The American Muslim Dilemma

“Richard A. Falkenrath, New York City’s deputy police commissioner for the counterterrorism, recently warned Congress, ‘The possibility of a ‘homegrown’ terrorist attack against New York City or any other American city is real and is worsening with time’.” In Richard Falkenrath’s testimony list 18 events from the “recent past” (found as a pfd file in the article) that point out that terrorism is not an “abstraction” to New York City.
Eben Kaplan, the author of the article, states that “Richard Falkenrath is just one of the many experts in the recent months to warn about the danger of ‘homegrown’ terrorism and that the next attackers will likely be ‘a lot closer to the Columbine killers, then traditional jihadis. Eben Kaplan goes further to talk about the American Muslim community and their “great assets for foiling homegrown Islamist terrorist.” Yet also states that CFR Senior Fellow Steven Simon warns that an “increase of alienation among American Muslims could produce a rejectionist generation.”
To sum up Eben Kaplan’s article, he reports about the growing fear of terrorism in the US and that the American Muslim community is working to stop terrorism but also is being isolated and targeted as threats.
This article coincides with a previous blog titled “U.S. Practice of Renditions” for it talks about how American Muslims are being look at and how the US is responding to terrorism. The article reminds me of the Japanese internment camps during WWII for now American Muslims suspected of terrorism are not sent to camps but placed in jail till the war on terror ends. The questions I have is, “how can we, as Americans, remove the fear we have for American Muslims?” and “How can we get Congress to see past these terrorist reports and believe in the prevention of social segregation instead of trying to enhance our fears and funnel our energy and thoughts to fighting terrorism?”