3-9-2011
Representative Peter King’s upcoming hearings into the supposed radicalization of the American Muslim community have been taking some pretty hard (and deserved) hits in recent weeks. The editorial pages of the New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, Irish Central, and many human rights groups, including Human Rights First, have denounced the hearings as unfairly targeting a community which, by many on-the-ground accounts, has actually been extremely cooperative with law enforcement in fighting terrorism. Even House Speaker John Boehner hesitated to throw his support behind the hearings, his spokesman saying only, “Chairman King is chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.”
As they often do, Jon Stewart and The Daily Show cut to the heart of the debate and point out the obvious flaws in Representative King’s logic. Holding the entire American Muslim community responsible for stopping terrorism is an absurd, hypocritical expectation – as absurd as say, holding Chef (and Italian-American) Mario Batali responsible for knowing the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa’s body – and Representative King, especially as a former supporter of the IRA, should know better.
See what else Human Rights First has been doing to fight fear—and send your representatives a letter urging that they say no to the new McCarthyism.