Post 9/11 Blues Cover
On Feb 17th, I got a chance to interact with Mr. Rizwan “Riz” Ahmed, or Riz MC, a British/Pakistani actor and rapper. His parents moved from Karachi, Pakistan to England during the 1970s. In 1982, they gave birth to Riz in Wembley, London.
Here, was a British Pakistani Muslim who was born in a land distant from his “cultural” home. This geological setting for Riz, would have certainly helped him develop views that no one else would have. During the conversation with him, I wondered as to “What was the impact on Muslims, away from the US, post 9/11?”
I knew that the impacts of the 9/11 attacks did have an impact to Islam throughout the world, however, I wanted to dig deeper in order to understand Riz’s lyrics of the “Post 9/11 Blues” that said “But not me.. my friends go: Riz is still one of us.. But if I haven’t shaved, they won’t sit with me on the bus!”
This particular line got me to think about the hypocritic views that people possessed. Riz’s response to the question strengthened my speculation. He talked about how the image of Muslims had differed in the US to that in the UK. The UK resorted to thinking that Muslims were rapists, murderers, goons and slaves. Whereas, in the US the situation was not as bad before the 9/11 attacks as these south-asian Muslims were stereotyped to Math Professors, Intelligent Accountants and other positions of much more worth than rapists.
However, after 9/11, the world kind of resorted to Islamophobia and drew a rather uniform image of all Muslims being terrorists. These feelings are very well publicised in the “Post 9/11 Blues“.
March 7, 2017 at 7:31 am
I really like the debate between different perceptions of Muslims and Islam between the US and the UK. Their differing histories are playing out into that narrative. This is so interesting to discuss, especially in today’s highly charged political context.
March 9, 2017 at 7:20 am
Raghav
I need you to dig deeper in your posts.
Here, for eg, you need to develop your observation re the point made by Riz about differences in the history of Muslim citizens/immigrants to the UK vs the USA. How did this different history of assimilation/acceptance/rejection/resistance in which social and economic class played a huge role–contribute to different treatment (and perhaps different responses of Muslim citizens/immigrants in both countries)- post 9/11? why is it important to acknowledge these different histories? What do the lyrics in Riz Post 9/11 Blues signal re these complexities in location, if anything?
In other words, delve into the finer points, explain and unravel connections between the issues you right now are just mentioning without adequately explaining.