Yesterday, I was invited for a 20 minute segment with Armando Llorens and David Waldman on Daily Kos Radio (SiriusXM Channel 127). I was joined by Faiz Shakir of the Center for American Progress, and the main topics of discussion were the recent Pew poll of American Muslim attitudes and the report on the Islamophobia industry in America, "Fear, Inc".
For my part, I was asked why Muslim Americans (MuslAms, as I've coined us) are still so generally optimistic and positive about America and the future (as the Pew poll clearly illustrates). My answer was that MuslAms are well integrated, that the US is "wired differently" from Europe, which allows and encourages us to be very active and engaged in our civic communities. Basically, the ranting of the JAFIs nationally isn't as relevant to us as the support and inclusion we have in our home towns, and that matters more.
I also griped when asked about Park 51 - I support the idea of the project, but resented how the timing and the handling of the project's PR (and aggressive, almost petulant social media response to critique) dragged the entire MuslAm community into the debate. I've said my piece on Park 51 before.
It was a fun conversation but limited in time, so I didn't get to touch on everything I wanted to discuss. So, I'll just make brief mention of a few things here.
Read More