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[Sis. Karen English, a pious Muslimah, is a long
time admirer of Imam Warith
Deen Muhammad for the good he did many years
back. She is puzzled that he
remains absolutely silent about the atrocities
being committed against Islam
and Muslims by
Bush,
Sharon and their allies
Vajpayee and Putin. She wrote to
W. D. on December 31, 2002, imploring him to
break his silence. Till today,
February 18, she has not received a reply. Hence
this poem.]
Dear Imam Warith Deen Mohammed
I am puzzled by your silence
The dear little lives of our babies are being
snuffed out
Our grandmother who ventures out to buy us Eid
gifts is gunned down
Our elderly aunt is bulldozed in her home
Our little sister stands at the window to watch
our cousin's funeral
procession
She is shot for sport
My brother saves for a car for five years
When he buys it,
Israeli soldiers destroy it for fun
We live in one room
My little brother cannot go to school
My other brother cannot go to the university
The doors have been padlocked
We see our mother beaten by soldiers.
One holds her while the other pummels her freely
The sun doesn't shine on our future
Still no words from you
I see a flag on your paper
Of the people who pay for all of this
In Afghanistan, 52 members of our family
celebrate the joyous occasion of a
wedding
They're mowed down mid laughter, mid joy
(Imagine 52 members of your own family no longer
alive)
Our uncles in Guantanamo Bay……
Did you see them on the television?
Shuffling along with their ankles shackled?
Arms handcuffed behind them?
Faces hooded?Being pulled along on chains like
dogs?
They're confined in jails built from shipping
containers
The International Red Cross and Amnesty
International
Say they are held in contravention of
The Geneva Convention,
The International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights
The US Constitution
What do you say?
Now many of our cousins are being arrested
secretly
Held for six months
Unable to see family or lawyers
Declared combatants for Al Qaida
With little or no evidence
What of the ordinary,
The law abiding
The praying
The Fasting
The believers who love for their brothers what
they love for themselves
Jailed?
What words do you have for them?
I read of the children in your community raising
money for the victims of 9-11
But not a nickel for the victims of:
Afghanistan
Palestine
Chechnya
Kashmir
Iraq
Poor Iraq
Once again bombs poised over the women, the
children, the innocent of Iraq
And, what do you say?
The world shouts NO!
Their voices grow louder and louder and louder
So, too, your silence
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Coble Supports Japanese-type camps for
Arab-Americans!
Petition to Remove Congressman Howard Coble
by Kasie Lee •• Monday February 17, 2003 at 11:14
AM
removecoble@yellowworld.org
The Yellowworld.org Petition to Remove
Congressman Howard Coble from his
position as Chair of the Subcommittee on Crime,
Terrorism and Homeland
Security.
LOS ANGELES CA -- Yellowworld.org, an online
political Asian advocacy group,
joins the Asian American community in denouncing
Congressman Howard Coble's
endorsement of the Japanese American internment
last week and call for the
immediate removal from his subcommittee
chairmanship.
Activists are circulating online petitions
(
http://removecoble.yellowworld.org
)
which have
attracted a total of over
5,000 signatures to date.
The groups say the Republican's comments are a
reminder of a dark chapter in
American history, when 110,000 people of Japanese
ancestry were forced into
10 U.S. internment camps after the attack on
Pearl Harbor and argue that his
comments will have political repercussions for
Republicans, who were
criticized after GOP Sen. Trent Lott made remarks
deemed racially insensitive
last year.
"First Trent Lott, now Howard Coble," said
Yellowworld.org president Elbert
Oh. There seems to be a trend towards Republican
insensitivity towards
minorities, and in this case, the elected
official has the capacity to act
out upon his ignorance of the past."
On Monday the Congressman issued a statement,
saying the internment was "the
wrong decision and an action that should never be
repeated."
"I regret that many Japanese and Arab-Americans
found my choice of words
offensive because that was certainly not my
intent," he said. The congressman
has said he won't resign from the subcommittee
post.
Activists found his comment inadequate.
"The justification of past racism was not found
offensive by just Japanese
and Arab Americans," said Oh, who is a Korean
American, "but were an
affront to all law abiding Americans who see the
internment as a blight on
our nation's proud history."
removecoble.yellowworld.org
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2003-02-19 Wed 08:07ct