This United States of American is a country in which it's mythology is far greater than its reality.
I have a friend, a brother, who happens to be Iranian-American. A kind and generous man. A man of compassion and honesty. A highly educated man who immigrated to this country years ago because he believed in what America stood for.
In his mind, America, stood for peace, justice, tolerance, fairness, opportunity. He believed in a country in which he could advance his profession and his career without social or cultural bias. He believed that there was freedom here. Freedom to raise his children, love his wife, build a life for himself and his family. Gain and live a life that he could be proud of. He believed that in this country, all that counted was his education, his training, his will to work hard, his willingness to follow the just laws, and his desire to be free of bigotry, religious strangleholds, corrupt laws and lawmakers. He believed that if he followed the rules, became a good citizen, was kind and compassionate to his neighbors, then he would find the good life.
While it started out this way, something has gone terribly wrong. Suddenly he finds that he is stuck in a job he dislikes, but cannot change as no one will hire him. Doors are closed to him that were at leaset open a little bit. He is watched with suspicion and wariness where ever he goes.
What happened? September 11, 2001 has brought out the vicious zenophobia that lurks just beneath the skin of America. My friend is Iranian, and therefore he is suspect. Just like the Irish were hated when they immigrated to American; the Italians; the Germans; the Japanese placed in concentration camps during World War II. There are Vietnamese hated and sabatoged by 'good ole boy' Americans who fear their hard work and sacrifice. And AFrican Americans? Please. The rampant discrimination has never stopped. 3 out of 10 African American males has been in jail or prison. That is a fact that screams loudly of racial discrimination and extreme poverty. Black Americans, if given the chance, are as law abiding and anyone. But when pressed into extreme poverty, lawlessness, discrimination, disease, and suspicion, they react like any people would. What stake does a black man have in this country? What chance does he have to succeed? Dispite the "P Diddy" phemomemna, not much.
Are you Hispanic in this country? Think that everything is fair and above board? Don't think so. Racial Profiling is rampant, discrimination is rampant. Those Hispanic people who do succeed in this country have had to become hyper-Amercians, rigid and cold as America really is. They must be more religious, that is, more christian than caucasion christians. They must believe in strickter law enforcement, more punishing laws, more social control, more conservative beliefs. They must blend in by becoming more conservative than the tight jawed, iron fisted bible thumpers of the christian right.
OH, lets just mention the Native American for a moment. What have we here? The indiginous human beings of this country have been subject to outright genocide by the United States Government for hundreds of years. The US Government has tried to kill the Indian in every way that it is possible to kill a human being. They have destroyed his food, stolen his land, split up his family and tribes, poisoned his water, stripped away his right to practice his own religion, they have even been denied the right to speak their own language. Concentration camps of Germany and South Africa during the Boer Wars were based on the treatment of native Americans by the US Government. "Concentration camps" and "Reservations" are no different.
Remember "Manifest Destiny"? In simplisitic terms, it is the widespread belief that everything belonged to the white man and was just there for their taking. Remember that blind tyrant George W. Bush, who proclaimed that the United States would now embark on a policy of Pre-emptive war? Simply put, we don't like you, then we will attack you...don't even need a reason. We will because we can. Manifest DEstiny was inacted in the early formative years of this country, and Pre-emptive War was just a few years ago...see anything different? I don't.
You begining to get the picture? The mythology of America is that we are good guys, we are democratic, we stand for "truth, justice and the American Way"! That is the mythology, but it is not the truth.
American 'freedoms', are designed more for the rich and the caucasion among us. If you belive America stands for freedom, dignity, and fairness to all...then you are not a minority.
Ask a black man, or woman, or child what it is like to grow up in the 'free land'. They will tell you of rampant racism and bigotry. They will tell you of doors slammed in their faces. They will tell you of unequal treatment based solely on thier skin color; their ethnicity; their accent; their clothing.
Ask any woman how she feels about the fairness and justice for all belief about America. If honest, she will wonder why she is still paid far less for her job than a male gets for the same job. She will wonder why pharmeceutical companies produce medications based on studies of white males, as opposed to women or minorities. These medications often have extremely serious side effects on women and minorities. But who cares. White males are more important than anyone else, at least if you believe the ruling powers of this country. Why is it that viagra is covered under most health insurance plans, but often birth control, gynecological exams, abortions services (that are legal in this country) are not.
Think this country is fair and open and just? Right now in the State of George, they are trying to pass a law that would require voters to have only certain forms of ID to vote. The problem is, that African-Americans do not have access to the places necessary to get these new ID's. Not only that, but African-American people have found it disadvantageous to carry picture ID's because they face more discrimination with this type of ID.
"The facts surrounding Georgia's voter identification requirement cannot be disputed. Virtually every black legislator opposes the legislation, and most black lawmakers staged a walkout to protest its passage. Every major civil rights and minority advocacy group, including the NAACP, and many legal scholars, oppose the restriction; several have submitted comments to the Justice Department for consideration..." (Reviving Jim CRow. Becker, Washington Post)
"...If this law is approved, it will be more difficult for minorities to vote in Georgia -- the home of John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. -- than in any other state..."
Isn't it very odd that African Americans have been in this country for approx. 256 years before they got the vote? BEfore they could attend a white college? Before they could even drink from a white water fountain or sit next to a white person? Whose idea of fairness, decency, and justice is that? Certainly not mine. And yet, the mythology of America is that it is a country of just these values.
My friend, my Iranian friend, is heartbroken. He left his home land of Iran to immigrate to this country seeking a better life. He is the type of immigrant that any country would be proud to have. Honest, Loyal, educated, likes dogs, everything. But now he sees the ugly underbelly of what America really stands for. Hatred, bigotry, Fascism. He looks around and is appalled by what he sees. During the reign of the Shaw of Iran, there were secret police, secret arrests, torture, war, tyranny, suspicion, secretive government, arrests in the dead of night. He see's all of this now in America. A repeat of the tyranny that Iran suffered so many years ago. Now it is fully exposed in his new adapted country.
Where can he turn now for hope?
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