Honda Talks Stereotypes at Silicon Valley Reads

From the Jews of the McCarthy era to the Muslims of post-9/11, there is always a scapegoat American politics points its fingers towards out of fear and lack of knowledge, said a panel of three speakers at the  in Los Gatos on Tuesday.

“When ignorance and misinformation is exploited it can lead to bigotry and hate,” said Wajahat Ali, a Muslim-American playwright from Fremont. “You can inoculate yourself with proper information.”

Brought together through the 2012 Silicon Valley Reads program, Ali was joined by San Jose State Political Science Professor Larry Gerston and Congressman Mike Honda for a “Paranoid Politics” panel. Under this year’s theme “Muslim and American: Two Perspectives,” the program organized a series of discussion panels, kicking off in February through a talk on the program’s selected book, “The Muslim Next Door.”

Honda, who spent his childhood in a Japanese internment camp in Colorado, spoke about how prejudice against “the other” can build unknowingly.

When people use derogatory ethnic terms it’s often “part of their vocabulary,” said Honda,referencing a recent incident when an ESPN headline writer used such a phrase in reference to Jeremy Lin.

In general, added Gerston, people are afraid of what is “seen as a threat to the status quo”, be it immigration or diversity in general. The public finds itself in a fight or flight pattern, where it shies away from the unknown. 

This creates misinformed ideas such as, “Mexicans are taking our jobs—even though no one is going to go out there for $8 an hour to pick fruit—but they’re taking our jobs,” said Gerston. 

This lack of full information has lead Americans to be scared of Muslims, said Ali, stating a figure that 62 percent of Americans say they don’t personally know one. Increasing numbers, as a result, believe that President Obama, a Christian, is a Muslim.

“If he is a Muslim, he is the worst Muslim of all time,” said Ali, evoking laughter from the audience of 160 people. “He drinks alcohol openly and he eats pork.” 

When Ali was a student at UC Berkeley in 2002, he felt a need to start a “DeCal class”—or student-run course—on Islam because he couldn’t find anything comprehensive offered in the curriculum.

The panelists agreed, however, that American society is becoming increasingly accepting of diversity. In the U.S. “we collide. It’s messy but it still works,” said Gerston, pointing out that a Jew (Gerston), Muslim (Ali) and Christian (Honda) had come together for a panel at the Jewish Community Center.

Reactionary politics has also gotten a bad rap in America, said Ali. It is still practiced, but looked down upon in retrospect by most of the public.

“When we engage in knee-jerk politics, we feel a sense of shame as with McCarthyism,” said Ali.

Mentalities shift through individuals speaking out against them, the panelists said. For example, Honda—who goes to a church regularly—said he has spoken against his pastor, who believes that homosexuality is wrong.

Those who are “different” are not so different after all, said Ali, pointing out that many Americans do not know the beloved poet Rumi was a devote Muslim, but that most associate bin Laden with the religion.

“Religions don’t speak,” said Ali. “It’s adherents do.”

Learn more about Silicon Valley Reads by visiting the program's webpage.