Columnist Jamala Rogers
The tragedy was rightfully condemned by the family and most mainstream Islamic groups. Dr. Nidal Malik Hasan fired 100 rounds at Fort Hood Army Base before he was shot down. His inexplicable actions left 13 dead, 29 wounded and many more traumatized. It is being called the worst tragedy ever on a military base.
“We stand with President Obama in condemning this horrific incidence of violence.” Those were the prepared words of Osama Siblani, publisher of Dearborn-based Arab American News and spokesman for the Congress of Arab-American Organizations.
Jamal Baadani, founder of the Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military, hoped that the public wouldn’t go down the road of looking at Arab-American citizens as suspects. He issued a statement that called Dr. Hasan “a deranged gunman” who did not represent the wider Arab or Muslim community.
Despite the efforts to disassociate Hasan’s actions from Arabs and Muslims, the whitelash is eminent both inside the military and in communities across the nation. It will be easier to take this path of creating the anatomy of a terrorist than trying to get to the root of the doctor’s horrific actions.
I think it’s worth the time in order to avert future situations. We are all at risk when people with guns have a reality break.
This column is not to justify those actions but to challenge our society to explore how seemingly good people get transformed and feel driven to take their frustrations out on others in a deadly way.
When Hasan signed up to serve his country right after high school, that’s probably exactly what he wanted to do. Dr. Hasan attended medical school and ironically became a psychiatrist who dealt with the trauma of soldiers returning from war. Hasan is an American citizen – born in Virginia – but I would guess that with his name and his Arab features, he was often treated like an undocumented citizen or even a terrorist.
Although he was a U.S. Army officer, Dr. Hasan could not escape the racist harassment and religious intolerance of those around him in the military. This apparently increased after the September 11 attacks. There has been some suppression of these incidents by the media, but there are reports from friends and other Army personnel that confirm this. Hasan was called a “camel jockey” by his Army family (probably one of the nicer names).
This past summer, one of his fellow soldiers living in the same complex, vandalized his car and tore up Hasan’s bumper sticker that read “Allah is Love.” John Van de Walker claimed he was upset to learn that Hasan was a Muslim. Van de Walker was charged with criminal mischief.
It should come as no surprise that at a certain point, Hasan wanted out of the military.
Medical, criminal and military “experts” are now debating whether Hasan’s actions represent those of a mass murderer or a terrorist. The rest of us need to demand the real truth about the incident – and demand that military personnel be given the appropriate support they need.
Given that this country is actively engaged in two wars, the intensity of human emotions and how they erupt will continue to be an issue for the military and for civilians. It is both a matter of public safety and national security.