Interchangeable Identities in Rana and Heems
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In the first chapter of Terrifying Muslims, Rana explains that “‘Hindu’ was a catchall term in late-nineteenth-century America for those from the Indian subcontinent”, applied regardless of religious orientation or lack thereof (Rana 42). Though Arabs were sometimes understood as a distinct group (racialized as “Syrians” coming from the late Ottoman empire), both Arabs and South Asians were also categorized as “Mohammedans”. This historical conflation between these brown Asian ethnic and religious groups continues in the twentieth century. For instance, Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered shortly following 9/11 because he was mistaken as a Muslim Arab. Despite being Sikh, his visual appearance made him the target of anti-Muslim racism. Husain brings up similar attacks that happened to three South Asian immigrants by a man who called himself the “Arab Slayer” (Husain 1). As Rana explains, the racialization of Islam through social identification occurs “via a combination of identifiers, such as dress, behaviour, and phenotypic expression” (Rana 27). The lived realities of non-Muslims perceived as Muslims demonstrate, in one way, how anti-Muslim thought and action can be understood as a form of racism rather than religious discrimination alone.
Heems conveys a similar idea in Soup Boys. In separate verses, he says that “they’re throwing stones at the Mosque”, and later that “they’re throwing stones at [his] parent’s house” as well as at “the temple”. The people throwing stones (literally and metaphorically) care little about the difference between Hindus and Muslims. This is reinforced by the clip shown at the beginning of the interview, in which Obama is asked if he decides who is targeted by armed drones used to combat terrorists. He dodges the question by saying that he prioritizes American lives. These drones, just like the stones thrown, end up hitting a wide array of people that extend beyond their intended target.
I also find it interesting that Heem chooses to call the Hindu place of worship a “temple” rather than a mandir. I have often heard people refer to gurdwaras, mandirs, and sometimes mosques interchangeably as “temples”. This word choice adds to the homogenization of these religions and peoples that Heems points out in this song. He is, then, “in touch with these goons getting stoned at the mosque”, considering that he too is a goon getting stoned at the “temple”. He relates his experiences of racism to that of Muslims, using the term “stoned” as a double entendre for also getting high, something he seems to do to cope with the violence his community experiences both at home and abroad.
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Fantastic analysis of "Soup Boys," zeroing in on the indiscriminate nature of Islamophobic violence and how it is represented at both the level of the US military and at the level of individual hate crimes, and backing it up with reference to Rana and Husain. Excellent.