I wanted to bring to your attention an incident that happened last week on a college campus here in the United States. It didn’t involve murder or guns – but it certainly involved fear. The poet/professor affected was a classmate of mine when I was in graduate school. I am extremely confident that this man could not hurt a fly, let alone inflict the danger imagined.
Poetry is Dangerous, by Kazim Ali.
This issue is very, very complicated, especially given the world we live in today – but I thought it was important and I felt I needed to share it with you.
How sad. So many are so quick to judge. Thank you for posting.
That breaks my heart.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
I do not cry easily, but this brought me to tears. Thank you for opening my mind to a point of veiw I had never been exposed to.
Today, you helped make me a better person.
Cara, thanks for posting this—this is all such bullshit. After the V. Tech incident, right wingers started railing at the Asian American and immigrant community; even the mainstream media seemed to always emphasize that the shooter was Asian. My memory may be foggy, but I don’t remember such a harping on race during Columbine when the shooters were white.
Damn it, why can’t we all just *get along*?
Wow, that was powerful, thought provoking and so very sad.
Great link. From inside the ivory tower of a university I get used to feedom. There is only one thing that could have prevented the recent tragedy… gun control… but this society will blame everything else first. Skin colour is an easy target.
Wow. That’s really all I can say.
Life definitely sucks for anyone who stands out. I get a taste (just a taste since i’m white) living in a foreign country. However, I have to object to him making a judgement about a ROTC recruits. I overlooked the first mention, but by time he brought up walking by the ROTC office, I felt the need to call foul. Obvously not all ROTC or military personnel would react that way. Sadly, he is falling into the same trap of making judgements based on externalities.
Unfortunately, most of the crazy, unkind, and cruel behavior people inflict on each other comes from fear.
If you don’t listen to Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR, try to catch this story if you have a chance.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9759187
I had read about the incident earlier this morning, but that report didn’t include the university’s pathetic response.
The whole thing is horrible.
Fighting terrorism with fear and suspicion doesn’t work. How about lovingkindness coupled with using one’s brain?
I read this article yesterday. It’s so damn disturbing…
Oy.
We live in fear, which is how we are controlled. And this fear is daily encouraged by the media and by each other.
But what I’ve learned is that if we trust our own instincts and not what we are told daily, there is less to fear than we thought.
I know it’s a naive mindset, but I like to believe that everyone I meet is just a friend I haven’t made yet, rather than a fiend who hasn’t killed me yet.
Wow. Thanks for posting this; it really made me think. I think it says a lot about how far this country has come (or not) since 9/11.
Thank you for posting this! Sometimes I’m embarrassed to be a member of the human race when idiots like this ROTC guy do crap like that, and then the “powers that be” exacerbate it with more stupidity.
Thanks so much -I’ll make certain my 16 year old son reads this. His school is taking on a global initiative for the future – The beginning of this starts with teaching kids to: Demonstrate tolerance and understanding of, and respect for other cultures and international systems. It goes on from there as the focus of who they will be as potential leaders in our world today. I hope it sinks in!
thanks for sharing that – we read reports in the newspaper and listen to them on the news and most often never hear the details of the story – all we might have heard of this one was – “false alarm, just some recycling.” The saddest part is that most of us harbor all sorts of fears in our hearts and we manage to stuff them down for months/years AND then a tragedy occurs and all of a sudden we become suspicious of everything and feel like we’re doing our duty as a citizen by reporting ANYTHING. We listen as all these people come forward saying they weren’t surprised at who it was, and fingers are pointed BUT really – there are THOUSANDS of people in our everyday lives who are living with fear, sadness, depression who may just be at the tipping point BUT for some reason or another NEVER TIP, or TIP in some way that it never touches us and WE GO ON and never know – domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse – physical, mental, emotional torture sometimes even perpetrated in the name of love or religion.
Cara thanks for sharing.
That’s very sad. As a non-muslim coming from a muslim country, I can actually understand the fear and hatred against them. But people need to be educated to treat everyone as an individual, not a race or colour.
Thanks for sharing this. I’m amazed by our world, and not always in a good way. I’m grateful that he was able to write so eloquently about what happened; I’m going to refer my students to this page.
When a person judges, he is judged. it knida gives me a headache to think about it. I know I need to take care of my own crap first, and then hope I can make a difference by showing love and grace to others. I just have to remember to show it to myself first, being a hypercritic of my own junk.
