By MOUSTAFA BAYOUMI, Guest Columnist
Sen. Barack Obama needs to mend fences with Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans.
He initially inspired people in these groups. “If there’s an Arab-American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties,” he proclaimed in his 2004 speech to the Democratic National Convention.
Now we worry that this was a different Obama.
I’m not just referring to the action of Obama’s volunteers who removed two Muslim women in hijabs from sitting behind the podium at a Detroit rally in June. After all, Obama apologized for that one.
But there does seem to be a pattern here.
Obama still hasn’t visited a mosque in the United States, though he has frequented churches and synagogues. He refused to let his supporter Rep. Keith Ellison, the nation’s first Muslim-American elected to the House of Representatives, to speak on his behalf in Iowa.
In his famous speech on race last March, Obama acknowledged America’s “pastors, priests, and rabbis” but not its imams. Then, the speech abruptly veered 6,000 miles east and landed in middle of the Middle East, as Obama downplayed any wrongdoing on Israel’s part and blamed the lion’s share of the violence in the Mideast on “the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.”
Yes, hateful ideologies are endorsed by some Muslims and by others in the region, but this grossly oversimplifies the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. More significantly, it has nothing to do with the history of American race relations.
Later came the address in front of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby, where Obama promised Israel an undivided Jerusalem. But this was not for Obama to give. The status of Jerusalem has always been subject to the final negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Obama quickly backpedaled on this one.
Noticing this pattern, many Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans are growing increasingly uneasy with Obama. When his campaign Web site lists his being called a Muslim as a “smear,” many of us take offense at that. We want him to support us, not run away from us like we have a disease. Even a Seinfeld reply on the Muslim rumor — “not that there’s anything wrong with that!” — would go far.
It’s as if the Illinois senator, who stands for an expansive vision of the United States, has drawn the line at Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans. Evidently, we’re too much of a political liability.
His supporters urge us to have (seemingly endless) patience and understanding since the stakes in this election are so high and the opportunities for distortions so great.
But I don’t believe in giving free passes.
Obama is ideally situated to challenge today’s pernicious bigotry.
I’m waiting for him to rise to it.
Moustafa Bayoumi is an associate professor of English at Brooklyn College. He wrote this for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine. Readers may write to the author at: Progressive Media Project, 409 East Main Street, Madison, Wis. 53703; e-mail: pmproj@progressive.org; Web site: www.progressive.org. For information on PMP’s funding, please visit http://www.progressive.org/pmpabout.htmlanchorsupport.
(c) 2008, Moustafa Bayoumi
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
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