Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on December 30, 2009 that the political correctness of the government has made America less safe and that its attention to cultural sensitivities is to risk the lives of American citizens. He went further on to say that it is “time to profile for terrorists and to actively discriminate based on suspicious terrorist information.” So let’s dig a little deeper into Newt’s wording on this.
Even though the United Nations and the international community as a whole has not come up with the definition of terrorism, for the sake of this writing, we will list a few. Webster’s II New Riverside Dictionary says the word, terrorize means to control and dominate by intimidation and violence. Dictionary.com says it means to produce widespread fear by acts of violence, as bombings. In other words, specific acts or behavioral patterns are what defines terrorism. Studying these definitions, we tabulated some activities that qualify.
In 1985 the Philadelphia police department dropped a bomb on over 60 homes killing 6 people 5 of whom were children while trying to stop the activities of what they called a radical organization called MOVE. The majority of the victims were Black. On July 3, 1988, the US Navy shot down Iranian flight number 655, a commercial passenger plane killing 290 people. The final military conclusion blamed what it called an accident on psychological stress endured by men in combat. When then President George H.W Bush was asked about this, he said I don’t care what the evidence says I will never apologize for the actions of the United States. In 1963 four Black girls in Birmingham, Alabama were killed by a bomb that was set by members of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1995 the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City was bombed in which 168 people were killed. The media immediately speculated that Muslims were the perpetrators, yet when it was determined that the culprit was a White male who was also a veteran of the US military, and member of a militia organization the word terrorism disappeared seemed to go away. There is also the case of Randeep Mann, a medical doctor who allegedly bombed another doctor and is charged with using a “weapon of mass destruction.” Ironically enough he is not referred to as a terrorist.
In these instances which we will limit to avoid redundancy, all of them were committed by a certain mindset that only its perpetrators fully understand. Some were committed out of racism, some committed out of hatred for the US government, others were committed just to showcase the power of destruction. As stated by the earlier definitions the act is what defines terrorism not the philosophy that may or may not drive it.
If the American government began to profile according to the historical actions that have taken place, we can’t help but wonder how many people of color who were killed by corrupt members of law enforcement agencies might still be alive. If the American government began to profile according to the actions that have taken place, how many Blacks who were lynched by the KKK and other White supremacists might still be alive? If the American government began to profile for post traumatic syndrome according to the actions committed by those truly suffering from it, how many innocent deaths from military bombings could have been avoided?
The problem with Newt and those who think like him, is that they want to categorize anyone who thinks differently from them as dangerous to the US as a whole, thus making themselves and their actions beyond reproach as long as the philosophy that drives these actions is agreeable to them. The questions for Newt are: why won’t you work to create an international definition of terrorism, and then be prepared to hold your own to that same standard?
Do you classify organizations that hate the US government and have racial animosity similar to those which Timothy McVeigh belonged as terrorist? Are people who show tendencies toward racism, and abusive power considered terrorists when they choose to become members of law enforcement? Are these people in your category of those deserving to be profiled? If they are, then we at UNWORTHYMUSLIM.COM will support and defend your position. If not, have the moral courage to explain why.
