Time to stand and deliver

I have many Muslim and Middle Eastern friends and students. Since 9-11, some have complained that they don’t feel “wanted” in America anymore. They feel that hostility toward Muslims, Middle Easterners, Afghans and Pakistanis is now at an all-time high. They say, “but we didn’t do anything” to justify such treatment. Well, they are right, they didn’t do anything – and that’s the problem.

In far too many cases, my colleagues have been silent while sick people here and abroad have hijacked their religion and called America the Great Satan. They know that’s not true, but they kept silent. They benefited from all that America is, but they didn’t stand up for America.

Freedom, like so many things in life, is not free. Millions of Americans died so that we would be free today. They didn’t want to die, but they knew that if they didn’t fight for the American dream, it would disappear.

Each generation has a responsibility to pay for our freedom. Each generation of Americans – each generation of immigrants. It is time for Americans who are Muslims, Middle Easterners, Afghans and Pakistanis to speak up for America. It is time for them to end their silence.

Some already have taken the first step to silence their critics. They have volunteered to translate documents or radio-television programs that are in Arabic or Farsi. Some have volunteered to help the CIA and the FBI find the sleepers in our midst who hide in their communities. I applaud these patriots, but that is not enough.

It is also time for tens of thousands of Americans who are Muslims, Middle Easterners, Afghans and Pakistanis to volunteer to fight to protect America. It is time for these Americans to tell the world that they are willing to die for America.

Am I asking too much? Well how about the crazed fanatics from Pakistan who are streaming into Afghanistan to kill our soldiers? If they are willing to fight and die for their vision, can we ask anything less of the people who live here? It is time for those who have enjoyed the fruits of our liberty to “do something” other than complaining about how they are being treated.

Some will say that I am not fair. They won’t think that it is fair for me to ask people to stand up and be counted. However, the harsh reality is that for decades now, fanatics from Pakistan and the Middle East have called for the murder of innocent Americans. They claim that America is responsible for all that is wrong in the Middle East. America may not be perfect, but most of the region’s problems are self inflicted.

If you look back at World War II, or the days of legal segregation, you start to realize how far America has come in its treatment of people who are “different.”

Some of my friends who are Americans of Japanese descent spent years in American concentration camps. They told me how it felt to have to give up their homes, businesses and farms for 10 cents on the dollar back in 1942. They told me about Americans of Japanese descent who were beaten or lynched simply because of their ethnic heritage. No, my Middle Eastern and Muslim colleagues haven’t seen how ugly real discrimination is.

I was born into an America that didn’t treat me as a full human being because of my skin color. Today, I am a lawyer, but they would not have allowed me to join most bar associations when I was born. I am also a university professor, but they would not have allowed me to attend the state university where I now teach when I was born.

I remember being turned away from restaurants, motels and movie theaters in the south because of the color of my American skin. No, my Middle Eastern and Muslim colleagues haven’t seen how ugly real discrimination is.

They also haven’t learned from America’s history. Americans of Japanese and African descent fought discrimination, but they didn’t stop there. They also volunteered to fight for America. They volunteered to die for America – and fight and die they did.

By doing so, they educated America to the meaning of that special name: American. They helped us re-learn that American doesn’t describe a skin color, a religion or an ethnic origin. American describes someone who is a citizen of this country who cherishes what this country represents.

It is true my Muslim and Middle Eastern friends that you didn’t do anything to cause people to look strangely at you. But can you really blame people for being upset? Every day, millions of people from your previous homes call for our destruction. Men who claim to be religious leaders say that their god says it is good to kill women and children.

And, lest you forget, people who came from your former homes and claim your religion slaughtered thousands of innocent people who didn’t do anything on 9-11. It is not fair that they have made your life difficult. But, as Jimmy Carter said, life is not fair. For better or worst, these monsters have thrown down the gauntlet to you. It is time for you to pick it up and throw it back in their face.