Category: Politics

In “The Promise,” A Reminder That U.S. Apathy to Genocide Endures | Religion Dispatches. Collectively, we are comfortable condemning the mistakes of the past, but never learning from them. As we turn Syrian refugees away, advocates for human decency pointed out that today’s refugee crisis had echoes to the Jewish refugee crisis of the early 20th century. Critics responded that the situation was different: those were Jews and these are not; that was in the 20th century and this is the 21st century. We note every difference to avoid taking action, and always condemn the mistakes of the past in…

Trump’s Muslim Ban and the History of Stolen Citizenship in America | Religion Dispatches. As historians of South Asian America, we know that having your citizenship stripped because of the color of your skin is not unusual in our history. The United States has a long history of racism being encoded into law, and manifesting in law, on a regular basis. The story of internment of Americans of Japanese descent is perhaps the one that is most recent in our collective memory, partly because of George Takei’s tireless work to keep those stories alive.

Islamophobia is Real, Mr. Mayor—A New York City Muslim Explains | Religion Dispatches. In fact, one of the amazing elements of Islamophobia is the denial of its own existence—as Nathan Lean explains. In his article, Lean also offers several examples of the impact Islamophobia has had on the lives of Americans; Wajahat Ali has written about the fear and death that an Islamophobic environment sanctions; Erik Love gives us sociological background on the impact of Islamophobia. I want to offer a reflection of what a New York Muslim sees and hears as Islamophobia becomes so normalized that it becomes an institution.

A piece I wrote on racial minorities is up at Goatmilk. “The Balbir Singh Sodhis of America” by Hussein Rashid « GOATMILK: An intellectual playground edited by Wajahat Ali. Balbir Singh Sodhi. I don’t know if that name has the resonance that it should. Amongst Asian-Americans, names like Vincent Chin or Navroze Mody are part of our collective conscious. But Balbir Singh Sodhi is a name that is so important for the telling of the tale of minorities in America, but also a story that sits at the base of a crushing horror of what’s happened in this country after…

I haven’t excerpted anything because the piece is just so powerful, I didn’t know what do pull out as a highlight. Religion News Service | Blogs | Omid Safi – What Would Muhammad Do? | The prominent Muslim cleric offering prayers at the Democratic National Convention.

The Convert | This American Life. In 2006, a new convert showed up at a mosque in Orange County, California, eager to study the Koran and make new friends. But when he started acting odd and saying strange things, those friends got suspicious. To them, he was Farouk al-Aziz. But his real name was Craig Monteilh, and he was working undercover for the FBI.