By Ali A. Parsa, Ph.D.

Those are the words of the American poet Langston Hughes in early 1900's when he optimistically hoped for "America yet to be"-free from prejudice! It is ironic that in spite of his dream and later Martin Luther King's, we have a long way to go to shake our racial prejudices in myriads of yet new ways. Here we are in twenty-first century and find some who just do that and knowingly or otherwise fuel the fires of divisiveness in a nation whose claim to fame has always been "an Immigrant Nation."  Much worse, I am expressing my dismay at a supposed 'pundit' and a guiding light for the American public that deserves far better. No, this is not denying freedom of speech. And, it is about no other person than Ann Coulter, the extremist conservative columnist in News Journal. It is about her consistent attempt to refer to the Presidential candidate Senator Barak Obama as B. Hussein Obama! As far as I know she has been the only one who has resorted to that "cheap shot." I find this kind of innuendo impolite, divisive and unethical to say the least. Impolite because it is simply rude to call anyone by any other name than he or she wants to be called. Divisive because it scares the public from a person because part of his name resembles that of Saddam Hussein and unethical because it is heavily loaded with hidden racial prejudice, fear, hate and war-mongering tactics that justifies the futile and never-ending wars. It is more unethical because it represents false as true in a nation that was made free by truth and it justifies the extremist policy in America that makes and breaks Saddam and evil men like him for profit and with no regard for an increasingly heavy toll in terms of foreign and American resources and lives.  

Senator Obama uses H. as his middle name, standing for Hussein who was his father's first name through no fault of his own if that is a fault! The man is American, a U.S. senator and presidential candidate and yet he is not immune from being demonized and connected to Saddam Hussein. To these extremists anyone with Moslem or Arabic name is considered a terrorist suspect that we should be afraid of and stay away from. For these extremists the history of discriminating against Irish, Italian, African-American and now Arabs, Hispanics and the rest have no clash with the American Ideals. Any wonder why America is losing its moral authority in the world that is yearning for freedom and does not find the support for obtaining that freedom from America as they once did? I wondered whether I should sign my letter as John Doe rather than Ali so that Ms. Coulter would read it!  Welcome to Ignorance during Information Age and falsehood in an ocean of truth. When Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The end of human race is that it will die of civilization," he was predicting a future "civilization" devoid of a human face, a time when ignorance, greed and falsehood would overcome the truth.

Please visit my website:http://www.TerrorismAndHowToStopIt.org

... Payvand News - 8/3/07 ...