“Guilt by Association is not the American way!” stated Senator Durbin invoking that “We should all agree that it is wrong to blame an entire community for the wrongdoing of a few” (Fox News). The senator Dick Durban opened his first-ever hearing of the Civil Rights for American-Muslims address in the history of the United States. Durban is the 47th Senator of United States elected from the State of Illinois on November 5, 1996 and a Democrat from Springfield. He was reelected in 2002 and then in 2008. In the journey of a successful political career, Senator Durbin suddenly risked his career in 2011 by an act that astonished everyone as nobody could even expect an American official to protest for defending the civil rights of Muslim in United States. Though the Illinois Senator stated that he was only following and upholding the oldest values of religious tolerance that became the foundations of America, his act clearly required political courage.
Muslims have been victimized in America since the attacks of September 11, 2001; but nobody had the courage to even disagree not until Dick Durban stood up to defend the honor of the Muslims by clearly risking his own career and integrity. There has been a clear rise in the hostility against the Muslims over the years as a survey by the Pew Research Center poll suggests that from 41% of the population, in just four years, only 30% of the people now had favorable view regarding Islam (Akhtar). So, in this scenario, if any politician empathizes with the American-Muslims, then he must be very courageous to risk his political career. The efforts of Durban have been highly criticized in the public where his hearings have been called as “an orgy of Muslim claims of victimhood and demonization of freedom fighters trying to defend Constitutional freedoms against Islamic supremacism” (Spencer).
The Muslims in America are not politically active and so, a politician would have less to gain when upholding the civil rights of Muslims in the country. The very ground of the Durbin’s hearings have been questioned by Peter King where he says, “The best they can do is come back with these hearings by Senator Durbin, which is somehow trying to create the illusion that there’s a violation of civil rights of Muslims in this country. It’s absolutely untrue, and to me it makes no sense” (Akhtar). Since the occurrence of the infamous 9/11 attack, several senators expressed their concern regarding the rising discrimination and prejudice against the Muslims. Being unaware of the proper way to grieve, the citizens of America started taking their anger out on the Muslims residing in the country.
As has been reported by the SPLC, “hate crimes against perceived Muslims, which jumped up 50% in 2010 largely as a result of anti-Muslim propagandizing, remained at relatively high levels last year, according to 2011 hate crime statistics released by the FBI” (Dado). A very tragic incident occurred on Thursday, 27th December, when a New Yorker was “killed after a woman pushed him on the tracks of a subway station because she thought he was a Muslim” (Dado). And the woman agreed that she pushed this guy only because she believed he was a Muslim but later on it was found that the victim was a Hindu.
Durbin believed that generalization and stereotyping is a wrong act as the “wrongdoing of a few” should not lead to blaming the entire community (FOX NEWS). He held his first ever hearing for the American Muslim Civil Rights “in response to the spike in anti-Muslim bigotry in the last year including Quran burnings, restrictions on mosque construction, hate crimes, hate speech, and other forms of discrimination” (U.S. Senate). Almost after ten years, the first ever hearing was held on March 29, 2011 which further points out that all the other anti-Muslim acts were taking place in 2010. Durbin tried his best to mitigate the hatred of the Americans towards the Muslims in general and also to remind the citizens of the principles of religious freedom laid down by the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.
Since the late twentieth century, America has been considered as a “melting pot’ society that encourages newcomers to assimilate into the America culture” (BBC NEWS). But Durbin argues that the behavior of the public officials and the other leaders is not setting a good example for the citizens to follow. The leadership itself shows anti-Muslim sentiments which is hindering the element of diversity in the country that has been the reason why the country has become so successful and vibrant. Durbin took this cause to re-ignite the inspiration to racial and religious diversity in America. Peter King, a notable oppose of Durbin, is a New York Republican. His hearings are not only discriminatory against the Muslims but other races specially the Asians (Lisee). His stance is that the only duty is to protect the real white-Americans.
Standing for the civil rights is a common act in the America but standing for the rights of the Muslims and against the Muslim hate crimes is definitely a great risk that Senator Dick Durbin took. As has been defined by John F. Kennedy, that the one who undergoes “risks to their careers, the unpopularity of their courses, the defamation of their characters, and sometimes, but sadly only sometimes, the vindication of the reputations and their principles,” is definitely the one with political courage hence, Senator Durbin is politically courageous (Kennedy p.1). Durbin stood up in support to the minority similar to John F. Kennedy standing up for the people of color in the 1960s. He risked bringing a halt to his career by standing for what he knew was right rather than agreeing with what others considered to be right. He truly believes in the principles laid down in the U.S. Constitution and applies them equally to the born-citizens as well as immigrants. The political courage shown by Dick Durbin proves the claim by Kennedy that “tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.”
Works Cited
Akhtar, Javeed. 'Senator Durbin's Act of Political Courage'. Muslim Peace Coalition USA 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
BBC NEWS. ''Melting Pot' America'. N.P., 2006. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
Dado, Natasha. 'Hate Crimes against Muslims Only Escalating 10 Years after 9/11'. The Arab American News 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
Fox News. 'Durbin Examines Muslim Civil Rights Violations, King Calls Hearing Nonsense'. N.P., 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
Kennedy, John F. Profiles In Courage. New York: Harper & Row, 1964. Print.
Lisee, Chris. 'Rep. Peter King's Muslim 'Radicalization' Hearings Return To Capitol'. Huffington Post 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
Spencer, Robert. 'Durbin Hearing to Fuel the Muslim Victimhood Myth'. Human Events 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
U.S. Senate. 'Durbin To Chair First-Ever Hearing On The Civil Rights Of American Muslims - Press Releases - Press Office - U.S. Senator Dick Durbin'. N.P., 2011. Web. 10 Dec. 2014.
