It seems as soon as a Muslim or an Arab calls out a bias in the media or in a person, the response is to immediately roll out all the grievances against Arabs and Muslims as a counter-argument.
It should be no surprise to anyone that there is a lot of bias and sometimes even hysterical bias against Arabs and Muslims in the West and in the U.S. in particular. When such a bias is pointed out we should not have to defend ourselves (as Muslims or as Arabs) against all the evils committed by other Arabs and Muslims any more than whites, Christians or Jews need to constantly defend themselves against evils committed by “their folk.”
In his letter Jan. 18 letter, “Bias against Muslims: It exists thanks to dangerous radicals,” Mr. Chuck Heinitz brought up a platter full of allegations against Muslims which he tempered toward the end by the standard, “I know that not all Muslims are terrorists …” This is unfortunately typical of the many ways people get their hostilities off their chest. Which minority hasn’t heard a litany of grievances against them beginning with something like, “I know you are different but …”? If he knows that then he should not be differentiating between “his” God (Christian or Jew) and “their” God (Muslim). He should know we all have the same God. He should know that things like terrorism, suicide bombing and interpretations of “peace” are highly disputable and are not to the point about bias raised by another letter writer, Shabbir Bala. Mr. Heinitz should not be repeating party lines of accusations against Arabs and Muslims. Rather, he should recognize bias when he sees it and not try to justify its existence.
American Muslims of Puget Sound
Lynnwood
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