ARUN KUNDNANI, arun[at]kundnani.org

Kundnani is the author of The Muslims Are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror and a lecturer at New York University.

Kundnani said today: “Donald Trump’s slander of Captain Humayun Khan’s family is horrifying. But, in the rush to condemn it, it is easy to lose sight of why the Khans lost their son in the first place and what that tells us about our attitudes to Muslims. Humayun Khan died fighting in an illegal war, which was launched on the basis of Islamophobic lies and supported by Hillary Clinton. It is clear from the Democratic Party convention — with its chanting of ‘USA–USA’ in response to anti-war delegates — that Clinton will launch similar wars again if she is elected.

“She says we should embrace patriotic Muslims like the Khans in order to strengthen national security and show a positive image of the U.S. to Muslims around the world. But this implies that acceptance of Muslims is dependent on whether it is perceived to be in the U.S.’s geopolitical interests. This gives rise to a deeper danger — that American Muslims will be seen as suspicious and unworthy if they choose to oppose U.S. wars. True equality means treating Muslims as fellow citizens, not as pawns on a national security chessboard.”