There is more to the story and I encourage people to read it. This of perticular interest to Killfile, vtwahoo, and myself since we are all hail from Virginia. And yes, I've seen racism first hand, even in Alexandria, VA just scant miles away from Washington DC.MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS wrote:Bigotry is nothing new in Virginia politics. But it seems to be experiencing a resurgence at an odd time in our state's history.
Virginia is increasingly di verse, its political hue changing from red to purple. But while one segment of our population embraces change and inclusion, another clings to fear, intolerance and exclusion.
Last week, Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr., R-5th, cast his lot with the latter group.
In a letter to constituents, he stoked anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment at the expense of Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a native-born American and the first Muslim elected to Congress.
In so many words, Goode said Muslims need to be kept out of Congress and America.
Goode, of Rocky Mount, was channeling the sort of jingoism that led Sen. George Allen, R-Va., to derisively toss "Welcome to America" and "macaca" barbs at a Virginia native of Indian-American descent.
Allen was unseated after his mean-spirited comments shed an embarrassing national spotlight on Virginia. Now comes Goode with his political potty mouth, heedless of the consequences.
More than five years after the Sept. 11 attacks, paranoia remains thick.
Recently, some riders on Richmond buses took one look at ads in Arabic script and saw terrorist codes. The ads, which bore such innocuous messages as "rock, paper, scissors," were actually placed as part of an interfaith effort to foster dialogue.
In this environment, we need a reasoned and effective response to terrorism that preserves the rights of U.S. citizens and our Constitution. We don't need demagogues demonizing an entire religion.
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Have you ever experienced racism?