On Jan. 22, The Durango Herald ran a brilliantly written column by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, headlined “Don’t dance around Islamic extremism.” The author’s point was: Call it what it is, this fanaticism being carried out in the name of Islam.

Running parallel to Islamic extremism is a trend I call Islamic passivity. Here’s what I mean:

We have in the order of 6 million followers of Islam residing in the U.S., benefiting from the freedoms and protections this nation provides.

We have, in Iraq and Syria, this Islamic State beheading and burning hostages and executing young adults for watching soccer games.

Yet here, from this Muslim population, we hear next to nothing in the way of assertion of what genuine Islam consists of or in the way of a united, cohesive protest movement against terrorists who are threatening to “turn the U.S. into a Muslim province.”

For years, I have urged people to avoid Islamaphobia, to take to heart that the majority of Muslims are not extremist.

Now I’m not so sure.

Now, I have come to the opinion that, if the so-called moderate Muslims in the U.S. want to remain silent in the face of the atrocities being carried out by these pretenders to Islam, this passivity can be taken as supportive of Islamic terrorism.

Accordingly, I have this message for Muslims in the U.S.: Rise up in opposition to Islamic extremism; do that, or leave this country.

Tom Wright

Aztec