Should We Fear Islam?

Imagine, in the background, staccato hip-hop, clips of young black men carrying fire arms, walking in urban landscapes and looking frightening. Imagine the camera zooming in on a shoulder tattooed with the following message: “Thug for life.” While the well-known TV presenter is hosting the show, imagine that the white expert expressing an opinion on the major causes of urban decay is seen by the majority of the country as being racist.

That’s the case of David Duke, a former state representative from Louisiana and a leader in the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist movement that used to be widespread. With a straight face and no sign of humor, the presenter asks David Duke for his opinion and he declares: “While Americans were watching the L.A. riots, they got a taste of what their future would look like.” He was referring to the 1992 riots that started after the acquittal of four white policemen who beat up Rodney King, an African-American motorist. Imagine TV crews wanting to find out the opinion of “real” African-Americans. Where do they go? To the projects, of course! Do black people live any other place?

The presenter invites ordinary Americans to ask the specialists for an explanation of black pathology: “Why does their rap music bring women down so much?” asks Cynthia from Wyoming. “Why are there so many blacks at the bottom of the ladder, both from an economic and academic standpoint?” asks Chuck from New York.

Does this become a little uncomfortable? Of course. Ask Don Imus, an American radio host who was laid off in 2007 for having made racist and sexist comments, which he truly believes in, as a result of the fabrication of racial stereotypes against blacks. Now try to talk to him about Jews, Catholics, homosexuals, etc. He will tell you that it is not a good idea.

Now replace blacks with Muslims and you get the picture of how ABC News addressed the topic of Islam and the Muslims in its recent shows, such as 20/20 and This Week with Christiane Amanpour.

The viewer is shown the strict rules enforced in terrorist training camps, the planes crashing into the twin towers and the victims of the so-called “honor-crimes.” Among the Muslim experts — looking officially “Islamic” with their long beards and hats — one declares that the flag of Islam will one day fly over the White House. As for the non-Muslim experts on the show, they are well-known, even famous, for spreading their hate of Islam. One was Robert Spencer, a militant against the Islamic Center Park 51, prolific anti-Muslim writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Franklin Graham, who has said that Islam is “a very evil and wicked religion.” Of course, the Muslims mentioned above perfectly matched the stereotype of people with long beards and white hats who insist that Islam requires its disciples to dominate the rest of the population. Among the “normal” Muslims interviewed, there was a woman wearing the Niquab (knowing that a little less than 1 percent of Muslim women in the U.S. wear the full veil and the Abaya) and also interviewed were Muslims living in the projects of such towns as Dearborn, Michigan, and Patterson, New Jersey.

Are some Americans scared of blacks? Of course. However, we do not validate these fears by allowing them to be expressed under the guise of innocent remarks in well-known news programs. Why is the fear of Islam validated through TV shows?

Are there African-American criminals? Again, yes. But in well-recognized news programs, they are not portrayed as being representative of their community.

Why do these shows try their hardest to find the most scary and stereotypical Muslims and present them as the representatives of all Muslims?

No respectable journalist would ask a black man picked out randomly on the street to explain the pathology of the African-American criminal simply because he happens to have the same skin color. Nonetheless, respectable journalists have asked ordinary Muslim Americans to explain the behavior of crazy criminals and extremists, thus making a connection by association between some madmen and the community at large.

Are there people who wish to bring forth all kinds of racist theories relating to criminality among the black population, such as problems with black genes and weaknesses of the black culture? Sure, there are many such people. But the only times they are presented on traditional information programs, they appear as racists and not as experts in racial issues. A national discussion on the subject of affiliation is in full swing. The threat of burning the Koran in Florida and the controversy over the construction of an Islamic Centre in Lower Manhattan are among the topics being discussed to find out whether the United states can successfully integrate Muslims.