To the Editor:
Among the reactions to the Pakistani testing of nuclear devices was a comment by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democrat - New York) lamenting the development of an "Islamic bomb." Since that comment was reported on May 29, I have looked in vain for an attack on such an outrageously bigoted statement. Imagine a politician making a similar comment about a "black bomb" or a "gay bomb." History does not favor a benign view of Christianity or Judaism, but we do not talk of "Christian bombs" or "Jewish bombs."
How, then, have we developed such social blindness to anti-Islamic prejudice? Why do we implicitly accept through our silence the common view that Islam is evil and dangerous? What does this have to do with us at Dartmouth?
Prejudice is a sin of ignorance. It is a sign of a closed mind, a narrow frame of reference. Many people in this country assume that Islam is a terrorist group, not a religion. For those whose lives grind along in the confines of a narrow community and a subsistence job, a point of view without such prejudice would be a miracle. But for those of us with the privilege of a liberal arts education, prejudice is a sign of failure.
As you graduate from Dartmouth, your credentials will open many doors. What you do, however, is far less important than what you have become. Your reaction to a comment like Senator Moynihan's is a good test of our success. If you noticed the prejudice, we have succeeded. If you noticed and spoke out, we admitted the right person.
