OT: Fwd: All Muslims Are Not Death Eaters or Phanfasms!

[Dave Hardenbrook]

No: HPFGUIDX 26123

I was sent this by good friend, and as I think it's very important,
I've decided to post it, even though it's way OT...

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From: Julie Stauffer <juliestauffer at yahoo.com>
To: Carol Tiveron <greenwithnv at home.com>
Date: Friday, September 14, 2001, 10:44:16 AM
Subject: We are united, they are divided

"I am a prisoner in my home.  I can't go outside.  My
daughter's school was shut down because of the fear that someone
would try to harm those children. My neighbors are outside, they
hate me anyway.

I honestly fear that they are doing something to my car or that
they will do  something to us when we come outside, because,
eventually, we will have to leave the house.

Were those pictures from Palestine outrageous? Yes.
But were you seeing  the whole truth? Think about it.  I saw the
footage... on CNN and MSNBC, and also on an Arabic satellite channel,
Jazeera, which is like CNN for Arabs.  What I saw on Jazeera and
other Arab stations was NOT what I saw
on American tv. On American TV I saw a group of about 15 people,
mostly children, cheering, waving flags for the cameras, and
jumping around.  I saw this tape being played over and over again.
I heard the commentators first say that it was an Arab Israeli
village. Then they  said it was in Nablus, in Occupied Territories.
THEN they said it is in Jerusalem.  I'm sure later today, they'll say
it was in Brooklyn.

What I saw on Jazeera and other channels was this... those
15 people, doing their thing.  Then I saw dozens of Palestinians
shaking their heads in disgust and walking away, I saw Palestinians
booing the people who were celebrating.  I saw the Palestinian police
come and break the celebration up, only a few minutes into it.  I saw
members of the P.A. gov't denouncing this celebration.

Did you see that part?

Here's the 411: Suicide is against Islam, killing non-
combatants is against Islam, killing women, children, old men,
servants, monks and priests, this is all against Islam.  IF the
acts yesterday were carried out by so-called "Muslims," expect
the Muslims to be first in line denouncing and condemning them
(as our major organizations already are).  Our religion teaches
that there is a place in the HELLFIRE for "people" who do things
like what happened yesterday.  We are there praying not just for
the MUSLIM victims of the violence (there are hundreds of Muslims
who work in the WTC, Muslim police, Muslim firefighters, doctors,
nurses, engineers, and so on), but for ALL the
victims and their families.  WE ARE HUMAN TOO, whether we
are here or in Kabul or Palestine.  We bleed the same as you, and we
cry the same as you.

Don't believe the hype people.  Even if the ... dogs
who did this were named Ahmed or Usama.. it wasn't me, it wasn't Joe
Palestinian, it wasn't your Muslim doctor or your Muslim co-worker.
I am asking everyone out there to speak up against the anti
Muslim, anti Arab rhetoric we are hearing all over the country today.
I am asking you to step in when you see a Muslim women in  hijab
(trad'l dress) being harrassed.  I am asking you to speak up against the
rhetoric on tv and radio, of restricting civil rights, of legalizing
profiling of Muslims and Middle Easterners.  I am asking you to speak out
against any harrassment and violence against Muslims and MEers in
your cities.

We need to show both the "people" who did this and the people now
comparing Arabs to Satan (Fox News) that we, as Americans
of all faiths and no faiths, we are BETTER than that.

My sister said the same thing. She lives in Brooklyn.
Some of the Palistinians who have immigrated to our country had
been calling America the Great Satan or something like that.
Gee, I know all of us Mozlems and Ay-rabs look alike
to you, but please stop.

I've never heard Palestinians, especially the ones
who come here, say 'Great Satan.' That is a term used by
revolutionary Iranians and Iraqi supporters of the Ba'ath Party
(Saddam's party).  The political views held by those two groups
are NOT held by the vast majority of Muslims or Ay-rabs.
In fact, we have as many diverse viewpoints, politically and
culturally, as anyone else does (gasp).  We're not some
bearded and black veiled monolith saying 'Down with America!'
I've never known a Palestinian here, and yes, I have had
Palestinians in my own home (gasp again!) to be anything
but law abiding,  people who want to be citizens of our
country, people who own businesses here, and work here, who pay
taxes, and go to school here and raise their kids here, and
GUESS WHAT?  Normal people like me, like my
friends, WE ARE THE MAJORITY of this Arab and Muslim
community, it is NOT the other way around. Those sick dogs like
Usama bin Ladin, he does NOT speak for us.

For what it's worth (probably not a lot, since I'm
one of 'them'), I've never heard any Muslim -- Ay-rab, Pakistani,
African, European (oh, you mean, there are Muslims in Europe??) or
American -- say 'Great Satan,' or say stuff like that.
You're right we are in fear.  We're in fear that
people who think it is their "patriotic duty" will attack us after
listening to the hate rhetoric being spewed in the media and in the
diners of America.  I can't leave my home. I can't send my daughter to
school.  

Yes, God help me, because I wear a head veil, and God reward me for
that too. God help my husband because he has a beard.  We are Americans
just as much as you are, and we should have the right to go to the store
without being spit upon or kicked and punched.  Yes, we have to stay out
of the streets because we remember Oklahoma City, we  remember more than
200 Muslims and Arab Americans being beaten and assaulted and harassed
(and those were just the ones who filed police reports) until it was
revealed that (oops) the perpetrator was a White Christian veteran and
not some swarthy and dark and mysterious Ay-rab or Mozlem.

We are crying too.  We are in mourning too.  There were Muslims of all
nationalities working there, hundreds of them.  There are Muslim
firefighters, cops, EMTs, doctors, nurses, structural engineers,
construction and sanitation workers down there in the trenches of
Manhattan trying to save any survivors.

Remember that when you're talking about "them."  I am the
"them," and so are your neighbors, co-workers, doctors, and
teachers.  We are 7 million in this country.  We are not the "other,"
we are as much a part of American society as you or anyone else.


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