So much for trying to help
Critics Cost Muslim Educator Her Dream School </p>
Debbie Almontaser dreamed of starting a public school like no other in New York City. Children of Arab descent would join students of other ethnicities, learning Arabic together. By graduation, they would be fluent in the language and groomed for the country’s elite colleges. They would be ready, in Ms. Almontaser’s words, to become “ambassadors of peace and hope.”</p>
Things have not gone according to plan. Only one-fifth of the 60 students at the Khalil Gibran International Academy are Arab-American. Since the school opened in Brooklyn last fall, children have been suspended for carrying weapons, repeatedly gotten into fights and taunted an Arabic teacher by calling her a “terrorist,” staff members and students said in interviews. </p>
The academy’s troubles reach well beyond its cramped corridors in Boerum Hill. The school’s creation provoked a controversy so incendiary that Ms. Almontaser stepped down as the founding principal just weeks before classes began last September. Ms. Almontaser, a teacher by training and an activist who had carefully built ties with Christians and Jews, said she was forced to resign by the mayor’s office following a campaign that pitted her against a chorus of critics who claimed she had a militant Islamic agenda.</p>
In newspaper articles and Internet postings, on television and talk radio, Ms. Almontaser was branded a “radical,” a “jihadist” and a “9/11 denier.” She stood accused of harboring unpatriotic leanings and of secretly planning to proselytize her students. Despite Ms. Almontaser’s longstanding reputation as a Muslim moderate, her critics quickly succeeded in recasting her image.</em></p>
Her critics include Daniel Pipes, a leading voice in the “kill ‘em all” movement of dealing with Islam, who considers this to be a reasonable statement: </p>
President Bush deserves high praise for his steadfast vision of a free Middle East; but his administration should proceed slowly and very carefully about transferring power from autocrats to democrats. The Middle East’s totalitarian temptation, with its deep questions of history and identity, needs first to be confronted and managed. To skip these steps could leave the region even worse off than during the era of unelected tyrants.</p>
“…administration should proceed slowly…about transferring power…” </p>
By what divine right is it George Bush or Daniel Pipes job to “transfer” power in sovereign nations? And any talk of a free Middle East went out the window the moment Bush refused to accept the results of a free election in Palestine. </p>
A woman who dedicates her efforts to bridging a gap between wary cultures is silenced, so jingoists like this can score points on Fox and their blog. Go on his site and search for “blowback” just to remind yourself that to some people, America can do no wrong.
</p>
