I am against the Israeli-Lebanese war on every count.  I have no interest in the idea of who started it.  Bush and his boisterous Bunch can claim Hezbollah the enemy, the bearers of barbaric gifts.  I see no difference between the bombs this grass-roots organized front drops and those heat-seeking missiles that Israel launches.  Many throughout the globe are blaming Israel for over-reacting, myself among these.  Others question this “truth;” they say Hezbollah, Hamas, the Syrians, and or the Lebanese are at fault.  As far as I am concerned, they too are responsible.

Nevertheless, this treatise is not meant to promote a discussion about the battles brewing in the Middle East.  My choice is to look within, at wars in America.
For me, any brutal battle on any field is troublesome.  I find what is going on in this nation disquieting.  What might we be building up to, what do we believe, and why do our actions belie our said truth?  

I believe, every human being that accepts war as an option must look at this decision.  Yes, they can rationalize, intellectualize, justify, and blame.  Still I ask, “What good does that do?”  Will our verbal prophecies bring about peace?  Will discussions of what is happening abroad end these futile feuds? Half-hearted attempts at diplomacy are that.  The leaders of this nation have no interest in changing what is; if they had, they might start at home!  I see no evidence of tranquility in America; yet we ask those in other nations to do as we do not.

I surmise if we support one war or another, then we back them all.  America is at war and I am not speaking of the war on terrorism.  Religiously we are ridiculously hypocritical.  Racially, we uphold policies that discriminate.  United States citizens profess a belief in equality; yet, they advance a society of the classes and the masses. We are duplicitous or self-deceiving.  In this exposé, I intend to discuss sanctimonious attitudes towards religion and race.

I am too overwhelmed to write great prose.  In this post, I am only going to offer headlines and short snippets from various articles.  I am asking for a dialogue, not a debate.  I disdain the idea of “I win, you lose.”  I loathe the concept of “correct,” political, or otherwise.  The intent to prove another wrong for me is wasteful.  What do we learn when our eyes and ears are closed.  I abhor when words are wielded as weapons.  I want no wars here or anywhere!

I ask only that you read, reflect, and state/share your beliefs.  I crave a caring community and hope that in seeing the errors of our own ways we might choose to empathize with all others.  I yearn for communities where people accept one another, honor the differences, learn from other cultures, and co-habit in harmony.  However, this is not what I see.  I observe people posturing, stating that they are working towards peace.  Please, pray tell, where, how, and when?

Intentionally, I offer no articles on the combat across the sea.  I want Americans to look into the mirror and see what exists daily in this nation.  Peruse as you might.  Ponder if you wish.  Conclude as you choose.  I will share my deduction.  This is America, a land supposedly founded on the principle that all men are created equal.  I do not see this conviction applied.  I see only rampant racism and religious bigotry.  I observe intolerance everywhere, here, in the “United” States of America!

* Gibson apologizes for driving drunk, ranting at police, By Sandy Cohen.  The Associated Press. Sunday, July 30, 2006

The Sheriff’s Department has refused to release either Gibson’s mug shot or the report of the arresting officer, Deputy James Mee.  According to Mee’s report, Gibson berated and threatened the deputy in an expletive-filled tirade.

“The Passion of the Christ” director also made anti-Semitic remarks, according to the Web site. Mee’s report, according to the Web site, quotes Gibson as saying, among other things, “Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.”

The report of Gibson’s outburst struck some people who were already wary of what they saw as anti-Semitic overtones of “The Passion of the Christ” and who believe he has failed to disassociate himself clearly enough from remarks by his father denying the Holocaust.

In this country, we are shocked that a man made more famous by exploiting Christianity and promoting and anti-Semitic sentiments might be drunk with anger.  We cannot imagine that such a soul would blurt out his hatred of Jews.  Yet, has he not chosen to do so successfully for years?  Did he not make millions for denigrating a race, a religion, or an ethnicity?  He did, and with the blessing of the American people.  God was truly on Mel’s side, or so he and his adoring public thought.

Gibson found his calling; in his mind he was preaching from the bible.  Yet, he created contrary to peace.  I think this hypocritical stance is evident throughout the United States.  Our President states God is speaking through him.  Would God, or Christ choice to condemn others to death?  Would the divine censure or convict a group of people or even an individual?  Would Jesus cast the first stone and incite mass murder?  Might the Lord, our God see evil on every corner and terrorize the masses?  I think not, though I wonder.

