Book Review of Linda Sarsour's "We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance"

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Book Review of Linda Sarsour's "We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance"

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JW:
Book Review of Linda Sarsour's We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

Foreward by Harry Belafonte:

"I have often said to Linda that she embodies the principle and purpose of another great Muslim leader, brother Malcolm X,"

Malcolm X
From his adoption of the Nation of Islam in 1952 until he broke with it in 1964, Malcolm X promoted the Nation's teachings. These included beliefs:

that black people are the original people of the world[94]
that white people are "devils"[95]
that blacks are superior to whites, and
that the demise of the white race is imminent.[96]
[understatement]So he was a racist.[/understatement]

To his credit though he was not as big of an antisemite as he was a racist:

George Lincoln Rockwell
Rockwell got along well with many leaders of the Black nationalism movement such as Elijah Muhammad (Nation of Islam, N.O.I leader) and Malcolm X (who later changed views and opposed N.O.I's race-separatism), since they shared the goal of racial segregation.[32] In January 1962, Rockwell wrote to his followers that Elijah Muhammad "has gathered millions of the dirty, immoral, drunken, filthy-mouthed, lazy and repulsive people sneeringly called 'niggers' and inspired them to the point where they are clean, sober, honest, hard working, dignified, dedicated and admirable human beings in spite of their color ... Muhammad knows that mixing is a Jewish fraud and leads only to aggravation of the problems that it is supposed to solve ... I have talked to the Muslim leaders and am certain that a workable plan for separation of the races could be effected to the satisfaction of all concerned—except the communist-Jew agitators."[2] He also said of Elijah Muhammad "I am fully in concert with their program, and I have the highest respect for Elijah Muhammad." He referred to Elijah Muhammad as "The Black People's Hitler" and donated $20 to the Nation of Islam at their "Freedom Rally" event on 25 June 1961 at Uline Arena in Washington where he and 10-20 of his "stormtroopers" attended a speech by Malcolm X.[33] Rockwell was a guest speaker at a Black Muslim event in the International Amphitheater in Chicago, with Elijah Mohammed and Malcolm X, on February 25, 1962.[1][34]
This person then is who Belafonte compares Sarsour to. Heil Oooh. Heil Oooh. Presumably, because Belafonte saw X as a Black advocate, it didn't matter to Belafonte what X's faults were.

This is the Foreward Sarsour chose for her book. I see it as an implication that she is Linda Sarsour and approves of this message. Maybe Ken sees it differently.


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The Mean/Main/Mine Meaning of "Jihad". Eaning Meaning Mining Mo's.

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JW:
Book Review of Linda Sarsour's We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

Introduction What Is Your Jihad?:
I shared this story when I gave a keynote address at the Islamic Society of North America’s fifty-fourth annual convention in Chicago in July 2017. After recounting for the audience the words of our beloved Prophet (may peace be upon him), I went on to observe that in standing against oppression in our communities, “we are struggling against tyrants and rulers not only abroad in the Middle East or on the other side of the world, but here in these United States of America, where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House.”
You have to look at the video to see exactly what she said [starts at 8:45]:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/mor ... ive-wrath/

In her book she gives a fair description of what she said:
In one of my favorite stories from the Hadith, a man asks the beloved Prophet Muhammad: “What is the best form of jihad?” I have always loved the Prophet’s answer: “A word of truth in front of a tyrant ruler or leader, that is the best form of jihad. I shared this story when I gave a keynote address at the Islamic Society of North America’s fifty-fourth annual convention in Chicago in July 2017. After recounting for the audience the words of our beloved Prophet (may peace be upon him), I went on to observe that in standing against oppression in our communities, “we are struggling against tyrants and rulers not only abroad in the Middle East or on the other side of the world, but here in these United States of America, where you have fascists and white supremacists and Islamophobes reigning in the White House.”
Comically, she chokes on the word "truth" (Stephen Colbert, look out!).The only misleading part of her book here is that she leaves out a following relevant context of saying that she hopes Allah accepts this form of Jihad.

