The Final Call

Texas shooting deaths highlight growing contradictions in America

By Askia Muhammad -Senior Editor- | Last updated: May 12, 2015 - 8:32:12 AM

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Nadir Soofi (left) and Elton Simpson (right), gunmen in Garland, Texas shooting. Photos: MGN Online

WASHINGTON - Even as Texas’s Republican Governor Greg Abbott ordered his National Guard to “monitor” federal troops, fueling anti-President Obama, anti U.S. federal government, right-wing conspiracy theories that the upcoming U.S. military exercise in the Southwest, dubbed “Jade Helm 15” was really a hostile military takeover of his state, the New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative staged a real life, anti-Islamic provocation in Garland, Texas which resulted in the death of two men, and heightened the call for elevated security against a possible attack by Islamic militants at all state-side U.S. military installations.

As far-fetched as it may seem on the surface, the deaths of two Phoenix, Ariz. men—Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi—who were gunned down May 3 by off-duty police hired as private security guards for the inflammatory “Muhammad Art Exhibit;” the decision by military commanders to elevate the force protection condition at all domestic military installations from “Alpha” to “Bravo;” and the frenzy throughout the Lone Star State that the federal government was planning to confiscate guns and implement martial law there; are all related.

The self-proclaimed Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Garland attack at the provocative contest for the best cartoon drawing of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him). One of the two dead men, whose bodies lay in the street outside the Curtis Culwell Center for more than 12 hours while investigators vainly searched their vehicle for bombs, had been under FBI surveillance, and one man—Mr. Simpson—was convicted in 2011 of lying to federal authorities about his plans to travel to Somalia and was sentenced to three years probation.

FBI director James Comey told reporters that the agency learned hours before the opening of the controversial exhibit, that Mr. Simpson had expressed an interest in going to the event, and that the agency notified local authorities.

Alia Salem, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations chapter in North Texas, condemned the violence at the exhibit but criticized the Islamophobic event. “The Muslim community at large in DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) made a collective decision not to attend or even protest Sunday’s events, in an effort to ignore the hateful actions intended to incite the Muslim community but also to give an unchallenged space for them to have their event.

“While we in no way condone the behavior of these criminals that opened fire and, as Americans, we absolutely uphold the right to freedom of expression, we must ask ourselves at what point does free speech become hate speech, especially when the intention is so clearly to incite a violent response.”

Intended to reiterate the anti-Islamic hate-message which provoked the deadly Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris last year, no matter what else the organizers declared, their aim was to incite another violent response from disaffected Muslims. “If we believe in a free society, then we have to stand up for the right of people to offend Muslims, or even subject Islam to mockery,” Robert Spencer, one of the “contest” speakers said.

“Texas is becoming a very worrisome state,” Dr. Gerald Horne, who holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American studies at the University of Houston, told The Final Call. “It’s not only the shooting which took place in Garland, Texas where supposedly these religious zealots were attacking this hate-speech-festival sponsored by this Islamophobic group based in New York, it’s not only that, but it’s also this episode recently where Gov. Greg Abbott is monitoring U.S. military maneuvers that cover the state of Texas and a good deal of the Southwest, because certain wacko-birds feel that President Obama is going to be overthrowing the government of Texas and arresting ultra-right-wingers and confiscating their weapons. This would be laughable, if not for the fact that the governor, obviously takes this quite seriously.

“I don’t think any of us should be laughing at Texas. I think we should be very concerned about Texas because in many ways, Texas represents national trends that you can find to a greater or lesser degree in every state or hamlet in this country.”

After violence disrupted her event, cartoon contest organizer Pamela Geller appeared to almost gleefully welcome the shooting. Her organization hired nearly 100 off-duty police, including a special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team to provide security. But despite the fact that she and other participants labeled Muslims as “savages,” she insisted that the event was about “free speech” and not about hate-mongering.

Still, even the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled Ms. Geller and her group for engaging in provocative hate speech.

“My event was about freedom of speech, period,” Ms. Geller told CNN. “We need to have this conversation, and the fact that we had to spend $50,000 on security speaks to how dangerous and how in trouble freedom of speech is in this country.”

Other observers note that defamation is not always a “free speech” issue. It seems to apply only when Islam is the target.

“There is all this chatter about freedom of speech, but we do know that not all speech is protected,” Dr. Wilmer Leon, a political scientist and host of “On With Leon,” heard on Sirius-XM Satellite Radio. “Hate speech and fighting words are not protected.

“The definition of ‘fighting words,’ as explained by the courts, are words, that when spoken to a reasonably prudent person would in a punch. So when you depict a religious icon in the manner in which the Prophet is being depicted, there are many who take great offense to that.

“I don’t know how much of this has to do with freedom of speech, or irresponsible speech. Yes, you can say anything you want to, anywhere you want to, but I haven’t heard any discussion about propriety, about impropriety, about just basic common sense.

“Charlie Hebdo, when criticizing, or lampooning Jews, wound up having to apologize profusely. But when it seems to be Muslims that are being attacked, all of a sudden it’s well within the bounds of free speech. The inconsistencies are obvious and it is just totally irresponsible,” Dr. Leon continued.

“All this really is, is provocation in an attempt to prove a broader failing point. Unfortunately very few people have the guts to call Pamela Geller out to be the bigot that she is. The broader failing point is that Islam, by its very nature is a war-mongering, hate-filled religion,” he said.

Despite the apparent “open season” on attacks against Islam, contrasted with the careful, universal attempts to avoid at all costs criticizing the Zionist policies of the State of Israel—now seen as synonymous with Judaism itself—cartoon conference organizers fail to see their own contradictions. “(If) you want to know who rules over you, then find out who you cannot criticize,” Mr. Spencer a conference speaker said.”

The blurred lines between what and who is acceptable and unacceptable, the right-wing fear that the military, which they normally praise, is out to attack them, illustrates the point that now, “the right-wing does not know what the ultra-right-wing is doing,” according to Dr. Horne. “So when you see what’s happening in Texas, on top of what’s going on in Iraq and Syria, and the Gulf monarchies and Turkey, it’s clearly a matter of grave concern.”