Jerry Klein’s 2006 Radio Experiment

On Nov. 26, 2006 radio host Jerry Klein of WMAL 630 AM (covering Washington DC, Northern Virginia and Maryland) had a program that was "focused on public reaction to the removal of six Imams, or Islamic religious leaders, from a US Airways flight."cite news|title=In U.S., fear and distrust of Muslims runs deep | author=Bernd Debusmann | publisher=Reuters|date=Dec 1, 9:05|url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061201/lf_nm/usa_muslims_fear_dc_1 Retrieved on Dec. 16, 2006. Reprinted as cite news| title=Shocking anti-Muslim response to radio hoax|author=Bernd Debusmann| date=December 06, 2006 | publisher=Daily News, South Africa | url=http://www.dailynews.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3577576] (See Flying Imams controversy). In an effort to gauge his audience's reaction, he said that force should be applied to ensure that all Muslims in America wear "identifying markers. ...I'm thinking either it should be an arm band, a crescent moon arm band, or it should be a crescent moon tattoo. ...If it means that we have to round them up and do a tattoo in a place where everybody knows where to find it, then that's what we'll have to do."cite web| date=Monday, November 27, 2006 | title=Radio Spoof Draws Support for Nazi-Like Treatment of U.S. Muslims| url=http://cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=2415&theType=NR Retrieved on Dec. 19, 2006]

The response was overwhelming "the phone lines jammed instantly", Klein later stated that "The switchboard went from empty to totally jammed within minutes. There were plenty of callers angry with me, but there were plenty who agreed.". While some callers said he was "off his rocker", others insisted that his statement did not go far enough, calling for forced mass exile: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country...they are here to kill us." Others called for Muslims to be placed in concentration camps: "You have to set up encampments like during World War Two with the Japanese and [http://www.foitimes.com/internment/gasummary.htm Germans] .""

At the end of the show he revealed that his statements were a hoax, saying "I can't believe any of you are sick enough to have agreed for one second with anything I said. For me to suggest to tattoo marks on people's bodies, have them wear armbands, put a crescent moon on their driver's license on their passport or birth certificate is disgusting. It's beyond disgusting ... because basically what you just did was show me how the German people allowed what happened to the Jews to happen ... We need to separate them, we need to tattoo their arms, we need to make them wear the yellow Star of David, we need to put them in concentration camps, we basically just need to kill them all because they are dangerous." A week later, Klein also expressed surprise at how much international media coverage the story got. “You should know that I've received email from around the world, interview requests from the BBC and Channel 4 in England”. [cite web| title= Saturday, December 9, 2006 – Catching Up| author=Jerry Klein| date= December 9, 2006| url= http://jerryk.com/2006.12.01_arch.html Retrieved on Dec. 19, 2006] [cite news|title=At least in America they understand the notion of cultural difference|date= December 11, 2006|publisher= The Guardian | url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1969165,00.html | author= Gary Younge Retrieved Dec. 19, 2006. Reprinted as cite news| title=Understanding the notion of cultural difference | author=Gary Younge | date=11 December 2006 | publisher=Mail & Guardian, South Africa| url= http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=292963&area=/insight/insight__comment_and_analysis/.] [cite news|title=Fear and distrust of Muslims still run deep in America| publisher=The Brunei Times, Brunei Darussalam| date=Dec 3, 2006| url=http://www.bruneitimes.com.bn/details.php?shape_ID=12762] [cite news|title=2006: Another tough year for American Muslims| author=Abdus Sattar Ghazali|publisher=The Milli Gazette|date=23 December 2006| url=http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2006/200612242_tough_year_American_Muslims.htm Retrieved on Dec. 27, 2006]

CAIR's Response

In a press release the Communications Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Ibrahim Hooper stated "The public reaction to Mr. Klein's courageous parody should be a wake-up call for American religious and political leaders who remain silent in the face of growing anti-Muslim bigotry in our society. Americans of all faiths must come together to marginalize extremists and to challenge ethnic and religious bigotry."

References

ee also

*Islamophobia

External links

* [http://jerryk.com/ Jerry Klein website]
* WMAL has provided: [http://wmal.com/showdj.asp?DJID=19978# Archived recording on streaming audio of the program (scroll to bottom of page)]
* This story lead Washington, DC's WUSA and here is a link to their video on the subject: http://www.wusa9.com/video/player.aspx?aid=37903&bw=