Excellent article -- let us remember that this is both a national and a global tragedy -- one that has taken its toll on too numerous innocent victims -- let's not make any more.  I resolve here and now to pass this on to all friends, associates and family.  I will not tolerate any
more hatred and attacks on my fellow citizens.

David Bingell

"Dr. Abdullah Alsharekh" wrote:

> Dear Listers,
>
> I excuse you all in posting this article, which I hope you all,
> everywhere,may find it worth reading and realizing the deep emotions it
> carries with it.
>
> Abdullah.
>
> The Washington Post
> "I'm Not the Enemy"
>  By Reshma Memon Yaqub
>  Thursday, September 13, 2001; Page A31
>
>  The horror is unspeakable. Like every American, I am paralyzed by the
>  carnage on the news, on our streets. My head pounds, thinking of the grief
>  engulfing thousands of families whose loved ones were killed or injured
>  Tuesday. When I close my eyes, I see bodies tumbling from the windows of
>  skyscrapers.
>
>  As the attack unfolded, I panicked, racing through what until this moment
>  had felt like a safe, suburban neighborhood to find my son and his
>  babysitter, who were playing, as usual, at a nearby park. I begged my
>  husband, who was at work in a prominent Washington building, to come home.
>  With the phone lines going in and out, I felt sure that it just wasn't
> over.
>
>  Like every American, I am afraid. Wondering what this means for us.
>  Wondering whether it's over, or when and where the next attack will take
>  place. It's the first time I've felt the kind of fear I imagine that
>  people in other countries feel when they are at war.
>
>  Like every American, I am outraged. And I want justice. But perhaps unlike
>  many other Americans, I'm feeling something else too. A different kind of
>  fear. I'm feeling what my 6 million fellow American Muslims are feeling --
>  the fear that we too will be considered guilty in the eyes of America, if
> it
>  turns out that the madmen behind this terrorism were Muslim.
>
> I feel as though I've suddenly become the enemy of two groups -- those
>  who wish to hurt Americans, and those Americans who wish to strike back.
>  It's a frightening corner to be in. In the past, when lone Muslims have
>  committed acts of terrorism -- or have been mistakenly assumed to be
> guilty, as in Oklahoma City -- hate crimes have abounded against American
> Muslims
>  who look like they're from "that part of the world," against American
>  mosques, against American children in Muslim schools who pray to the same
>  peace-loving God as Jews and Christians.
>
>  I am now not just afraid, as we all are, for our safety as Americans. I am
>  also afraid for the safety of my sisters-in-law, who wear head scarves in
>  public, and I implore them not to walk alone in the streets of our
> hometown.
> I am afraid for my brother, a civil rights lawyer who defends Muslims in
>  high-profile discrimination cases. I am afraid to hear people openly state
>  that Muslim blood is worthless and deserves to be spilled, as I heard when
>
>  I was in college during the Persian Gulf War. I am afraid that my son won't
>  understand why strangers aren't smiling at him the way they used to. I am
>  afraid that we will be dehumanized because of our skin color, or features,
>  or clothing. My heart aches each time a friend or relative calls, CNN
> blaring
>  in the background, and sadly reminds me, "It's over for us now. Muslims are
>  done for."
>  I was briefly heartened to hear author Tom Clancy, interviewed on CNN,
>  explaining that Islam is a peaceful religion and that we as Americans must
>  not let go of our ideals of religious tolerance, because it's the way our
>  country behaves when it's been hurt that really reflects who we are.
>
> Still, I'm afraid that Americans might view the televised images of a few
>  misguided and deeply wounded people overseas celebrating the pain that
>  America is now feeling, and will assume that I too must share that
>  anti-American sentiment, that I, or my family, or my community, or my
>  religion, could be part of the problem. In fact, every major American
>  Muslim organization has decried this violence against us all. In fact,
>  Islam forbids such acts of violence. In fact, all the Muslims I know
> cringe at the idea of our faith being used, abused, in the name of political
>  agendas.
>  And though I, like other Americans, want the perpetrators brought to
>  justice, I shudder to think of the innocent lives that may be unnecessarily
> lost
>  overseas in that pursuit. Children like ours. Mothers like us.
>  Every time I hear of an act of terrorism, I have two prayers. My first is
>  for the victims and their families. My second is, please don't let it be a
>  Muslim. Because unlike when an act of terrorism is committed by a
> Christian or a Jew, when it is a Muslim, it's not considered an isolated act
>  perpetrated by an isolated group of madmen. The entire faith is
>  characterized as barbaric, as inhuman. And, my fellow Americans, I
>  stand before you, as broken as you are, to tell you that it's not. That
>  we are not. That we Muslims love our country as you do, and that we are
>  bleeding and grieving alongside you.
>
>  Reshma Memon Yaqub is a journalist who lives in Montgomery County.
>  © 2001 The Washington Post Company
>
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