That makes me so sad! I worry about that happening to my cousins. They are Brazilian/American. An american born citizen. The youngest is very dark. He is also, ironically, a professor of political science. We worry about him flying ever since 9/11. He gets pulled out by security every time he is trying to fly. Where has our country been taken?
What a sad world we are leaving to our children if this kind of behavior continues.
I am overcome with emotion & concern. Thank you for sharing this with us.
That’s so sad. 🙁
This hurts my heart. Thank you for posting it – it’s something people need to see if we’re ever going to get beyond it.
What is the world coming to? That is one of the saddest things I’ve heard in a while.
One a trip to KS, we arrived late and being very tired and not paying attention, I left a piece of luggage at the curb and we drove away. We were shortly pulled over by SIX cop cars. We were described as the whites that we are and were pulled out of our car with the baby crying and scared in the back. It took them two hours to tear the rental car and our luggage and the baby’s car seat apart before they let us go. They left us on the side of the road at 1am to clean up the mess ourselves and be on our way.
At the airport in CO, my husband is constantly pulled aside for an extra checking and then he gets harrassed for wearing his Nebraska Husker gear while they are checking him. Basically, he gets pulled aside for no better reason then the rivalry btw colleges.
I’m sorry for what happened to that man and his colleagues. I’m sorry for what happened to us. In all three cases what happened is pathetic and sad. More then all that, I’m better safe then sorry.
Last Friday, we had a bomb squad truck in our neighborhood for FIVE HOURS because of a very real incident at the nearest high school. (You can read about the whole incident at my blog if you want the details.) The sad fact of the matter is that we live in scary times. Scary in the events that take place and scared that there may be more. Scary also in the way we react (overreact sometimes) to things that happen. It’s not just non-whites…. I don’t know, I’ve got no answers. I only have hope.
It boggles the mind that someone could look past flower decals, a faculty parking sticker, a pro-Dem bumper sticker, all on a friggin’ BEETLE parked on a university campus and come up with “terrorist”!
The problem is where it took place. The area is still pretty not used to people with different colored skin. What is sad is that it was a university campus not to far away from me.
Thank you for posting that. It actually brought tears to my eyes.
Thanks for sharing this. It is an eloquently written piece, and hopefully will make people stop to think.
Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you for sharing this very important message.
gripping story. thanks for sharing that cara!
Thank you for this.
Good God. What kind of world do we live in?
Thank you for sharing this. I wish I could say that I’m surprised that these things still happen… in America… in 2007…but I know that they do.
I often think about how much more I would have to worry about my child if she had been a boy, who would someday grow up to be a brown-skinned man.
These things make me so sad. 🙁
I’m sorry that happened to him. What a great writer. Thank you for passing that along.
sheesh that’s terrible. I am ashamed to know that my own parents would have done the same thing as the ROTC guy. I keep trying to hammer away at it, little by little, but but but. They are 65 years old and just. won’t. change. 🙁
That’s fucking ridiculous. And, of course, it’s all your friend’s fault. Geez-o-pete that’s stupid.
Wow.
Cara, thanks for sharing. I’m sorry that happened to your friend, but quite honestly it’s a sad but realistic part of now “overly cautious” society we live in. I live in metro Detroit, which is home to the largest Arab population outside of the Middle East. Racial profiling of “Middle Eastern-looking” people only started after 9/11 occurred. I’m an African-American female, and unfortunately my culture (especially black men) have been profiled and stereotyped for many, many years. My 18-year old nephew got his first official taste of racial profiling just a couple weeks ago. He is graduating from high school in June, and for his bday/graduation present, my brother & sis-inlaw bought him a brand Dodge Charger. He and his best friend were driving home a couple Saturdays ago around midnight from a friend’s house in a very affluent suburb, and got stopped by the police, forced to put get out with their hands up, and they were handcuffed and put in the back of the police car. Needless to say it scared the crap out of them! The cops told them they were stopped because “a crime had been reported and they fit the description”. But when asked what the “description” of the alledged perpetrator was, the police just told my nephew to shut up or they’d be arrested. The cops checked their licenses and discovered that these young men have no criminal records, they’re from middle-class, predominately white suburbs, and the vehicle registration checked out and they let them go. It bothers me because my nephew and his friend are awesome, college bound, hard working, well mannered young men. Racial profiling is senseless, and is based on enculturated biases. It’s time we start living like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said – not being judged by the color of our skin but by the content of our character.
