The kind of behavior displayed by the cashier against the Muslim woman is encouraged by anti-Muslim writers, bloggers and so forth.
Dr. King
January 21, 2008 — Dr Esam Omeish
2008 marks 40-years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, thus, it is especially important to connect more intentionally with the principles upon which Dr. King built his life, his service, and the movement that he championed—the principles of nonviolence. He believed that applying the principles of nonviolence in all areas of one’s life would ultimately bring about the Beloved Community, the end goal of nonviolence, where differences are resolved peaceably and reconciliation occurs among adversaries.
To connect the King Holiday to the example Dr. King set and to engage more Americans in honoring him through service, MAS is joining with others in its network to provide tools for the “40 Days of Nonviolence: Building the Beloved Community” initiative, which includes a Pledge of Nonviolence
Whites More Likely to Get ER Narcotics
January 2, 2008 — Dr Esam Omeish 
It is my prayer that we can rectify unfair situations like the ones described in this story. It seems that in many ways we are still separate and unequal.
Emergency room doctors are prescribing strong narcotics more often to patients who complain of pain, but minorities are less likely to get them than whites, a new study finds. Even for the severe pain of kidney stones, minorities were prescribed narcotics such as oxycodone and morphine less frequently than whites.
The analysis of more than 150,000 emergency room visits over 13 years found differences in prescribing by race and ethnicity in both urban and rural hospitals, in all U.S. regions and for every type of pain.
“The gaps between whites and nonwhites have not appeared to close at all,” said study co-author Dr. Mark Pletcher of the University of California, San Francisco.
The study appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association. Prescribing narcotics for pain in emergency rooms rose during the study, from 23 percent of those complaining of pain in 1993 to 37 percent in 2005.
The increase coincided with changing attitudes among doctors who now regard pain management as a key to healing. Doctors in accredited hospitals must ask patients about pain, just as they monitor vital signs such as temperature and pulse.
Even with the increase, the racial gap endured. Linda Simoni-Wastila of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Pharmacy said the race gap finding may reveal some doctors’ suspicions that minority patients could be drug abusers lying about pain to get narcotics.
The irony, she said, is that blacks are the least likely group to abuse prescription drugs. Hispanics are becoming as likely as whites to abuse prescription opioids and stimulants, according to her research. She was not involved in the current study.
[...]
In more than 2,000 visits for kidney stones, whites got narcotics 72 percent of the time, Hispanics 68 percent, Asians 67 percent and blacks 56 percent.
The data came from a well-regarded government survey that collects information on emergency room visits for four weeks each year from 500 U.S. hospitals. The new study was funded by federal grants.
On Islamophobia
December 11, 2007 — Dr Esam Omeish
Brother Amad Shaikh of Muslim Matters has an excellent article on Islamophobia that will eventually, insha Allah, be a series. I highly recommend everyone read it.
Part One: It Exists| Part Two|
Georgetown’s NAACP Pres. Gets Attention for Her Race (She’s White)
December 7, 2007 — Dr Esam OmeishNice story from my alma mater. People of all ethnic groups and races should fight for justice for all people - even if they don’t belong to the same group. Ms. Gunderson is setting a fine example.
The president of Georgetown University’s chapter of the NAACP is thoughtful and determined. Also, she is white.
The national organization has had several white presidents, but Ellie Gunderson is making headlines — in the Washington City Paper and the Detroit Free Press — for leading Georgetown’s chapter.
Ms. Gunderson, a sophomore, is from Southfield, Mich., a predominantly black suburb of Detroit. In audio clips on the City Paper’s Web site, she talks about having celebrated Black History Month and studied the civil-rights movement in school. “That was always, always emphasized, like from kindergarten,” she says.
What she learned outside the classroom influenced her perspective, too. “Growing up kind of, like, poor … even though I’m not a minority, made me more sympathetic towards people that aren’t treated equally for whatever reason,” she says, in an inflection the City Paper calls “unmistakably ‘urban.’”
