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Muslims in America
Dec. 22nd, 2006 09:34 pmSo, in response to the shocking news that Rep. Keith Ellison is going to take his oath of office on the holy book of his faith, some idiot congressman in Virginia sent out a letter to his similarly bigoted constituents about how OMG MUSLIMS MIGHT IMMIGRATE HERE and MIGHT EVEN BE ELECTED TO OFFICE and contaminate their fellow office-holders with the death-ray vibes from their Korans. Or something. You know, it's not really clear what he's afraid of.
Anyway, I've been thinking about this a lot, because the thing is, in addition to having a Muslim congressional rep as of January 4th (did you know that they don't even really swear on anything during the actual oath-taking? the Bibles/Torahs/Korans/Baghavad-Gitas are just for the photo op afterwards) (and don't you think Mitt Romney probably took his oath of office on a Book of Mormon, if anything? Why isn't THAT riveting bit of news being reported on?) In ADDITION to being represented by a Muslim in congress, I live in a town that has a significant Muslim population. How significant? Well, my daughter's kindergarten class is 14% Muslim. That's only 3 kids out of 21, but still, that's more Jewish classmates than I had as a kid in Madison. Keith Ellison is not an immigrant, but almost all the Muslims in Minneapolis are, and nearly all are from Somalia.
Let me pause to note that of course, the Somali immigrant community is a diverse community that includes a lot of different kinds of people.
Moving on, let me blatantly stereotype:
Somalis rock.
Seriously. I feel incredibly fortunate that my city became a center for Somali settlement. The Somalis I meet (and since most of them live in a neighborhood very close to mine, I meet a lot of them) are genuinely delighted to be here. They are excited by the opportunities in America. First, the opportunity to get an education. You can attend the public schools here until you're 21, if you choose, and Somalis who are young enough to attend move heaven and earth to do so. Somali adults with children are active and involved parents at their children's schools. (Molly has one classmate who is also already reading: it's one of the Muslim boys in her class.) When I went to the Franklin Avenue library one afternoon with the girls, it was crowded with Somalis, both adults and children, checking out books and magazines.
Second, they are excited by the economic opportunities, and most embody the Puritan economic values (thrift and hard work) in a way that would put your average New Englander to shame. (Admittedly, New England has been corrupted over the years by the Irish. Now there is an immigrant group to fear. They don't want to assimilate! They wear "kiss me, I'm Irish" buttons and hold parades!! They make hideous attempts to fake the accent!!! But I digress.)
Third, the Somalis in Minneapolis are clearly really excited about the opportunity to be citizens of a democracy. I worked on a mayoral campaign in 2001, and there were a bunch of Somali volunteers -- most of whom couldn't even vote yet because they hadn't been in the U.S. for long enough. Our primary election fell on September 11th, and on the Election Night victory party I saw an elderly Somali woman wearing a hijab...and a t-shirt with a waving American flag with the words WE STAND TOGETHER.
The Somali immigrants I've met are learning English as fast as they possibly can. When I take a taxi (almost all the taxi drivers are Somali men), the radio is always tuned to NPR, so that the driver can improve his English by listening to people talking. They are also fearless about using their English. Shortly after 9-11, a money-transfer business in town was busted for possibly funneling money to terrorists. (Which they probably were, in the sense that they were paying bribes to strongmen in Somalia in order to get the money to where it was supposed to go, and some of these people were almost certainly terrorists.) The mid-morning NPR host at the time did a show on this issue, and was obviously rather surprised when she was flooded by calls from Somalis. I found that show fascinating because of the diversity of opinion within the community. Every single caller disagreed with the rest. There was someone who wanted the money transfer business opened back up ASAP, because he needed to get money to his mother, who depended on income from him to buy food. The next caller said that Somalis shouldn't be even asking to have the business reopened, because Americans tended to be suspicious of all Muslims and this would confirm people's suspicions that Somalis didn't care about fighting terrorism. The next caller said that the REAL problem here were the strongmen demanding bribes, and wanted the U.S. to address that problem, as it infuriated him to know that some of the money meant for HIS relatives was going to buy guns for warlords. And so on. It was like....hmm. It was like listening to a bunch of my Grandaddy's friends at his Jewish Community Center.
