What a day to forget my Hat

Saturday I ventured north of the Occoquan River.  Normally that is a mistake and this trip was no different.  I decided to have lunch at a Kebab place.  I like kebab and it was less crowed than the other alternatives. 

I recovered my order and headed to my table and came face-to-face with a woman (at least I assume it was a woman) dressed head-to-toe in a black burka.  Though I had noted a number of women wearing head scarves in the area to include some clerks in stores – it caught me by surprise.  My first thought was “What a day to forget to wear my bi-lingual “Infidel” hat.”  But my next thought was one of sadness and pity.  Only her eyes were visible.  A friend of mine who is in Afghanistan has a visceral reaction to burkas and I was experiencing that for the first time. 

I don’t know any Muslim women personally.  There were other happy looking women and girls in the place that I would guess were of Middle Eastern decent.  None of them were encased as this woman was in deep black cloth.  I couldn’t help but wonder if the feeling of disgust I felt was similar to how an abolitionist must have felt when he saw a slave for the first time. 

While some will say that there is no comparison between slavery and the subjugation of Muslim women, and I might agree – it should make one think.  The news lately seems to be full of stories about the abuse of Muslim women.  A California teen ran away from home to avoid an arranged marriage.

Honor killings capture headlines frequently.  

The barbaric practice of female circumcision is frequently in the news was well.  

It is repugnant to me that girls can be made to marry adult males, men can beat their wives, and Muslim women even in America are second class citizens.  They aren’t second class citizens because Americans make them so – it is because their imported culture that is foreign to America makes them so.  My ancestors rejected the tyranny of kings, nobles, and hereditary privilege to be free – Muslim women should do the same.   

I know what the Muslim defense will be – I’ve heard it all.  First they will say that none of the evidence that we see before our very eyes is true.  When that fails they will trot out Muslim women who will say what a joy it is to have been married to a 40 year old man when they were thirteen, to have their genitals mutilated, to be beaten when they disobey the geezer they are married to, and to top it off – dress in a black tent and see the world through a slit.  I suggest that when the temperature hits 100 in Virginia we put the barbaric husband of the diner that I encountered in a burka for awhile.

At the risk of alienating my Great, Great, Grandpa (Company K, 3^rd Arkansas Infantry, CSA) I think that it was the duty of Americans to invade the Southern States to end the institution of slavery.  Isn’t it the duty of free people everywhere to end such suffering? 

At a minimum we should support the efforts of several States that have passed anti-Sharia laws.  We must not have a circumstance again where there are a subjugated people within America.  For our efforts to be stymied by people who hurl issues of religious freedom back at us is patently absurd.