Shall We Boycott Lowe’s?

America may be the land of the brave and free, but off late the braves had been cowered into submission in the name of terror, and the word free sounds more and more as joke—ask the veteran OWS protestor in Oakland who was taken to ICU after being hit by a police projectile. Therefore, when a US Senator called on the CEO of Lowe's to apologize to American Muslims for ‘bigoted, shameful’ actions, I say wow, where does this guy come from?

The maverick is State Sen. Ted W. Lieu, a Democrat from Torrance, California. He was commenting in the aftermath of the North Carolina based Lowes’ action to stop advertising on TLC's “All-American Muslim” after a conservative group, Florida Family Association (FMA) complained that the program was “propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda's clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.”

Muslims as peoples are the punching bag of the USA, ask Representative Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the House and Senate Homeland Security committees, who told Sean Hannity in an interview, “no American Muslim leaders are cooperating in the war on terror,” and that "80-85 percent of mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists .... This is an enemy living amongst us.”

I was not surprised when the Florida group sent three emails to its members, asking them to petition Lowe’s to pull its advertising. The TLC show chronicles what it's like to be a Muslim in America, and it often portrays the discrimination the Muslims face in this country. FMA’s website was updated to reflect that the “supporters' emails to advertisers make a difference.” Accordingly, FMA just proved the point highlighted in the TV show.

Sen. Ted Lieu wrote, “I am writing regarding Lowe’s action of pulling its advertising from Discovery Channel/TLC’s show “All-American Muslim” because of complaints from the Florida Family Association that “All-American Muslim is propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values.” Lowe’s action is bigoted, shameful, and un-American. I call on Lowe’s to rescind its action and apologize to Americans who are Muslim. If Lowe’s continues its religious bigotry, I will encourage boycotts of Lowe’s and look into legislative remedies.”

Lieu went on to scribe, “Lowe’s action is profoundly ignorant. Islam is a peaceful religion practiced by over 1.5 billion people, including Americans across our great nation and Lowe’s own employees. As President Bush declared, and President Obama reaffirmed, America is not at war with Islam.”

Lieu further clarified, “America is, however, at war with people who pose a clear and present danger, whether they are white separatists like Timothy McVeigh (who happened to be Catholic); mass shooters such as Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech ; or members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army (a Marxist-Leninist group that has targeted US interests with suicide bombings). Lowe’s bigoted action conflates peaceful religions with dangerous people who use peaceful religions (or political ideology) to advance their agenda."

Where does Lieu get this courage to defend a minority community in such force? I say, the strength comes from our constitution, and our culture of tolerance at the grassroots level. The America we are proud of is because of our people, and despite our leaders. American people’s keen sense of justice, desire for religious freedom, and willingness to help the weak is deeply ingrained in their blood. That is exactly the reason, I wrote: Please Do Not Destroy This Country.

First published on Technorati.