I’m not a fan of either of them, really, but as bizarre as it sounds, the recent back and forth between Kanye West and George Bush got me reflecting. In promoting his new memoir, “Decision Points”, the former president told NBC’s Matt Lauer, that West’s infamous sounds bite, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” was “an all-time low” during his time in office. “It hurt," Bush said. "You can disagree with my politics but don't ever accuse me of being a racist."
A few days later, Kanye responded to Lauer. "I would tell George Bush in my moment of frustration, I didn't have the grounds to call him a racist. I believe that in a situation of high emotion like that we as human beings don't always choose the right words."
Now, I'm no Bush fan, and I’m not saying that all of Bush’s transgressions should be forgotten, but this was a good move by Kanye. You can call Bush a lot of things – criticize his invasion of Iraq, his waterboarding policy, and his handling of Katrina – but was he a racist? Did he believe the white race was superior to the other races? I doubt it. Though the comment probably gave those who already hated Bush, a small measure of satisfaction, it certainly didn’t lead Bush to change his policies or to any other benefit.
The lesson to me is that we have to be careful in selecting the language we choose when engaging in conversation (or even heated debate) with those we disagree with. If we use accusatory labels, our entire message will get ignored by those who have opposing views. Only those who agree with us will pay attention to our words. We will simply be preaching to the choir and no good at all will come of our efforts.
It goes both ways. I recently connected on Facebook with a friend of mine from college. I went to a small, private Catholic school, and this friend, like many others who went there, is a staunch conservative. He and I have been having various conversations as of late, on issues ranging from immigration to tax policy to youth culture. The truth is, I told him, even if you can get me to agree with conservative viewpoints on certain issues, as a Muslim American, I’m never going vote Republican. After hearing Newt Gingrich equate building a mosque with Nazism, Bill O’Reilly equating all Muslims with the extremists, and anything that comes out of Glenn Beck’s mouth about Islam, as a Muslim, I’ve been deeply offended and hurt. I feel like the GOP or the Tea Party has issues with Islam and Muslims. Even if I was to agree with some social or fiscal conservative viewpoints, the GOP for me is toxic, due to statements from its party leaders regarding Islam. If the GOP reached out to Muslims with a welcoming message of inclusion, they could probably get a good number of the 7 million Muslims in America to vote their way.
When I framed it this way, I think my friend understood. At the same time, he fairly stated that language that some on the left sometime use only cause further divide. Terms like “bigot” and “racist” only close doors. As a Muslim American, it behooves me to break down of walls of misunderstanding by using graceful and kind language so as to open the door for more conversation, as the Holy Quran calls for: “Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and have disputations with them in the best manner.” (16:125)
