COLUMN: Don’t succumb to wave of hate

  Jonah Lalas Lalas is a fourth-year
international development studies and political science student who
challenges you to question your beliefs and assumptions. E-mail him
at [email protected].

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By Jonah Lalas

I first heard of the bombings that morning when my roommate woke
me up to the television. I was horrified at the sight of the jet
violently crashing into the Twin Towers and my heart shook as I saw
the buildings collapse. I will never forget those images and I hope
the families of the victims will get through these tragic
times.

But as I drove to downtown in my car and turned on talk radio, I
suddenly grew distressed at some of the comments I heard. People
were making exaggerated comments that we should nuke Afghanistan
and shoot down Arabs, and xenophobic statements about how we should
use any means, illegal or legal, to deport all immigrants.

The radio show hosts further promoted this anti-Muslim
atmosphere by attacking Islam itself and associating it with
violence and terrorism. Rather than separating the religion from an
act committed by crazy terrorists, the two were blended
together.

I also later on heard about the vandalism committed against
mosques, the attacks on stores owned by "terrorist"-looking people
and the verbal and physical harassment that many people from the
Muslim community face. A 19-year-old named Colin Zaremba was part
of a 300-person march in Chicago against a nearby Islamic center
and made the comment in the Sept. 14 issue of the Los Angeles
Times, "I’m proud to be American, and I hate Arabs and I always
have."

Shocked by this wave of hate, especially after talking to Muslim
and Asian Indian friends who’ve faced harassment and dirty looks, I
decided to write this column. A friend of mine asked me what I was
going to write about.

After I explained it to him, he said hate crimes did not occur
much and were more like isolated incidents. I asked him if he
talked to any Muslim students about how they felt and he said, "You
know they always blow things out of proportion."

I was appalled by my friend’s insensitivity, but unfortunately,
his attitude is a mere reflection of the American public. For many
of us who do not look like the popular perception of a terrorist
(i.e. Arab, Muslim, etc.), its easy to gloss over the ethnic slurs,
the death threats and the e-mails as only a "natural reaction."

But we only have to look back to history to see where such
"natural reactions" can take us. Many people are comparing the
recent bombings to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and if anything,
people are saying that it is 10 times worse. And we all know that
after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt passed an
executive order that put Japanese Americans into interment
camps.

As history shows us, in times of crisis and great emotion,
leaders and people tend to react irrationally and consequently,
people’s civil liberties and basic human rights get attacked. And
often times, certain communites get targeted.

Does that mean the U.S. government will put all Muslims into
interment camps? Not necessarily. But again we only need to look to
history to see that attacks on particular communities can take on
multiple forms.

There is no doubt in my mind that within the next few months,
you will witness all kinds of legislation that will attack
immigrant rights and people’s civil liberties. In fact, a recent
poll by ABC-Washington Post found that "66 percent of Americans
would be willing to give up some civil liberties to combat
terrorism" ("Activist groups on lookout for erosion of civil
liberties, L.A. Times, Sept. 14).

That fact is that the people whose civil liberties would be
attacked will likely be those who people think committed this
horrendous crime: Muslims.

Still, a lot of you will be thinking that I’m taking these
"isolated" incidents of harassment too seriously and that the
statements on talk radio are just made by a bunch of crazy
people.

We need to remember that the Japanese internment camps did not
happen overnight; rather, it took months before the policy was
implemented.

I am not arguing for censorship, but the fact is that we must do
something to combat this bigotry; choosing not to do so would run
contrary to the principles upon which this country was founded.

People should be able to live here with freedom from hate and
not be associated with violence merely because of what they look
like.

I understand that emotions are running high, but we must not
allow that to prevent us from seeing the violence and hatred
committed against people in our country.

There is a saying that history tends to repeat itself. Do not
put that saying to the test.