I saw that article. It amazes me that people are so insanely quick to judge. I know that I want to live in a safe world but a world where everyone is a threat just by virtue of their being is no way to live.
Thanks for posting it Cara.
How awful Cara. I am still fearful sometimes in certain parts of the country, around certain kinds of people, and how they look at my husband, a Native American.
Native American writer Sherman Alexie wrote, not long after 9/11, how he was walking down the street and a car driving by, yelled out to him: “Go back where you came from!” To which he replied “you first!”
Crazy crazy world. Thank you so much for posting this! To think Richard nearly took a position at Ship!
Kazim wrote an excellent summary of his experience.
I appreciate his calm and concerned tone. To remain level headed after such an experience is admirable in that it sets such a good example to the fear mongers.
I wanted to cry when I read that. Terrible, just terrible.
Thanks for posting. It amazes me how blind people can be.
That story makes me feel ill. As someone else mentioned, how quick people (we?) are to judge. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I very much appreciated his well-thought, well-written piece concerning what must have been an extremely frustrating day.
First, let me say that the way the university responded was abhorrent.
Second, let me point out that this entire article makes assumptions and judgements of the ROTC officer in the same way that we hope judgements and assumptions are not made based on someone’s skin color. We do not know how this officer was trained, what he was asked to do, or if also made an honest mistake in not seeing the parking stickers. We do not know that he was afraid. We do not know that he was seeing the ‘violence in his own heart’.
Until we – those of us who do not support the erosion of our civil liberties, those of us who do not want snap judgements to be made based on only the observable – until we cease to judge in the same way that we’re asking to not be judged ourselves, we are not going to be able to solve or address these issues in a construtive manner.
Thank you for sharing that piece. It fucking pisses me off.
Hmmm, I’m not so sure that the motivation for the call was racisism as much as it was just plain fear. With recent events many campus students might see a package that looks suspiciously out of place and conclude that it might possibly contain a bomb. Given the potential for death on a grand scale, reporting suspicious activity could be the right thing to do.
I would think that seeing someone, ANYone of ANY ethnic background, including white, drive up, drop off a box and then just drive away, would be something that would trigger suspicion. Unfortunately in his reporting of the event the observor made note of the assumed race of the person who dropped off the box. Does that mean he is racist? Not necessarily. Studies have been done to determine what we notice first about a person we meet. We notice gender, general size, and yes, we notice race. If I notice that a person is dark skinned and I either correctly or incorrectly identify that person as of middle eastern decent, does that mean I am racist or that I conclude that, because of that perceived race the person is then prone to violence? Don’t be absurd! The person saw what could have been a danger, reported it as best he could, and is now being called a racist because of it.
Did anyone thank him for trying to protect the students from a potential massacre?
Thanks for sharing that. I don’t know what the answer the the problem is but it is definately good to be reminded that we are imperfect beings in an imprefect world. Some times “better safe than sorry” can mean just plain “sorry” for someone else.
It breaks my heart that we’ve become a society that is suspect of everything and everybody. Our innocents has been stolen somewhere along the line. It simply can not be blamed on any one element in our society. When you are afraid for your children when they simply go to school who is to blame? Where has all the violence come from that we see in our fellow man each day? How did we perpetuate the ‘all-about-me’ generation that is simply too rude to be ignored? Were we not paying attention or did we simply not care….we now have to live with the results. I for one, don’t like it!
You wanted to know why I was down the other day. I’ve come to realize the last few days that THIS, this culture of hate, culture of fear that we have created is what is getting to me…more than the weahter, more than any one other thing…it is this country, this fear mongering that goes on day after day. I’m not sure how to cope any longer and it makes me so sad.
This makes me mad and furious at the same time. Sad because this is the state of the world we live in and furious for the same reason as well. I can’t believe that he was told to behave with more caution! How are you supposed to behave when throwing things away? Do they want him to dump all contents of all his trash out on the ground so that they can see it before throwing it away?! The ridiculousness of that is frightening in that that is what they are suggesting and I think that would find this acceptable. That this man should be made to feel that he has to watch his every move in doing everyday things is horrible. He is certainly right when he says that this type of behaviour is the most undemocratic. I would call it facist or communistic. And it’s sad and frightening that that is becoming acceptable in a country whose very foundations are purposefully against this.
