Adding insult to nation's injury

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Robert L. Jamieson Jr.

Adding insult to nation's injury

Friday, September 14, 2001

By ROBERT L. JAMIESON Jr.
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER COLUMNIST

What would have happened if a group of Norwegian Americans were being sought in the bloodiest acts of terrorism on U.S. soil?

Would we, as Americans, lash out at people with blue eyes and fair hair?

Put bullet holes in their churches?

Or leave phone messages at their workplace saying they ought to be eradicated or deported back to Scandinavia?

Probably not.

But across the country, Muslims and people of Arab heritage have found bullet holes in their mosques, death threats on answering machines and obscene graffiti on walls -- all of it blaming them for Tuesday's tragic attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

The unfocused rage, directed at Muslims and Arab Americans, adds insult to our nation's injury.

It also goes against the democratic ideals we say binds us as Americans -- ideals we proudly hold up for the whole world to see.

The anti-Arab backlash is decidedly un-American -- and quite American.

Just look at history.

During World War II, hard-working Japanese American citizens were kicked off their land and forced into internment camps.

More than a half-century later, we still had not learned from that ugly past.

After the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center, innocent Arab Americans were on the receiving end of hate hurled by people who were mad, angry and hurt.

A few years later, Arab Americans were targeted again after the Oklahoma City bombing. In that tragedy, the main culprit turned out to be a white American man.

So why is it so easy for some of us to point fingers, blame Arab Americans and make the evil of a few the burden of an entire people?

For the most part, the answer is racism.

And hate directed at people with brown-colored skin is the last thing we need right now.

Bad forces from outside our borders will only profit if we step away from the common ground on which our nation, in principle, was founded.

Some of this week's behavior has been embarrassing.

"I'm proud to be American, and I hate Arabs and I always have," 19-year-old Colin Zaremba told The Associated Press during a pro-American march in Illinois this week.

In New York, a 75-year-old drunken man tried to run over a Pakistani woman with his car. He then chased her on foot saying she was "destroying my country."

Closer to home, in Lynnwood, a mosque was vandalized with black paint. In Seattle, a man walked into the Al-Tawhid Masjid mosque and threatened to burn it down.

Such actions are relished by terrorist groups led by Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born man who authorities believe was behind this week's carnage.

Merchants of hate enjoy seeing us become frazzled. Unglued. Divided.

But these terrorists should be the focus of our red-white-and-blue rage -- not Arab Americans who, the last time I checked, were identified by one key word: Americans.

Arab Americans must not be blamed for our recent tragedy; they are as culpable for this week's mayhem as innocent German Americans were for Hitler's rampage. One race or religion does not reflect the scattered evil of a renegade few.

Americans who lash out might do so out of pain or confusion. Or simply because they do not know much about Arab Americans -- or Muslims, for that matter -- outside of the narrow context of terrorism.

Arab Americans represent the very things we value -- historical legacy, industriousness, family life and more.

Their forebears were part of a tide of people from Arabic-speaking countries of southwestern Asia and North Africa. They began arriving in the United States during the 19th century, following the path of immigration that brought many people to America.

Today, Arab Americans are found in every state, work in a wide range of fields, including professional and technical jobs, and value education and achievement.

Their roots may be from several countries -- among them, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt -- but many of them are native-born. About 80 percent of them are U.S. citizens.

They have assumed key roles in our country's public life: John Sununu served as the White House chief of staff under George Bush; Helen Thomas was dean of the White House press corps; Doug Flutie is a feisty quarterback with the San Diego Chargers; singer-dancer Paula Abdul has crafted hit songs; Bobby Rahal won the Indy 500 in 1986; and E. Spencer Abraham is the current secretary of energy.

This week, Arab Americans wept. They lined up to donate blood. They cared.

And when all of the casualties are known, Arab Americans likely will be among the dead.

Just like white Americans, black Americans, Asian Americans -- all Americans -- Arab Americans are outraged at the despicable acts of cowardice.

"We mourn for those who lost their lives and those who were injured. We mourn, as well, for our country in this time of national trauma," the Arab American Institute, a Washington think tank, said in a statement.

"We urge our fellow citizens not to rush to judgment and point fingers."

Indeed. Now is the time for all Americans to stand up as one.

P-I columnist Robert L. Jamieson Jr. can be reached at 206-448-8125 or robertjamieson@seattlepi.com

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