The following letter was sent to our local paper in upstate New York. It has a few reerences to local issues but the substance is about that ugly phrase,America Love It Or Leave It !
It was a letter to the editor under the headline "America Love It Or Leave It" (I will refer to that statement as ALIOLI), sadly something I hear more and more since President Bush took office,that has caused me to write about, My America.
Many times in the short history of the United States this refrain has come up and then embarrassingly ,slunk away . America was forged by many who adopted the idea that they too wished that their leaders, in this case Britain ,would listen to the people and not a few who decided how they were to be governed. Every war we have entered either by a decision or by attack has always had those who questioned the wisdom of the few who made decisions about war and killing . We now call the Japanese,&Germans friends ,yet many on both sides died to be able to say that.It was the Russians who are remembered for liberating the Germans concentration camps until they became our enemys and now, our freinds. We didn't do it with people of German background, but the Japanese were sufficiently different looking ,so politicians decided and some pounded their chests proudly as we herded our own citizens into internment camps ,after taking all of their possessions. It was their America too ,yet a political decision made them unacceptable,but then that decision was found to be wrong. It was the wisdom of one moment in time made by people with power who in that case found other Americans looks too different to tolerate or to trust. We now know of course that the Japanese men who enlisted went on not only to prove that indeed they were loyal Americans but tremendously brave ones at that. In that same war Negro pilots who weren't allowed to fly with white ones proved to be so good, that even racism had to be shelved momentarily because American soldiers and pilots wanted to live. My America changes and grows but sometimes stumbles over the ideas that very powerful people ,at that moment , advance and others quickly accept. Who would have thought at some time in our history we could have millions of people mimic a radio personality's ideas and worse have the nerve to express those ideas,out loud.
ALIOLI is the clarion call for those who have no wish to think and just want to shut up dissent without remembering, that to be a good American ,means that the governed should question your government or those who are governing . Sometimes ,politicians make bad decisions as we learned from the "red baiting" in Hollywood,Japanese internment camps, and many leaders we set up in other countries . The Shah of Iran,Batista in Cuba, a series of leaders in Vietnam,Saddam in Iraq,Noriega in Panama & Bin Laden are but a few of the people that were deemed as worthy and called friends by our leaders at that moment in time.Now of course they are gone, imprisoned, hunted, asssinated or we decide to plain forget and revise our memorys. This is still going on and most likely will continue to be that way. Sadly terrible leaders we inflict on others,until we deem them unworthy is also part of my America.
Look to our own Binghamton to see the devastating effects that stupid statement ALIOLI, can cause. Students from SUNY opposed to war in Vietnam marched thru downtown Binghamton dressed in their strange hippy clothes and shouted and sung slogans about peace. They were chased away by a chorus of boos on our streets , followed while shopping in our stores and generally made unwelcome. Well , generations of SUNY students have come and gone but it was at that juncture in time that they knew that Binghamton wouldn't change ,so it was their buying habits that would. Business's left ,among the first The Press,and stores became empty ,while new places spread from the campus to the vestal parkway. The same screamers of "ALIOLI" are now buying products made in Vietnam ,Germany,and Japan.
Some friends come back ,like Germany and Japan ,but some never come back ,such as the students. They learned from the experience of a different choice during an unpopular war that their voices were shouted down ,and even if later proved correct ,weren't welcomed . They too were yelled at in strident voices of those walking in lockstep,"ALIOLI",and they left this very small part of America. So, it was Binghamton left behind ,while other places flourished and the chorus of screaming voices of "ALIOLI", well they slunk away to wait for new people to champion that stupid, hurtful phrase.
Please be careful what you wish for when screaming that phrase at dissenters of a policy which in time will be a few sentences in a history book. The person who questions decisions will be the one who thinks ! In some cases their next thoughts are to remember where they were told that thinking wasn't appreciated and to just move on ,and leave the hecklers ,or in this case Binghamton, behind.
My America is the one where while attending a military academy I wrote my ROTC paper in 1970 about why we would lose in Vietnam. I was then asked after seeing that paper if I wished to join one of our intelligence agencies .Those people who wished for me to defend America in intelligence circles appreciated that you can love America ,while questioning its present path. My America is one where in the weekend of April 21-23,1971 I would be invited to the White House and I was proud to receive a congratulatory handshake from President Nixon ,who I neither voted for nor admired as to his ideas, on a Friday. I was there because I saved the lives of an elderly black couple from being beaten and stabbed by three white men as good, white Americans like myself walked by. On Saturday I was at the same infamous meeting where Jane Fonda and John Kerry were photographed, and on that Sunday I was awarded the Army ROTC Medal for Heroism. My America is one that allows different thoughts and ideas and embraces its questioners and even its dissenter's as long as they physically don't hurt others.
My America is proud to have a French gift of the Statue of Liberty ,the most famous welcome sign in our world.My America is made up of different colors ,beliefs and ideas. Some of those ideas and voices hurt me with their messages of hate or the belittling of my religion,Judaism, or even the questioning of my beliefs and patriotism as an American .I frankly question the true reasons behind the statements of every politician ,regardless of party who happens to be leading our nation nationally or locally at any particular moment in time. Be it a single person ,a personality or a politician I do want to know what shaped the statement they are making.
America is proud to say how we are different than any other nation before ,as we our known to welcome all. That belief has changed as time has gone by ,depending on whom is in power and who wants to come here. For instance, right now if there were two boats one of Haitians the other Cubans bobbing in the ocean ,both afraid to go back to their country's ,most likely the Haitians would be returned ,but the Cubans welcomed. Hopefully this will change, as most things do, but its a sad time in my America as that happens.
America Love It Or Leave It,so simple to say and yet so very un-American. Imagine life, if the true Americans, the Indian nations, instead of believing false promises had just said , "Its Our America,Leave It,Now!"
