WASHINGTON,
January 16 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Fox
television network has decided to remove some stereotypical aspects
about American Muslims from its action drama “24” thanks to
immediate action from community leaders.
“We
thank Fox for the opportunity to address the Muslim community's
concerns and for the willingness of network officials to take those
concerns seriously in an atmosphere of mutual respect and
cooperation,” Rabiah Ahmed, Communications Coordinator of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said in a press release
e-mailed to IslamOnline.net Saturday, January 15.
Following
a January 12 meeting with representatives from CAIR, the largest US
Muslim civil liberties advocacy group in the country, Fox officials
promised that the popular series will be balanced in its portrayal of
Muslims.
“There
aren't any positive or even neutral portrayals of Muslims on TV,”
the BBC quoting Ms Ahmed as regretting.
“When
Muslims or Arabs are portrayed, it is always in a stereotypical
way.”
Premiered
on January 10, the drama portrays a Muslim family as a terrorist
“sleeper cell,” who are plotting attacks inside the US.
A
young man is seen helping his parents mastermind a plot to kill as
many Americans by launching an attack on a commuter train.
The
drama showed the mother poisoning her son's non-Muslim girlfriend
because she poses a threat to their plans.
The
US secretary of state is also seen taken hostage by the “Muslim
terrorists.”
It
climaxes with the defense secretary shown on an Internet video tape
like those coming out of US-occupied Iraq.
Pro-Muslims
Ad
Fox
further decided to distribute a CAIR public service announcement (PSA)
to network affiliates to be aired in proximity to “24.”
feature American Muslims of European, African-American, Hispanic, and
Native American heritage.
Each
person in the spots states how he/she and his/her family have served
America and ends by saying, “I am an American Muslim.”
“What
we are hoping to do is to try and mitigate the damages of the
stereotypes because it can bring real-life consequences on American
Muslims and their lives here,” Ms Ahmed said.
“When
average Americans don't have any personal interaction with Muslims,
whether it be at work or at school, they base their perception of
Islam and Muslims from what they see on TV.”
CAIR
urged State Department officials in a meeting on January 13 to issue a
report on Islamophobia across the world.
CAIR
Executive Director Nihad Awad presented in the meeting -- attended by
Assistant Secretary Patricia de Stacy Harrison, Assistant Secretary
Richard Boucher and Ambassador William Burns --
for
cooperative efforts to challenge both Islamophobia and
anti-Americanism.
A
recent nation-wide poll, conducted by the Cornell University, showed
that at least 44 percent of the Americans backs curbing Muslims’
civil rights and monitoring their places of worship.
A
May 2004 report released by the US Senate Office Of Research concluded
that Arab Americans and the Muslim community in the US have taken the
brunt of the Patriot Act and other federal powers applied in the
aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
