BTW, the POS-elect has developed a facial tic. have you seen it? ;-)
Posted on 12/01/2008 9:49:35 AM PST by lewisglad
A Lesson for Sarah Palin: Being a Real American
First I bristled and then I was horrified as I watched Sarah Palin draw a distinction between “real Americans and those that are not” during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Notice the absence of any mention of Native Americans in her call.
An immigrant from India, I am a Sikh-American, and wear the markers of my faith – long unshorn hair covered by a turban. Sarah Palin had just sundered the nation into “us and them,” and relegated people like me to the category of incomplete Americans.
I wondered what makes one a real American!
Sikhs have been in this country for over a century; Sikh workers participated in building the Panama Canal in 1903-04.
I have lived, worked and paid my taxes in this country since 1960 -- for almost half a century. That is more than two thirds of life. I protested against the Vietnam War, though somewhat gingerly since I was not a citizen then. I actively participated in rallies for equal rights during the years of Martin Luther King, and cheerfully marched in a parade led by Gloria Steinem and others down Fifth Avenue in New York City in support of women’s rights.
And during my academic career, I must have taught several thousand “real Americans” who have gone on to become physicians and dentists, and academicians who have served this nation admirably.
What does Sarah Palin and her ilk think I should do to become a “real American?” Do you think a crew cut would finally outweigh all the other things I have done in America and give me the good-housekeeping seal of approval? Or, is Sarah Palin and her ilk looking to racial and cultural purity?
I think the widely touted concept of America as a melting pot has, in part, contributed to our ambivalent thinking.
We forget that in a melting pot, the ingredients lose their individuality entirely, as if they were processed in a homogenizer. Some observers, instead, posited a tossed salad of many cultural, religious and ethnic peoples as the model for America. But we forget that salads may get tossed a tad too vigorously, and then some ingredients suffer needlessly; examples are the incarceration of the Japanese during the Second Word War, as also the long history of slavery and the Blacks. Also, the ingredients in a salad may interact with each other only minimally.
Perhaps a better analogy would be that of a mosaic, in which even the smallest piece has a place and enriches the whole pattern by its presence. But a mosaic, one could argue, may present what is not a dynamic but static reality.
So I offer you instead the analogy of a large multi-instrument orchestra. In a far corner of the ensemble sits someone with a triangle or cymbals – very minor components of the ensemble. But, nevertheless, each remains a critical piece that contributes vitally to the organically evolving performance. When the lowly triangle or the cymbals speak, even the mighty strings and the pianos listen, and no one can then deny that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Citizenship in this great society, to me, is a social contract with the nation in which each individual carries the same inherent rights and obligations as everyone else. The strength and vitality of this nation stems from the variety of immigrants and their endless stream from around the globe that constitute this society. It is their interaction that makes this country what it is – a beacon of hope and innovative energy to the world.
This is the America that becomes our ideal, even though reality may at times be at odds with it.
America is not just a place; it is an idea and an ideal that this nation has pursued for over 200 years with singular determination. My faith – Sikhism – too, holds for an egalitarian society. The two ideas come together in me to make me a Sikh-American
Sure there have been many Sarah Palins along the way, and there will surely be many more. But as Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. said, “”The greatest virtue of a functioning democracy is its capacity for self-correction.”
Note: The author, Inder Jit Singh, is a professor of anatomy at New York University.
What about the ‘long history of slavery and the Blacks’. The United States was founded in 1776, and slavery was abolished in 1865. That’s less than 100 years. How long was slavery in the British empire?
Also, how did African’s get introduced into slavery? By being dominated by another African tribe, then sold by that tribe.
Slavery - the original black-on-black CRIME.
Gee, what an unusual LAST NAME! LOL. What Dildo!
Notice that this misinformed dumbass thinks that America is founded on “egalitarian” principles...
it isn’t. It is founded on equal OPPORTUNITY with the gov’t guaranteeing your safety to pursue your livelihood to the best of your ability.
much less a civics test.
I didn’t bother to read the whole thing, but let me see if I got the gist from skimming:
“I wear a turban.”
“I’m a liberal.”
“Therefore, Sarah Palin is a racist.”
Is that about it?
dear mr. Singh: Show me the quote where Sarah Palin said people from India are not real Americans. If you can’t produce it (and you can’t), then you’re a liar.
