Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian and among the first Muslims to serve in the U.S. Congress, read at a hearing a death threat her office received, which praised a New Zealand mosque shooting and wished for a similar attack in the United States. "This is a great start. Let's hope and pray that it continues here in the good old USA. The only good Muslim is a dead one," the letter said. This is my response.
Here’s a message to the
man in "good, old USA,"
who wants to kill
Muslims like Rashida,
and me and my family
in good, old Palestine,
our home before
the “only democratic
state in the Middle East”
moved in and occupied us.
You say the only good
Muslim is a dead one?
I bet you think you’re
a good Christian.
Maybe you were baptized
Maybe you go to church.
and even read the Bible.
But tell me, would Jesus say such a thing?
Will killing all Muslims and blacks
make America great again?
Do you know the stats,
the numbers and the stories,
behind the American “brand” of terrorism?
Domestic, right-wing extremists
commit three times as many
violent acts as Muslims.
I read that in your own media.
How much do you know
about losing a child, a parent, a friend
at the hands of others?
It’s personal for me;
and the killer wasn’t Muslim.
No wonder Rashida is afraid,
wanting to return home
to her two boys.
Do you know anything
about Islam?
Do you think more killing
is what your God
really wants?