Somalis are not only Muslim, but visibly Muslim. The women and girls all wear head coverings and long dresses, though I've seen an amazing array of fashion choices within that structure, including Somali teenagers with hip-hugging ankle-length denim skirts, and Target employees who wear a hijab made out of fabric in the Target red. There was a big controversy in town earlier this year when a few Somali taxi drivers started refusing to transport people from the airport who were obviously carrying alcohol. What a lot of people hearing about this didn't realize was this: the only people being punished by this choice were the drivers themselves. They had to go to the back of the line waiting for a passenger; the passenger with the booze just hopped into the next cab, because there are always more cabs than passengers at the airport. For the most part, though, the Somalis in Minneapolis live their faith inobtrusively. They arrange with their employer to be able to pray during the workday. High school students meet in an empty classroom during Ramadan, rather than going to lunch. Also, everywhere I go I see green bumper stickers that say things like GOD BLESS AMERICA and then give a cite from the Koran -- I have no idea who prints these, but I see them all the time.
You know, I'm not an expert on any of this, but it seems to me that a thriving community of people who are living evidence of the fact that it is possible to be American AND Muslim is a good thing.
Historically, America has been a haven for religious reform movements. The reasons for this are pretty obvious. It's hard for a reform movement to take hold when its leaders have to fear for their lives. It happens sometimes, obviously -- see, for example, Lutheranism -- but it makes it a hell of a lot harder. Islam is a faith that is in dire need of a reformist movement. There are entire countries where the women aren't even allowed to drive (despite the fact that one of Muhammed's wives led an army from the back of a camel!), and are required to cover their faces in public. If Islam is going to have reformers, they need to come from somewhere. It's a lot more likely to be the U.S. than Saudi Arabia. Do you know how they punish "blasphemy" in Saudi Arabia? Sentencing a teacher to 300 lashes for condoning homosexuality and praising a Syrian poet is the kind of thing that puts a damper on reformist activity. If people want to get away from that sort of environment, we should be throwing open the doors.
Anyway, Rep. Goode, should you stumble across this, let me suggest this to you: come to Minneapolis. Visit the Muslim community here. See the horror of what can happen if you let Their Kind immigrate: you get a thriving community of hard working, flag waving, school attending, taxpaying new Americans who make you and your ilk look like the lazy, xenophobic, slack-jawed losers that you are.
Anyway, I've been thinking about this a lot, because the thing is, in addition to having a Muslim congressional rep as of January 4th (did you know that they don't even really swear on anything during the actual oath-taking? the Bibles/Torahs/Korans/Baghavad-Gitas are just for the photo op afterwards) (and don't you think Mitt Romney probably took his oath of office on a Book of Mormon, if anything? Why isn't THAT riveting bit of news being reported on?) In ADDITION to being represented by a Muslim in congress, I live in a town that has a significant Muslim population. How significant? Well, my daughter's kindergarten class is 14% Muslim. That's only 3 kids out of 21, but still, that's more Jewish classmates than I had as a kid in Madison. Keith Ellison is not an immigrant, but almost all the Muslims in Minneapolis are, and nearly all are from Somalia.
Let me pause to note that of course, the Somali immigrant community is a diverse community that includes a lot of different kinds of people.
Moving on, let me blatantly stereotype:
Somalis rock.
Seriously. I feel incredibly fortunate that my city became a center for Somali settlement. The Somalis I meet (and since most of them live in a neighborhood very close to mine, I meet a lot of them) are genuinely delighted to be here. They are excited by the opportunities in America. First, the opportunity to get an education. You can attend the public schools here until you're 21, if you choose, and Somalis who are young enough to attend move heaven and earth to do so. Somali adults with children are active and involved parents at their children's schools. (Molly has one classmate who is also already reading: it's one of the Muslim boys in her class.) When I went to the Franklin Avenue library one afternoon with the girls, it was crowded with Somalis, both adults and children, checking out books and magazines.
Second, they are excited by the economic opportunities, and most embody the Puritan economic values (thrift and hard work) in a way that would put your average New Englander to shame. (Admittedly, New England has been corrupted over the years by the Irish. Now there is an immigrant group to fear. They don't want to assimilate! They wear "kiss me, I'm Irish" buttons and hold parades!! They make hideous attempts to fake the accent!!! But I digress.)
