Last night I went to the “Campus and Community Civility in a Time of Unrest†forum at the Met Theater. The moderator, I was delighted and somewhat surprised to discover, was Juan Williams (and I discovered that he did in fact write the book on Thurgood Marshall I have) Perhaps Morgantown isn’t as small as it sometimes feels. The panel members were: Professor Robert Bastress, WVU College of Law, Dr. Jamie Jacobs, WVU Department of Political Science, Ibrahim Iba N’Diaye, a WVU doctoral candidate in Economic History, Asra Nomani, a lifelong Morgantown resident, journalist, author and founder of Daughters of Hajar, Jared Towner, a combat veteran of Iraq and WVU senior, Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley.
In opening Juan Williams called this civility event, where we would get to see “dialog in actionâ€, and unlike the presidential debates, in this even people should be open to seeing and hearing different points of view. Such openness is increasingly important, as Iraq continues to polarize the US and the world, making people less interested in hearing ideas that challenge their preconceived notions. Such a forum is an opportunity to look at American policy and how it impacts the way we walk, react, and interact with each other.
The first question to John Unger was “what does it mean to be an American?†Senator Unger told of being in Iraq several years ago, and going to the Tower of Babel, where people wanted to climb to heaven without God. He found it interesting that God did not destroy the people, but instead changed their language. He also said that since 9-11 we are redefining what it means to be an American, and unfortunately are developing a destructive dialog.
Ibrahim Iba N’Diaye (I apologize if I mistake who said what, my notes are slightly confusing on that point) responded to the question of how global citizenship has changed. He said that the US is refusing to assume its role in the world.
Jamie Jacobs was asked whether in America’s role as a superpower made it inevitable that we could be viewed or targeted as an aggressor? She responded that although the US does have responsibility as being a superpower, we have a fear of stepping up to the role. We are ignoring the fact that with great power comes great responsibility. She said that as we have this dialog, we are going to knock heads with each other, but that this is a good thing, and we need to keep trying to keep dialog open. She later made the point that the war on terrorism doesn’t necessarily make sense. How can we have a war on a strategy/tactic? We need to consider the context for action, and question the reality of the threat.
Jared Towner, the WVU senior who served in Iraq, was asked how his time in Iraq affected his ability to communicate. He said that his experience had of course changed him—he learned a great deal about a beautiful culture and a beautiful religion, but that the Arab culture is the least respected culture in the US. He said that as the world becomes smaller, individuals play a larger role in the world, and that we need to take advantage of the melting pot in US culture, and learn more about others. He also said that in his experience in Iraq, it was those who were uneducated who were more likely to demonize others, but that such demonization did not represent the whole population.
Morgantown resident and Muslim activist Asra Nomani was asked whether there were people in the Muslim community who were beyond persuasion. She didn’t directly answer the question, but said that after 9-11 she knew that she had to stand up for moderation; that people need personal courage and conviction to change the world. Islam has the same challenges as every other faith, and that Islam must stand up to fundamentalism.
Law professor Robert Bastress was asked to discuss how civil liberties impact this discussion, and how 9-11 has impacted civil liberties in the US. He said that in a time of crisis, we still need to balance civil liberties and freedom with the need for security. He mentioned the cases of Yasar Hamdi and Jose Padia, how they were placed in detention as “enemy combatants†but the supreme court disagreed with this, and that Justice O’Connor said, ” a state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation’s citizens.” He is also concerned about the Patriot Act renewal, and how it is affecting the 4th amendment. We need to balance our freedoms, and be careful of warrantless seizures where we are restricting our freedom. He talked about how the US used to be held up as a model for human rights, but now we are losing respect for rights of those who we see as a threat to security, thus our role as leader has diminished. He mentioned how Charles Taylor used the actions of the US to suppress foreign journalists. That governments all over the world are classifying people as terrorists as an easy way to garner world support.
Asra Nomani and Ibrahim Iba N’Diaye both talked about scrutiny of those who are foreign or Muslim. N’Diaye said that there are really two different sides in Morgantown, the campus community and the townspeople. That after 9-11 there was an effort on campus to make sure that people could express their feelings, while in the community this was not necessarily the case, with actions taken against Muslims and Arabs and the Morgantown by Morgantown residents. Nomani said that she feels that many students are coming to the university with an attitude of intolerance.
When asked about the political climate in this state, and whether there was an openness to diversity, Unger said that there was more suspicion of all visitors entering a community, and a fear that anyone could be a terrorist. He also emphasized that after the OK City bombing, people began to fear strangers of any sort, and reminded us that terrorists in the US are just as likely to be white as Arab. He also said there was a problem as Americans struggled with the war in Iraq, and that was that people want simple answers, but that those simple answers don’t exist, and that we can not just point out “the enemy.â€
Jared Towner also talked about the fact that we’ve never dealt with such a security threat in the US, and Americans are not used to constantly dealing with fear—there is a backlash here, and a fear of “those people†(those who are not from this country) but we need to be reminded of home grown terrorists like Timothy McVeigh, and that groups like the KKK functioned as terrorists for decades. This point was reinforced by Senator Unger, who mentioned that during the Civil Rights struggle, those who were targeted by the Klansmen could pass those people on the street during the day and not know who they were. That although our fear is natural, we must consider our values and how we treat other Americans.
Jamie Jacobs was asked whether the politics of fear that pervades the US is justified. She responded that the goal of the terrorists is to incite fear, and that rather than facing that fear, we are using it as an excuse to retreat—we are becoming isolated, which in turn makes us more insecure. This fear and retreat also does our security a disservices, because we should instead be building a strong community.
Robert Bastress stated that the debate over increased security versus freedom is nothing new, that we had these same debates during the cold war, during WWII, and that society must protect liberties. The premise of the Bill of Rights is that we need a functioning democracy, despite the risk of attack, we need to have balance. Individuals have certain rights, but those are not being followed, especially if we look at the situations in Guantanmo Bay and Abu Gharib. The values and principles of human rights are being ignored.
During the question and answer period, only one obnoxious woman got up and tried to make a political statement instead of asking a question. Luckily Juan Williams cut her off rather quickly. I hate it when people do that. It’s rude, obnoxious, and wastes the time of the panel and audience.
The point was made by Ibrahim Iba N’Diaye, that forced democratization rarely works. That the people must be involved if such attempts are to succeed. He said that strength and power are not just about war, but are about standing up for what’s right. He emphasized also that the words “Islamic terrorist†do not go together—the rood of Islam is peace, and that is incompatible with war. Both he and Asra Nomani emphasized that Islam is a war of peace, but that Islam has been hijacked by extremists, and that moderates must stand up to these extremists, and that violence is unacceptable. They also mentioned that this extremism is not solely the province of Islam, but that there are also Christian fundamentalists who are attempting to do the same thing with Christianity, and that Christians must stand up to these extremists just as Muslims must.
All in all it was an interesting forum, and I am glad that I was able to attend. I particularly enjoyed the comments by Ibrahim Iba N’Diaye, who made statements both enlightening and amusing. (I’d relate the elephant story, but I fear I’d get it all wrong.) It’s good to see community discussion and involvement, and I hope that, as was said in closing, this is the start of community interaction and discussion, and not simply a single event.
