Darkness Spreading—A Call to Action

What is the analogy for news? Is it food, or a product of profit? If it is food fit for human beings, it should nourish and inform us with accurate information, not sugary and artificial entertainment.

Or to change the metaphor-- doesn’t the news help construct the community space around us, as humans, as Muslims? Then the foundation should rest on solid ground. Are we buying a prefab home in the Potemkin village of propaganda? Is the news merely color coordinated ideological furniture? Or is light coming in the windows, so we do not fall over all the furniture inside?

Contrary to its name, the New York Sun adds more furniture to fall over, not more light. The New York Sun is a right wing oriented newspaper with a very strong pro-zionist line. They have been targeting local Muslim colleagues in smear campaigns filled with lies and distortions. This is not news.

Two years ago year the favorite target was CAIR New York president Omar Mohammedi, who nevertheless overcame this to become a New York City Commissioner of Human Rights. Last year this and other New York papers vilified a new Muslim Fire Department chaplain, hounding him out of office after some ill considered remarks about 9/11 created a frenzy in the media. They also vilified the Muslim Correctional Department Chaplain, who managed to survive a similar situation with just a two-week suspension. In these two cases, the tabloid press challenged the right of city employees to political speech. In the case of the Correctional Chaplain, his remarks were in his personal time.

Now the Muslim rights to speech and civic engagement have been challenged once again. A close colleague Debbie Almontaser, as moderate and engaged a Muslim as you can imagine, known to many in New York City, was successful in getting an Arabic theme New York City Public School funded and underway. Hamduillah. And Debbie was to serve as first principal, having many years experience as public school educator. Because this was seen as a threat by the paranoid right—and some fearful Jews apparently joined this group as well—she has been vilified in the far right blogoverse since the school was announced earlier this year, with personal attacks leading to false articles and a campaign against her in the New York Sun, and later in the New York Post. How organized the far right can be! Why can’t Muslims be organized?

Instead of supporting Ms Almontaser’s school, many in the Arab community worried why the ADL had sent a supportive letter to the Department of Education—making allegations that Zionist entities were secretly involved in the project. Some of these Arab leaders felt they had not been given a piece of the action. But the ADL was never involved with the project, however. The Department was looking to create a supportive atmosphere for the school and in New York City apparently the Jewish community must sign off on anything involving Muslims. That is certainly how it looks.

The next chapter in this sad story is that a community group used the space in a community organization “linked to Debbie” to hold youth meetings. Unknown to her, this group produced T-shirts that said “Intifada NYC” which were seen by right wing spies attending the local Arab Heritage Festival in July. Soon this had become a scoop for the Sun and the New York Post and the Department of Education was ill advisedly asking Debbie Almontaser to speak with the Post. Debbie explained very clearly that she was against violence but added that intifada in Arabic means “throwing off oppression” which is why a youth group would use it as slogan. Debbie was quoted selectively, the tabloids called her a threat, the community was smeared, the Jewish community leadership withdrew whatever support they had communicated to the Department, and under pressure Debbie Almontaser was forced to resign from her project in order to save it.

The freedom of speech that newspapers depend on has been turned into a weapon against Muslim freedom of speech. Will the South Asians and Africans and African Americans see this as their problem too? We Muslims can be very short sighted as a community but I hope they will. Certainly the New York Post has been very offensive to both these communities. This is a moment of opportunity. There is now widespread anger at this treatment and at the use of power against us.

Therefore, many of us agree it is time to stop selling and buying these dirty newspapers and boycott the New York Post and the New York Sun. You and I should tell our many Muslim grocery owners to stop poisoning minds in Ramadan! Is spreading such evil really worth the five dollars per day? Some would say this is as bad as selling pork and alcohol—in any case, it is clearly not something good. Spreading slander and gossip—you know how clear the Qur’an is on this! That gossip and slander is like eating the flesh of those you backbite. Our Muslim storeowners are selling human flesh!

For a boycott to be effective, imams must give guidance in the mosques. Mosque members must ask imams to take this role. We must work together. This is how progress took place in the American South, with boycotts organized by Martin Luther King. It is our right and if we do not use this right we will lose this right—to organize, as well as speak and worship and be respected as part of this nation of the many.

Muslims should also welcome a chance to challenge power but without resorting to baiting Jews unfairly. Let us challenge their leadership to debate us out in the open, in the light. Just a reminder--there is nothing wrong with selling Jewish papers or Israeli papers when these are honest and intelligent. Muslims can accept different point s of view. It is when people demonize us, spread untruth like a disease that Muslims—and all of us—are at risk. Then darkness spreads—and in the dark, all points of view look alike.