Then, to apparently no one's surprise except hers, she is greeted the next day by a variety of right-wing criticism ranging from simply saying she called for Jihad against Trump to saying she called for "Jihad" against Trump. She then thinks about whether she should go on the defensive, apologize for the reaction she created, implying that she deserved some blame, or go on the offensive, totally blame the reaction for unfairly/dishonestly interpreting/editing/changing what she said.

She decides to go on the offensive:
  • 1) She qualified her use of "Jihad" by introducing it with a non-violent usage.

    2) She claims that "jihad" has a primary non-violent meaning in Arabic and in her Muslim audience.
She is correct about 1). Right wing media that either explicitly or implicitly claimed she called for violence against Trump was either dishonest or Fake News.

She is wrong about 2). Jihad
Jihad (English: /dʒɪˈhɑːd/; Arabic: جهاد‎ jihād [dʒɪˈhaːd]) is an Arabic word which literally means striving or struggling, especially with a praiseworthy aim.[1][2][3][4] In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God's guidance, such as struggle against one's evil inclinations, proselytizing, or efforts toward the moral betterment of the ummah,[1][2][5] though it is most frequently associated with war.[6] In classical Islamic law, the term refers to armed struggle against unbelievers,[2][3] while modernist Islamic scholars generally equate military jihad with defensive warfare.[7][8] In Sufi and pious circles, spiritual and moral jihad has been traditionally emphasized under the name of greater jihad.[9][3] The term has gained additional attention in recent decades through its use by terrorist groups.
It's arguable what the primary meaning is. For non-Muslims in the US it has a primarily violent meaning. And here we see one way in which Sarsour is a hypocrite. In defending Muslims and other minorities she is very concerned about how these (her selected allied minorities) see/understand what others say about them. Not just what others say they meant. Dogma whistles. On the other hand, if she claims that others misunderstand her, then that is their problem and they are solely to blame. The summary of what she said is a Jihad against the White House. That sounds like what violent users of Jihad would say. Personally, I think Trump should have been removed from office a long time ago. But I wouldn't demonize him and say he is worse. just as bad or comparable to Muslim leaders of violent Jihad.

Sarsour claims her participation in The Women's March gives her credibility. But it's just the opposite. She was exorcised from it because she supported antisemitic statements. Not to mention the comical position of a supporter of traditional Muslim values being a supporter of Women's rights. The above shows an inability to compromise/negotiate and she wears it like a supposed badge of resistance honor. As it relates to her Palestinianisness, it's the same thing with them, an inability to compromise/negotiate worn like a supposed badge of resistance honor.

Shortly before her "jihad" moment she praises Malcom X as a model so the Foreword was no coincidence. Malcom X was primarily a speaker but he accepted all forms of resistance including violent. Is this Sarsour's position? We shall see.

Interestingly, the "crowd" for Sarsour's speech was small and unenthusiastic reminding one of what John Mulaney said about himself while hosting SNL, "I'm like Louis Farrakhan, I mean a lot to a small group of people".


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Truth to Fatah in Mouth

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Book Review of Linda Sarsour's We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

Chapter 1 The Choice I Made
When I told the kids at my public school that my family was from Palestine, the response was always the same. “Palestine? Where’s that?” they’d ask, brows wrinkling. “It’s all the way on the other side of the world, in a place called the Middle East,” I would explain in a patient and reasonable voice, though inside I was churning with frustration and just wanted to disappear. “It’s right near Syria and Jordan.” I would continue, “It’s the Holy Land, where Jesus was born.” I was always trying to add more explanations, always trying to prove my national and cultural origins.
One of the many things Sarsour is resistant to is saying "Israel". It's like Fonz trying to say he was "wrong". I picture her version of the game "charades", "Chai-raids", where Palestinians try to get you to say "Palestine" by using Israeli descriptions.
your people’s land was stolen in a war in 1948
Before the war started the United Nations had decided to divide what they called Palestine into a Jewish State and an Arab State. Jews inside and outside of Palestine accepted the United Nations proposal. The problem for the Arabs inside Palestine is that they were dominated by the surrounding Arab countries. All of these countries not only rejected the United Nations partition but stated as a matter of policy that they would not only refuse to accept any Jewish State but would violently prevent it. The day after the Israeli declaration of Statehood all surrounding Arab countries, allied with the Arabs inside, entered Palestine with the intent of taking control of all of it.

