GOATMILK continues its original and exclusive month long series entitled “Facing Race: Muslims and Islam”featuring diverse Muslim writers from around the world discussing race, ethnicity, prejudice, stereotyping and multiculturalism in the post 9-11 world.
Airport Celebrities- Flying While Brown
Sherri Eldin
NOTE: THIS IS A TRUE STORY.
November 2007, Orlando International Airport: My parents, my 17-year-old brother Ali, and I are returning from a college visit for Ali. Why was I along, you might ask? Because even though the tour was only about 3 hours and baby bro was an obnoxious teenager who wouldn’t want to be caught dead with his family, Mom had naturally turned it into a 3-day family vacation at Universal Studios.
Now here we are at the airport, sick of each other and ready to get home and go our separate ways, when we hit a snag: the guy at the check-in counter informs us that someone in our party has been selected for a security check. I jump at the opportunity for adventure
“You said ‘someone’, right? As in, any one of us?”
“Yeah.”
“Take me!”
“What?” He’s confused. Why would a young woman volunteer to be detained by national security and potentially strip-searched, cavity-searched, who knows what else? Read the rest of this entry »
http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/story?id=7248471
Most Back Outreach to Muslim Nations, but Suspicion and Unfamiliarity Persist
Analysis By GARY LANGER
April 5, 2009—
With President Obama in Turkey for a two-day visit, an ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that Americans overwhelmingly support U.S. outreach to Muslim nations — but many also express continued suspicion of the world’s second-largest religion.
Americans by 48-41 percent hold an unfavorable opinion of Islam — its highest unfavorable rating in ABC/Post polls since 2001. And 29 percent express the belief that mainstream Islam encourages violence against non-Muslims — down slightly from its peak, but double what it was early in 2002.
Click here for PDF with charts and questions.
Unfamiliarity is a central factor in these views. Fifty-five percent of Americans concede that they lack a good basic understanding of Islam; about as many, 53 percent, don’t personally know a Muslim. People who profess an understanding of Islam, or know a Muslim, have much more positive views of the religion. Read the rest of this entry »
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-obama-turkey7-2009apr07,0,641778.story?track=rss
Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images
President Obama shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today during a bilateral meeting at the Prime Minister’s residence in Ankara. Obama called on Turkey and Armenia to “move forward” in fence-mending talks and signaled he would not interfere in their dispute over whether the massacre of Armenians a century ago was “genocide.”
Speaking in Turkey, the president strongly and decisively calls for a greater partnership with the Muslim world.
By Christi Parsons and Laura King
7:31 AM PDT, April 6, 2009
Reporting from Istanbul and Ankara — President Barack Obama, making his first official visit to a Muslim-majority nation, declared today that the United States “is not, and will never be, at war with Islam.”
The ringing affirmation of partnership came during a speech to Turkey’s parliament but was clearly addressed to a far wider audience: the entire Muslim world. The speech was widely watched outside Turkey’s borders, with live coverage on Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, the largest Arabic-language satellite channels.
In a 26-minute speech to lawmakers, punctuated several times by applause, Obama also reiterated American support for Turkey’s efforts to join the European Union — although only a day earlier, key European partners France and Germany renewed their own reservations about the bid.
Read the rest of this entry »
GOATMILK continues its original and exclusive month long series entitled “Facing Race: Muslims and Islam”featuring diverse Muslim writers from around the world discussing race, ethnicity, prejudice, stereotyping and multiculturalism in the post 9-11 world.
Breaking Matzah, Growing up Muslim Amongst Jews
ZEBA KHAN
As a Muslim-American, I realize that my diploma from the Hebrew Academy of Toledo is an unusual credential. But in the context of my family and our identity, it makes perfect sense. Read the rest of this entry »
April 5, 2009
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/world/europe/05muslims.html?ref=global
Andrea Frazzetta for Yalla Italia
An editorial meeting of Yalla Italia, which runs articles on how Muslims relate to non-Muslims.
MILAN — On one side of a drab street in working-class Milan, a squat structure houses a conservative mosque that was once believed to be a hub of radical Islam in Italy. Even now, after a government crackdown drove off extremists, the mosque’s deeply conservative members remain mostly aloof from Italian society.
Across the street, the newsroom of Yalla Italia (Let’s Go, Italy) churns out a magazine written by “2Gs” — or second-generation immigrants — that tries to introduce Italians to the cultures of its new residents and to help young Muslim immigrants navigate their dual identities.
The message behind articles and blog posts like “To wear or not to wear a burkini?” and “How to match kaftans with jeans” is clear: it is possible to assimilate without losing a Muslim identity. Read the rest of this entry »
