Differences

A friend of mine, a die-hard San Francisco any-sport fan who lives and works in Los Angeles, wrote me after a recent baseball-excursion to that Golden-Gated city how much he loved the place… except folks just aren’t as nice anymore. I hear that a lot from people these days, and perhaps it’s just result of several very difficult economic years – with no real relief in sight that makes Americans a tad ornery. Understandable. It gets nastier when you start looking for definable religious or ethnic groups whom you can use as scapegoats… very reminiscent of pre-WWII Germany finding blame and “inferiority” in its Jewish population.

“We are a Christian nation,” exclaim politicians on the right, a statement that bring squirms to my Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Baha’i, and Muslim friends and acquaintances, most of whom (including their ancestors) came to the United States seeking opportunities and freedom from persecution believing, apparently incorrectly according to these political factions, that America was an open society in which freedom of religion and the Constitutional ban on governmental religious activities were basic rights and principles. Who are we without our basic values? And where is the Christian virtue of “love thy neighbor”? Does the above image make you uncomfortable? Really?

Playing golf recently with two other friends who expressed how dangerous it was for Muslims to be allowed to live in the United States, since it wouldn’t take too many of them to inflict serious damage to our people and infrastructure. They wondered openly about how many America Muslims secretly cheered at the attacks on 9/11. I cringed. I wonder if they remembered that there were Muslim victims in the Twin Towers: “Indeed, among the many victims of 9/11 were several dozen innocent Muslims, ranging in age from their late 60s to a couple’s unborn child. Six of these victims were Muslim women, including one who was 7 months pregnant. Many were stockbrokers or restaurant workers, earning a living to care for their families. There were converts and immigrants, hailing from over a dozen different countries and the U.S. There were heroes: a NYPD cadet and a Marriott hotel worker, who sacrificed their lives attempting to rescue others. The Muslim victims were parents to over 30 children, who were left orphaned without one or both of their parents.” About.com.

Maybe they forgot about Timothy McVeigh, whose ultra-right wing anti-government beliefs, resulted in the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City that left 168 dead (including 19 children under the age of six) and 680 wounded. He was about as American as you can get. Perhaps they weren’t aware that most of the victims of Muslim radical suicide bombings are other Muslims. Perhaps they weren’t aware of the rising tide of anti-al Qaeda sentiments all over the Islamic world, decrying the senseless killing of innocents under a brutally unacceptable philosophy. Al Qaeda has exceptionally limited appeal in most of the Middle East. It wasn’t the American focus on killing them that did them in; it was their complete and total disdain for the collateral damage they were inflicting in the name of an extremist cause. Most folks just want to live their lives in peace. That many foreign Muslims might not love the United States and might oppose our policies is hardly the defining grace of terrorism. Most countries in the world today no longer believe in or follow the foreign policy aspirations of the United States anymore.

“Report any suspicious activity” has become a patriotic cry, and indeed, you have to be pretty stupid to ignore certain forms of obvious behavior. But we are increasingly looking at each other with suspicion, looking for differences and what we perceive to be behavior that mandates official inquiry. On September 7^th, NPR broadcast excerpts from a recent report about how authorities deal with such reports that have been generated at our local malls:

On May 1, 2008, at 4:59 p.m., Brad Kleinerman entered the spooky world of homeland security… As he shopped for a children’s watch inside the sprawling Mall of America, two security guards approached and began questioning him. Although he was not accused of wrongdoing, the guards filed a confidential report about Kleinerman that was forwarded to local police…The reason: Guards thought he might pose a threat because they believed he had been looking at them in a suspicious way.

Najam Qureshi, owner of a kiosk that sold items from his native Pakistan, also had his own experience with authorities after his father left a cell phone on a table in the food court. .. The consequence: An FBI agent showed up at the family’s home, asking if they knew anyone who might want to hurt the United States.

One Iranian man, now 62, began passing out during questioning. An Army veteran sobbed in his car after he was questioned for nearly two hours about video he had taken inside the mall.

Mall of America officials say their security unit stops and questions on average up to 1,200 people each year. The interviews at the mall are part of a counterterrorism initiative that acts as the private eyes and ears of law enforcement authorities but has often ensnared innocent people, according to an investigation by the Center for Investigative Reporting and NPR.

In many cases, the written reports were filed without the knowledge of those interviewed by security. Several people named in the reports learned from journalists that their birth dates, race, names of employers and other personal information were compiled along with surveillance images.

Ever wonder if someone has your name on such a list? How would you ever know? Is this the United States of America that stands for freedom and opportunity? Really?

I’m Peter Dekom, and how much better off would America be if we no longer sat in judgment of those who might be “different” and instead focused on what brings us together.