Qatanani case offers mirror on America
What is so especially troubling about the sad story of Imam Mohammad Qatanani is that this is America and this is happening here. A declared man of peace is being threatened with deportation because he doesn't agree with the actions of one of this country's allies.
Also, deeply troubling to me, I had to think long and hard about writing this commentary. There was a time when you could say what you felt with ease. But that time is a thing of the past. Now we run the risk of being labeled a sympathizer of one kind or another, or locked up without a specific charge.
Qatanani's fate is a reflection of the fate of our constitutional protections in recent years. They too were locked up, without charge, detained for an unspecified time. Once released, our protections carry a stain against them, and they are never quite as pure as they once were. They are subject to deportation or in our case, to hijacking again at the verbal whim of some entity in charge. In Qatanani's case, an occupying government; in our case, the commander in chief. And the rehabilitation of our respective fates lies in the hands of someone else. In Qatanani's case, U.S. immigration officials and in our case, Congress. Both are part of the U.S. Government.
We have become a country that is a slave to policy instead of principle. We once respected dissent, now we arrest it. We once actually believed in a person's right to yearn to be free. Now that freedom must align with our stated national policy objectives, right or wrong. Deviate from that and they find a damning label for you. Terrorist sympathizer, for him; anti-American for us.
Speak out against oppression in your homeland and you are outlawed. Speak out about the loss of American freedoms and you are "watched."
But the majority of us will remain silent about what is happening to him and thus, silent about what has happened to us. We are, after all, inextricably linked. I lament the imam's awful situation. Also, watching what has become of my country, mirrored by what is happening to him in our city, I also lament my own.
Jonathan Hodges, Paterson