FREEDOM...KIND OF

FREEDOM… KIND OF
Ryan “BUGS” Williams-Virden
August 16th 2010

The idiocy of the right has gone beyond frustration, it is now insulting. If one need any evidence to back this claim turn on any news station and watch the stupidity that is the story of the “Ground Zero” mosque. How is it possible that such ignorance is allowed such leverage? How is it being tolerated? This has gone beyond even the veil of balanced coverage. It is plain and simple—in this country the freedom of religion is protected under the first amendment. The discussion/debate should end there however it does not; these windbags thanks to a history of privilege have enough resources to make their pathetic voices heard. Lets be clear about 9-11 it was planned and carried out by Al Qaeda not the Muslim world as a whole, and Muslims also died in the attacks. The right, as it always does has done its best to fan the fires of fear and spread ignorance, and while this might help explain how these disturbing reactions to not only the mosque but Islam as a whole it does not by any means explain why this blatant campaign of misinformation, lies, and fear mongering has been allowed to gain such traction. Harry Reid said today that he thought the mosque should be built in a different location and Obama implied the same. How is it that the President of the United States has to succumb to idiocy and hate? The answer is white supremacy or to be more specific WASP supremacy.
There is no escaping it-- this country was built on a foundation of racism and white supremacy. The Declaration of Independence, the constitution, the Bill of Rights and in truth every other document, system, institution, or decision was made by white men with only their interests in mind. While we have made strides to correct some of the more blatant contradictions (some is generous) we cannot escape the reality that the voices of women, poor, and people of color were left out of those discussions. It only follows then that until those voices are allowed all the freedoms and privileges afforded others there can be no real equality. Rather than accept this fact the right has done everything it can to push back from this effort. They vilified people of color, the LGBT community, immigrants, and any other group that is not the dominant in society, which is still WASP’s. More recently the object of the rights venom has been Muslims and the Muslim world. Apparently the obvious hypocrisy of such a stance is lost on the right. The historical fact of manifest destiny and the atrocities committed in the name of Christianity seem not to register. It is hard to imagine that a similar campaign would be half as successful if say Native Americans wanted to put an end to the building of churches. As a matter of fact when I asked random people this afternoon many had no idea why that would even possibly be considered while others actually laughed at the thought. What it comes down to is the feelings and dignity of people of color whether they be African slaves, or Arab Muslims do not matter as much as the sensibilities of white folks. This has to be unacceptable in order for us to ever take equality efforts seriously.

* Ryan "BUGS" Williams-Virden is a spoken word artist, playwright, author, organizer, and teacher from NE Minneapolis. He is the co-founder of Sai Werd Ink a literary organization dedicated to empowering marginalized peoples. He is also one half of Poetic Assassins a local spoken word duo. He can be reached atpoeticassassins@saiwerdink.com