On AOC's 'Law and disorder'. A Muslim's perspective
Guilty until proven innocent is a sacrosanct principle. We cannot let our anger cloud our judgement, no matter how politicized the case is.
I was not planning on touching the Kyle Rittenhouse case with a ten feet pole, especially this early on in my blog. Much has been written and said about that case and I did not feel that I would have anything useful to add. However, AOC’s tweet kind of forced my hand. Especially since she has specifically invoked the ‘what if muslim’ angle, I believe it is my responsibility to pen my thoughts and give the perspective of an actual Muslim on this subject.
But in the interest of not wasting anyone’s precious time I would like to straight up tell the reader that I am a practicing Muslim AND a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and the Constitution as a whole. If you are one of those persons who cannot reconcile the fact that someone can be both these things at the same time then this article is not for you and you should go back to your echo chamber. However if you sincerely believe in the diversity of ideas and do really believe that muslims are not a monolith and can have original thoughts of their own, even if those thoughts go against how the pundits believe muslims should think, then I encourage you to read on.
In my opinion, Kyle Rittenhouse should not have been present at the site of the protests in the first place. I do believe he made a really bad judgement which has forever altered the course of his life. At the same time however, just because someone made a bad judgement it does not takes away their God given right to defend their life, by lethal means if necessary. No matter how much it annoys someone, the penalty for a lapse in judgement (the kid is 17, for goodness sake) is not and can not be death. If that standard was applied uniformly, then we would all be dead and animals would inherit this earth. Try to put yourself in the situation where you are confronted by an angry mob, in a poorly lit area after dark, and they are chasing you and throwing things at you. Would you not be scared for your life? I know I would be. This does not mean that I am asking for the charges against him to be dropped. All I am saying is that let the courts figure it out. However he is 100% innocent until and unless pronounced as guilty in a court of law. This should not be a difficult position to take. In fact if you do not believe in this position then you cannot claim to be a champion of criminal justice reform.
I also do respect AOC a lot and nobody can honestly argue that it would have been better for the US House if Joe Crowley was still representing NY’s 14th district. The name itself makes me chuckle since I am a big fan of Supernatural, but I digress. I was really very happy when she won the primary and she has inspired so many people across all races and economic backgrounds to take interest in politics again. Even though I do not agree with all of her policy positions but I firmly believe that she is an honest person and not engaging in bad faith. She is one of the very few politicians that I actually trust.
With all that said however, it was pretty disappointing for me to see that tweet from her. Even more disappointing was to see some advocates of criminal justice reform retweet it without any criticism. While I believe that she has good intentions and is trying to point out the systemic racism in the criminal (in)justice system, the path to hell is paved with good intentions. We do not want every white suspect to be treated as badly as a non white suspect is treated. What we need instead is everyone to be given their fair shake as is their right under the constitution, irrespective of their race or background and irrespective of how politicized the case is. The cash bail system is ridiculous and needs to go. Anyone who thinks that the $2 million bail amount was fair and not politically motivated is kidding themselves. How can someone be a flight risk if they have turned themselves in?
As a muslim gun owner I cannot imagine the kind of media circus that would come to town if God forbid I end up in a situation like this. Just having a blog about firearms scares me to be honest. The only difference then would be that it would be politicians with R against their names calling for blood. And AOC wont be able to then come to my rescue and say we should treat every suspect as innocent until proven guilty. The fact that she has already insinuated that KR is a violent criminal is deeply offensive to me and she should apologize for this.
I want the criminal justice system to be insulated against racism and media sensationalism. So that even when a poor muslim man is accused of a crime they get afforded the decency of being treated as innocent and a chance to prove it in front of a jury of their peers, regardless of what the media and politicians are shouting. This is not an easy thing to accomplish and obviously will require hard work spanning years and possibly generations. I get it that if you are a person who has seen the criminal justice system tear apart the lives of so many PoCs who were either innocent or did not deserve the harsh punishment that they got, it might then feel good to see someone who is white and not poor and comes from a different political ideology as yourself to get the same treatment. However that is not justice and cheering it on will not earn you any new allies or bring you any closer to your ultimate goal of reform. if you want to defend a right you will have to defend it for everyone, including and especially for the person you may hate for any reason. If you take away someone’s right to be innocent until proven guilty because you do not like that person then that means you have taken it away from everyone, including the persons you love and also for yourself.