmad27]

Phil Hendrie on his radio show last night got it absolutely right. He said he's a fallen-away Christian who dropped out of the church at the thought of the church's hypocrisy, in his opinion. He said that when Muslims see things like the woman sentenced to death by stoning for a child out of wedlock, the WTC collapse, or other things that are done in the name of Islam, shouldn't some Muslims wake up and think that Islam just may not be the right religion for them and get the heck out? It goes far beyond the hypocrisy that moves Christians out of pews, but Muslims don't budge (I am not agreeing with Hendrie about Christianity, just paraphrasing what he said).

[billhilly]

"Fear and ignorance fueling racial profiling after Sept. 11" By Acel Moore

It's the same old leftist notion. That's what they said about those of us who didn't accept homosexuality as normal. They even invented a name for it. Homophobia. As to Acel Moore's chainrattling, I'm betting that if someone tried to put chains on him to take him TO AFRICA, he would resist with every breath in his body.

[EdReform]

You Worry Me

 

The following letter was published in the Gazette Hyattsville, MD, October 11, 2001, on the Community Forum page.

You worry me. I wish you didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend anymore. I notice you, and it worries me.

I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, and professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their grievances and hate but I know nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks.

On Sept. 11, nineteen Arab-Muslims hijacked four jetliners in my country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers.

So I notice you now. I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists. But I need your help. As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to differentiate between you.

How do I differentiate between the true Arab-Muslim-Americans and the Arab-Muslims in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, etc., while they plot the next attack that will slaughter those very same good neighbors and children? The answer to my own questions that it is past the time for me to try to determine this. The events of Sept. 11th changed the answer. It is time for every Arab-Muslim in this country to determine it for me.

I want to know, I demand to know, if you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation, that He will protect and prosper it? Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots? Are you willing to preserve this freedom with the spilling of your own blood? Do you love America? And if this is your commitment, then I need you to start letting me know about it.

Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and religion to protect the United States of America. Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent (I worry who you regard as innocent) and condemnation of unprovoked attacks (I worry what is unprovoked to you.) I am not interested in any more sympathy; I am interested only in action. What will you do for America - the country -- at this time of crisis, at this time of war?

I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the flag in the streets. I want to hear you chanting Allah Bless America. I want to see Arab-Muslim young men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money and time and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole. The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these people live and socialize in Muslim communities. You know them. You know where they are. Deliver them up, now.

But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets. You have posted armed security guards at your facilities. You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from reprisal. The few Arab-Muslim representatives that have appeared on the media are defensive and equivocating. They seem more concerned with making sure the U. S. prove who is responsible before they act, and protecting their own people from any violence directed toward them, here in the U.S. and abroad. If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up. Because even if the teachings in the Koran are good and pure and true, it matters little if large numbers of current Islamic practitioners interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion.

I want to know where every Arab-Muslim in this country stands and I think it is within my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters. I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance and it is up to you to show me where you stand.

Until then ... you worry me.

[NativeNewYorker]

Acel Moore, associate editor, columnist and member of the Editorial Board of the Philadelphia Inquirer, is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a Nieman Fellow. He has been at The Inquirer since 1962 starting as a copy boy. He is a founding member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

His column, "Urban Perspectives," appears twice a week on the Commentary page. Contact him at 214-854-4533.

[Congressman Billybob]

No, "fear and ignorance" did not fuel racial profiling after 9/11. "Fear and ignorance" fuels articles like this. The writer, his editor, and his so-called newspaper are afraid of the truth that most of the people who attacked the US then, and will attack the US in the future if they get the chance, are young, male Muslims.

More bullsh*t from the left. But these days, the American public are not buying it. Even a majority of blacks support "racial profiling" of Muslims, or what Ann Colter calls, "identification of suspects."

Congressman Billybob

Click for major article on turnover in the House of Representatives: "Til Death Do Us Part."

Click for latest book: "to Restore Trust in America"

Latest column, "The Politics of Flight 93," is posted on FreeRepublic.

[Congressman Billybob]

What you posted from the "Gazette" is a terrific piece, but it has the sniff not of an ordinary citizen, but of a professional writer. Are you sure this isn't someone's column, which wound up in the Gazette, and is now being passed around a if it were a letter to the editor, with the author's name removed?

Remember, the same thing happened to "The Desiderata," which was written in the 1930s, but wound up being attributed as "found in Old St. Paul's Church, Baltimore, 1692"?

