Quotable Quote of the Month

What does it take for Republicans to take off the flag pin and say, 'I am just too embarrassed to be on this team'?".- Bill Maher

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Guest Post by Monique About the Recent Lowe's/All-American Muslim Controversy

As you may know, there recently was a controversy involving Lowe's decision to pull their ads from the TLC reality show All-American Muslim. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to write a post in a timely manner. However, I recently visited moniqueblog and noticed that she wrote an excellent piece on the topic. I asked Monique if she'd be willing to let me borrow it for Diversity Ink and she kindly obliged.

 

“All-American Muslim”: The Lowe’s controversy


Credit: Wikipedia
 
I actually intended on talking about this controversy a whole lot sooner than I am, but I’m talking about it now. Recently, Lowe’s has been in the middle of a firestorm concerning their initial support–then non-support–of the TLC show All-American Muslim. According to myfellowamerican.us:

“ [L]ast week Lowe’s Home Improvement pulled its ads from the TLC show All-American Muslim in response to an organization claiming the show “falsely humanized Muslims in America.” The Lowe’s controversy has exposed more Islamophobia in America. This issue falls directly in line with what the My Fellow American project is trying to prevent and overcome in America.”

According to this post, the main group behind the statements about humanization is the fringe group the Florida Family Association.

I’m more than appalled at how some people have the nerve to say that this show about HUMANS ”falsely humanize[s]” HUMANS. Let’s get some things straight here:
  • Islam is not only a religion, it is the second-largest religion in the world and is growing every day.
  • Not all Muslims come from the Middle East. Islam has a very big community in the United States. In fact, some of my own family members are Muslim. Basically, ANYONE can be a Muslim–you don’t have to look like a certain person to be a Muslim.
  • Islam, Judaism and Christianity are ALL RELATED. They stem from the same stories and teachings. If you respect one of the three, you should respect them all, since they are all related to each other.
  • Saying that Muslims are being “falsely humanized” is not a very Christian-like thing to say. It’s not a very spiritual thing to say period. It’s gross and stupid.

So that’s my stance on this. Lowe’s should be the bigger person in this situation and actually stand for acceptance of all people. Let’s face it–it’s not just Christians who shop at Lowe’s. Muslims like home-renovation just as much as anyone else, and Lowe’s profits should diminish once some clientele stops showing up.

If you want to voice your opinion about this, make sure to go to My Fellow American. You can also share your own stories of acceptance as well as watch the short film on Muslims in America.

More reading:

The Huffington Post–A new Lowe for Anti-Muslim Bigotry

Adweek–Lowe’s in Facebook Hell as Racist Comments Pile Up

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Samantha Stephens & Co. Tackle Racism On A Christmas Episode of Bewitched



Since it's that time of year, I thought I'd share one of my favorite episodes of Bewitched. Titled "Sisters of the Heart", this Christmas episode (which first aired on December 24, 1970) deals with what happens when Tabitha's friend Lisa, the daughter of a black colleague of Darrin's at McMann and Tate, visits for Christmas.

This episode, which was written by the students of the 5th period, room 309, 10th grade English class at Thomas Jefferson High School in Los Angeles, received the Governor's Award at the 23rd Primetime Emmy Awards in May 1971.




Friday, December 23, 2011

Rachel Maddow Shines a Light On Holiday Cards, Past and Present


In the aftermath of the publication of this year's White House holiday card, some on the right predictably used the occasion to criticize President Obama. Below is the link to an article by Fox "News" Radio reporter Todd Starnes. The article includes comments by Fox contributor Sarah Palin.

Todd Starnes article

In addition to this criticism being predictable, it's silly as well. Rachel Maddow points out the silliness of this criticism in the following clip. She also discusses the Fox News/Fox Business Christmas cards released this year. Speaking of those cards, are the sheep supposed to represent news viewers in general? Also, I noticed the words "Merry Christmas" were absent from both cards. Does this mean Fox is now leading the war on Christmas?! Say it ain't so!