I was overjoyed by Gen Colin Powell quiet eloquent reminder that the real America is a place where all faiths and ethnicities live together, work together, serve together.
On Meet the Press this past Sunday, he said:
“Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America,” he said empathically.
“Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?”
He recalled seeing a photo essay about troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan with one picture showing a grieving mother putting her head on the headstone of her son’s grave in Arlington Cemetery. Service: Online Only: The New Yorker
Powell said the dead soldier was a 20-year-old who had the Purple Heart and Bronze Star military decorations.
“And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American.” More on the Soldier Kareem R. Khan - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog
CNN) – Muslim-Americans say they are more interested than ever before in the political process, in part because their religion has been reduced to a talking point in the presidential campaign.
Like many other Americans, the estimated 2.3 million Muslims living in the U.S. have been hurt by a limping economy, a problematic healthcare system and an unclear immigration policy. And the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have also hit close to home.
Fatema Biviji, 32, had never given much thought to politics until she received an e-mail earlier this year that said – falsely – that Sen. Barack Obama is a Muslim. The Internet hoax, its origin unknown, was apparently intended to tie Obama to terrorism and swing support to his opponent, Republican Sen. John McCain.
“I was so mad,” Biviji said. "The premise of that e-mail is that a person’s religion should decide a person’s character.
“We’re America, the melting pot, the land of diversity, and that Americans would be buying into that psychology [of the e-mails] was upsetting,” said the New Jersey-born Muslim, whose parents are from India. “The e-mail offended my American ideals.”
I thought there were 6 million plus muslims in the U.S
It depends who ask, some say the most reasonable studies give a # around 2.3 million. The U.S. Census does not ask households what religion they are affiliated with.