ANGRY MUSLIM PROTESTORS TAKE TO THE STREETS...OF MICHIGAN!!!

Saturday January 3, at about three o’clock we noticed a flag waving in the distance. It was decorated with green and white and what looked to be orange, a solitary figure holding it still as high winds whipped it around with a patriotic fervor. Police cars blocked off the main access points of the intersection of Fifteen Mile Rd. & Orchard Lake Road In West Bloomfield, a prominent and wealthy area inhabited by a rather large number of both Jews & Arabs.

“Uh-oh,” the driver of the vehicle I was in said. “That’s the Palestinian flag.”

Thus began a protest that we thought consisted of a handful of angry people rightly upset about the fact that their people were caught between a militant Israeli government and a demented militant faction of Islam.

“This is going to get ugly,” she said.

She’d know. She grew up there. She still remembers times when her high school was shut down and the students sent home because teenage Jews & Arabs brought guns to school to continue their blood-feud in a new land. The fact that they’ve lived together in relative peace for all these years is astounding and, no doubt, testament to the American dream and system of laws than anything else.

Still, one guy holding a huge flag and a few stragglers in traditional garb does not an “incident” make, and so we continued onward to our destination. Two hours later, everything had blown up…figuratively speaking, of course.

Coming from the opposite direction, we could see a line of protestors that was so long and thick, the businesses behind them were nearly invisible from the road. Police cars covered all four access points as yellow-clad officers directed traffic in chaotic fashion. Many vehicles didn’t seem to want to follow directions, however, as they bolted through the intersections despite the whistle-blowing and wild gesticulating of hands.

As we reached the stop light on the other side of the street, the signs the protestors carried became visible. Most of them criticized Israel’s bombing of their countrymen, mentioning the fact that the Israelis have targeted hospitals and not allowed medical relief. But the signs that really caught our attention were the ones that said “Nazi” on them. A curious choice until one got a closer look and saw the word was surrounded by the Star of David.

“Oh, shit” she said. “They’re actually trying to provoke a response from them.”

I nodded. “But, you know, they do have a valid point. They do act like Nazis at times.”

She called her brother and her mom to tell them what was happening. Shockingly her mom said, “Well, we’ve been forced to listen to one viewpoint for years. Maybe it’s time to hear a different one.”

Wow! That’s goin’ in the “Dear Diary” list! But she’s right. They do have the right to protest and they certainly have the right to make statements of such a controversial nature.

Some protestors shouted into megaphones as we drove past, their words carried away by the wind and obscured by the honking of horns and other traffic noise.

Again, we went on to our destination, a simple errand to return library items. Neither of us could resist going back for another look.

Traffic still moved at a tortoise’s pace, but something new had been added to the scene. A chopper flew low overheard, looking very military, as it shone a spotlight down on the area, circling over and over. There were even more cops now, some on foot, and most in cars.

The driver of my vehicle rolled down her window and addressed a middle-age black couple, thinking they would be the safest bet in this crazy-ass town of ancient blood feuds and rivalries. When she told them who was protesting, the man behind the wheel’s eyes got huge and he made the “O” face that isn’t based on pleasure.

When she rolled the window back up, I said, “How do you know they weren’t Muslims?”

Her facial expression was priceless. As we pulled up, we fully expected to get an earful of angry protestors.

But they were gone, dispersed, no longer protesting. That didn’t stop the chopper from circling or the cops from cordoning off the area for a few minutes longer.

The yellow-clad officers still directed traffic, but as we reached the stoplight, we saw that the protestors were gone.

At first, we thought they might be marching further down Fifteen Mile, not a good thought considering the huge synagogue down there. Then we thought maybe they went in the opposite direction, where the Jewish Community Center is located. Either way, the scenario was pretty scary.

A local news van showed up to interview some of the officers. Good old channel four, the only one that ever seems to notice local events on the weekend, even though they were late to the party.

By the time we’d turned around and started heading back, the cops had lifted the blocks and normal traffic was allowed to flow through. We went to a nearby restaurant where both groups sat in silence, eating. There was stillness in the air, especially on the part of the Jews in the room.

Michigan has the largest population of Arabs in the United States. If anything were going to happen on a street level, this would probably be the first place to experience it. What’s equally scary is how militant a lot of this country’s Jews have become in recent years. There’s a Middle-Eastern powder keg waiting to erupt in this country and much of it is out fault.

For years this country has made its allegiances clear. It was even instrumental in creating the Jewish state following Word War II, despite the fact that land was occupied. Where once we were a neutral nation, we have now become a constant tampering presence whose self-interests outweigh any ideology. That can only have one result, and we are looking at it right now.

That’s not to say we should condone the actions of the other side, far from it. Dangerous, violent fanatics are never acceptable. But before we start condemning an entire group of people for their actions and their mentality, maybe we should step back and take closer look at the ones we support without question.

We might be shocked at the amount of similarities we see~















(Click on the pic to enlarge it & read the sign)




***A VERY IMPORTANT POST FROM A VERY IMPORTANT PERSON***
http://justbecause81.wordpress.com/2009/01/03/talking/