February 9, 2011
The
Page 23
Portland Observer Black History Month
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What if the Gunman was Named Mohammed
by
P hyllis B ennis
The re p e rc u s ­
sio n s o f the a t­
tempted assassina­
tion in Tucson of
Rep.
G a b rie lle
Giffords, in which
six people were mur-
d ered
and
13
wounded, continue to resonate. The
discussion-and discussions about
the discussion—continues. Mean­
while, we’re failing to have a mean­
ingful debate about how we can
achieve real changes that would
make a repeat of this tragedy impos­
sible.
That would mean standing up to
the National Rifle Association and
working to enact real, stronger gun-
control laws. It would require mak­
ing mental health care truly acces­
sible for those who so desperately
need it. And ending all hostile,
eliminationist rhetoric, especially
gimmicks that feature crosshairs
over congressional districts, "sec­
ond amendment remedies," and of­
fers to "shoot a fully automatic M-
16" as a campaign souvenir.
It’s hard to predict if U.S.
political discourse will become
less toxic and more civil be­
cause of this outrageous at­
tack. President Barack Obama's
funeral oration at the Tucson
memorial hit all the right notes.
He urged all who listened to
live our lives and transform our
country into the nation that nine-
year-old Christina Taylor Green was
just beginning to claim as her own.
It was a powerful moment.
He didn't say a word about the
alleged gunman Jared Lee Loughner,
or about the possible consequences
of the vitriol and violence that has
infected contemporary political de­
bate. Maybe that was a good call.
Certainly Loughner is mentally dis­
turbed, and while there's no ques­
tion his delusional rants reflect some
of the right-wing tirades all toocom-
mon on the Internet, it's certainly
possible those ideas had nothing to
do with his targeting of a politically
moderate congresswoman.
What if things were just a little bit
different? What if the alleged gun­
man was named Ali Mohammed in-
stead of Jared Lee Loughner? What
if he had been a mentally ill Muslim
Arab immigrant instead of a men­
tally ill white, Christian-Jew ish, na­
tive-born U.S. citizen? What if his
delusional rants seemed to channel
not those found-on-the-Internet
right-wing rants about the gold stan­
dard and government invasion, but
rather those found-on-the-lntemet
calls for violent jihad?
Would we still be so careful not
to place any responsibility on those
who spew hateful, violent rhetoric?
Would we still be so certain that
there's no link between violent rheto­
ric and the response of an unstable
mind? When Timothy McVeigh
bombed the Oklahoma City federal
building, which at the time was the
worst terrorist act ever committed
on U.S. soil, the immediate assump­
tion was that an Arab and/or Mus­
lim terrorist "had to be" respon­
sible. For the few days after the
bombing, before McVeigh was cap­
tured, initial media reports were
packed with experts who were cer­
tain the attack bore all the hallmarks
of "Middle Eastern terrorism." Then
white Christian American citizen
McVeigh was caught. Oops. Sorry.
Did anyone even bother to
check whether would-be under­
w e ar b o m b e r U m ar F a ro u k
A bdulm utallab might actually be
m entally ill or unstable? How
about Maj. Nidal Hasan, the army
psychiatrist accused o f shooting
13 people at Fort Hood? Does it
m atter? Or do we simply assum e
that anyone who carries out an
act of violence inspired by some
warped version of Islam is "sane,"
but that anyone who may have
been inspired or influenced by
"don't retreat, reload" rhetoric
while on a shooting spree--but
who maybe looks and talks a little
more "like us"—must be inherently
deranged?
Think about it. What if things
were just a little bit different? What
if the Tucson shooter's name were
Ali Mohammed? What would be
o u r resp o n se to the T ucson
shootings then?
Phyllis Bennis is the director of
the New Internationalism project
at the Institute for PolicyStudies.
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