[lbo-talk] GOP thinks "Muslim" is a race

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

On 10/12/06, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> New York Sun - October 11, 2006
> <URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/41341>
>
> GOP Donors' Personal Data Disclosed in RNC Privacy Slip
> BY RUSSELL BERMAN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
<snip>
> The attached spreadsheet of 76 guests included category headings with
> Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and "race." The race of all
> but three were listed as "Caucasian." One was identified as "Asian,"
> and the race of two others, Malik and Seeme Hasan, was listed as
> "Muslim."
>
> The classification drew criticism from Mrs. Hasan, who founded a
> group called Muslims for Bush and who, along with her husband, has
> donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republican committees and
> candidates in recent years.
>
> "The only word I can think of is not very nice," Mrs. Hasan said
> yesterday in a telephone interview from her home in Colorado.
>
> "I think that whoever wrote this obviously has no knowledge, because
> Muslim is not a race. It is a religion," she said.

Islam is still a religion for most Muslims I know, but I wonder if it
won't become a "cultural background" eventually, just as being Jewish
is not longer a matter of faith but a question of cultural heritage
for many Jews.
-- 
Yoshie
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