Why don’t you ask African Americans

Candid wrote:

"I suggest that everyone ignore Israfil and Jenii from now on. These are the type of people who create differences between Muslims by whining over their own personal issues (at the pretext of addressing the issues of the whole Muslim community) and blaming all the Muslims in the world for it."

Candid I care not whether people ignore me! Truth is truth.

I think that people are affected by the societies around them. We are influenced by TV, the news etc. I have met a number of Arabs who will not move into "black" neighborhoods, even though we have, here in DC, the highest percentage of black millionaires in the world.  How can they not be somewhat influenced by this? Even on a subconscious level?  As someone wrote, Moslems are human. Just like every one else.

To a degree Jenni, you are raising, in my mind, a bigger question, why are we so affected by things. I mean that we are influenced by things around use. I can tell I am. To a degree that is very natural. One of my parents was recently telling me that her daughter, who is six, already wants to dress and look a certain way. And she started a new school where basically she is the only blond child in the class. And she was complaining to her mom why she cannot have dark hair! Her mother who is very open minded and has traveled thought in a way it as great, as it is going against societal norms. So we cannot eliminate our human instinct to compare and contrast, to want to belong. What has to happen is we recognize it for what it is and not participate in it as adults to the best degree we can.

I often find it interesting that when people describe a situation �there was a black woman�� And I�ll ask, �what does being black have to do with it?� 99% of the time the way a person looks has nothing to do with the story.  And it is true..  we have used these words too often that ultimately limits us. It is the same thing as when Moslem is used as a category when it may have nothing to do with the story. I don�t hear in the news �A Christian man shot and killed his neighbor.� But if the person was Moslem watch it happen. It is the same when you hear a story you rarely here.. This �white guy sat in my seat.� But if he non-white, we will generalize about how he looked, as if that has anything to do with it.

As far as international.. I think Africa is the forgotten continent in the world. When we think of travel, how many people want to visit it? Do we think of it as anything other then "backwards?"  How many people can name more then 5 countries? The people of wealthy countries do not see it as valuable and worth the time and effort.  Then if there is less attention, there is less publicity about it, and fewer people have heard about it.   I think in a sense Jenni you ask a good question, why is not more being done for people? Certain areas seem to be the playground of the weapons dealers and some western countries and China.  Plus Palestine seems easy to �understand.� There is an obvious oppressor and oppressed. And in fact in many areas it is complex. How does one really help?

I also think that we cannot use terms that we use here in the US and apply them to other areas. Because we, here in the US, have our own history, including a specific type of racism and oppression. When we attempt to transplant it to other places with their different histories and experiences it does not work. That may be why when we use the term �racism� it cannot be applied to a different situation.  It is important to allow for people to define their own experiences.   

Peace