“I am an American citizen” said Hesham Tillawi, president of the LaFayette Islamic Center,
who has announced his decision to file a lawsuit against persons and entities responsible for creating the present state of anti-Islamic hysteria sweeping the nation.
“My wife and children are American citizens.
We came here to find freedom,
not violence and hatred.
This week it was an empty car set on fire.
How long before it is my own home, or before someone slashes my throat, like took place last month to the cab driver in New York?”
For Tillawi, at issue here is that–despite nothing being proven in a court of law viz-a-viz who exactly carried out the terrorist attacks on 9/11, nevertheless
–the entire Islamic world has been charged, convicted and sentenced in the court of public opinion.
According to Tillawi– “What started out as a series of terrorist attacks blamed on 19 Middle Eastern men
has now expanded to include the religion of Islam itself and
along with that,
1.5 billion men, women and children who are its followers.
We are talking about 9 years, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day where Islam is being slandered
and falsely portrayed by certain parties who stand to gain a lot by fomenting this clash of civilizations between Muslims and the West.
In this kind of climate, I am not safe.
My children and friends are not safe,
and there is no reason to expect things are going to get better unless we push back against the lies and the calumny. Wasn’t this the lesson we were supposed to learn from the Holocaust?
Do we have to wait until 6 million of us are killed?
Is that the magic number where it is okay for us to step up and say ‘enough!’?”