Third, the Somalis in Minneapolis are clearly really excited about the opportunity to be citizens of a democracy. I worked on a mayoral campaign in 2001, and there were a bunch of Somali volunteers -- most of whom couldn't even vote yet because they hadn't been in the U.S. for long enough. Our primary election fell on September 11th, and on the Election Night victory party I saw an elderly Somali woman wearing a hijab...and a t-shirt with a waving American flag with the words WE STAND TOGETHER.
The Somali immigrants I've met are learning English as fast as they possibly can. When I take a taxi (almost all the taxi drivers are Somali men), the radio is always tuned to NPR, so that the driver can improve his English by listening to people talking. They are also fearless about using their English. Shortly after 9-11, a money-transfer business in town was busted for possibly funneling money to terrorists. (Which they probably were, in the sense that they were paying bribes to strongmen in Somalia in order to get the money to where it was supposed to go, and some of these people were almost certainly terrorists.) The mid-morning NPR host at the time did a show on this issue, and was obviously rather surprised when she was flooded by calls from Somalis. I found that show fascinating because of the diversity of opinion within the community. Every single caller disagreed with the rest. There was someone who wanted the money transfer business opened back up ASAP, because he needed to get money to his mother, who depended on income from him to buy food. The next caller said that Somalis shouldn't be even asking to have the business reopened, because Americans tended to be suspicious of all Muslims and this would confirm people's suspicions that Somalis didn't care about fighting terrorism. The next caller said that the REAL problem here were the strongmen demanding bribes, and wanted the U.S. to address that problem, as it infuriated him to know that some of the money meant for HIS relatives was going to buy guns for warlords. And so on. It was like....hmm. It was like listening to a bunch of my Grandaddy's friends at his Jewish Community Center.
Somalis are not only Muslim, but visibly Muslim. The women and girls all wear head coverings and long dresses, though I've seen an amazing array of fashion choices within that structure, including Somali teenagers with hip-hugging ankle-length denim skirts, and Target employees who wear a hijab made out of fabric in the Target red. There was a big controversy in town earlier this year when a few Somali taxi drivers started refusing to transport people from the airport who were obviously carrying alcohol. What a lot of people hearing about this didn't realize was this: the only people being punished by this choice were the drivers themselves. They had to go to the back of the line waiting for a passenger; the passenger with the booze just hopped into the next cab, because there are always more cabs than passengers at the airport. For the most part, though, the Somalis in Minneapolis live their faith inobtrusively. They arrange with their employer to be able to pray during the workday. High school students meet in an empty classroom during Ramadan, rather than going to lunch. Also, everywhere I go I see green bumper stickers that say things like GOD BLESS AMERICA and then give a cite from the Koran -- I have no idea who prints these, but I see them all the time.
You know, I'm not an expert on any of this, but it seems to me that a thriving community of people who are living evidence of the fact that it is possible to be American AND Muslim is a good thing.
Historically, America has been a haven for religious reform movements. The reasons for this are pretty obvious. It's hard for a reform movement to take hold when its leaders have to fear for their lives. It happens sometimes, obviously -- see, for example, Lutheranism -- but it makes it a hell of a lot harder. Islam is a faith that is in dire need of a reformist movement. There are entire countries where the women aren't even allowed to drive (despite the fact that one of Muhammed's wives led an army from the back of a camel!), and are required to cover their faces in public. If Islam is going to have reformers, they need to come from somewhere. It's a lot more likely to be the U.S. than Saudi Arabia. Do you know how they punish "blasphemy" in Saudi Arabia? Sentencing a teacher to 300 lashes for condoning homosexuality and praising a Syrian poet is the kind of thing that puts a damper on reformist activity. If people want to get away from that sort of environment, we should be throwing open the doors.
Anyway, Rep. Goode, should you stumble across this, let me suggest this to you: come to Minneapolis. Visit the Muslim community here. See the horror of what can happen if you let Their Kind immigrate: you get a thriving community of hard working, flag waving, school attending, taxpaying new Americans who make you and your ilk look like the lazy, xenophobic, slack-jawed losers that you are.
