By now, the tableau has become tragically familiar: American Muslims standing before a bank of cameras, condemning an attack linked to Islamic extremism.
After the San Bernardino, California, rampage, the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations didn't even wait for law enforcement to announce a motive. Just hours after the husband-and-wife shooters were identified as Muslim on Wednesday, the civil rights group held a news conference with the perpetrators' brother-in-law, Farhan Khan.
And so we had a stunned, slightly disheveled Muslim man, surrounded by Muslim leaders, saying his family had no hint of the plot. "I love this country," Khan said.
"Perception is reality," said Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, a policy and advocacy group based in Los Angeles. "There was enough information out there at that time that people believed it was (extremism) and that has an impact on Muslim communities. You have to be proactive."
But some in the Muslim community say a new game plan is needed. A younger generation is especially impatient with the condemnations of Islamic extremism from Muslim groups after every attack. They argue that the statements merely reinforce false notions that Muslims are collectively responsible for the violence.
"America is ready for a more sophisticated conversation when it comes to these things," said Shahed Amanullah, a former U.S. State Department adviser and co-founder of Affinis Labs, which helps develop apps to counter the appeal of Islamic extremism and build online communities for young Muslims. "You can't press release your way out of this."
The public pleas that all Muslims should not be blamed for attacks in the name of Islam grew in the aftermath of the 2001 strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
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