In ancient Greece, a sagacious man once said: “There will be no justice in Athens until those that are not oppressed are as outraged as those who are”*
In modern Queens, another sagacious man, @Lord_B told me: “I keep telling folks that while America might not medal in the racist Olympics, it would make a good showing”
I immediately disagreed, and threw out examples of: the 2005 race riots in Australia, the 2007 race riots in France, any and everything that has transpired in many parts of central, western and southern Africa in the last 50 years, Serbia/Kosovo, Israel/Palestine, Iraq/Kurds. My list dragged on and I felt a false sense of calm that I had won that argument. Although there is robust amount racism in the United States, we really can’t hold a candle to the rest of the world…or so I thought.**
Some weeks back, my girl over at the Sooner or Later alerted me to jump on the “holy hell they’re building a mosque at Ground Zero!” bandwagon. The mere thought, seemed a little strange and inflammatory, but once the truth of an “Islamic Center a few blocks from the World Trade Center site” emerged, I was calmed and poised to move on. No harm no foul right? This is America, land of religious freedoms and tolerance. A land that….oh yeah does this:
Really?
In a quaint little church nestled in the swampy confines of Gainesville, Florida, Pastor Terry Jones vowed to celebrate the 9th anniversary of the 9/22 terror attacks by burning a large amount of Korans. While unconscionably offensive, and extremely myopic, it seems Terry Jones is the biggest hype man this side of Flava Flav. He never planned on burning those Korans in front of his church, if for no other reason, we know Florida is hot enough, without an inferno of holy books. Somewhere, I still find faith in our flawed human nature; from the racism, to endangerment of our troops overseas, to the mere wastefulness of it all, I did not – for one second – believe this man would burn these books. He spun it into a confusing deal with a few holy men and called it a day.***
My personal feelings on the situation lie somewhere between “how can we be” and “so abhorrently racist?” I have had many boisterous conversations with like minded folks, but I also sullenly shook my head at those who would deny an entire religion the right to build a community center: a vapid argument with racist undertones and no factual justifications. I figured you can not reason with emotion, so it was not to be dealt with.
Despite all of this overwhelming evidence, I was still certain that we, America, a free “democratic” society still couldn’t come within sniffing distance of competing in the racist Olympics. But then I see how we did in the prelims.
Stomping on religious freedoms check
Draining of cultural tolerance check
Blatant disregard of global sensitivity check
Now while we are not breaking the tape and claiming our place atop the podium, America is certainly represented in the opening ceremonies; I am not surprised, but I am certainly dismayed.
This slope is slippery, and off we go….
*I thought this man was Demosthenes, oh well.
**Those dates are approximate.
***The NY Shah had spoken to Pastor Terry Jones as much as I had, yet somehow was a part of this brokered deal to not build an Islamic Center? Bah…..
