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About a week after the terrorists kamikazed into our lives, I remember turning on the news to an interview of an Arab child and her mother. It seems while waiting for a plane at one of our international airports, security gaurds had forced the young girl to remove her head wrap. Of course, in Muslim religion, it is a symbol as important to her as the cross is to a Christian.
We all realize the government's responsibility to keep us safe as American citizens, especially when our freedom has been threatened. The young girl in question was an American citizen, so what was the point in demeaning an innocent child?
I know that a lot of people, myself included, feel that if our government had taken action when they saw the warning signs that were there in the beginning, the tragedies may have been prevented. The evil acts that crashed into our lives that fall day have changed us all forever, and we will never be the same. But in the face of such death and destruction, it is truly a pity that we feel we have to target every Arab human being within eye range as a potential terrorist.
I detest the word discrimination and all that it stands for. It turns otherwise innocent people into targets for bigotry. Discimination is a disease that manifests with ignorance on the under-belly of society. Sadly, there are many other people targeted unjustly. Since the beginning of time, predjudice has evolved from a steady stream into an ocean threatening to drown our peace, resolve, and the right to live free of segregation.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity. All human beings. Which, simply put, means everyone from the car dealer in Iowa to the camel dealer in Pakistan. So in all reality, once we remove that 747 from under the little "Arabs" turban, we'll just move right along to the next person in line.
After all, that woman with the shifty eyes could be toting Anthrax underneath that platinum wig of hers. How often have we stopped to think that had the hijackers been American, the shame would be ours? Looking back at history, there were thousands of Jews slaughtered under the dictatorship of a monster in man's clothing. Adolph Hitler was his name. So shouldn't we check all the German passengers who are boarding to make sure the aren't carrying any poisonous gas in their trousers?
Evil has no specific race, color, or religious preference. It can come in the form of a king or dear old Aunt Lillian. And no doubt at the same time Hector is crossing the border into California, Tim the pizza boy, who's wanted for molesting the little Chinese girl down the street, is probably crossing in the opposite direction. But hell, what does he have to worry about? He'll do six months, be released for good behavior, register as a known sex offender and probably do it again.
When we see a man pushing a shopping cart and sleeping under a bridge in
a cardboard box, the word "homeless" is usually translated into the word "bum." But isn't it a damned shame, when in our own neighborhood, "child molester" translates to, "I did it and soon I'll be free to do it again so lock up your children"?
I have often heard homeless people referred to as "outcasts of society". But shouldn't the Oscar and the title go to Pete the Pervert and not to Mr. Smith who eats from garbage cans?
But who knows? Maybe I'm just ignorant. Jesus wanted us to love thy neighbor. But oops, I almost forgot! We shouldn't mention God or any body that has anything to do with Him. After all, it isn't politically correct ,is it? And let's not forget the fact that Jesus was a Jew. So why should we care what He thinks? Maybe if the predjudiced people of this world were made to carry crosses on their backs, or told where they could and could not sit on a bus in 1955 Alabama, they might think twice before taking the moral high ground.
Remember the old phrase, " A house divided will not stand?" Well, neither will a nation. And trust me, as long as that black man walking down the street is a crack addict just because he didn't wipe the powdered donut he had for lunch from his nose, we will remain a nation divided.
At some point in our lives, we should all experience what it would feel like if we had to walk in someone else's shoes. After all, that Jew across the street may wear the same size shoe that I do. But that will come in handy when he wears his out. I'll just give him a pair of mine.
There are several web sites that I could list that offer more information on racial profiling and how you can help to end it. But the only way to truly win this human race, is to walk side by side, and hand in hand, together across the finish line.
Lost River, WEST VIRGINIA, USA - Since the attacks of our nation on September 11, 2001, It seems as though the news stations have been full of stories of racial discrimination rearing its ugly head in one form or another.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, one of our finest presidents, once asked of the American people, "Who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed?" So do we have any volunteers? That pretty much hits the nail on the head, doesn't it?
TELSA CRONE - is a student in the Long Ridge Writers Group in West Virginia. This is Telsa's first article for The World's Magazine.
WEB SITE PICK OF THE WEEK: The Theban Mapping Project, organized by the American University of Cairo, Egypt, has to be recommended because our Publisher used to live in Cairo. We have to give him props on that. But no more than the props we give this informative site. Check it out, Kids!
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