By Frank Cerabino
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 10:09 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010
Posted: 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010
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Dear Sheriff Ric Bradshaw:
First of all, I want to make it clear that it's your right to make room for the first Muslim chaplain in the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
We proudly live in the land of the free, and that includes the freedom of people to practice their religion, or in some cases, none at all. So, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you don't have the right to include Imam C.B. Hanif among the 25 members of the clergy who give comfort to your officers.
But did you have to do it? Isn't that being insensitive?
Please reconsider this brash action.
As you undoubtedly know, Palm Beach County is hallowed ground for retired New Yorkers.
So wouldn't it be more appropriate if the sheriff's office in say, Sebring or Palatka, became the home of an Islamic chaplain?
Why in Palm Beach County, of all places?
Are you looking to have another "Mosque at Ground Zero" controversy on your hands?
OK, I know, it's actually an Islamic Cultural Center, and it's not at Ground Zero, but actually at the site of an old Burlington Coat Factory two blocks away in lower Manhattan.
But for political purposes, it's a mosque at Ground Zero, and useful fodder for whipping up timely election-season hysteria.
Shouldn't you be more sensitive to this, Sheriff Bradshaw?
I know Hanif is a solid guy. I used to work with him. He's a terrific choice.
But that's beside the point. Shouldn't you be more concerned with making bigots feel justified by showing deference to their delusions?
Here's a taste of what I'm talking about, a comment from a reader posted on this newspaper's Web site in reaction to the story announcing Hanif's inclusion among your chaplains:
"That evil so-called 'religion' should be barred from the US, and ALL Muslims, regardless of their job, etc., should be deported from our country! That is the only way we are ever going to truly protect ourselves, instead of punishing all citizens of the country for these evil people! Does Hanif beat his wife, and make her cover head to toe, etc., like all Muslims do? If so, that is classified as domestic abuse in this state!"
You have an opportunity to fan these flames of ignorance and hatred. By reconsidering your inclusion of Hanif you can play a vital role in the national effort to perpetuate the useful propaganda that the 9/11 attacks by a small band of Muslim extremists were actually attacks on America by a world religion that's practiced by nearly a quarter of the Earth's population, including several million Americans.
This is no time for reason, Sheriff Bradshaw. Only sensitivity that serves a political purpose.
Muslims just happen to be one of the scapegoats during this election cycle.
It used to be that it was enough just to thump on the gays every election year. But we've added the brown menace from south of the border this year, and for good measure, tossed the whole Islamic religion on the pile. Extreme measures for tough times are necessary.
Let's face it, Republicans can't run on their economic record of the past eight years, or their disastrous military adventurism. The best they can do is take cover under the tea party pseudonym and bank on their growing collection of scapegoats.
So please, Sheriff Ric, show them a little more sensitivity.
~frank_cerabino@pbpost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 10:09 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010
Posted: 3:15 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2010
Post a Comment E-mail Print ShareLarger Type Small Type
Dear Sheriff Ric Bradshaw:
First of all, I want to make it clear that it's your right to make room for the first Muslim chaplain in the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
We proudly live in the land of the free, and that includes the freedom of people to practice their religion, or in some cases, none at all. So, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying you don't have the right to include Imam C.B. Hanif among the 25 members of the clergy who give comfort to your officers.
But did you have to do it? Isn't that being insensitive?
Please reconsider this brash action.
As you undoubtedly know, Palm Beach County is hallowed ground for retired New Yorkers.
So wouldn't it be more appropriate if the sheriff's office in say, Sebring or Palatka, became the home of an Islamic chaplain?
Why in Palm Beach County, of all places?
Are you looking to have another "Mosque at Ground Zero" controversy on your hands?
OK, I know, it's actually an Islamic Cultural Center, and it's not at Ground Zero, but actually at the site of an old Burlington Coat Factory two blocks away in lower Manhattan.
But for political purposes, it's a mosque at Ground Zero, and useful fodder for whipping up timely election-season hysteria.
Shouldn't you be more sensitive to this, Sheriff Bradshaw?
I know Hanif is a solid guy. I used to work with him. He's a terrific choice.
But that's beside the point. Shouldn't you be more concerned with making bigots feel justified by showing deference to their delusions?
Here's a taste of what I'm talking about, a comment from a reader posted on this newspaper's Web site in reaction to the story announcing Hanif's inclusion among your chaplains:
"That evil so-called 'religion' should be barred from the US, and ALL Muslims, regardless of their job, etc., should be deported from our country! That is the only way we are ever going to truly protect ourselves, instead of punishing all citizens of the country for these evil people! Does Hanif beat his wife, and make her cover head to toe, etc., like all Muslims do? If so, that is classified as domestic abuse in this state!"
You have an opportunity to fan these flames of ignorance and hatred. By reconsidering your inclusion of Hanif you can play a vital role in the national effort to perpetuate the useful propaganda that the 9/11 attacks by a small band of Muslim extremists were actually attacks on America by a world religion that's practiced by nearly a quarter of the Earth's population, including several million Americans.
This is no time for reason, Sheriff Bradshaw. Only sensitivity that serves a political purpose.
Muslims just happen to be one of the scapegoats during this election cycle.
It used to be that it was enough just to thump on the gays every election year. But we've added the brown menace from south of the border this year, and for good measure, tossed the whole Islamic religion on the pile. Extreme measures for tough times are necessary.
Let's face it, Republicans can't run on their economic record of the past eight years, or their disastrous military adventurism. The best they can do is take cover under the tea party pseudonym and bank on their growing collection of scapegoats.
So please, Sheriff Ric, show them a little more sensitivity.
~frank_cerabino@pbpost.com
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
:lol:
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