Muslim iashion blogger told, 'You don't sound American'

SCREEN CAPTURE / WGN

Honda Katebi, right, was taken by surprise by the political turn of an interview on fashion.

ASAM NEWS

A FEATURE INTERVIEW with a fashion blogger took a sudden turn to a more controversial topic on WGN in Chicago Feb. 14.

News anchors Robin Baumgarten and Larry Potash were interviewing fashion blogger Hoda Katebi, who is an Iranian/American, about the intersection of fashion and politics.

Potosh then made the transition from Katebi’s upbringing in Oklahoma to her views on the Middle East political situation.

“Let’s talk about nuclear weapons,” Potash said. “Some of our viewers might say we cannot trust Iran. What are your thoughts?”

Katebi chuckled nervously and appeared stunned by the question.

At first Hoda Katebi appeared surprised by the question,
but she recovered nicely and turned the interview into
a learning moment.

Nonetheless she answered it, moving seamlessly into issues saying many might questions whether the U.S. can be trusted, making references to American imperialism and colonization in the Middle East.

To that, Baumgarten responded “A lot of Americans might take offense to that. You’re an American, you don’t sound like an American.”

“That’s because I've read,” Katebi responded, not missing a beat. She brought up the slavery of Blacks to the United States to the genocide of the indigenous people of the U.S.-Native Americans.

Katebi expanded on her thoughts about the interview in her blog, JooJoo Azad.

“The double standards is mind-blowing,” she said. “Not to mention that what, then, must an American 'sound like'? Are they saying that Americans must not question their government, must see the world in black & white, and chose simplicity over nuanced understandings? But furthermore, what an incredibly loaded statement to say to a visibly Muslim woman on live TV, pushing every stereotype of 'other,' 'foreign,' and 'incompatible with America' that Muslims are so systematically characterized as–and therefore used as justification to commit violence against, both here and abroad. If a white person said the same things as I did I guarantee you their 'American-ness' would not have been questioned.”

Baumgarten has since apologized for her question after callers and tweeters brought the faux pas to the station's attention.

Watch the entire interview, which has gone viral:

In an interview in Glamour magazine, Katebi says she shouldn't have been surprised by the questions, because in hindsight, the interview exposed assumptions about Muslim women she's faced for years. "It was a very powerful moment because you’re telling someone who’s visibly Muslim on live TV, for a large audience, [that she] doesn’t sound American? That of course perpetuates all sorts of biases: Always being foreign, always being other, always being incompatible with the West."

Katebi added that the TV interview should be a learning opportunity, in more ways than one. "Something I learned first and foremost is that we really should not let ourselves normalize micro-aggressions in any form or sense," she says. ... I really just want people to understand that this happens all the time. I want people to think about the larger issue."

(Views From the Edge contributed to this article.)

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