Crisis Of American Multiculturalism

America’s notorious television evangelist Pat Robertson has openly blamed ‘the satanic atheists’ for the killings of six Sikhs at Wisconsin. Those who have seen Pat’s diatribe against Islam and Muslims in particular know well how he has been using such slurs regularly to strengthen his right wing agenda.

The attack on Sikhs in the Gurudwara cannot be a work of a religions person but those who hate God, said Peterson. As reported in the media, the killer terrorist Michael Page worked in the American Army from 1992 to 1998, as a Psychological Operation Specialist and was demoted from his job. The reports also suggest that the 9/11 incident has made deep inroads in his mind and he became a white supremacist.

This question will have to be addressed at a different level before we begin with our response to Pat Robertson, as American humanists and Atheist organisations have already condemned his remarks. There is no information to suggest that Page was an atheist or atheist organisations are engaged in any racist activities. It is tragic that those organisations and people who are working for the rights of individuals challenging the religious supremacy are being targeted today. Michael Page killed Sikhs in the Gurudwara and the phraseology of the American media has been a matter of great research. Most of them continue to say that it is the case of mistaken identity. What does it mean and what are its implications for the future of immigrants in the United States? Was it a hate crime alone or something is more happening in the US?

When the question of mistaken identity was raised, it became ironically evident that a number of Sikh leaders also speak in the same language, which is their way to dissociate with rest of South Asian diaspora where Muslims too are part of it. There is no doubt that like a white supremacist there is a feeling of supremacy among Sikhs also which brings them closer to the Americans and British.

The point is if those who were killed happened to be Muslims, how would American media respond? Can killings be condoned if those killed were Muslims or the worship place was a mosque? Maybe the response would be different. It also clearly reflects how the Americans do not understand the diversity of the world and that is why all their missions in Asia, and Latin America failed and could not fetch anything but destruction.  

A few questions were raised by some of our friends about the whole issue of identity. Some of them suggested that Sikhs should mix up with other people while a friend said Muslims also should learn to live in multicultural society, while leaving their religious identity at bay. These questions are relevant but living in so-called democratic world does not mean that an individual has to leave his inherent identity.

Why should a Muslim or a Christian, Sikh or even an atheist be apologetic about his birth-based identity? When people are being targeted and hated on the basis of their identities, they become more conscious of it. More the non-Muslims want Muslims to ignore their identity issues, more they will go to that symbolism. These issues are hugely sensitive and have to be dealt with seriously, while a constant attempt is made not to denigrate people.

Sikhs were targeted in the United States in the aftermath of 2011. It is strange that for so many years of their living in the US, people still fail to understand this diversity. But is the thing that simple that a common American does not understand who is a Hindu or a Muslim or a Sikh? Perhaps, the crux of the problem lies in the immigrant identity. The white supremacists are afraid of these immigrants from different countries as they are a threat to job prospects of the locals. Such cases are visible elsewhere too where the White Supremacists feel that immigrants can only live in submission and cannot really claim to lead them.

America is a Christian country where rightwing Christian Evangelists wield a lot of influence. They have money power and muscle power at their hand. They influence political power too and the government does not have any courage to take action against them. The officials play with words. In the past few years, the population of atheists in United State has grown substantially.

Atheists have waged an open war against the Church and its controversial issues such as abortion, rights of third gender people, issue of migrants and many more. The American Humanists and Atheists groups have also questioned the War on terrorism and talk about peace. It is a fact that the secular atheist groups like other citizens have questioned Sharia laws and are worried of ghettoization of the Muslims and other communities in their country but they know it well that at the end of the day such isolation and branding of communities will not take their country anywhere.

The American evangelists are hatemongered racist imbued with deep rooted white supremacy in their mind. They must be banned in spreading their hatred in other countries. The poisonous language and prejudiced mind will never be able to bring peace to the world. They have poisoned America using television programs and feeding religion-blinded minds with possible threat from Islam.

Their basic struggle with Islam is their not accepting that Christ as the only ‘son’ of ‘God’. They cannot allow anyone else as their prophet very similar to what Muslims were doing in their own regions. These religious forces are unable to digest democratic and human right values. They want to convert democracy into a capitalist theocracy as happening in the United States where every other person who does not look like them is a threat to them.

The attack on Sikhs is not the case of mistaken identity but may be it had Muslims as its target. May be it was intended to target Muslims and was, thus, a clear case terror. Not because Muslims were targeted but whoever were targeted because of their faith makes it a much dangerous crime than a mere act of terrorism. It is a race terror and the US will have to find answer for it. A country claiming to be world’s biggest democracy should not remain captivated to such fanatic fascist ideologies which spread hatred to propagate their own religious agenda.

It would be good for the USA to allow its Constitution imbibe secular humanist values. We have already seen the dangers of symbolic multiculturalism where different religions talk about their supremacy and claim to have the best ideology – closest and nearest to God. The record of religions and their ‘flag’ bearer is no great for humanity. They have killed humanity in the name of religion and almost all of them have blood of innocents in their hands. A secular humanist United States could be the guarantee of multiculturalism, as well as safety and protection of diverse races in that country.

The UN declaration on human rights came from the mass struggles who were victims of race crime, slavery, untouchability and discrimination in the name of religion. It is time, we stop associating peace with religious authorities knowing well their dirty role in spreading hatred and portraying themselves as the best religion and having ‘best’ and most ‘powerful’ god. As long as this perception continues, the ghettoization of different cultures and communities will remain and cause a serious threat. They will never merge, which many of our philosophers think, as none ever feel that his ‘religion’ is lesser than others.

When there is no meeting point among them; the meeting is only due to convenience and professional work. All the migrants who go to the US or anywhere else are there mostly for making money. If you travel to a country for reasons other than your commercial reasons, only then shall you appreciate them. That is the dark reality of life that most of the migrants go there to earn and stick to their cultural practices.

The Native Americans too would not like to gel with them and will always look down upon their cultural practices. It is not for unknown reasons that the famous chat show specialist Oprah Winfrey joked about Indian eating from their hands. Such prejudices and biases happen in the absence of cultural exchange and misunderstanding of cultural practices.

Film star Shahrukh Khan proudly says in his film My name is Khan, “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist” and definitely not all Muslims are terrorists; in fact terrorists stop being Muslims the moment they take to extremism.

But we will have to add something more with this that with such violence as the one that happened in Wisconsin, one can say that that ‘terrorism’ is not the sole and exclusive domain of misguided Muslims; a white supremacist like Michael Page who slaughtered 6 innocent people in a place of worship, too, should be called as a terrorist, and the term be extended for misguided Christians, too, like back home, it should be used for misguided Hindus.

The United States has to prove that it is not just the most powerful country of the world but also where every community, whether immigrants or natives, feel safe, protected and can expect justice from the state.