{"id":2670,"date":"2017-02-06T04:24:49","date_gmt":"2017-02-06T12:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/?p=2670"},"modified":"2017-02-01T17:32:20","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T01:32:20","slug":"assumptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2017\/02\/assumptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Sympathy for one group &#8211; but not the other?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I had a conversation this week and, in trying to make a point to the person with whom I was speaking, these two narratives popped into my head, almost fully formed before I even wrote them down:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/muslim-and-police-woman.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-2681 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/muslim-and-police-woman-224x300.png\" alt=\"muslim and police woman\" width=\"224\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/muslim-and-police-woman-224x300.png 224w, https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/muslim-and-police-woman.png 361w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 224px) 100vw, 224px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"300\">I am a <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Muslim<\/strong><\/span>. I love being a <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Muslim<\/strong><\/span>. So much of my identity is based in being a part of <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Islam<\/strong><\/span>. I love the\u00a0camaraderie and fellowship of other <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Muslims<\/strong><\/span>. I make no apologies for that.<\/p>\n<p>I understand that many people are afraid of me. That makes me sad, and, at times, very defensive, even angry.<\/p>\n<p>It is completely unfair that people assume all <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Muslims<\/strong><\/span> are bad because of the violent acts of a small minority of\u00a0<span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Muslims<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0in the USA. The vast majority of <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Muslims<\/strong><\/span> are good people who care deeply about their communities, they want to contribute positively to such, and they want all people to live in peace. Yes, there are <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Muslims<\/strong><\/span> that do not respect human rights and that have done horrible, violent, reprehensible things in the USA, like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2015_San_Bernardino_attack\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>what happened in San Bernardino<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2016_Orlando_nightclub_shooting\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>what happened in Orlando<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Boston_Marathon_bombing\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>what happened in Boston<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Curtis_Culwell_Center_attack\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>what happened in Garland, Texas<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2015_Chattanooga_shootings\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>what happened in Chatanooga<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/2016_Ohio_State_University_attack\"><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>what happened at Ohio State<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>&amp;, of course, what happened on Sept. 11, 2001 and 1993\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But I should not have to publicly condemn such acts of violence over and over and over. The assumption shouldn\u2019t be made that I support these events just because I\u2019m a <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Muslim<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve seen social media posts and videos of <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Muslims<\/strong><\/span>, some of them considered leaders by other <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>Muslims<\/strong><\/span>, celebrating or trying to justify these violent acts. But I shouldn\u2019t have to apologize because <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>an Iman<\/strong><\/span> with thousands of followers excuses or even promotes these violations of human rights. I want to be judged by my character and actions, not those of others.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m proud of my <span style=\"color: #993300;\"><strong>hijab<\/strong><\/span>, and when you see me in it, please don&#8217;t automatically assume that I am a bad person and that I am your enemy. Please talk to me. Get to know me. I welcome the conversations.<\/td>\n<td width=\"2\"><\/td>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"300\">I am a <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>police officer<\/strong><\/span>. I love being a <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>police officer<\/strong><\/span>. So much of my identity is based in being a <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>police officer<\/strong><\/span>. I love the\u00a0camaraderie and fellowship of other <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>officers<\/strong><\/span>. I make no apologies for that.<\/p>\n<p>I understand that many people are afraid of me. That makes me sad, and, at times, very defensive, even angry.<\/p>\n<p>It is completely unfair that people assume all <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>police officers<\/strong><\/span> are bad because of the violent acts of a small minority of <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>police officers<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0in the USA. The vast majority of <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>police officers<\/strong><\/span> are good people who care deeply about their communities, they want to contribute positively to such, and they want all people to live in peace. Yes, there are <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>police officers<\/strong><\/span> that do not respect human rights and that have done horrible, violent, reprehensible things in the USA, like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/magazine\/story\/2016\/07\/2016-missouri-ferguson-gubernatorial-election-racism-214127\">what happened in\u00a0Ferguson over several years<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/09\/08\/us\/oakland-sex-scandal-officers-fired\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>what happened in\u00a0Oakland over several recent years<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/worldnews\/northamerica\/usa\/11443883\/Video-shows-Los-Angeles-police-shooting-homeless-man.html\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>what happened in Los Angeles in 2015<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2017\/01\/14\/us\/tamir-rice-officer-charges-cleveland\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>what happened in Cleveland in 2014<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2016\/07\/07\/us\/falcon-heights-shooting-minnesota\/\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>What happened in Minnesota<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/nation\/la-na-police-deaths-20160707-snap-htmlstory.html\"><strong>and on and on<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But I should not have to publicly condemn such acts of violence over and over and over. The assumption shouldn\u2019t be made that I support these events just because I\u2019m a <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>police officer<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve seen social media posts and videos of <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>police officers<\/strong><\/span>, some of them considered leaders by other <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>police<\/strong><\/span>, celebrating or trying to justify these violent acts. But I shouldn\u2019t have to apologize because <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>a police union<\/strong><\/span> with thousands of members excuses or even promotes these violations of human rights. I want to be judged by my character and actions, not those of others.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m proud of my\u00a0<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>uniform<\/strong><\/span>, and when you see me in it, please don&#8217;t automatically assume that I am a bad person and that I am your enemy. Please talk to me. Get to know me. I welcome the conversations.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>These two groups are so similarly demonized, but I never realized it until the morning of the day I originally drafted this. Both of these groups can say the same thing, almost word-for-word, about how they are negatively perceived by many people.<\/p>\n<p>There are going to be people who are going to read one column and totally agree &#8211; and read the other column and be outraged. There are those that believe all Muslims are potential terrorists because of the acts of a minority, but would never believe all police are potentially racist because of the acts of a minority of members. And vice versa.<\/p>\n<p>If you read this and felt sympathy for one group, but not for the other, I hope you will think long and hard about why that is.<\/p>\n<p>Comments are welcomed, unless such use what I consider misinformation or hate-based language.<\/p>\n<p>Also see:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2016\/07\/08\/police\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Police: use social media to invite community participation, show compassion<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2016\/04\/08\/citizensacademy\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Citizens academy \u2013 intensive community engagement<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 my own largely positive experience with the Washington County Sheriff Department\u2019s citizens academy.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2015\/04\/28\/volunteerpolice\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">We need volunteer police officers \u2013 &amp; an overhaul as well<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/2016\/11\/01\/participation\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">When \u201cparticipatory\u201d &amp; \u201cconsultation\u201d are just words<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/about-jayne\/conflict\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">List of my blogs related to conflict, free speech, reconciliation, etc.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had a conversation this week and, in trying to make a point to the person with whom I was speaking, these two narratives popped into my head, almost fully formed before I even wrote them down: I am a Muslim. I love being a Muslim. So much of my identity is based in being [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20,13],"tags":[1533,1275,893,1534,1475,685,1532,331,364,1535,853,1274,1412,1413,1536,719],"class_list":["post-2670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-volunteer-engagement","category-community-relationsoutreach","tag-blue-lives-matter","tag-deputy","tag-discrimination","tag-empathy","tag-human-rights","tag-islam","tag-muslims","tag-officer","tag-police","tag-racist","tag-reconciliation","tag-sheriff","tag-stereotype","tag-stereotyping","tag-terrorist","tag-understanding"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3fFJB-H4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2670"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2682,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2670\/revisions\/2682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coyotecommunications.com\/coyoteblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}