My latest in PJ Media:
You know what you need? The New York Times knows. Your moral superiors at the Times know that what you need today is a harrowing tale of racism, oppression, “Islamophobia,” xenophobia, and all the rest of the things make for a true horror story as far as the Left is concerned. On Thursday, the New York Times gave you what you need: it featured a lengthy whine by Laila Lalami, 4,500 words long but entirely summed up by its title: “I’m a Muslim and Arab American. Will I Ever Be an Equal Citizen?”
Who is Laila Lalami? If you were one of the smart set, the real in-crowd, you would know already. But here’s the scoop for the great unwashed: Laila Lalami is a bestselling novelist. She has been nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. She was interviewed at the 2019 Library of Congress National Book Festival. She has been featured on the cover of the prestigious Kirkus Reviews. Her novel The Moor’s Account won the American Book Award, the Arab-American Book Award, and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
Lalami’s novel The Other Americans was a best-of-2019 selection from NPR, Time, and Kirkus, and a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. Her essays and criticism have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, The Nation, Harper’s, the Guardian, and the New York Times. She has received fellowships from the British Council, the Fulbright Program, and the Guggenheim Foundation.
Yet despite being rich with honors and praise, hailed and celebrated everywhere, Laila Lalami wants you to know that as a Muslim migrant, she is a victim, and a second-class citizen, and it’s your fault, you racist, redneck “Islamophobe.” Someone actually left her a note reading, “Go back home!,” and the note-writer might want to go back home himself if forced to read the rant Lalami contributed to the Times in response. She pours out 4,500 words in the New York Times about how this isn’t the first time Americans have said rude things to her. She says that these rude statements, as well as others that have been said to Rashida Tlaib or Ilhan Omar, are apparently tantamount to a denial or revocation of the U.S. citizenship of these Muslims.
There is much more. Read the rest here.