By: Dr. Aref Assaf
Published in The Record 12/05/14
All police officers are racists, if not terrorists. Every day, we hear of innocent citizens being brutally killed, beaten or denied their basic rights. Our nation is in turmoil over alleged and real police brutality.
Sounds extreme? So does the charge that all Muslims are terrorists.
The truth is that 99.99 percent of police officers are decent, law-abiding people who obey police regulations and those of the country at large. Our safety is maintained and our property is protected by the unrelenting pursuit of criminals of all kinds of police.
For the bigots, just apply the same basic rule to Muslims, who are the primary target of false allegations of “Islamic” terrorism. More Muslims have been victim of this curse than Christians and Jews combined. Collective castigation of any large group is devoid of any truth, and such behavior precludes the kind of solution we aspire to achieve. Casting a wide net serves no good purpose.
Aref Assaf is president of the American Arab Forum.
