After every terrorist attack in the Western World I look for the “B” word in the news the next day. Here we go:
The San Jose Mercury News- Among London’s Muslims, fears of backlash linger, but quietly
Newsday- U.S. Muslims denounce London bombings, brace for backlash
Vive le Canada- Canuck Muslims dread backlash
Monsters & Critics- Australian Moslems fear backlash after London bombs
India Monitor- Muslims cower in fear of backlash
See, here is the thing. Whenever a terrorist attack like this occurs, the cold, dispassionate, analytical side of me asks, “why is the average citizen so afraid to get back aboard that plane, train, or bus the very next day?” The attack was temporally and spatially isolated and not something they must continue to cower in fear of. Aside from not giving the terrorists what they want, the probability that there will be another attack within days or months of the original is just not backed up by the data. The compassionate side of me realizes however, that humans are humans. Fear, real or imagined, is part of who we are and keeps us alive.
For people with brown skin, and especially Muslims, the actual attack is just the beginning of a terrorist incident however. For this group an attack is not a temporally or spatially isolated event. The moment that the physical attack ends is when the real fear begins for a sizeable portion of the population (as shown by the headlines above). With a terrorist attack you don’t know when it’s going to come. You realize that you shouldn’t live your life in fear so you go about your day quite normally, perhaps being slightly more attentive. The general population has a Homeland Security Department to warn them of a possible terrorist attack by means of a color coded system. After a terrorist attack however, if you are brown or Muslim, you need your own system. You have knowledge of credible but unspecified threats.
My point? This is exactly what Reza Aslan stresses. This isn’t a war between Islam and the West. This is a war between Islam and Islam. Brown-on-Brown violence. The West is often just caught in the crossfire because they provide the most dramatic field of battle.
New California Media posts this article by Sandip Roy, Notes From a Brown Man in London:
The little Internet cafe I am writing from is in the heart of Brick Lane. This is where much of England’s Bangladeshi community, mostly Muslim, lives. Shops sell burkhas and prayer mats. The supermarket sells stacks of gleaming silvery rui and boal fish flown in from Bangladesh. Restaurants have names like Monsoon and Nazrul and Naz Café. After Sept. 11, 2001, police were posted outside the Jamie Masjid here to keep the peace. This time they are not there.
“Perhaps we don’t really need them,” says Zahid, a law student from Bangladesh who has lived here since 2002. “After all, we are the majority here now.” The areas around Brick Lane are 70 percent Muslim.
But will the attacks scar the image of Muslims in Britain? Zahid, the law student, sighs. “The people who did this can’t be genuine Muslims. How can genuine Muslims kill so many innocent people going to work?” Outside the shuttered Aldgate tube station a forlorn poster is getting soaked in the drizzle. It advertises an exhibition and seminar organized by a Sufi school. “Non Violence: A Choice — 4th to 10th July, Goldsmiths College,” it reads.
