On March 10th, Rep. Peter King, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee led a hearing on Muslim "radicalization" in America. Though his goal was to further examine the causes of "homegrown terrorism" and "inform", he couldn't have been further off target to achieve his goals of a safer nation. He effectively took us back to the days of McCarthy and his cronies, singling out the religion of millions of Americans based on the acts of a few. If the goal was truly to find the roots of home grown terrorism, he would have also paid attention to a study published less than two weeks ago by the Southern Poverty Law Center showing an explosive growth of right-wing anti-government and hate groups. The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords should stand as a reminder that home grown terrorism is more diverse than one religion.
As the vitriol and political shenanigans continue on the Hill, I urge those that have hate and mistrust towards certain groups of people to check themselves. Learn about those people from different sources, and better yet, befriend them, learning that individuals are much too unique and diverse to be typecast into the broad brushstrokes political leaders and those in power want us to think.
