{"id":1024,"date":"2016-09-05T21:48:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-06T02:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/?p=1024"},"modified":"2016-09-05T21:48:56","modified_gmt":"2016-09-06T02:48:56","slug":"i-attended-jeh-johnsons-speech-at-isna-and-it-was-full-of-respect-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/i-attended-jeh-johnsons-speech-at-isna-and-it-was-full-of-respect-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"I attended Jeh Johnson’s speech at ISNA, and it was full of respect and hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring <\/i><\/p>\n

It does make me pause a little that the highest ranking government official to ever address the largest gathering of American Muslims – the 53rd annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) – was the Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh Johnson. Depending on how one looks at it, it’s either a slap in the face of the community or a genuine gesture of friendship and collaboration. I’m sure there are American Muslims who are saying both. <\/p>\n

Still, I attended the speech, and I thought it was full of respect for the American Muslim community. Yes, there are many policies of DHS that are controversial, at best, and have harmed many innocent American Muslims. And, of course, Sec. Johnson didn’t mention any of those policies, such as the sending of informants into the community. Still, I appreciated the things he had to say. <\/p>\n

I appreciated when he said<\/a>, “Your story is the quintessential American story.” He highlighted the many positive things American Muslims contribute to America, and he also said, “Tonight I will not talk about counterterrorism. Tonight I will simply address you as who you are, ‘my fellow Americans.'” <\/p>\n

The best part of the speech was when he talked about his grandfather, Charles S. Johnson. He highlighted how he had to endure the racist suspicion of African-Americans during the Red Scare in this country. He quoted a moving statement his grandfather made decades ago:<\/p>\n

It is expected that Negro Southerners, as a result of [our] limited status in the racial system, would be bitter or hostile. . . Bitterness grows out of hopelessness, and there is no . . . hopelessness in the situation. . . . Faith in the ultimate strength of the democratic philosophy and code of the nation . . . has always been stronger than the impulse to despair.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Secretary Johnson then said, <\/p>\n

I believe that too. I believe that because Charles S. Johnson was my grandfather. He died a second class citizen, in fact and in law. But he had faith in this country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And he encouraged us to have faith in our country as well. He encouraged us to:<\/p>\n

Follow the example of many people in this room, the leaders of this organization, and become full participants in our great democratic society. Continue to prod us toward a more perfect union. Aspire, excel, contribute, engage, and vote. Channel your energy in a way such that Muslim Americans too become recognized as a full part of the fabric of this diverse society, like others who have done before you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He then ended his speech with saying:<\/p>\n

Like those who came before you, do not lose hope. Do not despair. Have faith in the code of this Nation. We will continue on the path toward a more perfect union.<\/p>\n

If you know American history, take comfort in learning from it.<\/p>\n

Yes, it is frustrating to listen to those who foment fear, suspicion and intolerance, who don\u2019t know the mistakes of history, and are in the midst of repeating them. Have faith that the character of the American people as a whole is such that, in the end, we will choose not to drink this brand of soiled milk.<\/p>\n

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Americans: public officials in this country are often reluctant to ask the public we serve for your help. On behalf of myself and the President, I ask for your help. Hear this message and share it with others in your communities.<\/p>\n

Light a candle. Show others the promise and the wonder of this country.<\/p>\n

Thank you for listening.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thank you, Secretary Johnson. Thank you for coming out and showing your support to our community. All the bad policies of DHS notwithstanding, your words were greatly appreciated. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring  It does make me pause a little that the highest ranking government official to ever address the largest gathering of American Muslims – the 53rd annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) – was the Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[769,767,115,766,623,768],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-common-word","tag-appreciation","tag-dhs","tag-isna","tag-jeh-johnson","tag-respect","tag-speech"],"yoast_head":"\nI attended Jeh Johnson's speech at ISNA, and it was full of respect and hope - Common Word, Common Lord<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I attended Jeh Johnson's speech at ISNA, and it was full of respect and hope - Common Word, Common Lord\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring  It does make me pause a little that the highest ranking government official to ever address the largest gathering of American Muslims – the 53rd annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) – was the Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/i-attended-jeh-johnsons-speech-at-isna-and-it-was-full-of-respect-and-hope\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Word, Common Lord\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-06T02:48:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hesham A. Hassaballa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GodFaithPen\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I attended Jeh Johnson's speech at ISNA, and it was full of respect and hope - Common Word, Common Lord","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I attended Jeh Johnson's speech at ISNA, and it was full of respect and hope - Common Word, Common Lord","og_description":"In the Name of God: The Extremely and Eternally Loving and Caring  It does make me pause a little that the highest ranking government official to ever address the largest gathering of American Muslims – the 53rd annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) – was the Secretary of Homeland Security, Jeh…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/i-attended-jeh-johnsons-speech-at-isna-and-it-was-full-of-respect-and-hope\/","og_site_name":"Common Word, Common Lord","article_published_time":"2016-09-06T02:48:56+00:00","author":"Hesham A. Hassaballa","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GodFaithPen","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/i-attended-jeh-johnsons-speech-at-isna-and-it-was-full-of-respect-and-hope\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/i-attended-jeh-johnsons-speech-at-isna-and-it-was-full-of-respect-and-hope\/","name":"I attended Jeh Johnson's speech at ISNA, and it was full of respect and hope - Common Word, Common Lord","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-09-06T02:48:56+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-06T02:48:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/#\/schema\/person\/c2d50a46198edad19abb055001c4cd21"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/i-attended-jeh-johnsons-speech-at-isna-and-it-was-full-of-respect-and-hope\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/i-attended-jeh-johnsons-speech-at-isna-and-it-was-full-of-respect-and-hope\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/i-attended-jeh-johnsons-speech-at-isna-and-it-was-full-of-respect-and-hope\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I attended Jeh Johnson’s speech at ISNA, and it was full of respect and hope"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/","name":"Common Word, Common Lord","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Hesham Hassaballa","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/#\/schema\/person\/c2d50a46198edad19abb055001c4cd21","name":"Hesham A. Hassaballa","description":"Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago doctor and writer. He has written extensively on a freelance basis, being published in newspapers across the country and around the world. He has been a Beliefnet columnist since 2001, and has written for the Religion News Service. He is also a columnist for Patheos. His articles have been distributed worldwide by Agence Global, and he was also a guest blogger for The Chicago Tribune and has blogged on ChicagoNow\" . In addition, Dr. Hassaballa has appeared as a guest on WTTW (Channel 11) in Chicago, CNN, Fox News, BBC, and National Public Radio. Dr. Hassaballa is co-author of The Beliefnet Guide to Islam (Doubleday), and his essay, \u201cWhy I Love the Ten Commandments,\u201d was published in the award-winning book Taking Back Islam (Rodale). His latest book, Noble Brother, is the story of the Prophet Muhammad told entirely in poetry, and it is now published in its second edition. In 2007, his blog \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" was nominated for a Brass Crescent Award for a blog that is \u201cthe most stimulating, insightful, and philosophical, providing the best rebuttals to extremist ideology and making an impact whenever they post.\u201d \"God, Faith, and a Pen\" has also received an award for being one of the \"Top Muslim Blogs for 2010\" by Awarding The Web. In addition to writing, Dr. Hassaballa helped found the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations and currently serves on their board of directors. He also co-founded the Bayan H. Hassaballa Charitable Foundation and now serves as its Treasurer.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/GodFaithPen"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/author\/hhassaballa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1025,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions\/1025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonwordcommonlord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}