OPINION
PAGE 5
THE CURRENT
Surrendering to peace War on Terror still wages on Manar Mohammad Staff Reporter
11 years ago, on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001, 2,996 people headed to another day of work. Many said goodbye to their children, husbands or wives before walking out their front door. They probably gave their loved ones kisses, told them they’d see them later, maybe even made plans for dinner. They were confident they would be home once the day was over. Only they never did. On that day, an unspeakable tragedy occurred, leaving children orphaned, parents without their children, men and women without their spouses and friends without their best friends. This happened because a group of people thought they had the right to take them away and claim their lives. This group of people identified with a certain religion and claimed that they were following it. Now, 11 years later, people who identify with that same religion
are suffering the aftermath of it. The War on Terror is supposedly a global war on terrorism, but it could also be seen as a war on the country’s own Muslims, who have been facing hate crimes ever since. The terrorists who took the lives of nearly 3,000 people called themselves Muslims, leaving the rest of the world to view all Muslims as terrorists. How many people actually know what the word “Islam” means? Islam is derived from the root “salam” in Arabic, which means peace, purity, surrender and obedience. This means surrendering to the obedience of Allah (God), as well as having peace with the rest of the world and carrying peace in their hearts. Before the 9/11 attacks, Muslims were hardly looked at twice. They were just one of the many minority groups that filled the melting pot of this nation. However, that day changed everything. Not only did it affect the victims and their families, it
changed the lives of those who had a single common factor with the hijackers: their religion. What people have a difficult time understanding though is that there is a difference between real Muslims of the Islamic faith and the extremist Muslims that committed the attacks: real Muslims follow the guidelines of keeping peace with other people, while the extremists who committed the attacks did not. It’s 11 years later and American Muslims still do not feel safe in their own country. Most of them have lived in this country their whole lives, have devoted their life to their home. Yet, they face prejudice and hostility because of the actions of others. Muslim teens are bullied in school about it, adults face discrimination because of it and the hate crimes have not ended. This country is supposed to be one large cradle that accepts all religions and embraces all cultures. Did immigrants not build this nation from the day the English made it across the
Atlantic? Despite that, 9/11 marked the day that Muslims would begin to struggle to find a place to feel embraced in. Yet over the past years, women have had their scarves pulled off in public. Men have been pointed out for their beards. Bottles full of acid have been thrown at houses of worship. Muslims all over the country have been dubbed “terrorists” in various locations. The years are scattered with different incidents and hate crimes, leading to a most recent event of the Sikh temple mass shooting, in which the shooter thought the Sikhs were Muslims. Why have 11 years gone by with no change in the way Muslims should be treated in a country that promotes acceptance and diversity? It takes 11 years for a first grader to graduate and go to college. 11 years is how long it takes for a 7 pound baby to weigh 100 pounds and reach five feet tall. In 11 years, one could travel to every country in
the world. 11 years ago, most of us left school early and were planted in front of the TV with our parents to watch buildings collapse over and over again as the media channels repeated it, making sure it would be carved into every citizen’s memory. 11 years is a long time, and it should have taken less than 11 years for the War on Terror to be over. Many people seem to forget that there were American Muslims in those buildings when they collapsed. There were American Muslims working as police officers who sacrificed their lives for the sake of saving others. Out of the 2,996 victims of that dreadful day, about 60 of them were Muslim. Shouldn’t they still be considered heroes? The War on Terror is like a war that wages on with no end. The smoke will keep billowing until people finally accept each other for their different backgrounds, and stop judging each other for the mistakes of individuals.
