A children's book about September 11 and ' controversy on "Muslim extremists"

A children's book, coloring. A poetic title: the book of the freedom of the children. Yet the volume of the Really Big Coloring Books, a publishing company of Missouri, is raising a torrent of criticism and commentary. "It's disgusting," said Dawud Walid of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "It's a job that he wants to educate and not to offend," responds Wayne Bell, Director of Coloring Books. The subject of the dispute is the manner in which the book – which tells the story of the two towers and the killing of Osama bin-Laden – represents the Muslims. The phrase "radical extremist Muslims" is used for ben 10 times. And bin-Laden is drawn when it is going to be killed by special forces USE. Behind a woman, wearing the Islamic veil.

Ten years after the September 11, the theme of the relationship between Islam and the United States continues to create tension and embarrassment. A survey by the Washington Post explains that 31% of Americans believe that Islam more institutional "encourages violence." For their part, American Muslims do not hide a strong discomfort. The 55% (according to a study by the Pew Research Center) is thought to be still subject to pressures and discrimination: controls at airports, distrust in school and in the workplace, vandalism against mosques and Islamic cultural centres. Attempts to cool the tones are, by both sides. The White House has invited the Boxer, British and Muslim, Amir Khan, his celebration of 11 September. The sport for two years, which resides in the United States, is continually blocked and interrogated before taking a plane. And Muslims used to remember the tragedy, have organized the campaign "Muslims for Life", which plans to collect blood, donated by Muslims, so save at least 10 thousand lives.

"For ten years I cannot free myself from a sense of unease. I was almost out of place ". He tells Butheina Hamed, daughter of Syrian immigrants who emigrated in the United States in the 1970s. Butheina, who today lives in Emerson, New Jersey, had eleven years in 2001. Remember the day of the tragedy. "I was in school, in class. Someone came in, said that there had been a great bombing in New York. I prayed because the authors were not Muslims. " Today Butheina not wearing the Islamic veil. It was a decision taken after months of discussions, in the family, especially with the younger sister, Zanubya (which still carries). "But for years I covered myself in the head. My mother wanted, feared that on the way home from school I aggredisse, and doing evil ". Butheina is about to graduate in romance languages at Rutgers University. "With fellow okay – says. But I bring the need giustificarmi, to highlight every time that bin-Laden is not my leader, my values are those of all Americans. "

The equation Islam/opposition to the values of the West was in these years, nourished by politicians of the Republican right. A referendum passed in Oklahoma last 2 November, sponsored by Republican Congressman and lawyer Rex Duncan, has banned Islamic law by the courts of the State. No Muslim in Oklahoma or in other parts of the United States, had never asked for the imposition of Islamic law; and no court had recognized the precedence of Islamic law on the Constitution. The rise of the Tea Party has further exacerbated the situation. The recent midterm elections, Sharron Angle, favorite of the Tea Party, announced that Islam had been hoisted his flag on two cities of Michigan and Texas. Anti-Muslim sentiment has probably reached its apex with the hearings of the Committee on national security of the American Chamber, chaired by another Republican, Peter King, who investigated on physiognomy and extension of Islamic radicalism "(and many have evoked the ghost of McCarthy on UN-American activities).

"There were times when I thought of leaving. Especially when the Reverend Jones has organized its ' bonfire of the Koran ". Ali (who prefers not to give the surname) has 27 years, works for a shipping company of Michigan. It went "because I don't have another place to go. I'm not going to return to Morocco, from where my grandparents ". Admits that, especially among his friends as a teenager, "there was a feeling of sympathy for bin Laden. We didn't exactly account of what he had done. I think there entered our frustration of children of immigrants. Then, crescendo, we noticed that behind bin-Laden there was no divine plan, and no chance of success. " The anger of wings has remained, and resurfaces when he, his father, his brothers spend checks at the airport. "Every time, dozens of questions. Each time, cross-checks. Each time, separate interrogations than those of the other passengers. "

At the end of August, the New York police had to admit that they have assigned plainclothes policemen to spy on and gather information in cafes, libraries, meeting centers of the Muslim community (activities conducted in collaboration with the CIA). The anger of many Muslims was summarized by Abdul Alim Musa, Iman Washington, according to which "Muslims of America living in a State of fear; fear in their homes, afraid to go to work, fear even to pray ". "But our leaders have not done enough to hear their voice. Not enough condemnation of terrorism, the distinction between Islam and terrorism ". EC explains Lena Shakir, 23-year-old daughter of Lebanese. Lena rejects a purely "defensive" Muslims of America. "It is right to defend our civil rights – explains-. But I would also like to Muslims of America does not remain on the margins, and found their own identity, an active role in society. Like other American community ". Lena has left the college in 20 years. It resumed in recent weeks, and hopes to graduate in business. "It's the gift that I do. A way to leave behind these ten bad years. Indeed, you know what? I think I will follow up the tenth anniversary celebrations. Even in television ".