I share Powell’s and Brown’s alarm about the ugly bigotry
– subtle and overt – upon which some objections to Barack
Obama’s candidacy seem to be based. Sadly, this race- and
religion-based bigotry isn’t just displayed on the national
political scene. I see local examples that sadden and worry me.
“I’m also troubled by … what members of the (Republican) party say. … It is permitted to be said such things as, ‘Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.’ Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, What if he is? 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.”
– Former secretary of state Gen. Colin Powell
“So what if (Barack) Obama was Arab or Muslim? So what if John McCain was Arab or Muslim? Would it matter? When did that become a for higher office in our country? When did Arab and Muslim become dirty words? The equivalent of dishonorable or radical? Whenever this gets raised, the implication is that there is something wrong with being an Arab-American or a Muslim.”
– CNN anchor Campbell Brown
I share Powell’s and Brown’s alarm about the ugly bigotry – subtle and overt – upon which some objections to Barack Obama’s candidacy seem to be based. Sadly, this race- and religion-based bigotry isn’t just displayed on the national political scene. I see local examples that sadden and worry me.
Burton Anderson’s Oct. 16 Morgan Hill Times column led with this incredulous question: “How is it possible for Barack Hussein Obama to be a presidential candidate?”
He followed that expression of disbelief with claims so troubling that I hesitate to repeat them, but must to respond to them:
n “Obama is 43.75 percent Arabic, 6.25 percent African and 50 percent white.”
I have no idea what relevance Obama’s ethnicity has or whether Anderson’s percentages are correct. However, the fact that Anderson thinks it’s relevant, however, speaks volumes to me.
n “In fact, Obama practiced the Muslim faith daily at school and kept the faith for 31 years, until his wife made him change.”
Obama has never “practiced the Muslim faith.” But, echoing Powell and Brown: So what if he did?
n “He has no real identity. He is half white, which he rejects.”
Obama does not reject his white ancestry. Obama writes lovingly of his white mother and grandparents and frequently visits his maternal grandmother in Hawaii.
Anderson is simply wrong on the facts. But the more important point is this: In America, where all men are created equal, where we offer everyone equal protection and where we separate church and state, a candidate’s race and religion are irrelevant.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have to wait for Obama’s candidacy to see local evidence of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry. We saw it last year in many reactions to a mosque proposed for San Martin.
The local papers’ opinion pages featured writers who described the proposed mosque as a “Trojan horse” and “terrorist beachhead” and demanded that officials investigate and monitor the mosque’s politics, financing, leadership and membership – even though no such requirements are made of any other development proposals.
If you support McCain because you like his ever-shifting positions on issues, that’s fine. If you oppose the proposed mosque because you believe it doesn’t meet the requirements that would be imposed on any project proposed for that site, that’s fine.
However, in my opinion, if you oppose any candidate or any development proposal based on race or religion, you’re a bigot.
Let’s judge candidates and development proposals on their merits. In America – Ronald Reagan’s “shining city” offering equality, freedom, justice and fairness – race and religion ought to be irrelevant.
Regrettably, for too many people both here in South County and across this nation, they are not.
“I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life. … In my mind it was a tall, proud city … teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace.” – President Ronald Reagan’s farewell address to the nation
