There will no doubt be continued fallout from the highly charged congressional hearing in Washington, DC this past Thursday on the ‘radicalization of American Muslims.’ For the House Homeland Security Committee to hold a hearing on such a topic makes it sound like all American Muslims are to be viewed with fear and suspicion…reminiscent to Japanese Americans during WWII who were rounded up and detained without a trial.
I do not deny that actions of some American Muslims have instilled suspicion and fear but isn’t such a hearing an “US versus Them” attitude with US being American born non-Muslim nationals and an American born Muslim national the undisputable Them?
The problem as defined by this committee is that too many young American born American Muslims are being influenced and thereby radicalized by extremist groups, Al Qaeda in particular. Fine; identify a problem, back it up with examples and statistics. Conclude with solutions, actions and initiatives rather than end with what seems like pointing fingers and accusations flying a la the former era of McCarthyism.
I found myself feeling frustration as I watched the news reports which covered the hearing. The reports only seemed to highlight (or encourage) a growing divide and building of mistrust and misunderstanding among fellow Americans without any interference from a foreign group or foreign government.
What do YOU think? What are your suggestions to extinguish the growing flames of mistrust before there is an out-of-control inferno?
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