Black classmates at Georgetown were initially taken aback by her voice and mannerisms, says the City Paper, but later they nominated her to lead their NAACP chapter.
This fall Ms. Gunderson helped to defuse a tense episode with a campus student newspaper, The Hoya. Black students had criticized the paper for giving a Jena Six rally short shrift and then publishing an unsympathetic column. “The Hoya Is Racist” was scrawled in chalk on a campus square.
Ms. Gunderson had long discussions with the columnist, after which they agreed that The Hoya should reach out to minority students. —Sara Lipka
Target Refuses to Answer NAACP Diversity Survey
November 23, 2007 — Dr Esam OmeishYou can help to urge Target to participate by clicking here
‘The wrong kind of Islamoawareness’
November 1, 2007 — Dr Esam OmeishCarol Towarnicky has a nice article below.
Where ‘Islamofacism Awareness’ and racism meet
October 27, 2007 — Dr Esam OmeishThe Young Americans for Freedom at Michigan State invited a racist member of the British National Party to speak slander Muslims and people of color. The article on his speech is here. Who said there is no overlap between these Islamophobes and racists
Undermining Religious Freedom
October 26, 2007 — Dr Esam OmeishAn article by Charles C Haynes
Halloween arrived early this year in the guise of “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” held Oct. 22-26 on hundreds of college and university campuses across the nation. Scary speakers like Ann Coulter fanned out to warn students about the lies organizers say are being taught about the war on terrorism in institutions of higher learning.
The “protest week” is organized by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, an organization dedicated to promoting the ideas of, well, David Horowitz (a 1960s leftist who now describes himself as a conservative).
If the purpose were only to wake Americans up to the threat of extremists who commit terrorist acts in the name of Islam, then who could object? I suspect, however, that most of us are already fully awake to the terrorist threat – including the many Muslim Americans now serving in our armed services, as well as the many Muslim soldiers fighting with them in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But the real target behind the “Islamo-Fascism” rhetoric appears to be Islam itself. Horowitz is convinced that the “academic left” censors the truth about the Islamic roots of terrorism and thereby creates “sympathy for the enemy.”
Read the entire article
More People of Good Will Standing Up Against Hate
October 24, 2007 — Dr Esam OmeishAudience challenges Rick Santorum:
Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum said he wants to hear from people who disagree with him — and there was no shortage of them during a speech he gave on campus last night.
Students packed 119 Osmond to hear Santorum speak as part of “Islamo-Facism Awareness Week,” an event aiming to expose the danger that radical Islam poses to the West. The week has been met with protest from the Muslim Student Association, who announced a “Peace Not Prejudice” seminar series to counter the movement.
Santorum began his speech by acknowledging that some are offended by the term “Islamo-Facism,” but said it is misunderstood.
“What that term does is describe an ideology,” he said. “You either subscribe to it or you do not.”
However, the audience was not pacified by Santorum’s statement. Even during the former senator’s 45-minute speech, the crowd could not stay quiet, interjecting questions and corrections throughout.
When Santorum, explaining why Islam and Christianity both claim exclusivity, said “Muhammad is the only prophet” in Islam, the crowd grew restless.
“He’s the final prophet!” shouted a member of the audience.
[...]
One audience member began by thanking Santorum “for coming to our campus to spew hatred and intolerance.”
In response to Santorum’s assertion that Islam oppresses women, the speaker urged students to ask Muslims for their opinions.
“There are many Muslims in the audience tonight … ask any Muslim lady sitting next to you and you will know what Muslim women think,” he said.
A Penn State professor took issue with the impact Islamo-Facism awareness week might have on students.
“I think you have done some harm even before you came in here tonight,” the professor said to Santorum, referencing a large “Islamo-Facism Awareness Week” banner that hung outside. “How do you think that has misled students tonight?”
Santorum replied that the objective of a university is to pursue truth.
“This is a rigorous place where we should care what the truth is,” he said. “Maybe someone saw that banner and came in here to listen.”
Read the entire article
DC Area Muslim Organizations
Muslims Denounce Terror
