A Madrassah in Bridgeview, Illinois
Daniel Pipes has written an interesting article about a piece in Time Magazine:
Marguerite Michaels of Time Magazine got "an unusual degree of access" to the inside of the Universal School in Bridgeview, Illinois, sixteen miles southwest of downtown Chicago, with 638 students in pre-K through 12th grades. She wrote up her impressions at "The Model School, Islamic Style" and Robert A. Davis took some striking pictures.
I'm not so sure how "model" this school actually is. While she puts a nice spin on it, questionable things did make it into the article.
"They are obsessed with foreign politics," says Steve Landek, the mayor of Bridgeview. "I come to talk to them about better sidewalks. They want to know how to run for Congress so they can change America's Israeli policy."
Well.......isn't that special? But the kids, being taught in this wonderfully moderate school, must be full of hope and promise, right?
Assigned in English class to write about his American Dream, a 15-year-old wrote that the territories under Israeli control should be returned to the Palestinians and "the Jews should be left to suffer."
I'm so glad they're moderate.
posted by Esther @ 3:30 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
When the "shiite" hits the phan ... and I suddenly "loose it;" that madrassa ain't too far down the road!
A "veiled threat?" ... No burkas, here!
:(
In Northern Virginia, just over the river from our nation's capital, sits the Islamic Saudi Academy, alma mater of aspiring Presidential assassin Ahmed Abu Ali. There are three other terrorists who graduated from the school, but I don't remember their names--Daniel Pipes wrote on the topic, however. One or two of those terrorist grads got into trouble in Israel--something about conspiring to carry out bombings, I believe.
Daniel Pipes, in a Fox News interview last March, went so far as to say that ISA should be closed down. In fact, the state of Virginia has revoked ISA's accreditation, but the school continues to compete athletically with other private schools in the area--mostly with Christian ones. How nutty is that?
Furthermore, for its Alexandria location, ISA obtained a money-free lease from Fairfax County. Sounds unbelievable? Well, it's the truth. The terms of the lease are that ISA only has to renovate Mount Vernon High School. And ISA sits on 12 acres of prime real estate, yet pays no taxes because of its tax-free, nonprofit status.
Now for the good news about ISA: the lease expires in 2007. The question remains, however, if the lease will be renewed. Even if it's not, though, ISA also owns, outright, prime real-estate, with a branch of ISA already standing on it (ISA bought the school building and the acreage from Faifax Christian School back in 1984--another surreal irony) in the southwestern portion of Fairfax County, so they can probably relocate there.
My point is this: we have Saudi-owned institutions all over the United States. Let's never forget that Saudi is the home to Wahhabism, a particularly virulent and a particularly violent form of Islam. Why do we allow these schools to stand on United States soil?
As long as I'm wound up tonight, let me tell anyone who will listen that one of the most prominent social-studies curriculum advisors to all the major textbook publishers (including MacMillan, Prentice Hall, and others) is Susan Douglass, a convert to Wahhabism. She used to work at ISA.
Under the guidance of Susan Douglass, will our public schools become curricular madrassahs?
Islamic States of America - Way to go (scary stuff)
Didn't the girls playing baskettball looked just lovely (and modest).
Remember the good old days when you came to America and prided yourself on how well you became an American? This is ridiculous!
Two points, related to one another
1.
There were anti-Muslim incidents following 9/11. Less well known was the anti-Jwish actions, and the automatic blame Israel/Jews for what the terrorist did--that it was because of Israel that the terrorist targeted the USA.
There was also a tremendous amount of "reaching out to Muslims" by most of the USA. There was not a similar response to Jews who were accused of being either behind the terrorism or the cause of the terrorism.
2. What many Muslims fail to see is the suspicion cast on them is not due to 9/11, but to their RESPONSE to 9/11 and to their Iman's etc. who continue to call for the destruction of Jews and Israel specifically and continuously as well as Western society in general and everything and everyone that is not Muslim.
