Dean of the U.S. House of Representatives, John D. Dingell (D-MI) testified at the Homeland Security hearing entitled “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and That Community’s Response.” His words bear repeating here.
“I am pleased to have the opportunity to talk to you about the Muslim American community I know and represent, a community that demagogues continue to mischaracterize and misrepresent to the detriment of all of us.
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| “The Muslim American community I know and represent (is) a community that demagogues continue to mischaracterize and misrepresent to the detriment of all of us.” John D. Dingell |
“America is great because of the freedoms enshrined in our constitution and because of its diversity. We are a nation of immigrants from all walks of life who have come together under the motto of the Great Seal, E pluribus unum. “Out of many, one.”
“The hearing today is focusing on a religious community that I do not recognize. Muslims who first emigrated to Michigan over a century ago — be they of Lebanese, Yemeni, Palestinian, Iraqi, or Egyptian descent — like other immigrant groups, came to this country seeking a better life for themselves and their children. These immigrant groups, like many others, assimilated into the fabric of American society. They are our friends, neighbors, family, teachers, doctors, lawyers, public employees, business partners, waiters and store clerks. They are overwhelmingly loyal and patriotic Americans.
“American Muslims work at institutions like ACCESS, an organization providing employment, training, and social, community and mental health services throughout Southeast Michigan. American Muslims are our elected officials like State Representative Rashida Talib. They are our first responders, like Ron Amen, who served for over 30 years in the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department. And, like other Americans, Muslims work at organizations like the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, standing up for the civil rights of their fellow Americans. They participate in the political process, take their kids to the zoo, and do community service projects on the weekends.
“They also join the military to defend our country and some, like Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, die fighting for our country.
“Importantly, unlike the allegations we have heard from the Chairman, we know the American Muslim community works with law enforcement officials on the local, state, and national level to fight extremism. Just yesterday, Southeast Michigan’s Muslim and Arab American community leaders and federal law enforcement held a “BRIDGES” meeting, part of monthly meetings this community has held since the 9/11 attacks. BRIDGES, which stands for Building Respect In Diverse Groups to Enhance Sensitivity, is a channel for constructive cooperation and coordination between representatives of the Arab and American Muslim communities and law enforcement agencies. This type of dialogue is happening in Michigan and as the Triangle Center report on “Muslim-American Terrorism since 9/11” finds, cooperation is taking place throughout our country. According to the study, ‘tips from the Muslim American community provided the source of information that led to a terrorist plot being thwarted in 48 of 120 cases involving Muslim Americans.’
“Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, our nation was set on two divergent courses: On the one hand, Americans of all faiths and ethnicities united. American Christians, Muslims, and Jews condemned the cowardly acts of terrorism, stood up for our values and our cherished civil liberties, and provided outpourings of help to the victims. I partnered with the FBI to help recruit fluent Arabic speakers from the Southeast Michigan community into the fight against global terrorism. Director Robert Mueller, with whom I was working closely on this matter, indicated in a letter that the response from the community was larger than anticipated. Our President gave a speech in which he said that the United States was not at war with our many Muslim or Arab friends, but against a radical network of terror and every government that supports it.
“Yet, at the same time, an ugly side of America showed itself. In my Congressional District, then the 16th District, by September 18, 2001, there were more than 200 reported cases of abuse and violence directed against Arab and Muslim Americans. Mr. Mueller’s letter regarding Arab language recruitment responses also expressed a grave concern over the uptick in violence against individuals of Arab descent and asked for my help in encouraging the community to report hate crimes against people and property.
“I believe this hearing has a potential to create a continuation of the fear and hatred that came after 9/11. This hearing must not be permitted to recall the evils of McCarthyism and the divisiveness and ill-will it created amongst our people. Moreover, I wish to make unequivocally clear for the record: Islam is not a religion of division and intolerance, but a religion that values diversity and understanding. Acts of violence committed in the name of Islam are particularly offensive to the Muslim community because the perpetrators recklessly attempt to use their faith as an excuse for crimes.
“Even as I sit here, I have enormous respect and affection for you and my colleagues on this committee. I beg you, for the sake of all of us, to guide this hearing wisely and well, and to see to it the hearing is conducted with the respect for this institution and the principles we as Americans hold dear. If this hearing is conducted carefully, fairly, and with respect for all, especially including our Arab and Muslim Americans, good will come from it. I know and I hope that demagoguery and irresponsibility have no place in this hearing. The good names of the Congress, members of the Committee, the witnesses, and millions of Americans – Muslims and non-Muslims alike – are in your hands. I beg you to treat them with the care, decency, and responsibility that I have always associated with you and with the ideals and best practices of the institution of which you and I have the honor to be a part.
“If you look about, you will find that violent terrorist acts are committed by all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds. Extremism and terrorism at home and imported from abroad are grave threats to our nation. The sources of terrorist ideology and their organization, purpose, and danger must be examined. Our response is in your hands. For the good of all of us, it must be used carefully, vigorously, wisely, and well.”
Unfortunately the hearing was not simple political theater but very dangerous theater. It will allow political grandstanding to become a precedent for fighting terrorism. Internationally, it may create tension in strategic diplomatic relationships between the United States and Muslim-majority countries and lend credence to the heretofore inaccurate voices that claim the U.S. government is Islamophobic. Even more troubling, these hearings may spawn the very sort of suspicion between individual American Muslims and government officials that they nominally seek to investigate.
In short, the hearings are ill advised, morally debasing and damaging to the United States both domestically and overseas.
Bias feeds on bias. In America and abroad, Islamic fundamentalism has grown side by side with Christian fundamentalism. In our society fundamentalism thrives in places of worship, on university campuses, in the mass media, the Congress and political parties. Why is America alarmed about Muslim radicalization and not worried about Christian radicalization?
While fanatics vary in the ways they express violence, they are all destructive at varying levels of visibility. While Christian fundamentalists do not blow up planes or buildings, they do rupture human relations and support policies of war.
The timing of the hearing is another factor of poor taste. While the world is watching the Middle East ousting its dictators, America confronts its Arab community at home and turns on the floodlights of investigation into their loyalty. As the Arab world is undergoing historic political reform this is the time to start new ways of cooperation between the Muslim community and the Western world.
American Muslims are agents of social change for the Muslim world; many also function as informal good will ambassadors for America in their countries of origin.
As president Obama has opined, American Muslims are not part of the problem; “they are part of the solution.”
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