It’s Not Just for my Son That I Cry
Rev. Christina M. Neilson
October 12th, 2008
Columbus sailed the ocean blue
In 1492
For many years he was at sea
Till 1493
Ya ho, ya ho, ya ho my lads ya ho.
My colleague, Gail Geisenhainer tells this story of Columbus, who was a gifted navigator and accomplished sailor. For many years he attempted to persuade the king and queen of Spain to fund his ventures, but they refused. His opportunity came in 1492 when Ferdinand and Isabella waged war on the Ottoman Empire, which controlled all the trade in the region, jacking up prices. This war on the Muslims consolidated power and freed up financial resources. Spain also needed a fresh supply of gold because they had expelled all the Jews from the city and lost a lot of business income they generated. Columbus’ journey was funded, and he set sail. Upon landing in American, Columbus discovered the native peoples; he called “Indians”, because he thought he had landed in India. Perhaps he wasn’t such a gifted navigator!
The natives greeted Columbus warmly. They gave him food, water and presents in exchange for glass beads and hawks bells. But Columbus wanted gold, and his crews raped, tortured and killed these tribal people in order to get it. Though this is not the story I was taught in grade school, (I was actually taught that the Vikings discovered Minnesota at least a hundred years earlier) the more recent textbooks tell this story of genocide.
It’s not much of a day to celebrate. Should we even recognize it? Perhaps it’s more appropriate to have a day of meditation and reflection upon our legacy of racism and colonization.
I drove to the office the other day and was stopped behind a car with New York plates. For some reason, today they stood out to me. It said, “the empire state.” Are we really the evil empire that some countries fear that we are? Are we proud of our legacy of domination and exploitation in the name of discovery? In a post 911 world, does New York need to reconsider its image?
The thought of America as “Evildoer” doesn’t sit well with the country that I know and love. I’ve always been proud to be an American, patriotic in my own way, and have no desire to live anywhere else. The land of the free is my homeland.
But sometimes it’s hard to recognize our country these days. The attacks on the world trade centers, that symbolic center of greed; domination and moral decay became the target of terrorists. We stood by dumbfounded as we watched the buildings melt into the ground.
Though it’s several years later, we haven’t really recovered from this event. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan keep this memory fresh in our minds.
In the "UU World", a magazine put out by the denomination, Bill Sinkford, the President of the UUA, writes this story about the attacks: "On a plane ... my seatmate was a young woman traveling with her ten-month-old son." When she discovered who he was she said "she'd heard of Unitarian Universalism. 'Didn't you make a statement against Arab profiling after September 11?'" "She was a first generation Palestinian immigrant, a Muslim, married to a Lebanese Christian. 'Where will my baby find a church where he can honor all of his heritage?" she asked, and Bill told her that we were such a community. We "value the wisdom of all the great traditions," he said, and as "tears welled up in her eyes" she said, "It is not just for my son that I cry ... I need a religious home."
Our voice in the world is necessary. Targeting Muslims hurts all of us. Just as the western world has been profiled as greedy, domineering and morally bankrupt, categorizing all Muslims as terrorist is just as hurtful. Blanket statements like that just serve to isolate and demean people who are good citizens, while at the same time it averts our attention from those who are truly harmful because we are limiting our vision to one image. We are changing the culture of tolerance and acceptance to one of intolerance and rigidity. America is under siege by our own people, not Muslims.
So I cry for our loss of visionary leadership in the world. I cry for the polarization in our country that has become so pronounced during this election season. I cry for our loss of civil liberties and the attacks on human rights.
Following the service we will watch a documentary video called USA v Al Arian. Al Arian is a distinguished professor and leader, a Muslim who was profiled as a terrorist, sent to prison in very harsh conditions, without notifying his family, denied a lawyer and not given formal charges. Do we really want to live in a world where civil liberties can be disregarded because of undocumented and unproven terrorist activity? The UUA general assembly created an action of immediate witness at the time, demanding his release.
It seems these days that we spend more effort policing individuals- taking away abortion as a choice for pregnant women, changing constitutions so that gay and lesbian people can’t get married, while at the same time deregulating corporations to the point that we are in the most severe financial crisis since the great depression. Where’s the sense in that? And yet this country is incredibly polarized as to how to manage our internal affairs. Republicans want to regulate individuals; Democrats want to regulate corporations. What has happened to middle ground? And yet, I just don’t feel I can compromise when our civil liberties are affected. I don’t want to live in a world where my home can be searched without a warrant, where my phone lines, internet and even the books I check out in the library can be screened at the government’s will.
As the election nears, the race becomes more desperate. Racism takes center stage. Many of you may have heard that a DVD called “Obsession” has been circulating in Ohio. The Akron paper distributed it with the daily news. The plain dealer refused to send it out. But this is a very well funded initiative by both conservative right wing Jews and Christians, so it has been mailed directly to the homes of undecided, independent and Republicans, targeting the swing voters.
