Colin Powell
sets the record straight on Muslims.
IN HIS INTERVIEW Sunday on NBC's "Meet the
Press," Colin Powell said something about this
presidential race that urgently needed to be
said.
The interview made news because of his
endorsement of Barack Obama for president,
despite Powell's membership in the Republican
Party and his decades of friendship with John
McCain.
But the most important segment of the
interview was about something else. The former
secretary of state and chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff reminded his party of the
disturbing direction it has taken in this
presidential race.
There have been repeated hints that Obama is
Muslim in order to make people suspicious of
him. When someone at a rally said Obama couldn't
be trusted because he is "Arab," McCain
answered, "No, he's not. He's a decent family
man."
What is that really saying? American Muslims
are aware of the implied prejudice. In a letter
to The Record last week, Aref Assaf, the
president of the Paterson-based American Arab
Forum, wrote that he takes "strong exception to
the senator's suggestion that somehow, to be
decent, to be a good American, you can't be an
Arab as well. Arab-Americans have been loyal
citizens of this nation for more than 150 years
and have served in every war in which this
country was engaged."
Powell told Tom Brokaw that he is troubled by
the whisperings that Obama is Muslim and how
Republicans have responded:
"Well, the correct answer is, he is not a
Muslim; he's a Christian. He's always been a
Christian. But the really right answer is: What
if he is? Is there something wrong with being a
Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's
not America. Is there something wrong with some
7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he
or she could be president?"
Powell went on to say he feels strongly about
this because of a picture he saw in a magazine:
"It was a photo essay about troops who are
serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture
at the tail end of this photo essay was of a
mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her
head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as
the picture focused in, you could see the
writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards
— Purple Heart, Bronze Star — showed that he
died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of
death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the
very top of the headstone, it didn't have a
Christian cross; it didn't have the Star of
David; it had a crescent and a star of the
Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad
Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born
in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time
of Sept. 11, and he waited until he could go
serve his country, and he gave his life."
The young soldier Powell was speaking about
was from Manahawkin. He graduated from high
school and enlisted in the Army a few months
later. He died in Iraq last year.
"Now, we have got to stop polarizing
ourselves in this way," Powell said.
Polarization has been a continuing subtext —
and increasingly a major theme — of the
Republican presidential campaign. Repeated
attempts, both subtle and not so subtle, have
been made to paint Obama, his supporters and
anyone who disagrees with McCain or Sarah Palin
as different or "other" — people who are somehow
less American, less patriotic, less "real," less
supportive of small-town and heartland values,
less willing to put "country first." Muslims are
suspect because they could be linked to
terrorism — even though the overwhelming
majority of Muslims in this country and around
the world are peace-loving people.
The result has been divisive and ugly — and
deeply offensive.
Powell spoke of other important things that
he hopes the next president will do beyond
uniting all of us, including "talking to the
American people and talking to the world" —
restoring American leadership abroad and our
damaged credibility.
He talked about the need to help alleviate
poverty in the poorest countries. He talked
about America's "terrible educational problem in
the sense that we have too many youngsters not
finishing school. A third of our kids don't
finish high school; 50 percent of minorities
don't finish high school."
But the most important thing Powell did in
that interview was hold his party and its
candidates accountable and, in the last two
weeks of this historic race, inject some
much-needed civility, humanity and dignity into
the discussion.
Mary Ellen Schoonmaker is an editorial writer
and columnist for The Record. Contact her at
schoonmaker@northjersey.com.
