{"id":45241,"date":"2012-07-22T13:56:39","date_gmt":"2012-07-22T21:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=45241"},"modified":"2012-07-22T13:56:39","modified_gmt":"2012-07-22T21:56:39","slug":"harvard-professor-says-you-shouldnt-report-black-muslim-atrocities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=45241","title":{"rendered":"Harvard Professor Says You Shouldn’t Report Black, Muslim Atrocities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colin Flaherty writes<\/a>: MSNBC\u2019s new golden girl was in a pickle: If someone sees a black person committing rape or domestic violence, should he report it if it makes black people look bad?<\/p>\n

Or if Muslims see wife-beating, genital mutilation and childhood sexual abuse, should they just keep it to themselves, because saying something gives ammunition to the \u201cIslamophobes\u201d?<\/p>\n

The questions appear to be simple. But they posed a challenge for the host of the new \u201cMelissa Harris-Perry\u201d show when guest Mona Eltahawy talked about her Foreign Policy magazine cover story about abuse of women by men in the Muslim world.<\/p>\n

Eltahawy speaks from experience: She had her arms broken in a demonstration in Egypt and was tortured and raped in an Egyptian jail cell.<\/p>\n

So she seemed surprised to find Harris-Perry questioning her right to draw attention to \u201ctraditions\u201d such as involuntary female circumcision, wife-beating and childhood sexual abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI start with a little bit of trepidation in this conversation,\u201d the host said, \u201cin part because I know some of the critiques of this. The very idea that Western press, those that are not from these nations, who are not Muslim ourselves, who are not part of these traditions can look at your article and say \u2018ahhh, look at how horrible those men, or those societies, or that religion is.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that is part of the reason why, for example, we have an under-reporting of rape and domestic violence in African American communities,\u201d Harris-Perry continued. \u201cBecause we know the violence enacted on black men by police, so we often don\u2019t call. Right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Then the MSNBC host brought in Harvard professor Leila Ahmed, who questioned whether Eltahawy should have written the article at all. Not because it was false, but because it made Muslims look bad.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou began, Melissa, by noting that some things in the African-American community are not publicized precisely because of the racism,\u201d said Ahmed as Harris-Perry nodded in agreement on a split screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cMona, I appreciate what you do,\u201d continued Ahmed. \u201cI would love it if \u2013 I understand if you want to get your message across. It\u2019s an important message. But if possible [you should not] give fuel, fodder to people who simply hate Arabs and Muslims in this climate of our day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colin Flaherty writes: MSNBC\u2019s new golden girl was in a pickle: If someone sees a black person committing rape or domestic violence, should he report it if it makes black people look bad? Or if Muslims see wife-beating, genital mutilation … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,29496,20,36],"tags":[29499,20357,29500,29497,29498,29501],"class_list":["post-45241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blacks","category-colin-flaherty","category-journalism","category-race","tag-african-american-communities","tag-childhood-sexual-abuse","tag-foreign-policy-magazine","tag-leila-ahmed","tag-mona-eltahawy","tag-muslim-atrocities"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t