What’s the big deal? The film promotes racism and fear of Muslim people, particularly Palestinians, but in a very subtle way. The film begins with a caveat that they are only talking about Muslim extremists and terrorist groups, not mainstream Muslims. But as the film progresses, they show how the fundamentalist doctrine has infiltrated mainstream Islamic thinking, promoting the idea that perhaps all Muslims should be feared.
Not only is this blatant and inappropriate racism in an area that has a large Palestinian community, creating fear of our neighbor. The fact that they distributed this video during Ramadan, the holy days of fasting for the Muslim people, is especially heinous. The attack on the Dayton, OH Mosque a week or so after the DVD was distributed shows how agitated people can get in response to propaganda. It is also intended as a link to discredit Barack Hussein Obama. TV ads emphasize his Arab name, as well as recalling his link to Rev. Wright’s pro Palestinian comments. The ads are intended to infer that Obama has direct links to terrorists. Lies and misleading statements have certainly been flowing freely during this campaign.
Just as UU’s took a stance against racial profiling after 911, we are called today to do the same. The Ohio Meadville district immediately issued a press statement, signed by most of the clergy, including myself, asking people to disregard the DVD. A piece of the statement says, “The kind of propaganda and hate speech found in this anti-Islamic DVD incites fear of an insidious nature. The weak disclaimers with which the film begins and ends, that peaceful Muslims are excluded from condemnation, does nothing to counter its violent images, the web of untruths woven around those images, or its fantastic and illogical claims of links between Nazism and Islam. We stand in solidarity with our Muslim sisters and brothers to protest the indiscriminate distribution of malicious propaganda. We reject the politics of hate and fear.”
If we allow racism to go unchecked in our society, it becomes the camel’s nose under the tent. First we just see a piece that seems harmless, but before you know it, you have a camel in the tent, taking all your time and energy. Now what will you do? The camel is the loss of civil liberties, the collapse of our economy, and suspicion of each other as enemy.
We will have created a society that is as desperate as those that generate terrorism, where the only heroic measure becomes the willingness to die with honor for the sake of Allah.
Like Rumi says, we can change. We can wake up; stop eating the grape leaves, set aside our addiction. We can grow in wisdom so that we don’t need to devour. We are all part of the entire orchard, not separated from the whole.
We can vote- vote- vote! We can’t change our situation doing the same old thing that failed us. We need to change strategy, think outside the box, and create new opportunities.
We need to hold other countries accountable through the United Nations, and in our negotiations with them. I realize that we have a necessary military strategic position in Israel, but we have to demand some justice in Palestine. There is no security in the Middle East until that conflict is settled. Israel was given land after WWII in order to rebuild their community after Hitler’s realm of terror.
But Israel can’t seem to accept that their independence came at the expense of the Palestinian people. Both countries have a right to exist. Palestinians should be allowed to return home and to have financial compensation for their losses. Every refugee has been allowed that option. They need to revitalize their economy that has been destroyed, as well as being given access to water and infrastructure. The realm of terror will continue until this is righted- they do not see any other option for themselves. They are fighting for their lives.
We need to stop the polarization. We are going to need to meet across party lines and work this out. Holding our elected officials accountable is important. The president is only one person. We hire many more politicians than that.
A rhetoric of hate never heals. Islam is a peaceful religion first and foremost. Muslim means submitter. They submit to Allah, the one God, in prayer five times a day. They donate 1 ½ % of their assets (not just income) every year to the poor. They just completed the fast for Ramadan, the holy season of the year, and once in their lifetime, they try to take a spiritual journey to Mecca. They are spiritual people. Jihad really means to look at you own spiritual suffering. It is not a call to holy war. It is not an invitation to terrorism. The fact that some Muslim extremists are terrorists is more reflective of their dire financial situation, lack of opportunities and loss of their homeland than a spiritual calling. It is offensive and unfair to say that all Muslims should be under suspicion, just as it would be unfair to say that all Americans put money first in their moral priorities.
Perhaps Columbus Day should be a day of prayer and reflection on our racist practices, or if the table is turned, of the impact of racism on our lives. Hate speech destroys self-esteem, and affects every other situation in our lives. It poisons the soul, turning a simple, reckless comment into weighty blanket that bears down on self worth.
Muslims are real human beings. As a church that values the worth and dignity of each person, we need to work with the mainstream Muslim communities to re-humanize society. When we name racist practices of one group, our good will spreads to many. When we welcome people of different faiths to our sanctuary, we welcome a community, not just that person. If that welcome brings tears of joy for finally finding a community of acceptance, may we welcome that as well.
Love, not hate is preached here. Acceptance, not intolerance, is preached here.