These stories make me so mad. I understand the need for caution in the world but this is racism and is wrong.
I do not have words for how I feel at this very moment. I do not like that I think with distain of the ROTC student – he made an observation and responded to the situation with the very training that we have given him. He did what we have told him to do – act first, think second. The aftermath is probably the most frustrating. The police could not see past the surface, could not think beyond the facts. Perhaps that is their training as well….
sigh… this makes me cry. But thank you for sharing it. Maybe it will cause eyes to be opened somewhere…
I am a lurker to your blog. This is my first time commenting. What I read made me cry. What is happening?
Great post, great essay by Kazim Ali. Would this guy have reacted the same way if a normal-looking white guy or a woman had dropped off a box of paper? I seriously doubt it.
I am ashamed. Ashamed at how the ROTC student jumped to a conclusion at how the police reacted and by the fact that what our judicial system is based on “innocent until proven guility” has been shit on. Someone needs to aplogize to Mr. Ali.
Mr. Ali please accept my sincerest apology. It was unacceptable. I would like to believe that it will never happen again.
That’s terrifying!
I’m not very often left speechless but I honestly do not know what to say right now. I’m in tears at what has become of our country. As long as hatred and intolerance are allowed to infect and spread we cannot consider ourselves free.
Ah, but don’t you know how dangerous POETRY is??? It can change the world! Ugh. I lived in central PA, and as a yank, I felt out of place…can’t imagine as a muslim. I wonder if there are many ROTC kids of middle eastern descent?
This was on the local news channel and they never “mentioned” what was at the heart of it. All they said was “suspcious package” and my first thought was, “What kind of fucking idiot does something like that in this day and age?” I guess I should have thought, “What kind of fucking idiot has a knee jerk reaction to someone’s skin color and acts ‘accordingly’?”
Well, that just got this lurker out of lurkdom! Thank you for sharing this piece. I will pass it on. So sad.
Kazim has shown us how the terrorists will win.
By spreading fear, they get us to be suspicious of one another. And then we spread fear, until we’re divided beyond hope.
Divided, we’ll fall.
sigh.
Can I knit him a scarf? a something? A thank you for writing that?
This is really a no win situation, isn’t it? Guy sees something he thinks is suspicious and reports it. It’s not suspicious and so he is called names. On the other hand, guy sees something suspicious and doesn’t report it due to possible over reacting. Something bad happens and everybody shouts “why didn’t somebody stop them?”
How do you know what to report and what not to report? How do you know if you are over reacting or acting correctly?
wow.
the tears of laughter turned to astonishment, shame and sadness.
how can we be this way?
thank you to Kazim Ali for handling it in a positive manner. who is the terror maker in this instance – the student who saw evil where there was none.
What’s staying with me is what his colleague did: stepping up and speaking out and saying “No, that’s my friend.” That’s another way to resist the fear, suspicion and prejudice.
this is a tragically sad story and i’m sorry for your friend.
however, this is the world we live in. and we all have to be responsible and remember how our actions might be perceived by others. i know that i would think twice about leaving a box, a bag, anything that could be perceived as a bomb by anyone, in a public place. i’m not so naive as to think that had it been someone like me, with my lily white skin, dropping off the box, that the outcome would have been the same. i’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be. but that’s the reality of the situation.
not long ago the entire city of boston went into high alert because of several oddly placed electronic cartoon images.
yeah it sucks.
A few commenters have stated we shouldn’t knock the young ROTC man for reporting a “suspicious” activity. It seems pretty apparent the only reason Mr. Ali’s act of leaving a box of papers by a trash can was deemed a threat was because of his supposed “Middle-Eastern” appearance. Would anyone have looked twice at a middle-aged white woman doing the same thing? This wasn’t a case of better safe than sorry. It was a case of prejudice dictating how the action was interpreted. The heartening thing is the solidarity shown by Mr. Ali’s colleagues. That gives me a little hope.
I would NEVER think that. And I’m not saying that in any holier-than-thou way, I just wouldn’t think like that. Maybe I’m naive, but I just don’t understand how people jump to that conclusion. It’s so sad that that’s what we’ve come to in this day and age – the media, the government, regular people looking at anyone different askance, or with outright suspicion. I know I come from a “privileged” position being a white female, never having to face real discrimination (except for gender discrimination, but that’s a different issue entirely), but I just don’t see why people can’t wait to judge a person until they know the person. So, so sad.
