Dear Muslims: 'I’m Sorry'

America has learned better than to make sweeping statements about Jewish people, Japanese Americans, and African Americans, so why, asks Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, in the 21ist century is it OK to equate Muslims with terrorism? It's not, he says. Those who follow Islam are not a violent "undifferentiated mass," and he is "sickened" to hear "gentle souls lumped in with Qaeda terrorists."

To those smeared by anti-Muslim extremism, "I hereby apologize to Muslims for the wave of bigotry and simple nuttiness that has lately been directed at you," says Kristof. "I want to defend Muslims from intolerance" he says, but also defend America from extremism within. "This isn’t about them, but about us," and it's frankly us who should be more embarrassed. For more on Islamophobia in America, click here. For more from the Kristof archive, click here.

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