broomcloset ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It makes me SICK I tried adding an entry a couple of nights ago when I was up at 4 in the morning. It was shaping up to be a really good entry. Then my computer crashed. Badly. There goes the really good entry. *sigh* --- A member of an online community I participate in wrote of her recent experiences since the horrific events of September 11th. Being part Jordanian, this young woman of 17 has been treated like an enemy and a hated "other." As she pleads in her post: "I am a prisoner in my own community. I go to the store and the lady at the counter stares at me...then leaves me to bag my own goods...when everyone else is helped. "People come up to me and yell about things I have no part in. Things I don't condone, things I abhore. I spent most of my young life in NY. I can't even imagine recent tragedies...but no one asks how I feel about it. "I go to the movies, and the people waiting in line all stop talking to look at me some more. "I go to the book store and get stared at...while the register attendants try and avoid serving me..... It's NOT RIGHT, It's NOT FAIR. "I hate to whine, but I am 17 years old...I've never killed anyone, or wished harm on anyone. I wept Tuesday morning. How different am I really?" Doesn't that make you just cry?!? I am so SICK over this!! I had to reply: "S------, I cried when I read your post, and I still am. I am COMPLETELY SICKENED AND DISGUSTED by the way you have been treated!! I too don't understand how people can hate. Don't they understand that RACISM allowed a tragedy like last Tuesday to happen?!?! It's the FEAR AND HATRED OF THE "OTHER" that underlies all hate crimes, terrorism, unfair hiring practices, racist jokes, etc. It's all a part of the same thing, just different degrees of severity!! "Since last Tuesday, I have been walking the streets JUST WAITING for someone to say or do something negative to people from the Middle East or Southern Asia. I feel so on guard: I'm so angry and upset about all of this that I know I'm just going to lit into ANYONE who says anything negative to or about Muslims or Arabs. I have made a point of SMILING at anyone who might come from that area of the world. I want them to know that not everyone fears them or is out to get them. I want Arab peoples, now more than ever, to feel AT HOME in Canada and to feel that they belong here, because they do!!!! "I am sooooo sorry S------. I am praying for you and your family and for all the Goddesses' children as a whole as we are entering into a dark time. And anyone who gives you trouble? You send them to ME, honey, and I'LL show them what's what!!! "May the Goddess Bless you and your family, Wyrdsister flaming MAD" When will all this end? WHEN?? -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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