It is difficult it is to comment on issues within the Asian community.

I say Asian because I would think many other religions have similar issues when it comes to leadership.

But it is the Muslim spokes person who gets airtime more than any other these days.

There is fine line in being a spokesperson or being seen to be ‘leader’. Many ‘spokes people’ would not see themselves as a ‘leaders’ but merely commentators on social and political issues.

We can all thank Adil Ray for killing the term ‘Community leader’.

The problem is quite simple. If you agree with the powers that be and in particular ‘non-Muslims’ you will be labelled a ‘sell out’.

If, on the other hand you defend the ‘Muslim Ummah’ you are likely to be more respected.

For the time-being anyway. Until that is, you say something that annoys one particular strand of Islam.

Then you will be called a sell out too.

Or you could take defending the Muslim Ummah too personally and then we will pass you off as a nut.

Presently, we have a handful of people that the mainstream media call upon to comment on the issue of the day.

It all depends on what issue is at hand.

But how does one do this without being seen as either one or the other? Now, we have eloquent speakers who can speak English and argue their corner – but why do we still criticise them?

For instance, you could comment on issues on mainstream media and automatically be labelled a sell out. Stating what ‘Non-Muslims’ want to hear is the worst thing you can do…apparently.

If you bend over backwards to accommodate ‘non-Muslim’ views then you will be criticised by some Muslims.

This is nothing new for many of us. The past generation had a big problem with airing our dirty laundry in public.

We lambasted them for not being able to speak English properly. Now, every third person who can string a sentence together is hauled before the cameras.

We all claim to be more liberal and modern in our thought processes but we are repeating the same mistakes.

We want change to occur but on our terms and when we see someone on TV spouting things that tend to agree with the general consensus we hate it.

‘Why is this man or woman saying these things in public?’ On the other extreme you can be labelled as someone who is ‘backward’ or ‘afraid to admit to oneself that he has a problem’.

You will defend the religion at every opportunity even when it is plainly obvious that ‘This Muslim guy did commit the crime in the name of religion.’ If you say against him you are automatically deemed ‘not Muslim enough’.

The mainstream media will only call upon you when they have ample ammunition to either counter your argument.

Some people find themselves veering from one debate to the next. They are named sell outs one minute and saviours the next.

Now, of course there are going to be people and groups who say things to appease their masters.

By ‘Masters’ we mean funders.

We all know we have groups who want PR because essentially we are all media whores.

We want retweets, we want likes, we want to say we were on the BBC discussing some complicated news piece – it is good for the brand.

But your average Muslim spokesperson cannot win.

How on earth does one manage to debate anything remotely to do with Muslims or race without being termed as a sell out or a nut job?

It isn’t really possible. So, next time you see a TV screen with a banner stating – Muslim Spokesperson, give the guy a break.