Mr. Singh, in what speech did she say this? Date and place, please. Notice the absence of any mention of Native Americans in her call.
I don't recall her making any ethnic distinctions. She didn't say "patriotic whites" or "patriotic whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians." She said "Americans."
Other commentators have claimed that her praise of small town America was the same as saying big city folks are less patriotic. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, Mr. Singh, but...has Governor Palin said anything that would indicate she doesn't include Native Americans in her praise of the decency, patriotism and work ethic of such Americans?
And are you aware, sir, that a man with significant Native American heritage has shared her life for almost two decades and fathered her five children? Do you really think she considers her husband's ethnic group to be un-American?
An immigrant from India, I am a Sikh-American, and wear the markers of my faith – long unshorn hair covered by a turban. Sarah Palin had just sundered the nation into “us and them,” and relegated people like me to the category of incomplete Americans.
Mr. Singh, in your article you don't ever mention what Governor Palin said that would separate you in any way from "real Americans, much less what she has said that would lead you to believe she was excluding Sikhs.
Mr. Singh, it appears you are as bigoted as you believe Governor Palin to be. How is stereotyping her as a minority-hating exclusionist bigot based on one phrase any different from the bigotry and division you've accused her of? How is it that praising American values excludes Sikhs, who to all appearances are a decent and hardworking people?
This is based on...?
Experience, news accounts, etc.
Would it be accurate if you said it about black folks?
What did Liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican (note, original quote says "liberal") party? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator. Because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor."
Someone should tell Democrats that Susan B. Anthony voted straight ticket Republican, Martin Luther King Sr. was a lifelong Republican (at least until the 1960s when RFK acted on behalf of his son MLK Jr., but he might have thought differently if he knew that the Kennedys were also wiretapping MLK Jr.'s phone calls), Jackie Robbinson was a Republican...
The KKK was founded by Democrats. A greater percentage of Democrats voted against the Civil Rights act, blah blah blah.
Don't confuse a liberal with facts or history.
real Americans and those that are not”
Mr. Singh, in what speech did she say this? Date and place, please.
Notice the absence of any mention of Native Americans in her call.
I don't recall her making any ethnic distinctions. She didn't say "patriotic whites" or "patriotic whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians." She said "Americans."
Other commentators have claimed that her praise of small town America was the same as saying big city folks are less patriotic. I'm not trying to put words in your mouth, Mr. Singh, but...has Governor Palin said anything that would indicate she doesn't include Native Americans in her praise of the decency, patriotism and work ethic of such Americans?
And are you aware, sir, that a man with significant Native American heritage has shared her life for about two decades and fathered her five children? Do you really think she considers her husband's ethnic group to be un-American?
An immigrant from India, I am a Sikh-American, and wear the markers of my faith – long unshorn hair covered by a turban. Sarah Palin had just sundered the nation into “us and them,” and relegated people like me to the category of incomplete Americans.
Mr. Singh, in your article you don't ever mention what Governor Palin said that would separate you in any way from "real Americans, much less what she has said that would lead you to believe she was excluding Sikhs.
Mr. Singh, it appears you are as bigoted as you believe Governor Palin to be. How is stereotyping her as a minority-hating exclusionist bigot based on one phrase any different from the bigotry and division you've accused her of? How is it that praising American values excludes Sikhs, who to all appearances are a decent and hardworking people?
People from India aren’t real Indians. Native Americans are. < /sarcasm >
Hugh Hewitt’s book “If It’s Not Close They Can’t Cheat” includes as an epigram a paragraph from a speech by an Illinois Attorney General wherein he reminded his listeners that every hand that ripped Old Glory down before the Civil War was the hand of a Democrat, and every war wound the Union veterans in the room had was a “souveneir of a Democrat.”
dsc:
Belated congratulations on your tenth anniversary as a Freeper. I don’t think a typical troll would have lasted that long without having been zotted. :-)
Ironic that the professor of anatomy don't know his head from his butt.
Writer is clearly an *sshole; fortunsately, he is not at all typical of America’s Sikhs, most of whom are rational, intellectually honest, and decent people.
I’ve met a lot of Sikhs, and none were the kind of whiny little bastard this guy seems to be.
I guess it’s more important to him to be PC and an identity victim than to follow the tenets of his faith and the traditions of his people.
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