What can we do?

Dateline: 26 Jan 2008.

A nationwide e-mail misinformation assault on Barak Obama's character, personality, and faith has been traced to its origin. We may not be so lucky next time.

The Boston Globe reports: “Three federal employees are being investigated for unlawful political activities after they allegedly sent an e-mail falsely accusing Barack Obama of being a 'radical Muslim,' the Globe has learned.”

The typical American citizen may not have been on top of this development, but someone was. For the complete story, see:

Boston Globe

The majority of Americans embrace pluralism; after all, our nation became great as a refuge for the able--but disadvantaged--who had the courage to seek a better life. What can we do about such bigotry? What indeed? For starters, America became great by:

• Providing refuge for the oppressed, the humiliated, the alienated, and in the process establishing historic foundations for liberty.
• Winning a civil war over slavery and freeing the unfortunate from bondage, establishing a deep and lasting morality.
• Giving women the right to vote, further improving our moral standing among nations.
• Winning a war for legal equality for all Americans regardless of gender, race or religion--to enhance our basic values once again.
• Evolving in our social development to a point where a black man, Thurgood Marshall, served on the Supreme Court.
• Evolving in our social development to a point where a black man and a black woman served successively as Secretary of State.
• Evolving in our social development to a point where a black man and a white woman are vying for the presidential nomination against a white Anglo-Saxon male sure to win the opposing party's nomination.

And it is this last bullet that we wish to address, for the hate-mail referenced is directed specifically at a leading black senator with two decades of distinguished public service. It could equally well have been directed at Hillary Clinton, for sexism is also still alive in America. Bigotry still lives in which case Mitt Romney could be attacked simply because of his Mormon faith, or Mike Huckabee for being a born-again Christian. Fortunately, the slanderers of Obama have been identified and are already under investigation. We hope this sets the record straight. We do not, we cannot condone hate-mail being sent to anyone.

The referenced hate e-mail suggests each receiver send it on to his/her email contact list. Will you help us counter this expression of feudalism with its dehumanizing intent? Please cut, paste and forward this text to your mailing list.

And oh yes, please add your signature(s) as I do mine to the above.

Harry Rosenberg

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