Congressman Mike Honda
By Mike Honda
Washington Post: This week felt like a throwback to the 1950s, to McCarthyism and fear mongering. I, and countless others, spoke out in defense of Muslim Americans who were feeling attacked by ads on New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. public transit systems that compared Muslims to “savages”. Physical safety was of serious concern for many Muslim Americans, which is why the three transit authorities appropriately delayed or declined the ads, later to be court-ordered into running the ads.
What happened next is what alarms me most. Anyone who stepped up to defend fellow Muslim Americans was deemed by the ads’ sponsors as the “enemy.” I’ve heard this accusation before, except when I was much younger, growing up in Colorado in a Japanese internment camp.
This is what the ad says: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat jihad.” The logical and reasonable inferences here are the following: jihad (read: Muslim, due to etymology) equals savage. Muslims, thus, are savages.
Since 2001, U.S. Congressman Mike Honda has represented California’s 15th Congressional District, which includes western San Jose and Silicon Valley.
Categories: Americas, Behaviour, Billboard ADs, Double Standard