Last of Our Kind

I have come to realize why people think Senator Barack Obama is Muslim.

I was hoping it was ignorance, or just plain stupidity. However, if that was true I feel it would pass, and the truth is people still try to convince others that he is Muslim. There are still emails surfacing that claim he is Muslim with facts and pictures, and eyewitness accounts and blah, blah, blah.

The fact that so many people still believe Obama is a Muslim is distressing, and actually very sad. The truth is its racism. To borrow from Clarence Thomas, Obama is dealing with a “high-tech lynching.”

I know people don’t like to talk about race. I know it stirs up past anger, and instantly divides. But the truth is that there are voters who live in this country who WILL NOT vote for Obama because he is black.

Now of course these voters won’t say that. They don’t want to be called a racist, because they would “never say something racist,” not in this day and age. So what do they do? They take swipes at his religion. People call him Muslim because his father is from Kenya. He must be Muslim because his name is BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA. They call him Muslim because his pastor said things that were anti-American (so of course he can’t be a true Christian). But most importantly they call him a Muslim because they are allowed to.

The truth is “Muslim” has been stigmatized much like the N-word. The truth is that “Islamic terrorists” attacked this country. They were Muslims, so that means people feel it is okay to be afraid of them. September 11th was “just seven years ago,” it hasn’t been long enough to stop being afraid. There has not been enough time for people to stop and say wait a minute, not all Muslims are bad people. Because of fear mongering...Muslim is now used to evoke fear and evil. We don’t need to be afraid of them.

Like the N-word, so much hate is tied to Muslim that when we hear it people cringe, and look at Muslims as if they are going to hurt us, when in fact they won’t. The saddest part is that the term Muslim shouldn’t be offensive. I understand that the N-word should have and will always be offensive, but Muslim?

Let’s be honest here. Senator Obama doesn’t have the Muslim problem in big cities, and states like California and New York. His problems lie in small towns and the South. That’s right the South, the region of the country that still flies the confederate flag. The South is the region of the country where Martin Luther King fought tirelessly for so many years to rid our nation of the N-word and the culture around it.

Now I’m not saying that everyone in the South is racist. I know that is not true. I’m not saying all Republicans are racist, and I certainly know John McCain is above this issue. However, as I said it is in these small rural towns with very few black people, and even less Muslims that these stereotypes and hatred get rooted.

Senator Obama has (unfairly) had to fight this issue over and over again. He has dedicated entire web pages and campaign stops to it. Remember saddleback with Pastor Rick Warren?

(For our post on separation of Church and State click here) Senator Obama had to go to that forum to prove that he is not Muslim, because that issue has gotten so much attention.

I believe if Senator Obama had been running in the 60’s for President the N-word would be shouted at him everywhere he went. Today no one would dare call Obama the N-word or be caught dead around anyone saying it (in public and “on mic” anyways). However, people call him Muslim without thinking twice.

We have come so far, yet have hardly moved forward at all.

Will we ever change?

LoOK