Organizing for America | Heather Brown's Obamablog: Yeah, but have you ever actually met a Muslim?

Yeah, but have you ever actually met a Muslim?

By RPCV Heather in CMH - Jun 25th, 2008 at 9:16 pm EDT

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They're pretty friendly, once you take a moment to know them!

In one of my Obama Email groups, it was mentioned that a news article was a good one, but the headline implied that Obama just might be a Muslim. Folks were being encouraged to bury the article via the Digg site. Do what you'd like, but I say take it as an opportunity to start a discussion. Here are my thoughts...

The whole freedom of religion thing is still in force, right? Wow - someone should really write that down.

Hey guys - please excuse my sarcasm above. I'm all for ideas that help portray Muslims in a positive light. Bury this if you want. Digg it if you want. But my line of thinking is that we need to help bring up the issue - whether it be with our friends in a 1-on-1 conversation or in an Email group like this - that the word Muslim is not a synonym with terrorist. If we applied that logic (and my apologies in advance, because this will be bad) we'd have to say that the word catholic is a synonym with pedophile. If one Muslim is a terrorist, then they all are. If one catholic priest is a child molester, then they all are. Neither supposition is correct, but that's the logic being applied.

I'm sorry - I'm just frustrated and I'm venting it here for you to see. I just hate it when people hear about a handful of folks in a negative light and then go on to assume that everyone is like that. We've all done it - sure. We've all been the recipient of such assumptions. It's not fair from either direction.

I was overseas for 9/11. (Seemingly the big push of a lot of these general negative assumptions and stereotypes) I wasn't in a Muslim country, but I was in one with a high Muslim population - Bulgaria - which was part of the Ottoman Empire for 500 years. (Yeah - they're still not overly happy about that!) In my region - in the south - there's a super high Muslim population, but people live together well. I had Muslim students. I've also traveled to places like Turkey and Egypt (very cool, both of them!) The people in both were very kind to me. I'm lucky in that I have that positive basis from which to formulate my opinion of Muslims, so I share that whenever the topic comes up. With education, fear recedes. Let's work at talking of the positive aspects of these peoples rather than burying a story because it potentially implies a negative stereotype. When I heard of those volunteers who didn't allow the Muslim women to sit behind Obama at a rally before, I was furious. It just made me wonder if those Muslim women were the first ever Muslims those particular volunteers had ever met.

Again you guys - I'm sorry to vent like this, but it's frustrating beyond belief to be in a nation founded on the principles of freedom - of religion, of speech, of...well...you know it - that are being used for a selective few. Not the first time in our history, unfortunately, just the latest. Hopefully with each round, it is less and less in quantity. I've not experienced something like this on an obvious scale - I'm just a 38-year old, Midwestern white girl raised as a protestant who's been fortunate enough to live in 7 states, 2 other countries and to have traveled to a lot more. I've been fortunate enough to have met people of a variety of religions and to have visited countries and places where religion may or may not play a large role in the government.

I just think it's our responsibility to help educate others who haven't had those opportunities. We do it for Obama, why not a little for Muslims as well?

"I am one person. I cannot do everything. I am one person. I can do something."

That was a quote on the wall at the Peace Corps office in Sofia, Bulgaria. Whether or not you choose to go along with my suggestion above is entirely up to you. If you do it - great. If you don't do it - great. I'm just tossing out ideas.

Obama has a great campaign going. He's going to be president. It's a long road and it's a tough road. This is just one small way *I* think we can help. I'm going to run with it. I'd love for you guys to do that as well.

Thanks for reading this! :-)

Heather

--
RPCV Heather in CMH on www.my.barackobama.com - please send me a friend request
www.actblue.com/page/rpcvbg - Mary Jo Kilroy for Congress
www.dizzyspinster.com - check out the campaign pics!

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