They want a warm welcome and unfortunately there a significant part of the world that is willing to hug them, swallowing the belief, I suppose, that the Muslims embracing them today will never knife them in the back.
Excellent post, Esther. It's amazing how people like the Time journalist let their biases keep them from seeing the truth right in front of them.
It's interesting that as I was reading the Pipes article, CNN was reporting on efforts in Germany to deal with the rising number of "honor killings" of young girls and women among their Turkish Muslim immigrants. Imagine what Europe will be like if Turkey is ever allowed to join the EU.
Rachel Ann,
You have made two excellent points.
I am not Jewish, but since 9/11, I have done enough research to become aware of anti-Jewish propaganda, including but not limited to the outrageous lies that 9/11 (1) was perpetrated by Jews and (2) was deserved because of U.S. support of Israel.
Recently, in D.C., Nawash held the Free Muslims Against Terror March. The turnout was pathetic--only a few dozen people, and many of those were not Muslims. Major action groups for Muslims, including CAIR, refused to attend. Meanwhile, CAIR held a fundraiser for the likes of those with shady connections, to say the least.
People who are foolish enough to think that Israel is the only target of Islamists are blind to the truth. According to the tenets of Islam, anyone who is not Muslim is an infidel and therefore worthy of persecution, subjugation, and/or annihilation.
Furthermore, the Muslims/Arabs hated the Jews long before the founding of the modern nation of Israel. See
http://caosblog.com/archives/1568
You have a way with words, Sarge. :)
AOW, that's pretty freaky. I grew up inside the beltway and it does freak me out to think the Saudis are funding a school so close (several probably) to D.C. Can't help but feel it's asking for trouble. I hope you'll keep us updated on the expiring lease.
felis, I played basketball at that age. Not a fun outfit for doing that, needless to say.
billybud, you nailed the prob on the head. America was a melting pot. No one melts these days.
Thanks jaym for liking what you see and commenting! Much appreciated. Your site was quite interesting..... you got a thing for naked fat ladies or something? (by publicizing that, I just gave you lots of my male visitors, lol)
rachel ann -- excellent points!
Thanks, Tom. Yes, Turkey joining the EU scares the crap out of a lot of folks.
AOW, you are SPOT ON with your comment! Thanks for making those points. CAIR is such bad news. Wish everyone knew that. And thanks for the link! Will check it out shortly.
AOW, you're quite correct about the Saudi funding of schools in this country. We should also keep in mind that Saudi Arabia, and a number of the Gulf States, frequently provide the funding for various Middle Eastern Studies Departments at many of our universities, which definitely has an influence on the people who are hired to teach in those deparments. In fact, the Harvard Divinity School accepted an obscenely large donation from a Saudi prince, who was known to be a radical Islamist and unregenerate anti-Semite. It took a very courageous student to uncover the facts and embarass Harvard into returning the money.
Esther, I completely agree with you about CAIR. They're a dangerous organization and they've managed to portray themselves as some sort of benign Muslim civil rights group (with the help of people like George Bush's friend, Grover Norquist), when their agenda is really much more pernicious. I don't know if you're familiar with a group that goes by the name of Anti-CAIR. Unfortunately, they tend to spend a lot of their time in court, responding to defamation lawsuits that CAIR chronically lodges against them, but their aim is to make Americans aware of what CAIR is really all about.
Rory,
A collaborator and I have been doing some research related to Wahhabism in the United States and CAIR. You might be interested in the following blog posts:
http://socialsense.blogspot.com/2005/06/web-sued-by-muslim-group.html
http://alwaysonwatch.blogspot.com/2005/06/our-own-gullibility.html
http://northernvirginiastan.blogspot.com/2005/06/book-excerpt_19.html
Gindy,
About our schools:
April 28 "What Is Your Child Learning In School" @
http://northernvirginiastan.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_northernvirginiastan_archive.html
We used to be the Great American Melting Pot. Then, hippies got into administrations, and changed it to the Great American Mosaic. Not that the idea is completely bad; neither is. But there must be a way for an individual to retain his cultural heritage while fitting into a mixed society.
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