"The Rise of Anti-Islamism in the U.S."

Sydney M. Williams

Thought of the Day

“The Rise of Anti-Islamism in the U.S.”

September 13, 2010

Anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, according to a recent poll, has risen from 39% in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 nine years ago to 49% today. Why?

People recognized, at the time of the attack, that it took an unusual level of fanaticism to seize control of a plane in mid flight, kill the pilots and, fly it into a building. Common sense told people that these actions did not reflect the interests or the beliefs of a billion Muslims. It was obviously the manifestation of a small group of terrorists who happened to be Muslims. President Bush quickly made that point. Two days after the horrific act, the President spoke: “Our nation must be mindful that there are thousands of Arab-Americans who live in New York City, who love their flag just as much as we do. And we must be mindful that as we seek to win the war, that we treat Arab-Americans and Muslims with the respect they deserve…We will hold those who are responsible for terrorists’ acts accountable and those who harbor them.”

Unfortunately, and surely unintentionally, President Obama has not demonstrated similar restraint and wisdom in his remarks regarding the building of the Cordoba Center, housing a Mosque, two blocks from Ground Zero. With the exception of a few Christian fanatics, no one denies the right of Muslims to build a Mosque wherever local zoning laws permit. However, the right to do so does not make it the right thing to do. It beggars the imagination to presume that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, an educated and sophisticated man who has worked to bridge cultural differences on behalf of both Republicans and Democrats, did not anticipate the backlash it has endangered. The decision was either insensitive or deliberately provocative.

If the desire had been truly to bring people together, in the manner of Edward Hicks’ Peaceable Kingdom paintings, the Imam would have made the decision in a collegiate manner, involving people of all faiths, including families of those who died on that tragic date nine years ago. Similarly the President and Mayor Bloomberg could have quietly urged a different location. The Center would still have risen in downtown Manhattan, but not in the shadow of Ground Zero; it could have worked to heal wounds that still fester.

The President, in emphasizing the right of Muslims to build where they choose – a fact with which there is little disagreement – served to put on the defensive those who opposed the location of the proposed center. In his hubris, he impugned, in his didactic comments, that anyone opposed was bigoted – an unfair and inflammatory observation, which has served to further divide an already polarized people. The consequence of this division has been a rise in anti-Muslim feelings, an elevation in rhetoric and the fifteen seconds of fame for a nut case in Florida who had intentions to burn the Koran.

President Obama may be a very smart man, but he does not convey the Wisdom of Solomon.