Your Public School Education Has Failed You

Last night I got into an argument with one of my friends over whether torture was an acceptable method to gather information. (hmm, I wonder which side of the fence I am on for that one?)

Early on in the conversation I pulled out the Romeo Dallaire quote and asked if he feels all humans are human or are some more human than others.

He said that some humans are more human than others. He believes (and he claims to speak for Majority America on this) that not all humans have the same value and those found in the Middle Eastern countries were "not as evolved as we are," and that they were, "more like monkeys than people."

Just to be clear. This wasn't what he thinks is the perception, this is what he thinks. I couldn't believe he was telling me this. Didn't he know I was judging him, and not too favorably? Or worse, did he think I secretly agreed with him?

Then he brought out his proof. If they are as evolved as (to quote Benjamin Franklin) the "lovely white" why are their countries so fucked up?

Flabbergasted, I could only try to sum of the history of Iraq in easy to digest soundbites.

My friend isn't stupid, he's just offensively racist. And not just against people who could be Arabs. When he moved to Florida it became Cubans and after Washington, Asians ("Oh my God! Oh my God! My twin brother has been shot! I think it was an Asian gang or something... There was this guy, he looked Asian... and he was speaking another language, I'm pretty sure it was... Asian.")

When I asked him what he saw in Americans that proved our evolution from THE REST OF THE ENTIRE WORLD in the 200+ years we'd been around, he did pause at the massacre of the Natives and slavery (At last, some liberal education has stuck!).

Then I made my mistake. Instead of letting him come up with the answer on his own (we are all humans to the same degree, doy!) with some choice questions I shut him down.

I was so incensed, that he thought there was something that special about him that I couldn't let him talk. I bombarded him with facts (not truly an effective way to change someone's mind) and interrupted him every time he tried to say something. But what it really comes down to, in my mind, is this:


Was this girl less human than this man? Is that why it's ok to kill her?








In the end, he laughed and said, "So, I won, right?"

~Lila Schow
Because Responsible Citizens Clean Up After Their Government
http://goodusgov.org/

An Open Letter to the Monkey In Charge

Dear George W. Bush,


On March 19 2006, I participated in a march against the war in Iraq. I have done this each March 19 since the start of the war in 2003. I march against this war and the one in Afghanistan every chance I get.

However, this year a man with a box full of popsicle sticks approached each one of the protesters. The sticks had been fashioned into crosses and each one had the name of an American soldier killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom written on it.

I ended up with two. Always prepared, I had a roll of tape and was able to stick the crosses to the signs I carried during the protest. After the rally, I went home and put the signs in my garage.

The next month I cleaned out the garage and found the signs with the crosses. I threw the signs in the trash, but kept those little, white-painted sticks. Curious, I looked up the two names. Then I wondered what I should do with the crosses.

Throwing them away seemed wrong. I asked around and people suggested I plant them in my garden or burn them. I didn’t really like those options either. I thought about mailing them to the families, because I doubt they would want someone like myself keeping them, and in the end decided against that option as well. I do not know what it is like to loose a child and do not want to intrude upon the mourning of another parent.

These crosses are now in your hands. If you want to throw them in the trash, bury them or burn them, that is your choice. And why should I protest? After all, any of these moves would merely be the literal representation of what you did with their lives.

You are not my president. You do not represent me. You should be ashamed of what you are doing to this country and these people.

~Lila Schow
Because Responsible Citizens Clean Up After Their Government
http://goodusgov.org/