With the wonderful news that the good people of the Indiana Seventh have elected Andre Carson to fill his late grandmother’s term, making him the second Muslim ever to serve in Congress. I wrote about the first Muslim elected to Congress, Keith Ellison, in the journal Religion in the News. I think that it is time to review how far we have come in our acceptance of Muslims in public life.
After Keith Ellison’s election, Virgil Goode (VA-5) told his constituents,
"I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies that I believe are necessary to preserve the values and beliefs traditional to the United States of America," "If American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran."
Now Keith Ellison was born in Detroit so Goode is not only a racist, but also a poor researcher. Fortunately, there was widespread condemnation of Goode’s remarks. The Washington Post said that Goode, in "a state of xenophobic delirium," was "evidently napping in class the day they taught the traditional American values of tolerance, diversity and religious freedom." On December 28, the Charlotte Observer called the letter "further evidence of the sad decline in Virginia’s contribution to democratic thought."
Since then how have we come? Not far. A Pew Study in 2007 shows that Public attitudes about Muslims and Islam have grown more negative in recent years. Pat Robertson says that Muslim politicians will destroy America. The fact is that thanks to the Bush Administration and the neo-con right who imagine America in constant marathon of the television show "24", Americans are now more afraid of the brown, the black, the stranger and the Muslim than ever before. It is for this reason that we have to take note of every little victory this country manages.
The election of Andre Carson, a secular Muslim, is a good sign in America. Not that we are electing more Muslims to Congress, but that we (or at least the citizens of the Indiana 7th) can look beyond race and religion into the quality of a person’s beliefs and actions to determine their fitness for a job. Ellison was forced by the national media to be the standard bearer for Muslim politicians...Carson can be further proof that that the Muslims elected in this decade are better representatives than many of Christian leaders before them.
PS. And what about Rep. Goode? He is about to face the first re-election campaign since his vile comments and for the first time in a long while he is facing a strong challenge. Tom Perriello is running a well-funded passionate campaign to not just replace Goode, but also change the type of politics that is being practiced in Southside Virginia. Tom is a true progressive who knows that the status quo hasn’t helped the unemployed in Danville and the impoverished throughout the district. He is just the type of candidate Blue Majority needs to rally around. Unseating Goode will be just the kind of progress our country needs to rid itself of the bigotry it loves to ignore.