While the student organizers at Georgetown and George Washington universities will soon join nearly 100 other schools in commemorating Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, the normally socially active voices at AU have decided to remain silent. With the exception of a few counterdiscussions on race and religion, AU will not participate in the conservative event sponsored by David Horowitz's Freedom Center.
None of the clubs or organizations on campus chose to "confront the two big lies of the political left," as the planning Web site promoted. None chose to raise awareness of how Islam represses the rights of women and gay people, as also stated on the Web site. None chose to "memorialize" victims of Islamic terror or pass out petitions asking students and professors to pick a side: us or them.
Though AU students love to voice their minds and have opinions on everything from stem cells to composting, this decision to not join the debate is an even stronger demonstration of our university's commitment to crosscultural understanding and fair dialogue.
Events like Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week serve to pigeonhole communities and complex ideas into simple black-and-white, good-versus-evil blocs. They target radical sects present in almost every religion or culture and project such abnormalities onto those who are peace-loving, good-hearted citizens.
No one can condone terror. Whether perpetrated by militant groups of Irish Catholics, anti-abortion Christians or small, angry branches of Islamic cults, professing a belief through physical violence and pressuring politics through fear is never permissible or just, yet furthering stereotypes will not end Islamic terror. In fact, fueling racism and bigotry only adds to the divide and animosity between the many people we call American.
AU students are right to step away from the propagandist and biased activities of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. Though our silence cannot bridge such entrenched prejudices, denying a voice to extremists starts to close the gap that prevents acceptance.
