It is alarming that even as we're getting farther from the September 11 attacks, demagoguery targeting Muslim Americans seems to be increasing, at least among political elites -- partly because George W. Bush, for all his flaws, commendably made sure o explicitly encourage tolerance in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

On the other hand, Muslim Americans have special reason to be alarmed by the PATRIOT Act -- and to fear domestic spying, President Obama's decision to assassinate an American citizen without due process, and senators like Lindsay Graham and John McCain who'd give the executive branch the ability to indefinitely detain American citizens without charges or trial by jury. Those infringements on civil liberties ought to be worrisome to us all, of course, but Muslim Americans have the most to fear, because they are most likely to be falsely accused of terrorism and least likely to inspire widespread popular backlash if they are indefinitely detained.

That is the context in which we should see the controversy over All-American Muslim, the Christian group urging advertisers to pull their support, and the decision by Lowe's Home Improvement to capitulate to it. It is now controversial merely to portray actual American Muslims if they come across as normal. That fact, coupled with the steady erosion of civil liberties protections against government abuse in the War on Terror, has to be terrifying to anyone pondering what might happen if there is another successful attack on America in the near future. Should innocent Muslim Americans be detained after such an event, responsibility will fall not only on government officials but on everyone who was complicit in empowering them.





Image credit: Flickr user Cod Gabriel

