OK, here’s the real question: Did Juan Williams tap into something we all might be feeling, but perhaps could not admit? Is he us?
The veteran news analyst for National Public Radio was on Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor” and said that when he sees people in “Muslim garb” on a plane, “I get worried. I get nervous.”
For a moment, let’s put aside the question of whether Williams’ termination by NPR was justified. My question is this: Is it ever OK for a public person to express a specific fear about a specific group of people in a specific situation, a fear that might be construed as a condemnation of that group as a whole?
“No,” said one person I asked. “Not unless that person is also of the same group. If he were Muslim, it would have been OK.”
Her comment recalled a “Roots of Racism” seminar I enrolled in years ago. When one white male participant blurted out, “I’m sorry, but if I’m walking alone at night I just get more scared seeing a black man coming toward me than I do a white man.” There was a collective gasp from the group, which subsided only when the lone black male participant responded, “Yes, and to tell the truth, so do I!”
So, are we of one group prohibited from expressing such a fear about those in another group, even when the situation we fear is statistically rational? The crime rate for blacks is higher that that for whites. And more to the point, recent terrorist attempts, successful and unsuccessful, have been almost exclusively perpetuated by Islamic terrorists.
“Yes, I agree that’s true,” said a friend, but “perhaps it’s about not throwing kerosene on tinder regarding matters so controversial.”
Another concurred, “It was insensitive and he should have known it would be taken out of context.”
Which, of course, it was. A media frenzy ensued. I had to hear four reports before I learned that Williams had actually provided his own context, when he promptly added, “It would be wrong to call all Muslims extremists because some are terrorists.”
Others I’ve talked to praised Williams for his candor. “We liberals have been cowed by ‘political correctness,’ ” said one. “If we say anything that strays from the liberal left orthodoxy, we get identified with the ultra-conservative right.”
And yes, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich immediately glommed onto Williams’ “worried and nervous” theme to support their personal anti-Islam rants and political purposes.
On Aug. 19, Time magazine published a cover story titled, “Islamophobia: Does America have a Muslim Problem?” Its conclusions were decidedly mixed.
The article began with a story about a respected Muslim doctor who presented a proposal to build a mosque to the planning board of the county in which he had practiced medicine for five years. Outraged community members greeted him with such comments as: “No! Islam is a religion of hate,” “Muslims murder their children,” and “I just don’t want it in my backyard.”
Some of the anti-Islam speakers were his patients, who trusted him completely.
In contrast, Time later reported that although 61 percent of Americans were against the proposal to build a mosque at ground zero, a full 55 percent of us would favor building a mosque in our own neighborhood.
I do not oppose the mosque at ground zero, nor would I oppose one in my neighborhood. Yet I also think it was OK, perhaps useful, for Williams to express his own fears, which probably echo what 90 percent of us, myself included, might feel when in that airplane setting.
In our multicultural society, there has to be room for a person to be both sensitive and honest. Fears like this not expressed will be repressed, often to come out later in a more toxic form.
Let’s not cap our liberal accomplishments with a liberal McCarthyism. Williams should have kept his job.
Dottie Lamm, former first lady of Colorado, is a social worker who volunteers at the Somali Community Center of Colorado.
