TW: Obama has been accused repeatedly of being a Muslim. He is not. Regardless little has been said about why being Muslim would be such a fearsome attribute. Yes we have had challenges with Islamic extremism and I personally believe Islam has some very serious philosophical attributes (e.g. treatment of females, separation of church and state) which make its reconciliation to mainstream Western liberal democracy very challenging. That being said being Muslim is not a prima facie crime and few have spoken up to question its use as such. One of the (many) strong statements Colin Powell made today in his endorsement of Obama was to confront this bigotry.From Powell via Tumulty at Time:
"It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way."
TW: This is the type statement McCain used to make prior to selling his soul to gain and retain the Republican faithful. It is hard for me to imagine the Fembot ever making such a statement.
No comments:
Post a Comment