I suppose if Jesus was an American, he may not be as he was.  Just as other US, citizens, Christ may have become acculturated.  Living among the apathetic sheep, he may have forgotten what it means to walk in peace and to show love to all men equally.  

I invite you to read on, to ponder the truth and ways of your fellow citizens.  Are these people truly hoping for harmony worldwide or in their local communities?  Do they treat their neighbors as they would wish to be treated?  Oh, if only . . .

* Is Racism Behind Treatment of Haitians? By Pauline Arrillaga. Associated Press National Writer.  Los Angeles Times.  July 29, 2006

The question they kept coming back to: Why?  Why, they asked, are Haitian immigrants singled out by the U.S. government for unequal treatment? On this day, earlier in the year, the topic was temporary protected status, a designation the federal government can grant to foreigners allowing them to remain part time in the United States because of political unrest or environmental disasters at home.

Central Americans have repeatedly been granted protected status following hurricanes and earthquakes in Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador. Immigrants from Burundi, Liberia, Somalia and Sudan also enjoy such protections.

But Haitians have never obtained relief, despite decades of political turmoil, kidnappings and killings, and tribulations from tropical storms.

“Why aren’t Haitians good enough for the same basic protections?” demanded Steve Forester, of the group Haitian Women of Miami.

I ask as well, why are Haitians considered “not good enough?”  Why do we speak of equality and then not grant it?  American policies baffle me.

Only recently, Congress chose to reinstate the Voters Rights Act.  King George Bush II signed it into law.  Each thought them selves benevolent.  I see no goodwill in bestowing rights towards native-born Black citizens.  I observe only this comparison; Black is Black.  It seems to me that Americans can and will find a way to belittle those of dark color.  According to many United States citizens, once of African American heritage, always considered an African.  Is that term synonymous with subhuman?  I think not, though policy seems to belie my beliefs.

* Families Challenging Religious Influence in Delaware Schools, By Neela Banerjee.  New York Times. July 29, 2006

For years, she and her daughter, Samantha, listened to Christian prayers at public school potlucks, award dinners and parent-teacher group meetings, she said. But at Samantha’s high school graduation in June 2004, a minister’s prayer proclaiming Jesus as the only way to the truth nudged Mrs. Dobrich to act.

“It was as if no matter how much hard work, no matter how good a person you are, the only way you’ll ever be anything is through Jesus Christ,” Mrs. Dobrich said. “He said those words, and I saw Sam’s head snap and her start looking around, like, `Where’s my mom? Where’s my mom?’ And all I wanted to do was run up and take her in my arms.”

After the graduation, Mrs. Dobrich asked the Indian River district school board to consider prayers that were more generic and, she said, less exclusionary. As news of her request spread, many local Christians saw it as an effort to limit their free exercise of religion, residents said. Anger spilled on to talk radio, in letters to the editor and at school board meetings attended by hundreds of people carrying signs praising Jesus.

“What people here are saying is, `Stop interfering with our traditions, stop interfering with our faith and leave our country the way we knew it to be,’ ” said Dan Gaffney, a host at WGMD, a talk radio station in Rehoboth, and a supporter of prayer in the school district.

After receiving several threats, Mrs. Dobrich took her son, Alex, to Wilmington in the fall of 2004, planning to stay until the controversy blew over.  It never has.

The clamor does not calm for it is not as a noise that begins and then ends.  The argument lingers in the air as it has for centuries.  In America, nine of the thirteen original colonies discriminated against those that did not subscribe to the official religion.  Judaism was not considered “correct” centuries ago.  It is no more correct in Delaware and other places today.  Mrs. Dobrich may wish to wait for the storm to pass; however, the wait is likely to be a very long one.

* Shattering Glass Ceilings, By McCoy, Frank. Black Enterprise.  September 1995. Volume 26, Issue  2

The bipartisan Glass Ceiling Commission report on corporate American’s dismal record of advancing minorities to management and decision-making positions includes multiple example of the biased policies many – but not all – white corporate officers employ to support their exclusionary and racist decisions.

Black people get promotions white men deserve. Affirmative action hurts white men more than it helps black men or women.