Not well known is that it is unclear what Arabs inside Palestine would have decided by themselves. The two leading Arab tribes at the time, were the al-Husseinis and the Nashashibi. The Nashashibi favored the United Nations partition. The Husseinis were led by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who allied with Hitler during WWII. I'll let you guess what he was in favor of.

Regarding Israel "stealing" Arab land during The War of Independence, as mentioned Israel had already accepted the Partition Plan and was forced to defend its allocated territory against invading countries that planned to take all of it. During the course of the War Israel ended up with significantly more land than what was allocated to it. Some of it was taken for militarily strategic reasons, to provide buffers for expected future wars, and some was taken just to get more land (especially the Negev). If the Arabs would have offered to recognize the Partition Plan in exchange for the return of land allocated to Arabs, Israel might have agreed. It's unknown since the Arabs vowed to try again.

Land in Palestine, very similar to what the Palestinians currently call occupied land, was conquered in the war by Jordan (West Bank) and Egypt (Gaza strip). Jordan annexed the West Bank and Egypt took control of Gaza. Neither allowed or had any intent of forming a related Palestinian country. Note that the Arab position before the War was the right of self-determination. Claimants to the same land had the right not to have their claims dictated to them by non-claimants. Claimants had the right to determine all by themselves through any means including war. Any outside help to Israel was "colonialism" but any outside help to Palestinians was not (for no apparent reason).

Interestingly, Abbas, the long time leader of The Palestinian Authority, now confesses in addition to his confessions that he was a Soviet Stooge and Holocaust denier, that the Palestinians should have accepted the United Nations partition.
Israel declared independence and expelled 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, barring them from returning?
You can read a lot of related details on Wikipedia. During the war Israel did target some Palestinian/Mixed villages located in strategic border areas for expulsion and sometimes worse/much worse (massacres - see how easy that is Linda?). The majority of Palestinians though who left were not expelled. They were just afraid of being treated like they had treated the Jews. The ethnic cleansing was on the other side. All Jews in the areas conquered by the Arabs were expelled or worse. In addition almost all Jews in the surrounding Arab countries were expelled and worse/much worse.

750,000 would have been about the entire Jewish population at the time so it wouldn't really have made sense for Israel to allow an equal number of hostiles/potential hostiles back in.

The inability to negotiate/compromise. Speaking Truth to mouth is not easy Linda. I suggest you go see a Jewish Endodontist for an Erev Canal.



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Reaping What You Sarsour

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Book Review of Linda Sarsour's We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

Chapter 2 El Bireh to Brooklyn
The West Bank, then under the control of Jordan, lay an hour north of the bitterly contested city of Jerusalem, which had been split into East and West, segregating Arabs and Jews.
This is a recurring fault of Sarsour's, failing to mention that her fellow Palestinians/supporters are guiltier of everything they falsely accuse Israel of:
  • Jordan took the West Bank including most of Jerusalem (including East Jerusalem).

    Jordan annexed the West Bank.

    Jordan expelled all Jews from the West Bank.

    Jordan destroyed all Jewish symbols in the West Bank (including all synagogues).

    Jordan desecrated all Jewish symbols including using Jewish tombstones as latrines.

    Jordan did not allow Jews to visit the West Bank.

