Nigerians in U.S. shocked by Flight 253 jihadist, pledge full cooperation with anti-terror efforts -- no, wait...

Actually they're -- you guessed it! -- whining about a possible "backlash." This whole article is absurd, however, since Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab did not try to blow up Flight 253 because he was Nigerian, but because he was Muslim and believed it his religious duty to wage war against Infidels. But apparently the Times was tired of writing about fears of a backlash against Muslims when one never materializes, and so they gave a new twist to an old story angle by worrying about a backlash against Nigerians instead. The Muslim angle does come in, but not until late in the story.

"'Shocked' Nigerians in U.S. Express Fears of Guilt by Association After Arrest," by Mary M. Chapman for the New York Times, December 29 (thanks to Bill):

DETROIT -- When news broke on Christmas Day that a young Nigerian man had been arrested in a thwarted terrorist attack aboard a jetliner bound for the airport here, Joseph Ajiri, a Nigerian-born entrepreneur who lives in the suburb of Oak Park, was tucking into steaming servings of foofoo, moi-moi and other traditional Nigerian dishes with about a dozen friends and relatives.
Edwin Dyke, founder of the Nigerian Foundation of Michigan, said, "This isn't like our people."

"We just had some people here for Christmas dinner, then all of a sudden this comes on TV," Mr. Ajiri said. "It was regretful that he was Nigerian, but that didn't make us any more angry. We were all very happy that the explosion didn't take place, that he wasn't successful."...

"We want to tell Homeland Security and the federal government that we are sorry about what happened," Dr. Dyke said, "that this isn't like our people, that we believe this is an isolated incident but that we will keep our ears open."...

Salewa Ola, a Nigerian who founded the Detroit-based United African Community Organization, emphasized that the plane attack was "not what our community stands for."

"We are shocked and embarrassed," Dr. Ola said. "This has given all of us a black eye."

Relatives have said that Mr. Abdulmutallab, who is from a Muslim family, was particularly devout, even as a child.

But that tells us nothing, eh?

Twenty percent of Nigerians living in Michigan are Muslim, Dr. Dyke said. But Kamol Bello, a Detroit resident who is a Nigerian Muslim and has lived in the United States for 20 years, was quick to disassociate the religion from what occurred on Flight 253 on Christmas Day.
"A truly religious person would not do that," Mr. Bello said, adding that Muslims he knew did not think Mr. Abdulmutallab "is Muslim or Christian because no true religion teaches" someone to ignite an explosive aboard a plane.

"That's just crazy ideology," Mr. Bello said.

All right, Mr. Bello. Then how did Abdulmutallab, a devout Muslim since childhood, misunderstand Islam so drastically? And what are you doing to prevent such misunderstandings in the future?

Nothing -- just worrying about a phantom backlash:

Even so, Mr. Ajiri and several other Nigerians living in and around Detroit said they expected prejudicial fallout from the attack and from an incident on the same flight two days later in which a Nigerian man spent a long time in the plane's lavatory, arousing the suspicion of fellow passengers, flight attendants and an air marshal and setting off security alerts as the plane landed. It turned out that the man had simply been ill.
"Profiling? When you look at 9/11 and what happened with the Arabic community, we cannot expect anything different," Mr. Ajiri said. "It is just unfortunate that one individual is going to ruin reputations for the rest of the Nigerians. When we travel now, the system will make us pay, and I don't feel good about it."...

Lekan Oguntoyinbo, a Nigerian who used to live in Detroit and now lives in Columbia, Mo., said Mr. Abdulmutallab's nationality would heighten suspicions of all Nigerians.

"Nigerians have had a horrible reputation with the authorities of this country for importing drugs and for things like Internet fraud," said Mr. Oguntoyinbo, an assistant professor of journalism at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Mo. "I think this incident on Christmas not only makes us incredibly more suspect, but also positions Nigerians as enemies of the state. When you're trying to blow up a plane, the dynamics of perception change a great deal."...

No kidding, really?

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12 Comments

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Timothy | December 30, 2009 8:25 AM | Reply

We were all very happy that the explosion didn't take place, that he wasn't successful."...

Wow the use of a double negative in a sentence. negatives cancel each other out. The sentence should read

We were all very happy that the explosion did take place, that he was successful."...

Timothy | December 30, 2009 8:46 AM | Reply

Terrorist go to hell. God bless america.

ebonystone | December 30, 2009 8:59 AM | Reply

"Profiling? When you look at 9/11 and what happened with the Arabic community, we cannot expect anything different," Mr. Ajiri said. "It is just unfortunate that one individual is going to ruin reputations for the rest of the Nigerians. When we travel now, the system will make us pay, and I don't feel good about it."...

Mr. Ajiri seems a bit confused. After 9-11 all that happened to the Arabic (sic) community was nothing. All of our "leaders" went out of their way to reassure us that the attacks were not at all representative of Arabs or Moslems, and I'm sure similar remarks will soon be forthcoming in regard to Nigerians.
As for "the system will make us pay", yes, it will, in the same way it has made us ALL -- Nigerians and everyone else -- pay for what a bunch of Arab Moslems did on 9-11. We're all paying in the form of increased taxes and air fares to cover the cost of thousands of security personnel; and we're all paying in the form of intimidation and harassment from these same personnel. Napolitano has already outlined a few of the ways in which we'll all pay even more for what one Nigerian Moslem did.

