Portland observer., December 23, 2015, Page Page 7, Image 7

December 23, 2015
Page 7
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O PINION
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Fear-Mongering Holds America Back
The bogus claims
about Muslims
o livia a lperstein
Representative Loretta Sanchez
voiced the fears of a growing num-
ber of Americans when she spoke
recently with Larry King as details
about the San Bernardino shooters
emerged.
“We know that there is a small
group” of Muslims, the California Democrat
said — “anywhere between 5 and 20 percent”
of them, by her estimate — who “have a de-
sire for a caliphate and to institute that in any
way possible.” According to the California
Democrat and Senate candidate, they “use ter-
rorism” to “go after what they consider west-
ern norms” and “our way of life.”
Twenty percent of Muslims support terror-
ism? That’s certainly a scary number.
It’s also bogus. Muslims make up 1.6 bil-
lion people worldwide, and less than 1 per-
cent are considered by western nations to be
at risk of becoming radicalized, according to
the RAND Corporation. More than 90 percent
of recent terrorist attacks in the United States
and Europe, law enforcement agencies calcu-
late, were perpetrated by non-Muslims.
Sanchez later tried to walk back her com-
ments, claiming she’d “never attacked Mus-
lims” while simultaneously insisting she was
only referring to foreign Muslims in her pre-
vious remarks.
That’s no better. This kind of fear-monger-
ing hurts us all. It limits our ability to respond
by
creatively to challenges, curbs our innovation,
and restricts our progress.
Ever since this country’s founding, Ameri-
cans have singled out people by ethnicity, re-
ligion, or heritage to persecute mer-
cilessly. Yet those persecuted people
have always proved themselves to be
integral parts of American society.
If the fear-mongers had gotten
their way, Albert Einstein would
never have traveled to Princeton,
New Jersey and escaped the Holo-
intermarriage between people of different
races. Imagine if we still interned Japanese
Americans in camps. Imagine if American
children were taught that all Jews have horns
and are money-grabbers. Fear only sets us
back.
Muslims are the latest group of people to
face hatred and discrimination in this country.
But we can break the cycle.
We have a choice: We can say nothing as
folks continue to stereotype millions of people
based on the actions of a handful of extrem-
Imagine where we’d be if the majority of
Americans still thought Irish people were thugs, wife-
beaters, or lazy drunkards. Imagine if the United
States had continued to ban intermarriage between
people of different races. Imagine if we still interned
Japanese Americans in camps. Imagine if American
children were taught that all Jews have horns and
are money-grabbers. Fear only sets us back.
caust. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover wanted to
treat Einstein — a Jewish German immigrant
— like a spy. Instead, we gave him refuge.
Today, the entire town of Princeton celebrates
Einstein as one of their most famous residents.
Imagine where we’d be if the majority of
Americans still thought Irish people were
thugs, wife-beaters, or lazy drunkards. Imag-
ine if the United States had continued to ban
ists, or we can boldly extend our hands and
welcome the Ahmed Mohameds and Malala
Yousafzais of the world, leaders and change
makers who also happen to be Muslim — and
whose hearts are no fuller of hate than are
ours.
Olivia Alperstein is the Communications
and Policy Associate at Progressive. Distrib-
uted by otherwords.org.
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