    Jordan had a defense treaty with Britain and its military was led by an active British officer.
The actual ethnic cleansing that Sarsour has been so desperate to find.
Even the constant military skirmishes, with Israeli security forces pushing against the borders of the land now designated as Palestine,
The real history is that Jordan supported Palestinian terrorist incursions into Israel which forced Israel to periodically attempt to control.
The Six-Day War with Israel erupted a year later. By the time it ended, Israel had seized Gaza from Egypt and the West Bank from Jordan and, in violation of international law, began constructing settlements on the newly occupied land.
Regarding Israel seizing the West bank, you can easily read the Truth on Wikipedia. Israel's primary threat was from Egypt and Israel had no intention of attacking Jordan (West Bank). Israel offered Jordan to maintain the status quo but Jordan refused. Israel was attacked by Jordan and started out totally defensive. Read the related Wikipedia articles and you can see the related exponentially higher Israeli morals and ethics compared to the Jordanians. The Jordanians deliberately targeted civilian areas while Israel deliberately avoided targeting West Bank civilian areas and incurred unnecessary casualties due to prohibiting heavy weaponry for fear of damaging holy sites.

Finally a bit of truth from Sarsour, I supposed it's the Law of Averages, Israel did start to build settlements in the West Bank in violation of International Law. But. A common response of Palestinian supporters when asked to comment on Palestinian Terrorism is "You shouldn't be surprised." So too, when Israel has won a war forced on it by those who want to remove it and Jews are still swarming to Israel to escape their attempted extinction in Christian Europe and Muslim Middle East, regarding Israel making room - You shouldn't be surprised.
Often, students were simply traveling home from school and they’d get swept up and arrested with the crowd.
Palestinian Media Watch documents multiple Palestinian lies every day. If "Resistance" includes murdering innocent women and children then lying falls well within the range.
a Palestinian exile whose original village of Lifta had been seized by Israelis during the war of 1948
.

How bout some more truth. Lifta was an all Arab village strategically located on the road to Jerusalem. Years earlier it had played an important role in the Arab Riots (murder, theft, rape). During the War of Independence the Arab military had ordered most of the population out in order to use it as a chokepoint. The village was defeated and abandoned by the Arab military.
Yumma explained that my uncle had been married for exactly three weeks when Israeli soldiers swept him up with about fifty other young Palestinian men whom they claimed had been involved in an uprising against the Jewish state. My uncle tried to tell them he’d simply been walking home to his new wife, but his explanation fell on deaf ears. He was found guilty in a military tribunal and incarcerated. The length of his sentence we did not know. This was not unusual. With the continued expansion of Jewish settlements on land seized from Palestinians in the West Bank, young Arab men were routinely arrested to thin the ranks of protestors and break the back of the resistance. These men could be held for years, released only when the Israeli civil authority decided to let them go. In my uncle’s case, the jail sentence would last for another year.
Israel has a functioning democracy and judicial system which includes at every level, Arabs or at least those sympathetic to Arabs. It's the Palestinians and their supporters, who lack democratic institutions and freedom of the Press that act like Sarsour is describing or worse.
For my people, Israel’s declaration of independence on May 14, 1948, had been the destruction of our homeland. By the next day, Nakba Day, three-quarters of a million Palestinians had been forced to abandon their homes and the lands their families had occupied for generations. Their mosques were razed to the ground, their houses demolished, their possessions taken, their cemeteries and olive groves destroyed.
Again, not what the Jews did to the Palestinians but it is what the Palestinians and their supporters did to the Jews.


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Do These Jews Make My Abbas Look Fatwahed.

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JW:
Book Review of Linda Sarsour's We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

