Brian Edwards of Northwestern: American ‘Fear’ and ‘Racism’ Solved by Learning Arabic

Brian T. Edwards

In a Chicago Tribune op-ed titled “Teach Arabic in Public Schools,” Brian T. Edwards, Crown Professor in Middle East Studies and founding director of the Middle East and North African Studies Program at Northwestern University, makes the ludicrous claim that Americans are beset with “anxieties about Arabic language” because of “a widespread fear of foreign languages” and—wait for it—"open and unchecked racism toward Arabs and, by loose association, non-Arab Muslims.” Citing FBI statistics for anti-Islamic hate crimes, Edwards eventually comes to the inane conclusion that, “massive numbers of American students learning Arabic will help advance peace.” Given that the latest FBI statistics show that the highest number (60.3 percent) of religiously-motivated hate crimes target Jews, while only 13.7 target Muslims, one could just as easily argue that American public school students should learn Hebrew. We won’t hold our breath waiting for Edwards or his “Islamophobia"-obsessed cohorts in the ranks of Middle East studies to start writing op-eds demanding reform to public education in order to fight anti-Semitism.

Cinnamon Stillwell analyzes Middle East studies academia in West Coast colleges and universities for Campus Watch. A San Francisco Bay Area native and graduate of San Francisco State University, she is a columnist, blogger, and social media analyst. Ms. Stillwell, a former contributing political columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, has written on a wide variety of topics, including the political atmosphere in American higher education, and has appeared as a guest on television and talk radio.
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