Posted by Jeff from d53-106-196.try.wideopenwest.com (64.53.196.106) on Saturday, November 30, 2002 at 3:58PM :
Fred,
After sept. 11 I was in downtown Birmingham (an upper class WASP area near where I live) and I was with a friend at a coffee shop. It was friday (or saturday?) night, the place was bursting with people. Rich white folk love coffee shops downtown, I guess. So, I'm there talking with my friend and we can barely hear each other because the place is so loud. As we were leaving to talk outside in the cold (it's much quieter out there), we passed a group of 4 or 6 well dressed, professional looking young Arab adults. They must have been in their twenties or early thirties. There were males and females, and they were in an impassioned discussion about one topic or another, maybe a debate, all in Arabic.
I just wanted to interrupt them and shake their hands, all of them, and thank them. Thank them for not being afraid to go out in public and be themselves... they were proud of who they were and they weren't about to sacrifice anything for the mass hysteria and hate crimes that were going around (especially in Michigan) after Sept. 11. Ah, missed opportunities.....
I wonder if your eldest and yourself have already been "reported" by those people yet. You will find out soon enough if a swat team of 25 camoflauge (or all black) clad men raids your half-sainted mother's house, I suppose.
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In This Great Democracy...
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Posted by pancho from pool0073.cvx20-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.250.73) on Saturday, November 30, 2002 at 10:00AM :
...that was, it's soon going to be a crime to dissent from your government. They're already on the look-out. Whether or not it will ever be as bad as "all that"...paranoia will surely fill the air.
At a coffee shop yesterday my eldest and I were discussing Iraq and what not. Was it my imagination or did a blonde type fellow sitting next to us look over one too many times? Did the guy across the way hold my stare longer than he would have two years ago...was he looking at me "funny"... was I looking at him "funny"? Did he think he'd made "contact"...was this a "sighting"? Were we the nucleus of a "cell"...or just a father and son arguing over a cup of coffee?
"Doctor, doctor they really ARE out to get me".
-- Jeff
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