Muslim terrorism against the United States seems to have succeeded in
terrorizing American Muslims more than anyone else. The Siege, a
Hollywood thriller about Muslim terrorism in New York, brought Muslim
groups out for another public cry against the stereotyping of
Muslims. By manifesting this response in protests, on editorial pages,
and at public debates, American Muslims are harming their image rather
than improving it.

Edward Zwick, director of The Siege, says the film dispels stereotypes
about Muslims. The Council on American-Islamic Relations says the film
reinforces the stereotypes and increases the probability of random
violence against Muslims. Invariably, films like The Siege are not the
arbiters of the image of Muslims in America. How Muslims respond to
their stereotypes is what defines their image. American Muslims
continue to miss this point as they carve out their place in the
American polity.

Unfair or not, the stereotype is not a concoction. Exactly a year
before the release of The Siege, Yousef Ramzi and Aimal Kansi were
convicted by US courts for acts of terrorism. Ramzi admitted to his
lead role in the World Trade Center bombing and Kansi admitted to the
murder of two CIA men outside the CIA headquarters. Both men
relentlessly argued that their terrorism was aimed at punishing the US
government for its policies towards Muslim countries. The stereotype
prevailing in America is a caricature of men like Ramzi and Kansi.

Moreover, films like The Siege are dwarfed opposite the current Muslim
megastars known to America: Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, the
Taliban, and the Unknown Terrorist. Admittedly, it is not easy being a
Muslim in this country today, but this is a piece of the reality that
American Muslims cannot control. What they can control is their own
contribution to the reality: their response to it.

Whining about caricatures only shows an unwillingness to face
reality. The cold-blooded calculus of self-interest that US foreign
policy uses towards Muslims countries is certainly a cause for Muslim
anger. But whether terrorism is an answer to the partiality of US
foreign policy is a personal choice. American Muslims need to bravely
make their minds up about terrorism by Muslims. If one believes in
terrorism as an answer to injustice, one ought to be willing to take
the heat for it--Osama Bin Laden does. If one is against it, it is
easier to see that stereotypes that may cause random violence against
American Muslims really emerge from the larger picture. Clarity
brings a courage of conviction that quietly changes the stereotype.

There is a very clear and urgent alternative to whining for all
American Muslims who see US foreign policy towards Muslim countries as
unjust but who do not believe in terrorism. They should organize to
present a strong, consistent, and reasoned criticism of US foreign
policy while clearly condemning terrorism. The critical political
objective has to be the separation of policy criticism from terrorism
in the public mind. This is the role American Muslim groups should be
seen playing. Trying to regulate what Hollywood and the television
networks show can never be effective especially when your political
voice has not quite cracked yet.

The Muslim community needs to separate Muslims from terrorists. It
needs to forcefully clarify who is criticizing and who is resorting to
terrorism. Whining can only change the stereotype of Muslims from, a
group associated with terrorism to a group of consistent whiners
associated with terrorism.