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Loyalty exam for Muslim-Americans
11/11/2009
- Political Social - Article Ref: IV0911-3988
Number of comments: 8
Opinion Summary: Agree:5 Disagree:3 Neutral:0
By: Cenk Uygur
Iviews* -
Predictably, after the Ft. Hood shooting some conservatives are suggesting that we do some sort of loyalty exam for Muslim-Americans before allowing them into the US military. Who is "we"? Who gets to do this exam? What, presumably more American people like whites or Christians?
Why don't Muslim Americans decide which Christians get to enter the US military? Oh, does that sound offensive? Does it sound weird? Why should it sound any different than Christians getting to decide which other Americans they will allow into the US military?
A lot of people are rightfully making the point that you can not generalize about millions of Muslims in this country based on two guys. Just as you cannot generalize about all right-leaning white Christians (let alone all Christians in their entirety) based on what domestic terrorists like Tim McVeigh did, or Terry Nichols, or Eric Rudolph, or Scott Roeder or ...
But there is a more important point here. Muslims Americans don't have to prove a damn thing. They are Americans just like anyone else, whether right-wing conservatives
like it or not. They are not 80% American. They are not 90% as American as conservatives. You don't get to judge how American they are.
Here is the unalterable fact that the right-wing of this country has to get used to: Muslim-Americans are 100% American. There are no degrees of how American you are. They have the same exact rights, privileges and responsibilities as any other American does. They don't have to answer to conservatives.
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I'm agnostic now, but I was born Muslim. My whole family is Muslim. They're all Americans. Not one of them is one percent less of an American than any other race or religion in this country. My family became American by becoming naturalized. If anything, that shows that we are even more loyal to this country. Our citizenship is not an accident of birth, we chose America.
If someone challenges how American I am based on my race, ethnicity or religion (or lack thereof), them's fightin' words. These colors don't run. There is no one in the country more American than I am.
And at least I understand the whole point of the country. We are all created equal. We all have the same rights. We do not judge people based on their race or religion. That is part and parcel of what America is all about. And if you don't understand that, I question how American you are.
Cenk Uygur is host of The
Young Turks, the first ever live, daily web television talk show. He is a
graduate of the University of Pennsylvania - Wharton School of Business and
Columbia University Law School. He worked as a lawyer, television writer and
television host before starting The Young Turks. Cenk also blogs on Huffington
Post, Daily Kos, Politico and AOL Newsbloggers.
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