We got hit. We got hit hard. Nine years ago, our nation was
attacked. Two thousand, nine hundred and seventy-seven people lost
their lives. They died because some bastards in a land far away
hate the values our nation stands for.
We got hit. We got hit hard. Nine years ago, our nation was attacked. Two thousand, nine hundred and seventy-seven people lost their lives. They died because some bastards in a land far away hate the values our nation stands for.
On that September morning, fear crept into America’s soul. We found out we are vulnerable. We never imagined anyone would use passenger airplanes as weapons of mass murder on our soil. We never dreamed anyone could hate us so much they would commit suicide to try to damage our nation and destroy our values.
On that awful morning, we felt angry. We watched on our television screens as two towers crumbled in surreal sheets of rubble and dust. We witnessed thousands of lives extinguished. People in those skyscrapers had gone to their jobs that morning expecting to come home to their families after a hard day’s work. They did nothing to deserve death. Their hopes and dreams and futures were stolen by murderers.
President George W. Bush did a wise thing in dealing with the aftermath of those evil attacks. Some Americans, driven by a human desire for revenge, had made in their minds all Muslims guilty for the crimes of 9/11. Bush told the nation, “Some of the comments that have been uttered about Islam do not reflect the sentiments of my government or the sentiments of most Americans. Islam, as practiced by the vast majority of people, is a peaceful religion, a religion that respects others. Ours is a country based upon tolerance … We’re not going to let the war on terror or terrorists cause us to change our values.”
Bush had listened to Norman Mineta, his Secretary of Transportation. A Japanese-American, Mineta had spent several years of his childhood in an internment camp. After the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States government had forced Japanese-American citizens – men, women and children – to leave their homes and livelihoods and live as prisoners behind barbed-wire fences. Fear, anger and hatred had made America do this unconstitutional act. Mineta knew that the fear, anger and hatred building up across America after 9/11 could cause a similar injustice to our citizens who follow the path of Islam.
A year after 9/11, I met a woman with whom I became romantically involved. She was smart, sexy … and Muslim. From her, I learned a lot about the Muslim community and its faith. That knowledge shattered a lot of my stereotypes and prejudices about Islam – many of which grew out of my emotions from the Sept. 11 attacks. I also witnessed the subtle bigotry she sometimes faced for her faith.
I read verses from the Quran and heard its poetry and saw the passion for peace contained in its words. I studied the story of Islam and learned how a merchant named Muhammad in some mysterious way connected with the divine and founded a religion that seeks to honor the dignity of all humanity.
I also learned of the Golden Age of Islam, how Muslim scholars, scientists, artists and mathematicians built a civilization over a period of seven centuries that was far more advanced than the superstitious culture of medieval Christian Europe. In Spain, Muslims built magnificent cities such as Córdoba and Granada. They created enlightened societies where men and women treated each other as equals, and where Christians, Jews and Muslims lived together in peace and prosperity.
I also learned that a minority of members of the Islamic faith deviated from the original teachings. It sometimes happens in religions – including Christianity and Judaism. In Saudi Arabia, a fundamentalist form of Islam developed in the late 18th century. “Wahhabism” is the version of Islam practiced by the 9/11 terrorist. The majority of Muslims consider Wahhabism an aberration of Mohammed’s true teachings.
The recent controversy over the Cordoba Initiative’s plan to build a cultural center and mosque in Manhattan signals a warning that America has not yet found emotional closure from Sept. 11. Many of us still burn with rage toward Islam. In our ignorance, we risk turning potential allies into enemies.
No doubt, politicians and pundits are now manipulating our deep-rooted emotions for their own election season gain. They are also aiding America’s enemies. The Taliban is now using video footage of the recent mosque opposition in New York City as a propaganda tool to recruit potential terrorists and raise funds to commit future attacks of violence on us.
Fear, anger and hatred are our real enemies. They showed their faces several years ago here in the South Valley when the Muslim community sought to build a mosque in San Martin. They continue to show their faces in cities across our nation now battling the building of places for Muslims to worship God as a community. From sea to shining sea, from Temecula to New York City, we are eroding our American values by allowing narrow-minded intolerance to rule our national character.
America must stand strong. Our strength comes from our constitutional values. If we fail to uphold religious liberty, if we fail to stand up for a faith that seeks to build places of peace and unity and healing, then the Sept. 11 terrorists win. Let’s not let those bastards win.