The above falsehoods and other not-so-little white (male) lies were gutted recently by two studies that focused on minorities in the workplace.

The first light was shed by the bipartisan Glass Ceiling Commission report on corporate America’s dismal record of advancing minorities to management and decision-making positions. The paper includes multiple examples of the biased policies many–but not all–white corporate officers employ to support their exclusionary and racist decisions. The commission was headed by U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich.

The results are stark. In 1992, white males, while making up only 43% of the total labor force at Fortune 1,000 Industrial and Fortune 500 Service companies, were 97% of the senior-level decision-making managers. By contrast, only 0.6% were black, 0.4% Latino and 0.3% Asian.

The lack of corporate status translates into lower salaries as well. Black males with professional degrees earn only 79 cents for every dollar received by white males with the same credentials. And black women take home only 60 cents per dollar.

A Commission report calls to US, though we hear nothing.  The glass is not broken.  Stereotypes are not shattered.  Status and substantial salaries are not awarded to persons of color.  Again, America is discriminating.  Our wars may be subtle.  Our means for suppression are silent; still, we kill.  We do it with “kindness.”  Constitutionally we declare, “All are created equal.”  How thoughtful we are, with our words.  Actions speak!

* OPINION: Immigration issue sparks American racism, Knight Ridder Tribune Business News.  July 19, 2006.

Perhaps the recent flare-up of the immigration issue started out more legitimately. Certainly there are serious problems with waves of hundreds of thousands of people entering any country illegally. But like the head of a monstrous snake coming out of a thorny bush, the issue has grown its own nasty viper. Immigration has become the new magnet of American racism.

It’s time to recognize this evil trend, and confront it.

From the oh-so-patriotic “Minutemen,” with their always potential overlap to vigilante violence, to the actual rise in incidents of race crime against dark-skinned Mexican and other Hispanics in recent months, the evidence is that a climate of disdain and potential race and/or ethnic hatred is being generated in North America. This is very evident in the type of language and self- definition put up by not so unconsciously race-based pundits and politicians.

Racism within the immigration issue is primarily directed at Latin American migrants coming north in search of economic opportunity. The shorthand language used has to do most of all with the sense by Anglo-Americans that the country is changing as so- called Hispanics or Latinos make up an ever-larger proportion of the minority population which, combined with blacks and Asian- Americans, now threatens to become established as the “new majority” and make the Euro-American population essentially the minority. Thus one can hear the likes of pundit and erstwhile presidential contender Pat Buchanan bemoan the fact that “we are losing our country,” shorthand in this case being that crucial “we” and all that such possessiveness implies.

Xenophobia directed at Mexicans has a long history in America. Anglo-America, after all, warred first with Spain and, later, Mexico for a century over more than a third of present-day U.S. territory. Stereotype and racial hatred, ethnic insults (Mexicans as a “mongrel race,” etc.) — apparent requirements of war — layered into the social consciousness of Anglo-Americans.

Salient points of this history not told by the conqueror were articulated in a recent New York Times essay by Tony Horwitz (“Immigration and the Curse of the Black Legend,” July 9, 2006). To be faulted for too brazenly bypassing the indigenous perspective, Horwitz recounts accurately that North America’s first European explorers and settlers were not English-speaking, but were from Spain. Horwitz: “Four of the sample questions on our naturalization test ask about Pilgrims. Nothing in the sample exam suggests that prospective citizens need know anything that occurred on this continent before the Mayflower landed in 1620.”

Xenophobia, in America?  Not possible, though extremely probable.  We see it daily.  Newspapers, periodicals, and books are filled with messages of fear.  Our leaders reinforce the idea of terror.  Yet, they are the ones repeatedly creating it.  The killing our country allows here or abroad does not horrify many American citizens.  This surprises me.  We are murdering with guns, bayonets, or bombs foreign land and we slaughter with stereotypes here.  We suppress freedom and liberty throughout the globe.  We secure laws and policies that destroy lives and spirits.  We are outraged by injustices in the Middle East.  We declare that we know how to do good governance better.  I ask, “Do we?”

Americans claim to live in peace; they believe in equinity.  If only I could find the evidence.

May we walk and talk in peace.  Please ponder . . .

* Living as Jews in Christian America, By Rabbi Daniel Lapin, President. Toward Tradition. June 10, 2005

Betsy L. Angert Be-Think

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