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Abed Z. Bhuyan
Powell Rejects Islamophobia
On NBC's Meet the Press this weekend, former Secretary of State Colin
Powell formally endorsed Barack Obama in this year's presidential
election.
Pundits will spend the next few days debating whether or not this
endorsement matters. In truth, his endorsement of a politician matters
less than his strong rejection of the Islamophobia that has tainted
this race and that continues to exist unabated in many parts of America.
In a moment that would have made Tim Russert proud, Secretary Powell
firmly renounced the divisiveness that has been perpetuated by his own
party. During his interview, Secretary Powell exhibited a gravitas
that has been unmatched thus far by politicians and pundits alike when
it comes to an honest discussion of the state of a presidential race
that has increasingly gone negative.
Since the beginning of this way-too-long presidential campaign
Americans of conscience have longed for someone of such stature to
repudiate the blatant bigotry towards Muslims. On Sunday Colin Powell
lived up to his billing as senior American statesman.
I know I was not the only one moved to tears by the following remarks
of Colin Powell:
"I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members
of the party say, and 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 is 'No. That's not
America.' Is there something wrong with some 7-year old
Muslim-American kid believing that he or she can 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.
"I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I
saw in a magazine. It was a photo-essay about troops who were serving
in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo
essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on
the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in you
can see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards, Purple
Heart, Bronze Star, showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of
birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then at the very top of
the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have a Star
of David. It had a crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his
name was Karim Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American, he was born
in New Jersey, he was 14 at the time of 9/11 and he waited until he
can go serve his counrty and he gave his life."
It is important that Secretary Powell's statement not be minimized to
a political endorsement. It was so much more.
But despite the powerful imagery and language used by Secretary
Powell, there are two unfortunate facts that accompany his statement.
First, the fact that I was so moved by his statement highlights the
fact that the many calls for denouncing bigotry towards Muslims have
gone ignored. Many Americans, not only American Muslims, have been
denouncing Islamophobia in the campaign for over a year, making
comments from high-profiled public officials long overdue. Secondly,
the portion of the endorsement that I chose to highlight above is
likely to get lost in the news. That is because decrying Islamophobia,
even though it seemed to be the most important reason for Powell's
decision to endorse Obama, is simply not sexy. Very few in the media
will give proper credit to Powell for rejecting prejudice towards
Muslims. But of all the bigotries exposed in this election cycle,
including racism and sexism, Islamophobia has been the most consistent
and unchallenged.
Now, given today's political climate, not holding or seeking office
makes denouncing Islamophobia a lot easier. Furthermore, it should be
noted that Islamophobia is not something that exists only within the
Republican Party. After all, the man who has been the target of these
so-called smears himself has not issued as strong and direct a
rejection as Secretary Powell did this weekend. When Senator Hillary
Clinton was battling Senator Obama for the Democratic nomination, she
certainly allowed the Obama-is-a-Muslim whispers to continue. Obama
has frequently denied the claim that he is a Muslim only by presenting
the fact of his Christian faith and not addressing the crucial subtext
of the claim: that there is something wrong with being a Muslim.
With his endorsement coming largely as a result of Obama's ability to
transcend party and race, Secretary Powell has raised the bar for
whoever does win this historic election. Politicians of either party
have been unwilling to denounce Islamophobia for fear of appearing
both weak and willing to 'pal around' with 'terrorists.' By
unequivocally attacking the bigoted tenor of the campaign, he struck
at the heart of what politicians have for this entire political season
felt a taboo subject to address.
In addressing the Powell endorsement in the coming days, one can only
hope that both candidates Obama and McCain see it more as a rejection
of heightened bigotry than as a mere endorsement of any one politician.
Abed Z. Bhuyan is a recent graduate of Georgetown University's School
of Foreign Service, where he studied International Politics and
Muslim-Christian Understanding.
Posted by Abed Z. Bhuyan on October 20, 2008 10:47 AM
"A candle loses nothing of its light by lighting another candle"
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