Sadly, Prejudice Against Arabs Is Still a Permissible Hatred In America

Following McCain's statement last week that Obama was not an Arab, "He's a good family man." I wrote a post about it and got the following email which I thought I would share.

Mr. Fleetwood-

I wanted to write you and thank you personally for your piece youwrote for HuffingtonPost.com "An Arab Can't Be a Family Man?".

My parents came to this country 32 years ago from Egypt, my brotherand I were both born and raised in this country - and the McCaincampaign is fanning the idea that if you're Arab or Muslim you're lessAmerican, less patriotic, and somehow suspect. We see how this playsout on the campaign trail, but what about on main street? If thesecrazies are willing to yell "kill him" at the potential President ofthe United States, what would they do to their neighbor who may be orArab decent or may be Muslim?

Please continue to address this issue as it affects communities aroundthe country and ultimately our relationship with other nations aroundthe world.

Thank you,

Mohamed Abdel-Kader

In a post by By Bahija Reghai:

In the US, Rush Limbaugh recently (and falsely) reported that Barack Obama is an Arab- rather than African-American. Racism against African-Americans in the US may not be sufficient to block Senator Obama from the Presidency. But Limbaugh hopes the suggestion that he is actually of Arab ethnicity could do the trick. To compound the insult, the incident was widely reported as a "smear" on Mr. Obama, just as false accusations of him being a Muslim are frequently recounted.

Write to: jfleetwood@aol.com