Please ping or e-mail me with whatever additional information you might have about this piece.

Congressman Billybob

[Malacoda]

Any article from the Inky ought to have an automatic "barf alert" attached to it.

[EdReform]

"You Worry Me," an Editorial by an American Airlines Pilot

[o_zarkman44]

Nowadays we do not talk about bombs in the airport. Think of America as one large airport!!! The woman who reported what she heard was very right and had every right to be concerned. Had she been at Boston Airport or DC airport on Sept 11, 2001 and been tuned in, perhaps 3000 people would still be alive today. Our terrorist alerts were intentionally raised by our government so no potential threat would be ignored.

Had the 3 men not intentionally called further attention to themselves, they would have merrily gone their way. But they aroused suspicion. When confronted by authoritys, they refused to be cooperative, adding further suspicion.

Profiling of potential terrorists centers around suspicious actions, peer affiliation, political affiliation, and the lack of denouncement by the community who supports them. Of course, the racial community decrys the use of racial profiling. I guarantee that exploding bombs and planes crashing into buildings does not profile the races of the victims. Rightfully, the identity of the perpetrators is indeed profiled. If there are any lessons to be learned, it is that birds of a feather flock together.

The flock that makes up REAL AMERICA has to make outcasts of the strange birds that stand out amongst the flock. The heat has been off of law abiding Black Americans for decades, so perpetrating racism to the degree the author of the editorial, Mr. Moore, cannot work, because blacks are American and hopefully decry violence born of foreign agression and ignorance.

I wonder how the media would have reacted if a Black Woman had made the report to authoritys about the terrorist statements made by the 3 "innocent" arab men? Would the charge of racial profiling been brought up, or would she have been called a patriotic American?

[ohioman]

This article needs a "Projectile-Hurling Barf Alert."

[Alouette]

As an African American, I know that racial profiling - targeting people whose skin is black or brown - is as American as the Stars and Stripes.

Black people in America have endured and tolerated such injustice since being brought to these shores in chains.

Let's all pitch in and buy Acel a ticket to Zimbabwe.

[joyful1]

If American Muslims don't change their behavior, racial profiling is here to stay.

First, it is necessary for American Muslims to organize a national demonstration with tens of thousands of American Muslims vocally supporting America. They must condemn Muslim sleeper cells, Bin Laden, Saddam, and all Muslim led terrorism.

They must rally with the same passionate intensity as when they demonstrate against Israel.

Until that happens (don't hold your breath) racial profiling against Muslims is going to become law.

[truth_seeker]

In some ways, the woman was blinded by the color of the men's skin and by their religion.

Her sight was excellent. She was employing the precise kind of citizen vigilence, that we must all employ.

We must be very suspicious of all sundry types of musli-arabs-palestinians, for they have openly declared war on us.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Profiling is a reliable, tested method, and it must and should be used to the fullest extent.

[counterterrornz]

"Profiling is a reliable, tested method, and it must and should be used to the fullest extent."

Let us not forget Asians, Al-Qaeda terrorist cells have been reported in Indonesia and the Phillipines. Richard Reid the "shoe bomber" was English.

Their are European Muslims, American Muslims black and white.

Profiling is a tool, only one of many. It worries me the naive faith some put in it.

[let freedom sing]

The case of the three Muslim men who were detained by authorities in Florida for 17 hours last weekend is evidence that African American men are no longer the primary focus of racial profiling.

Uhhhh... LOL. Oh, I get it.... it's racial profiling if the suspect is AA or Muslim, but if the person is white, it's not.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

To feel better about himself and sleep well at night, perhaps Acel should read this:

Keep in mind that before any terrorist action there are many opportunities to interrupt their cycle by detecting their pre-mission activities. This is where we all can be of assistance. Pay attention to what is going on around you as you go about your daily business. Investigate and report any unusual or suspicious activity that you observe (note vehicle make and model, license plates, personnel descriptions, etc.) Ref: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/755051/posts

[Zubercyber]

By the same token it would be appropriate to name this syndrome ISLAMAPHOBIA.

[truth_seeker]

Profiling is a tool, only one of many. It worries me the naive faith some put in it.

You are certainly correct to caution me, against "naive faith" in profiling.Thursday, my 75 year old mother-in-law flew from Orange County (CA) to San Jose (CA), and had to remove her shoes, which had some visible metal ornamentation.

In our quest to avoid the smallest hint of "discrimination" we may waste scarce resources, hassling the wrong folks. Political correctness, run amock.