Black Marks
On September 12th 2001, I stood outside my house in a neat little sub-division in Chandler, Arizona staring up at the sky at dusk. The sky was empty, and clear. Occasionally you could see the blinking red trail of jet fighters on sortie over the valley. Tears were rolling down my cheeks for several reasons. The day before I had awoken (like many people) to images planes, towers, smoke and bedlam. Standing there right then, knowing who had perpetrated this crime, I know that life was going to get much much harder for me and my family. The thought of my little sister getting harassed the next day on her way to classes, or walking around on campus had me in a panic. I feared a massive backlash, and a future in an internment camp.
Many of those things did not come to pass, but prejudice increased, and a sense of not belonging did too. I could ignore it most of the time, not thinking about being pushed to the edges of civic life. As Obama battled through the primary season, I was saddened that this man who was in some ways like me was pandering to the middle, but knew these were the vagaries of presidential politics. When he emerged as the Democratic candidate I thought about canvassing for him, but as rumors of his being a Muslim came out, it occurred to me that my campaigning for him could be a liability. I found myself becoming ashamed of who I was for a moment, and then got angry; angry that I was being made ashamed for something there was no shame in; angry that I was forced to stay on the sidelines of a crucial election; angry that after all the effort to become a citizen, I was being told I would never be a part of this country, that my presence was tolerated so long as I kept quiet.
So it was nice to hear someone finally stand up and point out how unacceptable all this talk of Obama's being Muslim is. That it is an open slur, to imply Muslims constitute some kind of a fifth column, or are incapable of being good Americans. It was such a relief that I sent an email to CNN to express my gratitude.
UPDATE 10/19/08: Colin Powell has endorsed Obama on Meet the Nation, and had this to say on the "Obama is Muslim" trope:
"I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the [Republican] Party say... such things as 'Well, you know that Mr Obama is a Muslim'."Well the correct answer is, 'He's not a Muslim, he's a Christian, he's always been a Christian'. But the really right answer is, "What if he is?' Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is 'No', that's not America."