Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post provides a near-worshipful account of President Obama’s Wednesday visit to a Baltimore mosque.
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President Obama spoke at the Islamic Society of Baltimore in Baltimore, Md., on Wednesday, Feb. 3. He planned an afternoon speech focused on how the US can more successfully confront extremism if it works with Muslims instead of branding all of them as potential enemies.
And they said mosques would be inviting leaders of other faiths, “and all will be asked to come together to demonstrate unity and solidarity during what has been a tense time for faith communities”. According to the New York Times article, in an estimated two thirds of USA mosques women and girls are “segregated in dark basements, sparse balconies, separate rooms and even behind shower curtains in the “sisters” section, ‘ listening to Friday sermons piped in through shaky sound systems and watching them, if we are lucky, via TV screens”.
Obama has visited mosques in other countries, so one more visit, to a mosque in the USA, should be viewed no differently. In remarks at the embassy, he warned of growing anti-Semitism in the world.
It may stretch credulity to detect a divisive message in Obama’s message of tolerance. He said it fell on all Americans to speak up. He said Muslims, too, are concerned about the threat of terrorism but are too often blamed as a group “for the violent acts of the very few”. A severed pig’s head was delivered to a mosque’s doorstep in Philadelphia. And I want all Americans to know that across our country and around the world, Muslim communities are standing up for peace and understanding as well. Scheduling such a visit has proven tricky for Obama who almost one in three Americans believe to be a closet Muslim himself. According to him, the president is pitting individuals against one another. Anti-Muslim rhetoric is at an all time high, much greater than it was during his first term, and Republican candidates are running on anti-Muslim sentiment as a major political platform for their base. Obama, a Christian, was born in Hawaii. We also wanted to encourage Christians to seek people of the Islamic faith, to build relationships and have conversation. Not necessarily. However, the Islamic Society of Baltimore is affiliated with the Islamic Society of North America, which federal prosecutors in 2007 named a radical Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas front and an unindicted terrorist co-conspirator in a scheme to funnel more than $12 million to Hamas suicide bombers. Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Trump have voiced that concern. “I don’t think Barack Obama is being sued by any Islamic groups, but he is being sued by the Little Sisters of the Poor”, he said.
Sure, the mainstream media will attempt to cover up the real story of the mosque Obama selected. In a speech at Cairo University, he declared that the USA would never be at war with Islam.
The president called on Americans to embrace their “common humanity” and reject the “inexcusable” anti-Islam rhetoric emanating from some presidential candidates.
‘ The first non-white president of the U.S. also had no qualms about identifying the racial component of Islamophobia: ‘Sikh Americans and others who are perceived to be Muslims have been targeted, as well.
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Despite Muslims’ efforts in Europe and the United States to tackle Islamophobia, the phenomenon seems to be on the rise.
