Last week, I attended a public meeting with Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Washington. One of the items on his agenda was an April 23 guest commentary he’d written for the Herald titled “Opposition to mosque goes against our religious values.”
In it, he claims to defend the Muslim community of Mukilteo against those who would oppose their plan to build a mosque. While at first the headline seem well meaning, I quickly became angrier the more I read it. It reeked of political expedience, of bandwagoning a good cause to make the congressman look good politically. You see, I know this mosque well. I’ve given sermons there. I know the management. My brother taught kids there for their weekend program. The same is true for almost every mosque and Muslim community from Mountlake Terrace to Bellingham. I was surprised to hear he cared about Muslims just now. So I confronted him.
I accused him of not actually listening to the community’s problems and just interjecting himself in the middle to look good. However, he assured me that he’d actually interacted with the community in question before writing, thus my judgment of his unilateral action was unfounded and unfair. I calmed down a bit. Perhaps it was I who was uninformed. After the official meeting was over, I made my way to ask him further about his contacts. I knew most of community here so this might be a good chance to build connections. I asked him who he had consulted prior to this piece. “Thanks for coming, I answered your question the best I can,” was his answer. A little shocked, I pleaded with him to give me a place he went to, a person he’s in contact with, anything to help me connect his influence on this piece. At that point, he left me.
In standard politician form, this interaction told me that Rick Larsen hadn’t really cared to understand the views of the Muslim community he’s trying to defend. Worse, I checked with the community of Mukilteo. They told me no political official had reached out to them. Though the Congressman exhorts his constituents to “get to know their Muslim neighbors,” it seems that’s not something that he has been himself doing.
He further writes that “if you have any questions, I challenge you to learn and connect.” I have a few for him. Why did you not actually ask them about this issue? Why did you tell me you had? Why could you not name anyone or any place that you’ve connected with the Muslim community? Do you really care about what we’re going through or just when it’s convenient to your political career?
Muslims have had a lot of exposure this election cycle. The most prominent aspects come from far right cries about banning Muslims or refugees in order to court favor with conservative voters. But scenarios like these show us there are those on the left who would also use Muslims to court favor on the other side of the spectrum.
In the middle of it all, Muslims often feel like no one is actually sitting down with us to listen directly about our concerns.
Last December, Frank Luntz, a pollster and political consultant, interviewed a focus group of American Muslims about their feelings concerning this election year. “[I heard] very deep frustration that no one is listening to them,” Luntz told “CBS This Morning,” “they’re the focus of debate, of all sorts of conversations. … and that [feel like] they don’t have a voice.” (Ironically, that same CBS clip edited out the frustrations of U.S. foreign policy that Muslims had as well, opting to only cover domestic issues, furthering my point).
It is this kind of selective hearing that builds frustration in people like me when an entire community is used toward self-interest. Whether that be right wing rhetoric, CBS or Rick Larsen, we’re tired of people using us as political scapegoats.
Shahrum Ali lives in Lynnwood.
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