Point/Counterpoint The identity politics game
tory martinez
Nick Krueger
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Identity politics, or using certain issues to energize specific groups of voters, is arguably one of the strongest forces in American politics today. Appealing to certain groups by focusing on certain issues is nothing new, and many would argue it is merely effective campaign strategy. While Democrats are usually accused of shamelessly using and abusing identity politics to pander to small factions of the populace, the Republicans are also guilty of tailoring speeches and events to cater to certain factions within the party. While both parties choose to flirt with groups that are vastly different in some respects (the Democrats and Latinos, the GOP and Evangelicals, for instance) the strategy is fundamentally the same: isolate the one issue this group cares about, and then care about it just as much (if not more) than they do. However suspect this time-honored technique may be, it has been known to work on occasion. That’s why Dems keep bringing up the Dream Act with Hispanics, reproductive freedom with women, Medicare with senior citizens, Pell Grants with young people and health care with African Americans. In many ways, it’s almost too easy. Speaking to people who are likely to agree (and thus, vote favorably) is reassuring and dependable. The difficulty is reaching out to those who cannot identify with one or more of these groups. The real stumbling block of the Democratic Party as of late is winning over Average Joe. Good
old white, middle income, male Joe. Convincing someone who does not fit into the conventional party mold (even if the “conventional” mode is extremely diverse and fluid) that this is where their voice (and their vote) belongs is truly what can make or break elections. President Barack Obama has proven time and again that he can use these groups to fire up the progressive base, and this election cycle is proving no different. However, these are the most reliable Democrat voters, and the ones that will make the difference aren’t really being given the attention they deserve. Republicans are also at fault, as they are ready to adopt radical policies so that they win the approval (and donations) of the extremist minority. While GOP pandering is less diverse in terms of race or ethnicity or religion, it is definitely alive and well among the ranks of the radical Right, and for Republicans to claim otherwise is ludicrous. Both parties play the identity politics game, often times shamelessly, in order to fulfill the end goal of getting elected. More often than not, however, it is the Left who get slandered for it. If each side admitted to pandering, and then focused their energies on the groups they most need to win, this election would result in more informed voters across the board, which would in turn lead to a more competitive and honest election, instead of the “who can throw more money down” rat race it is fast becoming.
In this election it seems now more than ever that who people are voting for is determined not by platform, but by identity. Whether it’s faith, orientation or ethnicity, there is a generated “type” to Democrats and Republicans. At the Republican National Convention, Tuesday was all about women. Thursday was about Latinos. Regardless of how many minorities spoke (to name a few: Tim Scott, Mia Love, Nikki Haley, Artur Davis, Susana Martinez, and Marco Rubio) the fact of the matter is, as Rubio himself stated, these Republicans were all elected. They were not appointed by the white man, or by God, but by the voting populace, many of which were white-majority areas. Some critics can look at the RNC and say, “Oh, look how many tokens there are.” Others might say “This proves not all Republicans are rich, white men.” However, in either case the Republican party is playing the victim to identity politics. This doesn’t need to be so. Why does identity politics have to be a bad thing for the Republican party? In the light of the “war on women,” calls of racism and the like, as Republicans we do not need to slay this dragon, but ride it. Wednesday night of the RNC, New Mexico governor Martinez relayed a story with the following quote: “Before I ran for district attorney, two Republicans invited my husband and me to lunch, and I knew a party switch was exactly what they wanted. So, I told Chuck, `We’ll be polite, enjoy a free lunch, and then say good-bye.’ But we talked about issues -- they never used the words Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal. We talked about many issues, like welfare, is it the way of life or hand up? Talk-
ed about size of government, how much should it tax families and small businesses? And when we left that lunch, we got in the car and I looked over at Chuck and said, ‘I’ll be damned. We’re Republicans.’” This quote is especially important to the concept of identity politics. What we believe on the issues makes up who we are as Americans and as voters. Even words like “liberal,” political in nature, can further define and “type” the two major parties. I would contest that Republicans do have a type, and it is not the old, Christian, white male. In the Republican party platform the U.S. Constitution is mentioned 61 times. At the RNC “God” was mentioned only nine more times than at the DNC. And how many times did RNC listeners hear the term “family of immigrants”? The Republican party doesn’t need to redefine itself to win this election, but rather publicize what it already means to be a Republican. Tea-Partiers, Constitutionalists, Catholics, Mormons and people of colors and ages across the spectrum came together at the RNC not simply to celebrate Romney. The Republican National Convention celebrated opportunity, family, success and the promise of the American dream. Who we are, above all else, are members of a family of immigrants, a family that believes in limited government and our grass roots, but also in the future’s job opportunity.“If you believe in freedom, liberty, self-determination, free enterprise, I don’t care if you’re a Muslim, Jewish, Agnostic, Christian, gay, straight, Latino, black, white, Irish, whatever. Join us.” Paul Ryan said this in 2009, but I felt it bears repeating.