The world will mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks in a few days but some folks have decided there's no time like the present so they're released a colouring book, aimed at children 10 and up, to commemorate the events.
From the Toronto Star:
The publisher of a controversial new children’s colouring book entitled We Shall Never Forget 9/11: The Kids’ Book of Freedom is defending the publication, saying it is simply an educational tool for teaching kids about “what a group of radicals did” to the United States.
The book purports to tell the story of the September 2001 terrorist attacks from the planning stages through to the assassination of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden earlier this year.
It encourages children to colour in accompanying pictures, including one of the burning twin towers and one of a Navy SEAL soldier shooting a bullet at bin Laden as he cowers behind a woman dressed in a hijab.
Wayne Bell, publisher of St. Louis, Missouri-based Really Big Coloring Books Inc. and author of the new “graphic novel-colouring book,” says its purpose is to explain what the events of 9/11 were about “in a very clean, honest read that does not shy away from the facts.”
“We call the 19 hijackers what they were: radical Islamic Muslim jihadists. That’s what they were, and so that’s the language we use,” he told the Star. “This was the man-made terror event called war that was brought to our country and we responded in kind and we will continue to respond. That’s what this book is about.”
But Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says he believes the book was designed to generalize and stereotype Muslims and Islam in a way that portrays all Muslims as linked to radicalism, extremism and terrorism.
“America is full of these individuals and groups seeking to demonize Islam and marginalize Muslims and it’s just a fact of life in the post-9/11 era, but hopefully the parents would recognize the agenda behind this book and not expose their children to intolerance or religious hatred,” Hooper said.
Read the rest here.
I don't know what I can add to this piece that doesn't already speak for itself.
I'm quite sure that I would always find this rather horrifying. Feels even more so though, sitting in Istanbul, surrounded by families including women in burkas.
I was thinking how much I love hearing the men sing to their children in public, out of love and devotion, totally void of embarrassment.
These Muslim children here are learning what it is to love and be loved. American children who read this are learning what it is to hate and be hated. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what the outcome might look like.
Love wins every time.
Posted by: Erin Wilson | August 31, 2011 at 02:03 PM