Cary C. Schwartzbach responds to Reihan Salam on Islam in America

To the Editor:

Reihan Salam wrote a brilliant and brave essay analyzing two ideological tendencies in the American Muslim community. Most enlightening perhaps was his explanation for seemingly contradictory beliefs held by the Third Worldists. The example of “Queers for Palestine” is illustrative.

Sadly, the article veers into whataboutism when it compares the Third Worldist American Muslims to the radical Jews of the 1920s and ’30s. A comprehensive analysis will reveal that this comparison is rather superficial. For starters, the core of Jewish radicals was made up of immigrants from Eastern Europe who were reacting to the dire poverty that most Jews in the era lived under. That stands in stark contrast to the wealthy, educated first-generation Muslim Third Worldists. Jewish radicalism, representing no more than 10–15 percent of the community, extinguished itself over time, as first- and second-generation Jews realized the American Dream. They raised themselves above the business and educational prejudice that was rampant then and assimilated, becoming civic-minded Americans. Finally, acts of violence and “civic terrorism” were decidedly rare.

So while both immigrant groups flirted with radical ideologies, the cultural, economic, behaviors, and historical contexts are quite different.