Muslims' acceptance in U.S. society

Muslims'
acceptance in U.S.
society still an
issue, notes the
outgoing Islamic
Society of North
America leader

The Indianapolis Star
Sunday, 26 September 2010

Ingrid Mattson made history four years ago
by being elected the first female president
of the Plainfield-based Islamic Society of
North America.

But her groundbreaking didn't stop there.

Mattson and other Islamic Society leaders
forged new partnerships with major
national Jewish and Christian organizations.
And her prominence in interfaith circles
landed her a role with other faith leaders in
the inaugural festivities of President Barack
Obama.

Yet the achievements of Mattson's tenure
as the organization's president, which
comes to an end this weekend, have been
tempered somewhat by the realities of life
right now for American Muslims -- many of
whom feel less secure than at any time
since shortly after the 9/11 terrorist
attacks.

During the recently completed Muslim holy
month of Ramadan, loud objections were
raised to a plan to build an Islamic center
in New York City because it was within a
few blocks of Ground Zero. A Florida
pastor threatened to burn Islam's holy
book. And Newt Gingrich, the former
House speaker and a potential presidential
candidate, made an analogy between the
New York mosque planners and Nazis who
would plant their insignia near a Holocaust
museum.

"There were a few days during that month,"
Mattson said, "where I felt that I am coming
to the end of nine years of constant service
(including five as the society's vice
president) and, 'This is where we are now?'
"

Mattson has said her tenure as president
has been, in many ways, one crisis after
another -- from responding to a new wave
of anti-Muslim commentary to responding
to attacks by Muslim extremists, such as
her denunciation of the murder of Christian
civilian aid workers by Taliban fighters in
Afghanistan as against the "foundation of
Islam."

"I think the biggest challenge," she said,
"was not to simply be reactionary."

Mattson, 47, is leaving as president
because of the society's two-term limit, but
she will remain on its executive council. Her
successor hasn't officially been named. The
current vice president, All Dulles Area
Muslim Society imam Mohamed Magid, was
the only nominee on a presidential ballot
that also had room for write-ins. His
confirmation as the new president was
expected today.

As a white, Canadian-born, Catholic
convert to Islam, Mattson put a new face on
the leadership of an organization
previously led by immigrants from Africa
and Asia.

Arsalan Iftikhar, media commentator and
founder of TheMuslimGuy.com, further
noted the importance of gender.

"Whenever you have a historical or political
'first' of this kind within a community,"
Iftikhar said, "it tends to chip away at some
of the gender stereotypes and glass
ceilings that occur within society and allows
our little girls to keep dreaming that they
can be whatever they want to be when they
grow up."

Mattson said she was well-received at
mosques and Islamic societies around the
country, even at places that still have
progress to make in expanding the role of w
omen. But the ongoing struggle for
acceptance of Muslims within the broader
American society has been a bigger
concern.

Mattson said there are some key factors
making that difficult:

President Obama. Not the president
himself, she said, but Obama's political
adversaries who are determined to oppose
him at every turn -- including his attempts
to improve relations with the Muslim world
and to note the contributions of Muslim
Americans.

Obama mentioned Muslims in his inaugural
address and made a major speech in Cairo
promoting American-Muslim relations.

"Now," Mattson said, "opposition to Obama
takes the form also of opposition to e
verything he says about Islam and
Muslims."

Noise from the blogosphere and
elsewhere. Mattson said the many anti-
Muslim blogs, books and authors have
been using the actions of Muslim extremists
to promote their political, religious and
ideological agendas. Years of such noise
are having an effect, she said, "that is just
cumulative."

Nine years of war in Muslim countries. The
enemies in the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq -- the ones killing American troops
and committing acts of terrorism -- have
been Muslims. The drumbeat of the news
and commentary has been a daily
reminder of those facts. What is lost in all
that, Mattson said, is that "many Americans
have forgotten that the ally was Muslim."

What former Secretary of State Colin Powell
described in a GQ interview as the "terror
industrial complex." As Powell put it,
billions of dollars are being spent on
homeland security, and an array of
companies have arisen whose success
depends on keeping the threats of
terrorism pumped up.

"There's a lot of money in it. There are a lot
of people making careers out of it. It is now
institutionalized," Mattson said. "They have
to really keep fear alive to keep selling
their product."

Despite the difficulties, Mattson said she is
optimistic about the future of Muslims in
America because of the fundamental
quality of generosity and fairness in
ordinary Americans.
"If they have access to the right
information," she said, "they are going to
be fair."

SOURCE: http://www.indystar.com/fdcp/?1285564082626