============================================================ Amazing Breakthrough: Lose 20 lbs in 30 Days! Lose weight fast and easy. All natural products and Dr. recommended. Click Here to lose weight Now: http://click.topica.com/caaadoib1ddNBb2HgmNb/VivaVita ============================================================In a message dated 9/22/01 9:57:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Kaonefeather writes:
In a time of crisis, Americans of all backgrounds must stand together
Roger Hernandez
King Features My father, that most Cuban of Cubans, is now wearing an American flag on his lapel. He also put one on the door of his apartment in Florida and on his office desk. The car, I imagine, is next.Of course, Papi cannot possibly stop being Cuban. He was born on the island and lived there until he was in his 40s. His Cuban habits of mind, the Cuban food that he eats, his anti-Castro political beliefs and the Spanish language he speaks best are a natural and indelible part of who he is as an individual. Yet he has spent the past 36 years of his life in the United States, and that has shaped him too. And today, during this time of trouble in his adopted country, he wants to show his solidarity with all of his fellow Americans, no matter where they live or what their ethnic background.Me too. I'm no less Cuban, no less Hispanic than I was before Sept. 11. Can't change that even if I wanted to. But I sure feel more American.I have not been in the mood to wear my "Cuba" baseball cap when I'm out with the kids, or the polo shirt with the cool "Universidad de la Habana" logo that I bought in a Little Havana souvenir shop the last time I visited Miami. It's not that I'm ashamed or embarrassed to wear something that reflects my own ethnicity. It's that the time has come to emphasize the part of "Hispanic-American" that comes after the hyphen.It made me feel good to sit in my car singing out loud with other drivers stuck in traffic on the Garden State Parkway Monday morning as a woman Marine sang "God Bless America" on the radio at the reopening of the stock market. It made me feel good to put an American flag on the front door of my nice suburban home, and to see so many people on the block do the same -- this in a town sometimes called (and not as a compliment) a New Jersey version of Manhattan's Upper West Side, filled with ethically diverse, urbane professionals not given to flagwaving.Thing is, this is not the crude flagwaving of the past, symbolizing an ugly nationalism that excluded unpopular ethnic groups. We all have our grievances, and good Americans of all ethnic backgrounds shudder to see the flag used to intimidate law-abiding Arab-Americans and anyone who looks vaguely Middle Eastern.Yet the American flag does not belong to the ignorant. Today it allows us to grieve in union with the rest of the country, and helps reaffirm the resolve we are going to need as we fight back to re-establish the way of life we once knew.This society of Americans, hyphenated and otherwise, is going to have to stand together during the difficult days ahead as the American government makes decisions that will affect our lives and our children's lives.The hard truth is that the terrorist cells that carried out the monumental crimes of last week cannot be negotiated with, because their only goal is the destruction of the United States. Neither can they be intimidated -- fanatics who fly airplanes into skyscrapers cannot be scared into anything, because they actually look forward to dying, utterly convinced their reward is to be surrounded by virgins in heaven.What remains? Killing them. That's all that can be done to stop more acts of terrorism. It will be difficult, but if any nation on Earth has the military and intelligence capabilities to destroy terrorism, it is the United States.Yet great care must be taken as the hunt begins. The president and his aides have before them the delicate task of ending bin Laden and his terror network without turning the struggle into a world war between the West and Islam, exactly what bin Laden seeks.The aim of the United States must be to restore national security and to preserve our freedoms. Such an aim cannot be reached if terrorists are not destroyed, but neither can it be reached if our shaky Muslim allies, themselves under intense pressure from domestic radicals, become our outright enemies.In the hope for that combination of political wisdom and military might, the U.S. flag provides comfort for millions of Americans born elsewhere who have adopted it as their own.Roger Hernandez is a syndicated columnist and writer-in-residence at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Write to him in care of this newspaper or send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Copyright 2001, Dodge City Daily Globe. All rights reserved.
"Never cease in the fight for peace, justice, and equality for all people. Be persistent in all that you do and don't allow anyone to sway you from your conscience.".....Leonard Peltier
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