Showing posts with label Jacksonville. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jacksonville. Show all posts
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Jacksonville, Florida Mosque Bombing and the Othering of American Muslims
Last Monday, a pipe bomb combined with gasoline exploded in back of the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville. Sixty people were worshiping inside at the time. No one was injured, although the building suffered minor damage and filled with smoke for a short time. A $20,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the bomber, who was captured on surveillance camera. He appears to be a middle aged white male.
The national media has not picked up the story of the Jacksonville mosque bombing to any great extent. If you do a Google News search for "Jacksonville Mosque" you will turn up numerous stories from the Florida press, as well as an assortment of national blogs discussing the fact that the national media has ignored this story, but not much else. Most of these national blogs note the implied prejudice of major news outlets failing to pick up what certainly appears to be an attempted terrorist attack that could have killed 60 people, but whose victims are Muslim.
I don't disagree with these bloggers. However, I think even they are guilty of what scholars sometimes call "othering
." They are outraged at the act itself, and at the media for failing to cover it. But they don't go as far as to express empathy with the community that was attacked. They are reacting to the politics, but not to the impact of the attack itself. Someone has attacked those "other" people, and we (presumably "typical") people are outraged by the attack and outraged at the media. But we aren't caring for the victims.For the religiously affiliated among you, try to imagine how you might feel if your church or synagogue were attacked. How safe would you feel at the next service? How confident would you feel parking in the parking lot? How much sleep would you lose? How much grief might you feel for actual damage done? And how much anticipatory grief might you feel at the thought of damage that might yet be done?
Now imagine that the bulk of those who support your congregation expressed that support by insisting that the news cover the incident. Surely you'd appreciate that. There's nothing wrong with taking a firm stand that such attacks are unacceptable regardless of who the victims are, and that media should report them without bias. But wouldn't you want some of those same folks to stop by your church or synagogue or your house? Wouldn't you want them to try to understand your fear and how very personally you took this attack? Wouldn't you want people to stand up, not just for you, but also with you?
I have nothing against the bloggers who have pointed out the media's bias. It needs to be done. But it is only the first step. I challenge my blogging brethren not just to cover the politics of this attack and its coverage, but to really try to understand how it feels to be a victim of it, and bring that experience to their readers. Until we are able, as a blogosphere, to see victims of anti-Islamic violence as "us" rather than "them," it will continue to be easy for people to turn that othering to violence.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Meet the Quarterback
- Naomi Zikmund-Fisher
- is a clinical social worker, former school Principal and a Crisis Consultant for schools and community organizations. You can learn more about her at www.SchoolCrisisConsultant.com
Subscribe
Posts
All Comments