This is my favorite line…
“Ma’am, you are associated with the suspect. You need to step away and lower your voice.”
The suspect? Last time I checked, the “suspect” was the person they thought had committed a *crime.*
(OTOH, I wish he’d taken the poetry to a recycling facility. I don’t think that the “trash department” is likely to recyc.)
I am saddened by the story, but encouraged by Mr. Ali’s dignity.
We live in a world where no one questions the throwing out or recycling of poetry. The words of the spirit. The words he so caringly encouraged from his students. That hit me first.
Could we not respond with poems to the ROTC. To the campus administration. Could we not show them that above their fear and creeping survival instincts lie the truth of humanity?
Thank you so much for posting this! It is so upsetting that things like this happen. I have a friend who is of middle eastern descent who is / was a commercial pilot…he has had a very difficult time even though he is not muslim and is a US citizen. The level of racism on so many levels in this country makes me so very sad.
that saddens and angers me. but it was beautifully written. i hope that makes sense
That is a very sad story – and one that deserves public attention. Thank you for sharing it.
Thank you for sharing this with us.
I will share with you what I’ve written to him.
I just read your website. A knit blogger I read had a link to it. I’m so sorry to hear your pain. I’m Korean American and I was not born in
this country, though I’ve lived in it my entire life. I was adopted at age 6 months. I too have had insults shouted at me (obviously nothing
as radical as being mistaken for middle eastern in this day and age)when I have been mistaken for other Asian ethnicities, although I think once I was in some considerable danger. All I wanted to shout is it’s still not OKAY now that you know I’m not Chinese/Japanese or whatever.
As HummerLand Security would have it “Thanks for being Afraid. And don’t forget to vote.”
Thank Kazim for his eloquent words. The question is not “What country is he from?” But what country are We from? Or what country do we think we are from? Is the country we live in the country we were born in?
I like what Erika had to say above. Too bad the ROTC fellow hadn’t jotted down the licence number or simply taken a peek at the box (c’mon it’s just not THAT scary)instead of reacting at top of the range hysteria. Failing marks for the university president I’m sorry to say, although granted, after the abject failure of administration in Virginia, university presidents must all be terribly shaken now, sadly. At the very least, more people are exposed to Mr. Ali’s writing as a result. And of course, the campus ROTC are better acquainted with him!
That is awful and it also breaks my heart! Thanks for posting it.
Sorry to interrupt the long string of consense but would someone remind us how exactly did the the Muslim people get themselves in this situation? Was it by some of them bombing us?
After 9/11, London bombing etc., here in UK we did expect to see a very strong reaction and condamnation of terror coming from INSIDE the Muslim community against terror and agaist all the brainwashing taking place through their own mosques. Did this happend? We still watching programms on TV showing ‘imported’ mulas coming here and teaching hate in UK mosques.
Let’s not make our fear our fault.
I will not be confortable to have my child in a campus where Police does not stop a Muslim person which is abandoning a parcel in the street. It is not racism – it’s the reality of these days.
Now – I am trully sorry for all decent people out there in the Muslim community, like your friend, but it is time for THEM TO STAND UP and start rallying thousands and thousands of other Muslim people against crime, terror and against religious hate. This problem will not stop until THEY will stand up themselves and let us know lound and clear that they are willing to fight against there ‘practices’ …there is no other effective in long term way…
ummmm (removed some potential flamable comments in repect of Cara)…I’d just like to point out that terrorism did not begin on 9/11. I’d also like to point out that muslims are not the only skin colour/ethic/religious group involved in terrorism. Let us not forget the Oklahoma City bombing (etched in my mind forever is that fireman carrying the dead child) nor the numerous abortion clinic bombings/shooting conducted by WHITE CHRISTIANS.
That’s why I believe that hope is on knitting! Thank you Cara, for this post – this is unfortunately true all over the world, not only in your country.
Dangerous poetry, ever-present media, global warming, fine lines between entertainment and war; we’re just not doing a very good job here.
That is profoundly saddening, though I am glad he has the courage to write about his feelings. Thank you for posting the link.
That’s more than sad. The people with guns don’t even comprehend the problem. That’s tragic.
Unfortunately, history will always repeat itself. Ask any African American in the 50’s, Native American during the early 19th century and beyond, and Japanese American after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Innocent people have been persecuted on the basis of skin color for centuries. Will we ever learn? Probably not.
