AMERICAN RESPONSES TO:

Mohammad Ali Salih: “Obama And My Son”: “ USA TODAY,” 22-2-2008

 

From “ USA TODAY”:

 

W.R.:

With all due respect, I too wish it was a post-racial nation, but I don't think we are there.   Turn on the TV and watch the candidates and how they pursue the votes. The candidates are courting and the media is counting votes by gender and ethnicity.
And nobody seems to quarrel with the whole idea of forming hyphenated-American political groups along racial lines. Just one example: LA RAZA is Spanish for THE RACE. Can you imagine if a bunch of white guys started a group with a name like that, and the candidates were lining up to court their votes? 1930's Germany comes to mind.
Dr. King dreamed of a color blind society. So do I. We're not there yet.

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A.C.:

America ’s history haw been 'changed' to promote racial stability.   America was tired of some 5,000 race riots from 1964 to 1973, and, so, our government removed these 'facts' from public domain. The youth of today think very differently about the Civil Rights Movement because they are taught the Politically Correct line and not the truth. But with any white men like Imas, and that Nobel Prize Winning Scientist being destroyed for saying disparaging words about Blacks, well …

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Q.R.:

Whites are just as racial as ever. Especially the above 30 generation. A post racial nation, please! Whites would like to think the playing field is even, but it is anything but.

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H.R.:

The problem with many minorities is that they still like to blame everyone else for their problems instead of taking it upon themselves to rise above the crowd. It is always easiest to blame others...

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A.A.:

This is the first time I've actually seen such ideas explicitly expressed in the national media, for which Mohammed Ali Salih deserves great credit. It's something I've recognized for a very long time now.   And it took a few decades in coming; anyone with their eyes open could see it. He is absolutely correct, or rather, his children are.

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W.S.:
This is a fundamental change, and it has already happened. There is no turning back on this one. And frankly, I've been waiting all my life for it. Obama's candidacy is merely the final touch on a social change which has at last been realized. As a Jamaican-born, polyglot, multiracial American with a Czech mother, mulatto grandfather, and a Hindu nephew and niece who speak Spanish at home, I am looking forward to voting for a half-Kenyan from Hawaii who speaks fluent Indonesian.
It's our turn now.

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T.K.:

I agree with the son's sentiments. I've been saying this for 30 years. Unfortunately, it's not a realistic view. Racists are no longer the problem. Most of them are too ashamed to show their face. No, the problem is what I call "racialism," i.e. the tendency among large groups of the population to view every issue that confronts the nation through the prism of race. This breeds a new kind of racism, the one that pits yellow, black, white, red and brown against each other in a racial identity contest.

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D.R. (From Iraq ):
Salih’s views are admirable as far as they go in wanting to get along in a mixed race society. But he, like many other Muslims, totally misses the point in regard to what made America great. The vast majority of people who originally came here thought and pretty much believed the same way.

The multiculturalism he advocates would never work in his country of origin and he knows it. America became a place he wanted to come to because of the success of previous generations of Americans who hardly gave a thought to their country being in any way multi-cultural.

Mr. Salih will never admit the failures of Islam or the utter inapplicability of creating a multi-cultural society out of America , which is the main point of his article.

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A.N.:

ALL groups are racists. Hispanics pick Hispanics, Whites choose Whites, and here in New Orleans , the Blacks who are already in elected office almost invariably choose other Blacks. I do not think the old adage about "Birds of a feather flocking together. . ." has ever been repealed.

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A.C.:

America is a very racist Country. if you want proof just look at the Civil Rights Laws and look back at the 5,000 race riots that put those Civil Rights in the Law books. Terrorism works!

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T.L.P.:

That was a wonderful story. Your boy sounds like he's got a good head on his shoulders. (If you don't count the vote for Obama). Welcome to America, Mr. Salih.

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