TLC’s All-American Muslim profiles several Michigan Muslim families as normal people with everyday issues and triumphs. It has been generally well received by the public and critics, which I see this as a real positive sign that we are making changes in this nation in terms of how we see people around us. But not everybody shares this belief as hardware store Lowe’s pulled their advertisings of the show.
According to them, the show doesn’t meet their advertising guidelines. In their statement to Hollywood Reporter:
“We understand the program raised concerns, complaints or issues from multiple sides of the viewer spectrum, which we found after doing research of news articles and blogs covering the show. We based our decision to pull the advertising on this research and after hearing the concerns we received through emails, calls, through social media and in news reports.
WHAT?? What could possibly be so wrong about a show showing Muslim American families being NORMAL people? Who is this possibly hurting? How can people so dense? Or the better question is, who is responsible for convincing Lowe’s to do such a thing? It turns out that the conservative Florida Family Association have asked its supporters to contact advertisers to complain about the show:
The reality TV series is propaganda clearly designed to counter legitimate and present-day concerns about many Muslims who are advancing Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia law. The show profiles only Muslims that appear to be ordinary folks while excluding many Islamic believers whose agenda poses a clear and present danger to liberties and traditional values that the majority of Americans cherish.
Conservative organization with money, influence, and people to back it up? They sound like the culprit, alright. I don’t see how one can possibly see from both sides, especially when one party’s perspective is completely rife with paranoia and stupidity. Members of the Florida Family Association have clearly never met a Muslim in their life and are only going off of what they know from what they see and hear in the media. This is PRECISELY why shows like All-American Muslim must exist to combat the grossly inaccurate portrayal of an entire group of folks that transcend race lines.
Fortunately, there are efforts to stand up to this stupidity and it’s awesome to know that people like entrepreneur and hip-hop mogul, Russell Simmons, has called for a boycott of Lowe’s. He, along with actress Mia Farrow and California State Senatory Ted Lieu were among the first public figures to call for the boycott. In addition, Asian American Center For Advancing Justice have issued a press statement condemning Lowe’s actions as they believe “traditional American values are those of tolerance and respect for all faiths.” They certainly don’t need to tell me that because I have never shopped at Lowe’s and until they straighten this bigotry out, I never will.
