密歇根新闻广播 抛弃种族和宗教,在人性层面上团结起来

In the U.S., random¹ attacks against Muslims—or people the attackers think look like Muslims—are on the rise. Michigan is not exempt².

In her recent article for The Islamic Monthly, Michigan public school teacher Zeinab Chami wonders why, 14 years after the most significant incident of violence in the name of Islam ever, we are now seeing more vitriolic³ comments against Islam—not fewer.

The article is called The Prayer of the American Muslim. That prayer: "Please, God, don't let them be Muslim."

"Whenever an attack happens, the first thing that pops into our minds is please, God, don't let them be Muslim," Chami says. "I am not immune to that, and every Muslim that I've spoken to agrees with that."

In an environment filled with increasingly hateful rhetoric⁵ aimed at followers⁶ of Islam, Chami tells us the Muslim community has been put on the defensive⁷.

"We're operating from a place of fear, a place of frustration⁸, and it's really not how we should be operating. We should be allowed to mourn just like everyone else when other people are murdered on a mass level," she says.

Chami adds that having to constantly defend something as personal as one's faith is "not pleasant."

She tells us her article started out as "this grand defense⁹ of Muslims," but she felt that wasn't really getting to the core of the problem.

"It's so unfortunate to me we're helping¹⁰ them win."

"I just kind of deleted all of that," she says, "and, you know, I spoke⁴ from the heart, and I spoke about just mourning from a human level. Existing from a human level. We're all human beings; not even Americans or Canadians or Syrians, we're just human beings. And forcing us on the defense sort of strips us of that right to live as human beings, and that's a really, really painful place to exist from, and I think that's doing damage to our community."

In spite of all the hate loudly being flung at Muslims, Chami doesn't think that voice is representative of America's true attitude.

"I refuse to believe most Americans feel that way. I think most Americans are pretty balanced people, and I think that the vocal¹¹ minority has kind of overtaken the conversation," Chami says.

She is, however, troubled by that vocal minority because, she explains, they're playing right into the Islamic State's hands.

"I can't emphasize it enough. That human connection is what's really most important here."

"When we dehumanize other people and fear them for no reason, we're just as bad as the attackers are in so many ways. We're letting them win. You know, Daesh … they say that they want to make it impossible for Muslims to exist in the West. They want to take away this gray area, and it's working. It's so unfortunate to me we're helping them win," she says.

Chami tells us she's heard people float the idea that all of the Muslim community's problems would be solved if only they would stop seeing the Quran as a sacred text, stop living for the afterlife, "just throwing out everything that makes Islam, Islam, and essentially¹² secularizing it." She says that's not the solution.

"A quarter of humanity follows Islam. You're not going to get almost two billion people to throw their faith aside," Chami says. "The real solution is looking at each other as human beings. I mean, I can't emphasize it enough. That human connection is what's really most important here."

1 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

2 exempt   

adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者

参考例句：

• These goods are exempt from customs duties.这些货物免征关税。
• He is exempt from punishment about this thing.关于此事对他已免于处分。

3 vitriolic   

adj.硫酸的，尖刻的

参考例句：

• The newspaper launched a vitriolic attack on the president.这家报纸对总统发起了一场恶意的攻击。
• Vitriolic impurity is contained normally in the sewage that vitriolic factory discharges.硫酸厂排放的污水中通常含有硫酸杂质。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

6 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

7 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

8 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

11 vocal   

adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目

参考例句：

• The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
• Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。

12 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。