Re: how to respond to today's events?

Hi all,

This isn't as concrete as Gretchen's suggestion, but I would also 
suggest that college students will be vigilant about and respond to any 
state-supported or individual level acts of physical or emotional 
violence against Arab-Americans. I am not sure how this might unfold. 
As always, the ability to constructively challenge injustice requires a 
certain amount of creativity and, of course, courage.

I'm pasting in an email I sent to our campus bulletin board that may 
flesh out a little more of where I am coming from.

"I was speaking this morning with another [CSUSB] staff member 
who had heard reports of a sharp increase in overt anti-Arab 
racism after the violence this morning. I have also heard Newt 
Gingrich referring to Pearl Harbor as a reference point for this 
morning's events.

There is a lot of tragedy in what has happened. And there are a 
lot of reasons people are feeling scared. One of the things that is 
scaring me a lot right now is the spectre of state-supported 
violence against Arab- Americans. I hope no one in this country 
will forget what happened to Japanese-Americans in the U.S. 
during World War II. I hope that we will all stay vigilant and that 
the people who are as scared about this as I am will collectively 
challenge any individual and/or state-supported acts of violence 
against Arab-Americans if this trend continues."

Best,
Michelle

*****************************
Michelle Golden, Ph.D.
Director of Service-Learning

Community-University Partnerships, TO-43
California State University, San Bernardino
5500 University Parkway
San Bernardino, CA 92407
direct line: 909-880-7642
email: golden@csusb.edu
fax: 909-880-7391