Susanp | December 30, 2009 9:09 AM | Reply

Do Nigerians walk around with signs around their necks saying: "I'm a Nigerian"? I doubt if I would know a Nigerian from an indigenous black unless the Nigerian advertised his nationality. Do Nigerian muslims identify themselves as "Nigerian-American/African American muslims"? Nope, they're muslims first and are members of the global islamic "nation". Nationalism means nothing to these people because they think they own the world. Identity politics and hyphens are not what America is all about, but we have certainly become fixated on them.

If they are so worried about non-existent backlash, they could always shed the ethnic/religious personas and just be ordinary Americans like the rest of us. Or better yet, they could remain in their beloved Nigeria and be devout muslims and genuine Nigerians.

gravenimage | December 30, 2009 11:07 AM | Reply

This whole article is absurd, however, since Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab did not try to blow up Flight 253 because he was Nigerian, but because he was Muslim
........................

Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR was on the Bill O'Reilly show yesterday, still flogging the idea of "backlash". He emphasized that "half of Nigeria is not Muslim!"

All I could think was that Abdulmattallab did not attempt to bomb flight 253 because he is Nigerian, but because he is Muslim.

I am also amazed that as discredited as CAIR has been over the last several years that CAIR is *still* considered the default go-to organization in the United States with any incident involving Muslims.

CornHolio | December 30, 2009 1:05 PM | Reply

"Relatives have said that Mr. Abdulmutallab, who is from a Muslim family, was particularly devout, even as a child."
------
When oh when is the bulk of the Western world going to wake up from this delusion? There doesn't seem to be much progress since 2001. EVERY time you get a Muslim attempting or commiting an act of barbaric terror, you ALWAYS hear soundbites of friends and family talking in bewildered tones that he "was such a RELIGIOUS person". "How could ANY sane person, or ANY sane religion, condone this?"

WTF? Most of the Western world has been brought up to believe being "religious" is praying in sack cloth in a stone cell or sitting cross-legged on a Tibetan mountain. We have got to educate people that the more "religious" a Muslim is, the more potenially dangerous he is to NON-Muslims.

ImNoDhimmi | December 30, 2009 1:07 PM | Reply

"It is just unfortunate that one individual is going to ruin reputations for the rest of the Nigerians. When we travel now, the system will make us pay, and I don't feel good about it."...

When we travel now, EVERYONE pays. And pays, and pays, in so many ways.

Wintergreen000 | December 30, 2009 2:01 PM | Reply

No, what you get are fountains of self-pity, cries of victimhood, and general denial. That helps them to avoid having to answer questions about what is taught in their mosques and madrasses.

traeh | December 30, 2009 6:21 PM | Reply

Robert, I don't think it's that they're tired of the "backlash against Muslims" storyline. It's rather that they, in tune with significant portions of the media, want to pretend this is a racial matter, since that's easier to deal with. Debates about, say, affirmative action are not exactly threatening to overturn the social order. But debates about Islam? Where might those lead? If Islam is what the Islam-critics say, then we have a rough road ahead, and how many people like a rough road? Most of us most of the time seem to want as comfortable a road as possible. Unfortunately, none of our politicians is publicly talking about Islam and at least considering the question of whether there should be any limits on immigration of Muslims, or social safeguards whatsoever against the spread of the Islamic law totalitarian ethos. There should be a group of politicians who create a public policy debate, so we as a society have a better chance of doing whatever the right thing might be.

This recent case of airline jihad is of course not about Nigerians. I haven't seen any Christian, Jewish, or Hindu Nigerians trying to blow up planes.

rico | December 30, 2009 9:06 PM | Reply

I work with a couple of Nigerian Christians and they are upset that more people don't know that Nigeria used to be predominately Christian until the jihad began thanks to Saudi petro dollars. I wonder what Obama thinks about how Africa used to have more Christians than muslims?

Ice Star | December 30, 2009 11:30 PM | Reply

""A truly religious person would not do that," Mr. Bello said,"

############################

He is wrong Islam calls it "the lesser jihad."

#########################

adding that Muslims he knew did not think Mr. Abdulmutallab "is Muslim or Christian because no true religion teaches" someone to ignite an explosive aboard a plane."

######################

Wrong again. Christianity condemns violence.

Islam has codified the acceptability of violence by celebrating such acts committed by the inventor of Islam, Mohamed. This man did not act in any way contrary to the teachings of Mohamed. He is emulating him.

Kepha | January 1, 2010 3:11 PM | Reply

Well, seems how Crotch Bomber's Muslim father warned us about what Sonny Boy was up to, I'm not about to throw any bricks at Nigerian immigrants. I teach some--but they're Christians. It's enough for me that Crotch Bomber's attempt at terror was neutered.

If he gets off on a technicality, maybe he can get a job guarding a Sa'udi harem. He may have the necessary qualifications at this point.

And, if Jasper Schuringa gets in trouble, let's demonstrate, flood the government with angry letters, etc.

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