…’the numerous abortion clinic bombings/shooting conducted by WHITE CHRISTIANS’ is another fine example of religios brainwashing.
But at least you can clearly see that there is a strong open public condemnation coming from our CHRISTIAN community against it.
Now, the mulas from Pakistan which were recently teaching extremism in our mosques have been caught due to intelligence work and not because the 300 or more Muslim people attending the prayer phoned the Police at once…
My point is, if they are not doing much to disassociate the large majority of them from extremism – and do it lound and clear – how do you see the trust coming back and the suspition disappearing? I would like to see a poster in front of our local mosque here saying We do not tolerate extremism in this mosque. This would be of great reasurence and I would highly respect this…
Sorry for inflaming the conversation and yes I think too knitting is a good way to sort it out, only if we could get the extremists into mitters :).
Thank you for directing so many of us to this piece. The most frightening part is the university president’s response, in that he completely fails to acknowledge the racism and power at work here, and then blames the situation on your colleague. And that the whole crazy incident starts with someone’s good intentions to recycle, and poetry, yet.
I felt physically sick when I read this. What the fuck is going on in this country? I am so sorry your friend went through this and so sorry that the university president has his head up his ass and the rotc guy is just a military idiot in training. Racial profiling is the worst kind of discrimination because the assholes who do it think they are justified. Oh, I am so pissed off. Please pardon my language. I just can’t stand this crap.
I think it is absolutely wrong to blame a whole cultural group for 9/11 and any other terrorist attacks. I can’t believe I have to even type these words. It should be obvious. As it was mentioned, the Oklahoma City bomber was white. So, clearly, terrorists can be any skin color.
Re.
I think it is absolutely wrong to blame a whole cultural group for 9/11 and any other terrorist attack
I really don’t know about this until this cultural/religious group makes a clear move to dissassociate themselves from extremism. Otherwise how do you really know? It’s not enough to have a few decent people not being part and being silent about it all.
In other words next time radical clerics speak and teach in our mosques it would be great to see 50 Muslim people throwing him out and phoning the Police. Never happend yet in England – maybe in your country is different I do not know. We are still waiting and I really do not know what to think about it any more.
That’s one hell of an article. And a horrible realisation for him to have to come to. My heart aches for him.
I am sorry Cara that this world we live in is so entrenched in hate………can we blame it on modern society? I think not it goes back to the beginning of time, mankind is and always has been based on survival and if it means we have to eliminate one race for the survival of another then so be it.
It takes a great deal of effort on many peoples part to take the higher road and be peaceful sometimes the higher road is too hard to take.
I thank the gods and higher powers I live in a country where acceptance, peacefulness,tolerance prevails and love in spite of ourselves.
I am often appalled at my own response to situations I find myself in where I revert to survival mode and make judgements I have no right to make. I can’t imagine living in a country that exists primarily in survival mode and being on “high” alert at all times.
Its fortunate that in spite of yourselves the majority of Americans do take the higher road and live their lives in peace, acceptance, tolerance and love. I hope that in the end your country can stop focussing on the isolated incidences and start concentrating on all the millions of times that love and the higher roads were taken.
Thanks for posting this piece. What a sad situation. My heart also aches for your friend.
Reading this article made the hair stand up on my arms. I don’t live in the US, but I am close enough to see the changes that have occured. The paranoia is extreme, and although felt only by few, has managed to pervade the entire country. It pains me to know that I will have to obtain a passport should I ever wish to travel to the US again. And it pains me to know that because I am tall, blonde and blue-eyed, I will not be looked at with suspect. That does mean that many others wil be. We cannot ultimately stop those who chose to use terror as their weapon of choice, regardless of their nationality, skin colour, religion, etc. We can chose not to allow ourselves to be terrorized as we live out our lives. And we can chose not to look upon all others as suspects. Something, I fear Homeland Security has yet to learn. JMHO.
That was just crazy, why do people always jump to the worst case instantly. I can’t say that I truly understand, but WOW was my first thought. That just wasn’t cool, couldnt the kid just have said hey what ya doin’? and found out how innocent it truly was. Grr, some people.
Give your friend my best and I plan to post his link on my blog so others can see the stupidty and injustice of others. And just maybe they’ll think before they jump to such a drastic conclusion.
Didn’t we learn anything from the McCarthy era witch hunts?