al-m zan Newsletter of the Claremont Main Road Mosque ° No. 20
Ramadan 1438 May 2017 °
Trump’s Presidency a Kairos Moment Imam Dr. A. Rashied Omar
Muslims. Sadly these incidents do not receive widespread or sustained media coverage.
Muslims and other minority groups in the United States of America are currently living through one of the most challenging periods in their history. During the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency Islamophobia and hate crimes spiked to an all-time high. Emblematic of this spike in Islamophobia is that since Trump’s incendiary campaign and presidency, close to three-dozen Islamic Centers across the United States have received bomb threats or have been vandalized. More disconcerting was the fact that on Sunday 29 January 2017, a lone gunman killed six worshippers and maimed eight others at the Grand Mosque in Québec, Canada. Suffice is to say, the disunity, intolerance and violence in North America at the moment is distressing. Less widely known, however, is that on Thursday 23 February 2017, a white racist shot two people affiliated with the Sikh religious tradition in Kansas. Tragically one of the men, Srinivas Kuchibhotla died of his wounds. This fatal shooting was followed on March 3, 2017, by the shooting of a 39 yearold American Sikh man in the East section of Kent, Washington State. According to the Seattle Times report, “The victim described the shooter as a 6-foot-tall white man with a stocky build. He was wearing a mask covering the lower half of his face.” The unknown ‘white’ shooter stated, “Go back to your own country,” before shooting the victim. It is highly plausible that the three members of the Sikh religion, who were shot at, in two different incidents and in two different states, are being confused as being
The spike in hate crimes has not been confined to Islamophobia. Jewish gravesites have been desecrated and synagogues have received threats. Even more disconcerting, however, is the rise in blatant acts of racially motivated killings. On Tuesday 21 March 2017 a white US military veteran, James Harrison Jackson, took a bus from Maryland to New York with the intention of killing as many black people as he could. He found a homeless Blackman in Times Square and killed him with a sword. This stupendous racial murder was followed on 18 April 2017, by the wanton killing of three white men in Fresno, California by a black man named Kori Ali Muhammad. He proclaimed that he killed them because he hated white people. It appears that the Trump presidency has emboldened xenophobes, bigots and racists of all stripes.
“The fact that Muslims are currently experiencing discrimination, marginalization and exclusion, should place us in a good position to empathize with other groups who suffer through similar battles.” Since I am not an American citizen and was living in the US on a visa, the decision I made to participate in protest action and to speak out against the growing Islamophobia wasn’t an easy one. However, I made the choice to be active and present during this crisis because I am a peace studies scholar, a Muslim religious leader, a nonviolent activist, and I am compelled to speak out against the growing threat of Islamophobia, racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and all other forms of assault on the dignity of others. The central message that I have tried to convey during the many opportunities I have
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had to share my thoughts and wisdom is that American Muslims should be at the forefront of efforts to join together struggles and become the kind of activists who recognize that the remedies to injustices requires collective action. The fact that Muslims are currently experiencing discrimination, marginalization and exclusion, should place us in a good position to empathize with other groups who suffer through similar battles. If we are grounded in love and compassion and if we are truly committed to fighting against all systems of oppression, then we have no choice but to show up for each other. We cannot fight injustice selectively, standing with some groups, and not with others. We have to live up to the words of Martin Luther King Jr. that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” During my participation in the antiIslamophobia protest movement in the US I found a great outpouring of solidarity with the Muslim community. I have been inspired and deeply moved by the deluge of support that the Muslim community has received from their American neighbours. The example of the Jewish Rabbi who visited the Imam of the burnt down Texas mosque and offered him the keys to the synagogue for Muslims to pray in was truly inspirational and perhaps unprecedented. One of the many challenges over the next few months will be to sustain this interfaith harmony, love and solidarity. I see the current charged political atmosphere in Trump’s America, coupled with the plight of Muslims and other minorities, as a kairos moment. Kairos is a biblical term, a Greek word, which means a moment of truth. It is both a moment of crisis as well as a moment of opportunity. Challenging times such as these are ideal for seeking corrective action and healing; an opportunity if seized upon may help in transforming the US to becoming a more vibrant democracy and most importantly, a more just and caring society.
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