Chapter 3 Broken Windows

Sarsour describes her childhood and mentions that the natives were almost all Black and Latino. Her father's store though was in Crown Heights. Apparently all the Jews there must have been colonialists who only owned there. Keep in mind for later.
Years later, I would understand that the very presence of police officers in schools escalates the criminalization of students,
Regarding the relationship of crime to security Sarsour thinks that the presence of police officers contributes to crime. Keep in mind for later.
Belatedly, I would recognize that my school, like so many in poor Black and brown neighborhoods, was severely overpoliced. Every few days, it seemed, some kid was perp-walked out of the building, usually for a very minor offense—a scuffle in the hallway, a Swiss Army knife found in a backpack, arguing with a teacher, gang colors worn openly in defiance of school policy. Guidance counselors could have handled this sort of teenage acting-out far more effectively than armed police officers, but since we had only three counselors for more than three thousand students, cops with guns regularly trooped into our midst, slapping handcuffs on teenagers and guaranteeing them a one-way ticket on the school-to-prison pipeline.
Full of overstatement and a backwards observation. Obviously security reduces crime rather than increase it. Her backass conclusion reminds me of the gag - "Do these Jews make my Abbas look fatwahed? No, your Abbas makes your Jews fatwahed."
As I left the conference that afternoon, I felt almost ashamed that it had taken me so many years to realize what I had witnessed day in, day out at my high school. As I delved deeper, I learned that even though Black children were just 15 percent of the nation’s school population, they accounted for 31 percent of all school arrests and referrals to law enforcement.3 While not a single study had ever shown that Black students misbehave at higher rates than white students, they were far more likely to be suspended and even arrested for reasons that amounted to little more than pissing off an adult—discretionary violations that fell under the general heading of “being disrespectful” or “insubordination” or “willful defiance.”4
Note the overstatement and victim mentality. "Not a single study". "amounted to little more". If there is no study that shows Black students misbehaving at a higher rate than that means white students misbehave at a higher rate. Where is the fact checking when you really need it. All speech is okay when defending her chosen, even if it is discriminating against her imagined oppressors. Keep in mind for later.
Education analysts and social justice experts agree that the first step to breaking the cycle is to remove police officers from schools.
No, there would just be more crime. Perhaps something in between like reducing Police discrimination or reducing student incentive to commit crime. Related to Sarsour's talking point overstatements is her inability to negotiate/compromise (one way criticism of the other side and refusal to criticize her side). Keep in mind for later.



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Bin Laden There. We Done That.

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JW:
Book Review of Linda Sarsour's We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

Chapter 5 Everything Changed

In response to 911 Sarsour describes how Muslims in general and specifically United States Muslims were the victims and how she made a career out of it:
Already Um Ahmad saw what might be coming. As a young woman in Palestine during the war of 1948, she had lived through the nakba, and now she feared that another sort of catastrophe had been set in motion.
Wow, a parallel to the supposed Palestinian catastrophe.
In a matter of weeks, we had all been transformed from ordinary, everyday New Yorkers who happened to worship as Muslims to a suspect class.
the America in which my son and daughter would grow up was now a much less hospitable place than the neighborhoods of Brooklyn where I had come of age.
now all I wanted to do was help the people whose very survival might depend upon my efforts.
The average United States Muslim would generally not have been treated any differently here before and after 911. Compare to how Jews were treated in Arab countries or even how Christians are treated and Jews would be treated in the West Bank and Gaza.

What Sarsour leaves out are the parallels between 911 and Palestinian supporters:

Bin Laden (something of an authority on the subject):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin ... 11_attacks
God knows it did not cross our minds to attack the Towers, but after the situation became unbearable—and we witnessed the injustice and tyranny of the American-Israeli alliance against our people in Palestine and Lebanon—I thought about it. And the events that affected me directly were that of 1982 and the events that followed—when America allowed the Israelis to invade Lebanon, helped by the U.S. Sixth Fleet. As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way: to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions ... lebrations
A group of Palestinians were filmed celebrating in the street after hearing the local news reports of attacks on the World Trade Center and the deaths of thousands of Americans. Fox News reported that in Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, revelers fired weapons in the air, with similar celebratory gunfire heard at the Rashidiyeh camp near the southern city of Tyre as well.[56]
...
Big crowds celebrated in Nablus of Palestinians, chanting Beloved bin Laden, strike Tel Aviv! while Palestinian Authority personnel prevented photographers from taking pictures.[73]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_at ... ther_polls
Pew has shown a large drop in confidence in Bin Laden from 2003 to 2011 amongst nations it surveyed. Confidence in him decreased to 34% in 2011 in Palestine, from a high of 74% in 2003.
The Palestinians themselves were not directly involved with 911 but their supposed cause was heavily invoked and that is the parallel to the War of Independence that Sarsour is missing. Note that much of the language of Bin Laden and Palestinian supporters like Sarsour describing Israel is similar. Bin Laden (and the Palestinians) would have much preferred to attack Israel instead of the US. Sarsour should be asking herself why they were not able to.

