It
doesn’t phase me anymore to see a woman walking down the aisle of the
supermarket while wearing a hijab, particularly if she has a slew of kids
trailing her whom she’s trying to keep from running roughshod all over the
store.
JUST
ABOUT LIKE any other mother who happens to include grocery shopping among her
day’s errands.
And
I also know enough that not every single Arab is Muslim – there are those whose
families at some point in time figured that assimilation to a new country
included a religious conversion. Besides, most Arabs I have known had their
families come to this country to get away from the very same religious fanatics
many of us express fear about.
Considering
that I always viewed the Chicago area’s great strength as being its
multi-ethnic mix of people, I can’t help but think of Arabs as just another
ethnic group – and one whose cuisine definitely enhances the style of edibles
we are exposed to.
Unless you’re the type of person who thinks Chinese orange chicken or Taco Bell is the extent to which you wish to be exposed to anything "foreign?"
THE
SAD THING is that probably is the mentality of some people whose criticism is
shouted out so loud that we presume they’re a majority. They’re the ones most
likely who keep giving Donald Trump poll leads in his multiple candidate
presidential campaigns – even though all the other candidates put together dwarf
him.
That’s
the thought we ought to remind ourselves of when we consider the latest dispute
in suburban Palos Park (the community that feels like it was built out in the
middle of the forest preserves) that someone wants to develop a mosque there.
The
Muslim American Society bought a property that once was a First Church of
Christ Scientist, but had literally been sold off. As in that church didn’t
want the property any longer. Nobody forced them out.
Yet
there are those who want to think that this is somehow evidence that Muslims
are desecrating a Christian church and using it for their own nefarious
purposes.
THE
SAD PART is that this issue isn’t new. It isn’t just the crackpots being
inspired by Donald Trump’s “stupid talk” about Muslims and Arabs not belonging
in this country.
I
remember back nearly a couple decades ago when officials wanted to build a new
structure in nearly Palos Heights to provide a mosque for the growing Arab
population in the southwest suburbs – only to have the issue burst into a
bigoted mess.
To
his credit, then-Mayor Dean Koldenhaven thwarted an effort to use tax dollars
to buy out the would-be mosque developers, believing it to be motivated purely
by religious prejudice. Of course, he wound up losing his re-election bid, and
there are those local residents who remain convinced they did the right thing
by doing so.
Such
sentiments continue to exist whenever someone brings up the concept of a mosque.
Some sentiments just can’t wither away, no matter how stupid.
FROM
A PERSONAL perspective, perhaps this is an evolution – since it would seem that
Islam is now the exotic faith that scares people, not Catholicism. Although
Trump’s willingness to smack about Pope Francis makes me wonder if he wouldn’t
mind anti-Catholic sentiment raising its ugly head to bolster his presidential
fantasies.
And
as someone of Mexican ethnic origins who also has been included as subject
matter for Trump tirades, it would seem that the nativists of our society are
truly willing to extend their net of hostility towards anybody they can snag.
So
as for the ongoing fight over developing a mosque in Palos Park, the details
are all so similar that the entire battle seems so predictable. And boring to
hear about.
You’d
think the xenophobes of our society would come up with something new just to
keep themselves intrigued. Although I suppose so long as spewing the same
nativist nonsense works time and time again, they’ll keep spewing. Until we,
the true majority of our society, come to our senses and stop giving such
people any mind.
-30-
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