To Muslim Americans, With Love

I, Too

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BY LANGSTON HUGHES

I, too, sing America. 

I am the darker brother. 

They send me to eat in the kitchen 

When company comes, 

But I laugh, 

And eat well, 

And grow strong. 

Tomorrow, 

I’ll be at the table 

When company comes. 

Nobody’ll dare 

Say to me, 

“Eat in the kitchen,” 

Then. 

Besides, 

They’ll see how beautiful I am 

And be ashamed— 

I, too, am America.

Source: Hughes, Langston, Arnold Rampersad, and David E. Roessel. The collected poems of Langston Hughes. New York: Knopf, 1994. Print.

Politics of Fear and Obama

I'm sure that most of you have seen this image by now. This illustration (artist, Barry Blitt) on the cover of of the July 21, 2008 issue of The New Yorker depicts Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim and his wife, Michelle Obama, as a terrorist. To top it off, there's a picture of Bin Laden on the wall and the American flag burning in the fire place. The magazine claims that it is using satire to address the use of scare tactics and misinformation by some media outlets to derail the Obama presidential campaign; However, I believe that an illustration like this could do more harm than good.

Lets' face it, Americans scare easily. Placing an image like this in front of an American public that is constantly reminded of the threat of terrorism is not a smart move. It only adds fire to a pot that's all ready boiling over and perpetuates the growing negativity towards the Muslim community. In closing, I feel that media organizations should be more responsible in their dissemination of information and their overall coverage of the presidential elections. Tell me what you think.

Photo credit: (AP Photo/New Yorker)

Source: The Associated Press

The Fear Factor

First, I would like to send condolences and prayers out to the friends and families of those affected or infected by the bomb attacks in London. I was just thinking about these "United States" that we live in and how very fragile we are when it comes to hurt and tragedy. Oh, there are some of us in this society who have seen and are accustomed to a world of hurt, but very few of us are accustomed to the level of "terror" that we have experienced over the last few years. We can't imagine what a person living and working in Iraq has to go through on a daily or someone living in Liberia or some other African or third world nation. Pain is on a much grander scale! We should all definitely strive for peace and try to eradicate both foreign and domestic terrorism. it is not only costing the government and taxpayers billions, but it's causing us to lose ourselves.

We are a culture of fear! This is nothing new. This culture has been run by fear from it's very beginnings. The fear of our fellow man. It was the fear of the Native. It was the fear of the African in America. It was the fear of the Immigrant. Now, it's the fear of anyone who looks like they may be Muslim or from the Middle East. The problem is that we combat our fear of these things by stamping them out. We don't hesitate to wage war on them and all they are associated with. It always helps if those causing the fear are killing themselves because then we can just call it "Live News at 5."

In short, I feel that we should be vigilant, but we should be vigilant when it concerns bringing about peace and vigilant about educating our young so that they don't make the same mistakes that we are making right now. We should become vigilant about examining our morals and reevaluating our prejudices. Well, I'm going to get off of this soap box, but have a safe and conscious weekend. Go in peace~