Rageh Omar's fascinating documentary Islam in America has been put online by Aljazeera. It makes for an apt accompaniment to Colin Powell's recent comments:"Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America.
"Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion - 'he's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists'. This is not the way we should be doing it in America."
Links:
Aljazeera
Aljazeera (YouTube)
Aljazeera magazine
Rageh Omaar profile (BBC)
Rageh Omaar Wiki
Rageh Omaar interview (Guardian)
Thank you, thank you for writing about what I thought was the major message of Colin Powell's endorsement: the question isn't "Is Obama a Muslim?" ("Oh, no, ma'am, he isn't, he isn't!")
ReplyDeleteThe question is: so what if he were?
I don't think that aspect of Powell's endorsement has been picked up that much by the press, even the progressive press, perhaps for good strategic reasons.
After November the 4th, I hope we can put to rest forever the ridiculous question of "is American ready for a black president?" The real question is whether American will someday be ready for a non-Christian president.
I think a good number (if not a majority) of the American (and probably any other) electorate vote irrationally or with negligible amounts of information. This is just one example of risible criteria in voting.
ReplyDelete