I just signed an open letter by Prakash Kashwan of the University of Connecticut, to be submitted to the New York Times by 23 December 2015 (Please click the link here to sign). It justly rails against the growing intolerance directed at Muslims in this country. He notes, for instance, how fear is growing apace. Drawing on US history, he observes that fear can
“…disconnect us from reason and have devastating consequences. The reduction in immigrants’ rights codified by the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, the restrictions on free speech established by the Espionage and Sedition Acts of 1917-18, and the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII were all policies born from fear, and all resound throughout history as stark contradictions to American values.”
A more recent example of this kind of contravening of dominant American values was what is now termed the McCarthy era. In the 1950s, the fear of Communism grew so great in this country that anyone suspected of Communist (or even Socialist) leanings was branded as an enemy of the state. The House Committee on Un-American Activities, initiated in 1945, grew in power and influence, reaching its heights of oppression in the early to mid-1950s, with Joseph McCarthy leading the anti-Communist crusade, supported enthusiastically by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. Their victims were denied due process of law, lost their jobs, and were discriminated against in ways that we now recognize as patently unjust (see e.g., http://www.trackedinamerica.org/timeline/mccarthy_era/intro/).
Let us hope that our fears of ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the Taliban do not stimulate a repetition of such shameful policies and behaviour. Islamic extremism, like the Communism of the mid 20th century, carries with it actions and policies that we also abhor; but that does not mean we should paint all Muslim citizens and immigrants, most of whom are peaceful good people, with this damning brush.