If, in France, the mere prospect of displaying Halal on the school menus of our dear darlings inevitably triggers feverish Islamophobic crusades, on the other side of the Atlantic, it is quite different… Seen from America, it It is dogmatic secularism and liberticidal French style that seems indigestible.
So in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to extend the Halal option to all local public school cafeterias didn’t sit on anyone’s stomach, did it infuriate even Unreasonably no citizen or politician has been exploited by any gutter demagoguery. Quite the contrary, it was welcomed to everyone’s applause.
First and foremost concerned by this measure in favor of living together, taken within the framework of the “Cafeteria Enhancement Experience” drawn up by the Office of the Mayor and the Council of New York, the Muslim community did not hide its joy to see halal soon invite itself on all the plates of its children, during the moment of sharing and conviviality that represents lunch in the canteen.
A political will that delights more than one in the Big Apple, including Afaf Nasher, the New York director of CAIR, the flagship organization for the defense of the civil rights of American Muslims and the fight against Islamophobia across the Atlantic.
« Every student, whatever their religion, deserves a lunch that respects their religious precepts. For too long, Muslim primary and secondary school students have been forced to skip lunch or eat lunch not permitted by religion “, she lamented, before emphasizing: “ Being myself a pure product of the public schools of New York, I was never able to eat halal in the canteen. Also, I am happy that the tremendous efforts made by our Muslim community to demand equal access to basic needs, such as food for our schoolchildren, are being rewarded, and I congratulate the mayor and his team all the more warmly for having acceded to our request ».
Extraordinarily unifying, the decision of the mayor of New York to “halalize” school menus is so unanimous that the strident cries of outcry, which such a measure would inevitably have provoked in the country of Voltaire, seem to have lost in the immensity of the ocean…