So Sarsour has made a living being an Advocate for Palestinians, demonizing the perceived other side and never criticizing her side. No negotiation or compromise.



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I Told Linda A Million Times Not To Exaggerate

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JW:
Book Review of Linda Sarsour's We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

Chapter 6 Our Sons Are Not Terrorists

Whaa(die)? Some are.
It’s almost too obvious to point out that the mass shootings that occur within our borders with such heartbreaking regularity are only labeled as terrorist acts if the perpetrator is a person of color or a Muslim. Never mind that since 1983, white men have committed 64 percent of these mass shootings
Domestic terrorist shootings US

Actually it would be difficult/impossible to find a white mass shooting not labeled as terrorist. 64% is close to the white percentage. There's a relatively newer branch of mathematics someone should tell Sarsour about. It's called "statistics".
In America, when the killer’s skin is white, the event is a tragedy. When their skin is brown or Black, an entire race or religion is accused.
Kind of the reverse right now.
Why didn’t people understand that Muslims had been as traumatized by the events of 9/11 as everyone else, and that we, too, wanted justice and security?
Maybe because polls showed significantly more support for 911 from Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians than from Americans.
Perhaps the most galling aspect of the call-in program was the fact that, despite close to 200,000 men registering by the April 2003 deadline, with some 13,000 of them being deported for minor infractions like having expired documentation, not a single registrant was ever found to be connected to terrorist activities.
Detentions following the September 11 attacks
this community of approximately 120,000 Pakistani immigrants had been decimated.
Sarsour describes the Muslim exodus in the US after 911 as another nakba. Tens of thousands left, most voluntarily. Out of a population of about 5 million.

More exaggeration/misstatement.


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A Memoir of Selective Love and Resistance

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JW:
Book Review of Linda Sarsour's We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

Chapter 7 Basemah, Beloved
At a time when most Arab women felt they had no choice but to endure troubled marital arrangements,
When she first founded her social service agency in the Sunset Park–Bay Ridge area, Basemah’s primary goal had been to help Arab women. She knew how to keep people’s secrets, and clients trusted her with the most intimate details of their marriages and their lives. Many of the women crossed her path because they had shown up at the hospital battered and bruised. Basemah would go to translate for a patient in the emergency room and the woman would whisper, “My husband threw me down the stairs.” Sometimes the woman would be someone from her village, whose husband Basemah also knew. Basemah taught me the value of allowing there to be a space in our community where people could feel safe, where they could tell the whole truth about their traumas, because how else would they begin to get help for themselves and their children?
Meanwhile, Basemah was training me, sending me to classes in crisis counseling, immigration services, and domestic violence intervention.
The Allah font in the Basemahnt. The abuse of women by Muslim/Arab/Palestinian men. This is a private matter for Linda. Don't want to give Muslims/Arabs/Palestinians a bad reputation.
Basemah taught me to make waves, to stir the pot, to raise holy hell when things didn’t sit right or when individuals or communities were in trouble.
And the hypocrisy. Sarsour is a self-proclaimed champion of womens' rights everywhere except in her own family, community and religion. Well, really not everywhere else, just the United States/Israel. When is the last time she criticized some other country? Defending against discrimination of women by discriminating against countries.


