Two interesting stories have been in my mind the last few days. One is the story of former NPR journalist Juan Williams and his firing. The other is the story by Susan Straight in this month’s The Believer. So far, the best essay/commentary I’ve read on Williams came from Glenn Greenwald, writing in Salon.
An important point Greenwald makes is that Williams’ ideas are nonsensical. There have been no instances of any people in Muslim garb (which still hasn’t been identified) committing any acts of terrorism. So, to fear them, is, in the words of Williams, poor judgment because “(r)acism is a lazy man’s substitute for using good judgment.” Fearing someone with no reason but their clothing is maybe not racist (since being Muslim isn’t a race), but I don’t think Williams fears white American Muslims or someone like Cat Stevens. He fears dark skinned Muslims from North Africa and the Middle East and Southern Asia. If anything, he “should” fear Muslims who aren’t in “garb.” But more to the point, says Greenwald, is who should be feared by Muslims. How many American civilians have been killed by Muslim terrorists? How many Muslim civilians have been killed by Americans? By Williams’ thought process, what there is of it, white non-Muslim Americans are much scarier than any dark-skinned Muslims. However, because Williams was speaking to O’Reilly, he was able to feel comfortable saying this kind of thing. I wish he had said that whenever he sees a Catholic near a young boy, he gets nervous. I wonder what O’Reilly would have said.
Then, I read the essay by Straight, about traveling with her ex-husband. Straight is a white woman. Her ex-husband is black. Their children are light skinned. The crux of the article is how dangerous it is to be a black man in the US. For example, she scolds her daughter for being pulled over for speeding, since it puts her black boyfriend in possible mortal danger. She has multiple stories, from multiple generations, of men in her family and her neighborhood and her life being attacked, targeted, and killed in some cases, by the police. So, why are the young black men feared? Shouldn’t the cops be the ones who are feared? Really, it’s hard for me to understand the mentality, since I’ve never really had any reason to fear a police officer.
The article made me think a little more about what Williams said. I believe that the police have made a more understandable decision than Williams, but I also believe that it is morally indefensible. To make such important decisions about someone based on the most simplistic way to judge someone is, in both cases, inexcusable. And Williams knows it. http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/10/juan-williams-busted.html
