So how should a father, a Muslim American immigrant, a person of color respond to his city councilman with clearly racist views.
A father who has raised three kids in the beautiful state of Idaho and focused all his energy over the last 19 years of living in Pocatello towards building bridges and inculcating a sense of kindness, inclusion and love of diversity in his kids shall respond. And as these kids leave their nest in Idaho, the only message he gave them was there is “beauty in diversity and all people with all their differences make this world a better place.”
To the contrary when his hometown’s councilman during two City Council meetings repeatedly shares following sentiments;
— “Pocatello does not need more police force because we are mostly white folks living here.”
And
— “Pocatello saw more crime when we had Arab Muslims students in this community and now that we don’t have them the crime is low.”
And
- “More diversity leads to more crimes.”
And when he is asked to apologize for his comments, he wrote a lengthy narrative doubling down on his previous beliefs with no apology to the community, because his words impact the reputation of our entire community and our law enforcement.
Last few weeks were truly disturbing and I wanted to get out of the shock of what I heard and formulate a more thoughtful, educated response.
So here is my response;
Dear Councilman Bray,
“Arrogance is ignorance plus conviction.”
Please take a look at my family photos — that is a result of 19 years of hard work in this community and look at the “diversity and the beauty of diversity” that Pocatello is home to and then please answer the following questions.
1. Do these faces remind you that their existence in Pocatello deserves more police force or lack of them deserves less police force?
2. Do you still feel that a Muslim American doctor who was invited to Pocatello Temple groundbreaking showed up in the presence of police guards or his presence warranted extra security at the event?
3. Do you think a Muslim American doctor who worked with his 98-year-old LDS patient for three years to help fulfill her last wishes to live long enough to attend services at Pocatello Temple, deserves to be added to your statistics when you decide about policing budgets?
4. Do you think lack of diversity in your community is something you should be proud of?
5. Do you believe that not only BIPOC but all Idahoans deserve an apology from you because you clearly don’t represent any of them? You may identify yourself as a Democratic Party candidate but I assure you that these beliefs don’t belong to either democrats or republicans. These beliefs solely represent your individual self and you are fully responsible for causing hurtful sentiments across this community that many of us are feeling today.
Sir, if you are having a hard time finding answers to my questions, I extend an open invitation to you to come join myself and other members of your “Diverse” community and meet us at Pocatello mosque or join me and my family at my home and break bread with me. So we can show you that diversity enriches and fosters a peaceful community and that our existence in town, that you claim to be a representative of, should not translate into your policing budget decisions.
Councilman Bray, I graciously pray for your soul that may God forgive you and show you the light of compassion, kindness and your heart be open to the love for diversity and inclusion towards your fellow human beings.
Sir, you may have made peace with your racist comments but the rest of us have not. Our community definitely deserves better.
Dr. Fahim Rahim of Pocatello is the co-founder of the JRM Foundation, a managing partner of the Idaho Kidney Institute, and the director of the Idaho Kidney Centers in Pocatello and Blackfoot. He’s a 2011 recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, a 2007 Congressional Record-U.S. Senate recipient, and a 2011 Congressional Record-U.S. House recipient.