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Chapter 8 Breath and Memory

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JW:
Book Review of Linda Sarsour's We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

Chapter 8 Breath and Memory
Helen Thomas, Apple Inc. founder and tech innovator Steve Jobs, basketball player Rony Seikaly, bestselling author of The Exorcist William Peter Blatty, labor leader Stephen Yokich, heart pump inventor Dr. Michael DeBakey, presidential candidate and consumer protectionist Ralph Nader,
Sarsour gives a list of what she calls famous fellow Arabs. None of them were raised Muslim. Jobs' biological father was Muslim whom he hated. Trying to come up with a list of famous Palestinians reminds me of one of those funny really short book titles back before Political Correctness:
1. Black people you meet while sailing.

2. Famous Jewish philanthropists.
Actually there are lots of famous Palestinians she could have mentioned. Yassir Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas (Phd on Holocaust denial), George Habash, etc.
Panicked, I yanked the wheel to the right, swerving to avoid him. Suddenly, we were flipping over, bouncing down the steep slope and turning three full revolutions before landing upright in a ditch below the highway.
I realized suddenly that I’d been the only one in the car wearing a seat belt.
But although I was physically unhurt, an avalanche of guilt pressed down on me. Three women were suffering horrifically because of me.
While driving on the highway an inexperienced driving Sarsour claims that a truck in the lane to the left of her moved towards her to avoid a traffic cone in the road. Her mentor Basemah was killed and she took over her job. Under Pennsylvania law it's a ticketing offense for the driver if the front seat passenger, in this case Basemah, was not wearing a seat belt.


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Chapter 10 The Pity Victim Dump

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JW:
Book Review of Linda Sarsour's We Are Not Here to Be Bystanders: A Memoir of Love and Resistance

Chapter 10 The Pit Stop
At any moment in America, Muslim children face incursions against their sense of self, condemnations of their faith, and assaults on their community. My children are coming of age in a country that does not love them, does not nourish who they are, and refuses to acknowledge the highest version of who they can be.
Once again depicting American Muslims as the victims of 911.
At that point, Tamir raised his hand. And he answered the question correctly. Immediately a white boy on the other side of the classroom shouted, “Of course you know the answer. You Muslims are good at math because you need to know how to make bombs.”
This is the worst personal example she can provide for her Muslim children.
Almost two decades have passed since 9/11, and yet Arab and Muslim Americans continue to live in one of the most hostile civic environments experienced anywhere.
Yep, still victims. "one of the most hostile civic environments experienced anywhere". Well sure she thinks that since she has never lived in Gaza, the West Bank, Egypt, Jordan, Syria or Lebanon.
Our youth are confused about how fully to express their identity as they seek to reconcile being Muslim and being American, as if pride in both is mutually exclusive.
Yes, they are prevented from becoming American Muslim advocates for Palestinians/Arabs/Muslims.
Rather than improving over time, the situation has lately deteriorated. With the ramped-up anti-Muslim rhetoric of the 2016
Finally, a little whisper of truth to white power. There has been more anti-Muslim rhetoric since he who shall not be tamed got elected. Sarsour should be asking herself what other countries does that sound like.
presidential election, anti-Islam hate crimes reached a new high, with mosques being torched, Muslim businesses and homes vandalized, and people who look visibly Muslim being shot, stabbed, or beaten.
More truth but relatively minor compared to US Crime in total. 15 years after 911. What should that tell Linda.
With ad space purchased for a reported $77,000 by a notorious anti-Muslim organization founded by blogger Pamela Geller the billboards aimed to portray Islam’s holy book as a terrorist manifesto.
This is who Sarsour selects as representative of Islamophopia, someone you never heard of with all of the available famous Evangelist leaders and politicians to choose from. I'll let you guess what Geller's religion is.
It’s also worth noting that the holy book does not at any point reference Christians or Jews as “unbelievers” but rather considers them as fellow “People of the Book,
Of course Linda leaves it to me to point out a favorite Hadith in Palestinian Charters:
The Day of Judgment will not come until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, 'O Muslim, O servant of God, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.' Only the Gharkad tree would not do that, because it is one of the trees of the Jews.


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