Late this afternoon I was walking down a street in suburban Sydney. Two schoolboys of Middle Eastern appearance were walking behind me. I’d guess they were 12-13 years old, about the same size, though one boy’s voice had not broken while the second boy’s voice had. They were talking quite loudly to each other in fluent English.
Boy with the unbroken voice: “…Osama bin Laden is attacking lots of people. That’s not good.”
Boy with broken voice: “No, no! He’s a good guy. He’s out to get the US.”
Unbroken voice: ”But what about attacking those buildings?” Apparently referring to the Twin Towers.
Broken voice: “Like I say he’s out to get the US.”
That was it. One Muslim boy unsure what to think of Osama bin Laden, the other boy, presumably influenced by family and/or Islamic community, convinced Osama bin Laden is good and the US evil. Much as we might want to believe that second generation, English-speaking Muslims will share mainstream Australian values, this little vignette indicates the truth is otherwise. Evidently, there are a lot of young Muslim boys and youths walking our streets who share these same sentiments.
It might be an inconvenient truth, but Australia has a problem on its hands.
Posted September 16, 2009
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