Word: muslim
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Park SummerStage or the Metropolitan Museum of Art, even though they are free. Not surprisingly, in their nocturnal isolation, they feel alienated. New York City is home to every variety of humanity, and at times it seems that everyone is rich, and comfortable in the main stream. A young Muslim man may feel that he is part of a very small minority. The two grocers work night and day, but, unlike many of their customers, do not shop with diverse groups of friends in the trendy Greenwich Village boutiques down the street...
...enough that he could not hope to express the truths contained in the Koran, and encouraged me to read it for myself. Though they attend services at a nearby mosque, Royal and Yasin, working their long hours, do not have the opportunity to pray daily. The young Muslim men feel that many Americans are so hostile to Islam that they would not hesitate to ridicule their faith. Royal told me that he is frustrated because, while he must watch pedestrians flouting Islamic traditions all day, he cannot say to anyone that he believes they should convert to Islam...
...America, and for Harvard, I asked the two men what they thought about our culturally sensitive policies. Sarkozy might want to ban burqas in France, I said, but in America, women can wear what they want. In recent years, I added, Harvard has constructed a private prayer space for Muslim students, and given Muslim women special hours for working out in the Quadrangle Recreational Athletic Center. My words fell on uncomprehending ears. I was as powerless as Royal to communicate my beliefs. The two friends did not understand what I meant when I spoke of "cosmopolitanism" or "multiculturalism...
...have tended to conflate these two issues—individual as victim versus affront to society. The assumption among Europeans is that the onus is on the immigrant to conform to traditional European society. This sentiment is prevalent even among some politicians who are the sons and daughters of Muslim immigrants. The attitude is: “If you want to stay in our country, then adopt our customs, language, and values, or else go home.” These arguments, common currency now in Europe, used to be confined to extreme-right parties like that of Jean-Marie...
...Contrast this accommodating attitude with France’s, a country with a more rigid traditional culture that is perceived to be under attack. Universities in Michigan last year installed footbaths in dormitories to meet the needs of Muslim students who washed their feet before praying. France, by contrast, outlawed headscarves (as well as yarmulkes and large crosses) in schools. And in spite of wide gaps in achievement and employment between Arab immigrants and the rest of France, affirmative action policies have never been implemented and remain deeply unpopular. The positions and arguments of left-wing politicians in France...