YALLA VOTE ‘08 Our Voice. Our Future.

On May 29, NPR’s All Things Considered considers the keffiyeh in the context of a Dunkin Donuts ad.

Turn up your speakers and listen here.

This is not the work we normally do, but we were so upset by these two stories that we felt we had to act.

This week added insult to injury:

1) Insult

Dunkin Donuts ran an ad with Rachael Ray (America’s favorite 30-minute cook)…

Yes, that’s a kaffiyeh!

We take delight in the way the kaffiyeh, a traditional peasant head covering, has become a fashionable part of U.S. pop culture. And here it was in a Dunkin Donuts ad!

But not so fast, said Michelle Malkin - a far right buffoon who often utters anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiments. Malkin accused Dunkin Donuts of failing to recognize that the kaffiyeh “symbolizes murderous Palestinian jihad” and is “a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos.”

Instead of weathering the silly dust-up, Dunkin Donuts folded and pulled the ad.

We cannot tolerate a situation where Michelle Malkin defines what is culturally acceptable, in effect becoming the P.C. Czarina of the far right.

Tell Dunkin Donuts to reinstate the online ad, and let them know that they should not be bullied by petty bloggers. Make your voice heard.

The head of marketing at Dunkin Donuts is Frances Allen; her e-mail address is frances.allen@dunkinbrands.com

The Dunkin Donuts Customer Care service line: (800) 859-5339. Be patient calling this number, it takes some time to get through. You can e-mail your concerns to customerservice@dunkinbrands.com or send a letter to:

Dunkin’ Donuts Public Relations Department
130 Royall Street
Canton, MA 02021
Tel: 781.737.5200

Interesting, how a few rabid, hate-filled bloggers can hold an entire corporation hostage, isn’t it?

Or didn’t you hear? Rachael Ray is a terrorist. Or is she a terrorist sympathizer? Or is she simply a holy terror in the kitchen?

Or has the whole nation gone insane?

One thing is for certain, Lady Liberty is ready to pack up her torch and go home.

Let’s get real, people. Rachael Ray was wearing a black and white, silk, scarf in an online ad for Dunkin Donuts. Her stylist says it’s paisley. And we have to ask… what if it IS a keffiyeh?

For generations, kids in America have appropriated the symbols of international culture and worn them as their own. The Chairman Mau cap, Nehru jackets, and guerrilla bandanas never incited Americans to a Communist, Parliamentarian or guerrilla revolution. During the First Gulf War, teens of all shades wore the keffiyah. Street vendors sold out of the large, checkered scarves and suburban kids hung out at the mall in a profusion of black and white and fringes. None of them started a holy jihad in the halls of their junior high because they had wrapped themselves in the symbol of Palestinian nationalism. It’s like wearing a tee shirt with the Statue of Liberty on it while on a vacation in China: a political statement of national pride, and nothing more. The keffiyah is a symbol of a nation lost but not forsaken. It’s not a universal symbol of terrorism.

Huffington Post did a good job covering the story–Dunkin Donuts Pulls Ad Featuring Rachael Ray In A Scarf That Looks Too Arab– and it’s been picked up and flung around the world, with an amazing amount of… silence on the part of the Arab American community. Come on, people, make your voices heard.

Michelle Malkin started this mess with a blog piece. “The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not so ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities and left-wing icons.” She also notes:

It’s refreshing to see an American company show sensitivity to the concerns of Americans opposed to Islamic jihad and its apologists. Too many of them bend over backward in the direction of anti-American political correctness. Naturally, liberal commentators on the Internet are now up in arms over Dunkin’ Donuts’ decision to yank the ad and mock anyone who expresses concern over the keffiyeh’s symbolism.

It’s just a scarf, the clueless keffiyeh-wearers scoff. Would they say the same of fashion designers who marketed modified Klan-style hoods in Burberry plaid as the next big thing?

Know that GOPUSA, “The Conservative Voice of America”, has picked up Malkin’s blog, but has published no sane rebuttal to this piece.

It’s also frightening to know that another blogger, the same mudslinging, bigoted BLOGGER who terrorized the McCain staff into dropping an Arab American from a Michigan finance campaign on a mere, unsubstantiated rumor, the whisper of the word Hezbolla, is again one of the driving forces behind this Dunkin Donuts paranoia. The level of hate in this country is rising, the spinelessness of individuals and corporations to stand up for everyone’s human rights is astounding, and and it takes our breath away.

Read Ray Hanania’s article in the Huffington Post. He’s spot on. Comment it, link to it, send it around the blogosphere. Drop a note to Dunkin Donuts and tell them to reinstate the ad and stop being bullied by two-bit bloggers.

Make our voices heard.