another screening of the muslims i know

just came back from a screening of “the muslims i know” at an OASIS community class called “the descendants of abraham.” the class is taught by jewish, christian and muslim instructors. extremely excited that they’ve been using my film in their introductory class for the last 3 yrs. a lady asked me a question that bothered me. i tried to stay calm but i might have seemed a bit cold. she said that the muslims portrayed in the film are well-to-do professionals. they r not the ones she’s worried about. she’s worried about the less well-off muslims who might send their kids to madrassas and teach them to hate others. ok. so my answer: first of all, the film is called the muslims i know. i refuse to stand up and pretend to speak for all muslims. the media do that. i don’t want to fall into that trap. i will not generalize. second, it’s interesting how people are uncomfortable with a certain “face” of islam. muslim doctors, lawyers and academics do exist. get over it. third, this connection between socio-economic class and violence is v disturbing. not only is that connection made with reference to muslims but also our own local communities, where poor inner-city neighborhoods are presumed to be violent as if, for some reason, they don’t share our civilized “values”. fourth, as one of the instructors added, violence is not just about shooting people, it’s also about enticing someone to take out a mortgage they can’t afford, foreclose their home and kick their family out on the street. pray, which socio-economic class perpetrates that kind of violence, which destroys the lives of many more people? finally, on the teaching of hate: how would u describe going to war with the second poorest country in the world, where most kids die of malnutrition, not extremism? who’s being taught to hate whom?