okay, i simply have not read much anywhere on line that is at all intelligent
on iraq, so i'm going to suggest that you all look at this
transcript of a symposium sponsored by the adc on iraq. it's the
only vaguely-intelligent thing that i've found online at the moment.
i have gotten a lot of hate mail and a lot of threats just for expressing
my fear during the main bombings. you know what? arab americans get
beat up during anti-arab wars. arab americans get killed during anti-arab
wars.
when we're killed by our fellow citizens of the us, do we count as
american casualties of war?
during the chicago riots after the rodney king trial the bulk of small
business that were destroyed were owned by arab americans. i find a
great deal of irony in the fact that those who rioted in rage at us
racism, destroyed the businesses of those who the republican president
declared to be the enemy, the people to hate.
that would be... yes, that would be me.
i've been wanting to talk to some people from russia who were in the
us during the cold war. i'm wondering about hate crimes against russian
americans in that time, and i'm wondering about survival strategies.
it's not just as a queer person that i feel a strong need for hate
crimes legislation.
if you're one of the people who asked me recently why i seem so upset
all the time these days, you might want to think about some of these
things before asking me again.
i also admit to a certain sense of betrayal by the self-defined postcolonial/pro-third
world academics who are making such a point of not talking about the
war. i guess anti-racism doesn't include arabs huh? i guess iraq isn't
part of the third world? or at any rate, not as important as the struggles
of poco theorists struggling to make a living in academia.
i'm re-evaluating my involvement in queer activism, since much of
the hate mail and very little of the support has come from queer people.
i do an awful lot of volunteer work for people who apparently do not
have a problem with racist attacks on arabs in the us and in the world.
i probably won't be doing much more of it.
well, anyhow. onwards and upwards, right?