TT must take threats seriously

THE EDITOR: The following is an unrequested personal view: All Muslims in the world are unavoidably caught up in the crisis that is ISIS. The fact that ISIS is just a small percentage of Muslims does not help the negative feelings of being wrongly targeted.

The knowledge of the destruction of many lives by the few who belong to ISIS will always impinge on the reputations of billions of innocent Muslims. Wrong labels have to be borne by sometimes a particular race and sometimes a particular religion. When one considers what could have happened in a tiny country like TT, it was 100 per cent correct that the TT government should deal swiftly with any rumours and threats of ISIS.

Without meaning to sound both facetious and uncaring, consider the negativity that flows from being African in origin.

Innocent Muslims should consider that the stigmatisation of religious reputation is the same as when people stigmatise people of African origin as being violent and of little worth. Violence, for many years, is a label that is now attached to many African people and a blanket thrown over people of the Muslim faith.

The TT police service has evolved an unfortunate reputation of being allegedly trigger happy and unnecessarily physically rough with any accused. Fear breeds more fear and officers may physically harm in the exercise of their duties.

I could never exactly feel what it is like to be a Muslim and being wrongly targeted in the face of threats regarding ISIS. For law-abiding local Muslims to go on the defensive with the TT government can only add to the feelings of resentment and fear on both sides.

Negative labels can hurt us all irreparably and we need to carefully measure how we respond. Threats in the nature of ISIS, cannot and should not be ignored.

These words may seem facetious but the correct response is of great importance.

Lynette Joseph, Diego Martin