30 Days In Muslim America

With The New York Times and others reporting discrimination against Muslims in the United States just yesterday, I thought it would be opportune and timely to feature here 30 Days In Muslim America, a photo essay published in the well-known Boing Boing blog, by Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq.

Naturally, discrmination against Muslims has spiked recently as a consequence of the so-called Ground Zero Community Center stupidity and Terry Jones' odious Quran-burning farce, so it's no surprise that The New York Times reported this:

“There’s a level of hatred and animosity that is shocking,” said Mary Jo O’Neill, regional attorney of the E.E.O.C.’s Phoenix office. “I’ve been doing this for 31 years, and I’ve never seen such antipathy toward Muslim workers.”

I don't think the photographs featured by Boing Boing are designed to allay the racism, fear and suspicion that face American Muslims, but it's one of the tiny steps that hopefully will add up. Muslims in America, as President Obama said, are not they...they are us.

Eventually, perhaps the traditional Islamic way of life will be accepted (and respected) in the United States as that of the Hasidim in Brooklyn and the Amish in Lancaster...but I'm not holding my breath.