Isolation

[dreamer_easy]

omg, someone proofread this, my eyeballs are hanging around my knees. ETA: Bless you, megthelegend. :)

Yesterday, I posted:

"The 'bad citizens' Ms Moon correctly identifies at the start of the essay are criminals: the corrupt judge, the rapist prison guard, and so on. But wearing a funny hat is not a crime. Nor is it an example of the vices of the failed citizen: "greed, dishonesty, laziness, selfishness, cruelty, anger/resentment, refusal to take responsibility for his/her own acts and their consequences". Which of these sins causes immigrants and their descendants to live near other people with similar backgrounds, or to speak their first languages? How are those behaviours provocative or offensive?

Were Ms Moon to respond, I think she'd probably explain that it wasn't her intention to equate "Groups that self-isolate, that determinedly distinguish themselves by location, by language, by dress" with the corrupt, selfish, or lazy citizens who do real and obvious damage. But in that case, why mention funny hats at all? Possibly, Ms Moon sees "self-isolation" as a minor form of "failed citizenship" - one end of a spectrum, perhaps with corrupt judges et al at the far end, and deliberately provoking inter-ethnic conflict somewhere in the middle.

Now there's a danger that I've just created a strawman, because what I'd like to do is take that idea of "self-isolation" as a minor failure of citizenship and interrogate it. Even if I've misinterpreted Ms Moon on this point, that perception, that immigrants keep to themselves rather than integrating as they ought, is a very common one, so it's worth asking two questions: Firstly, do Muslim immigrants actually isolate themselves in this way? Secondly, are there more meaningful measures of immigrants' success as citizens?

Before I can even get started I ran smack into a major hurdle - the diversity of American Muslims, which I think is summed up nicely in a 2002 Centre for Immigration Studies report with the observation that Los Angeles boasts both a Chinese Islamic Restaurant and a Thai Islamic Restaurant! According to that report, a quarter to a third of American Muslims are not immigrants. I'd like to address this diversity later in a posting of its own - for now, check out the report, which is brief but rich in detail.

That CIS report immediately allows us to address one of Ms Moon's three examples of "self-isolation": on the whole, Islamic immigrants to the United States don't "determinedly distinguish themselves by location". The report states: "Unlike the Muslim immigrants in Europe who live in ghetto-like areas, Muslim immigrants to the United States are highly dispersed." It identifies only one American town with a substantial Muslim immigrant population (30%).

What about language and dress? Here I'd like to speak to the Australian experience of Muslim immigrants. Back in 2006, our erstwhile Prime Minister complained of the failure of migrants to assimilate, and in particular to learn English. Experts pointed out that immigrants were keen to acquire English, but the government was failing to provide classes, denying thousands of people the chance to learn the language. What was more, a glance at the statistics showed that the proportion of Muslim immigrants who couldn't speak English well would have to be small.

As for dress, the most conspicuous item of Muslim clothing is not my hypothetical funny hat but hijab, the various coverings worn by women, which range from the headscarf to the full burqa. To my surprise and delight, a 2009 survey of Australians found that 81% of us didn't have a problem with the headscarf at all, largely seeing it as a matter of religious freedom and personal choice. If Australian Muslims are trying isolate themselves in this way, it's not working! (These tolerant attitudes, plus resistance from Muslimahs, bode ill for Fred Nile's proposed bill to ban the burqa. Now there's a bad citizen - trying to stir up fear for his own political gain.)

Obviously I can't simplistically assume that the US situation is identical to the Australian situation; I'll have to dig up some relevant American figures. If the US experience is similar to ours, though, there's no reason to be concerned that Muslim immigrants are isolating themselves.

Putting that aside for now, I'd like to suggest that there are more important measures of integration than these superficial ones - and you can find them in the biography on Ms Moon's Web site. IMHO, she's more qualified to comment on citizens' contributions to their nation and neighbourhood than many of us: she served in the Marines, was a volunteer paramedic, served on her town's council and library board, and is currently restoring a patch of prairie (what Australians would call "bush regeneration"). That's an extraordinary record, and frankly, I'm rather shamed by it. IMHO, Ms Moon is right when she says "the business of a citizen is the welfare of the nation" - and those are clearly not empty words.

I think this is how an immigrant community's integration into the "mainstream" should be judged: by their involvement, their participation, their service. And in my view, Park51 is an example of this good citizenship. It will invest a hundred million dollars in the neighbourhood, replacing a derelict building with facilities for the whole community - pool, gym, classrooms, prayer room, exhibition spaces, shops, restaurant, etc - comparable to the YMCA and the Jewish Community Center. The organisation and people behind it, progressive Muslims who consistently denounce terrorism, intend the centre to help foster better relations between Muslims and everybody else. In my view, this is not isolation or insult. If anything qualifies as successful citizenship, this is it!

Park51 and the shame of American skittishness: "I think this adds up to fairly strong evidence that much of the opposition to the Park51 project flows from a general uneasiness about Islam, and that the argument that it is offensively provocative is to a significant extent cover for less noble sentiments."

And in unrelated news, a ginger journo argues that Rangaism isn't racism. Now where have I heard that before? Oh yes. :)

Comments

[megthelegend.livejournal.com]

Kate, this all looks good, as always. <3 I don't usually comment 'cos mostly I'd just say IAWTC and AOL.

I have a couple proofreading nitpicks. I apologise if you didn't actually mean that and were being funny; I've been up since ass o'clock and also therefore may not pick everything and as you can tell by this huge sentence my editing is NOT THE BEST ANYWAY. But onward!

That's an extraordinary record, and frankly, I'm rather shamed but it. IMHO, Ms Moon is right when she says "the business of a citizen is the welfare of the nation" - and those are clearly not empty words.

I think this is how an immigrant community's integration into the "mainstream" should be judged: by their their involvement, their participation, their service.

Have bolded the bits that jump out.

I hope you get some sleep soon! :(

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Ay thenk yew! :D

("AOL"? You mean, "me too"? :)

[pedanther]

Not specifically related to the post, but perhaps related to the general topic of conversation, have you seen this cartoon?

http://www.superdoomedplanet.com/comic/?p=524

[dreamer-easy.livejournal.com]

Thought-provoking...

[m-wesley.livejournal.com]

I actually drew that before Elizabeth Moon made her posting, as I've seen this insane argument--that the Park51 supporters should somehow have known and cared that they were going to upset crazy people--made elsewhere. (I think I was reacting to a New York Times columnist, actually.) It was kind of disappointing to see the cartoon, so soon after I'd posted it, become relevant to what was happening in the online SF community...

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Personally, when it comes to strong emotional reactions, I'm happy to give the families of 9/11 victims a free pass. Everybody else... not so much.

[daibhid-c.livejournal.com]

In most English-speaking countries, of course, the only sensible response to "Immigrants should learn the language" is "You mean the language of the earlier immigrants?" (And you can probably include the Celtic countries here - I wish I spoke Gaelic, but when I was a bairn no-one was teaching it...)