One pixel "out of step" does not ENRICH a tv picture...
Just because something is different does NOT make it good and not all cultures are equally beneficial.
Posted on 12/01/2008 9:49:35 AM PST by lewisglad
A Lesson for Sarah Palin: Being a Real American
First I bristled and then I was horrified as I watched Sarah Palin draw a distinction between “real Americans and those that are not” during the 2008 presidential campaign.
Notice the absence of any mention of Native Americans in her call.
An immigrant from India, I am a Sikh-American, and wear the markers of my faith – long unshorn hair covered by a turban. Sarah Palin had just sundered the nation into “us and them,” and relegated people like me to the category of incomplete Americans.
I wondered what makes one a real American!
Sikhs have been in this country for over a century; Sikh workers participated in building the Panama Canal in 1903-04.
I have lived, worked and paid my taxes in this country since 1960 -- for almost half a century. That is more than two thirds of life. I protested against the Vietnam War, though somewhat gingerly since I was not a citizen then. I actively participated in rallies for equal rights during the years of Martin Luther King, and cheerfully marched in a parade led by Gloria Steinem and others down Fifth Avenue in New York City in support of women’s rights.
And during my academic career, I must have taught several thousand “real Americans” who have gone on to become physicians and dentists, and academicians who have served this nation admirably.
What does Sarah Palin and her ilk think I should do to become a “real American?” Do you think a crew cut would finally outweigh all the other things I have done in America and give me the good-housekeeping seal of approval? Or, is Sarah Palin and her ilk looking to racial and cultural purity?
I think the widely touted concept of America as a melting pot has, in part, contributed to our ambivalent thinking.
We forget that in a melting pot, the ingredients lose their individuality entirely, as if they were processed in a homogenizer. Some observers, instead, posited a tossed salad of many cultural, religious and ethnic peoples as the model for America. But we forget that salads may get tossed a tad too vigorously, and then some ingredients suffer needlessly; examples are the incarceration of the Japanese during the Second Word War, as also the long history of slavery and the Blacks. Also, the ingredients in a salad may interact with each other only minimally.
Perhaps a better analogy would be that of a mosaic, in which even the smallest piece has a place and enriches the whole pattern by its presence. But a mosaic, one could argue, may present what is not a dynamic but static reality.
So I offer you instead the analogy of a large multi-instrument orchestra. In a far corner of the ensemble sits someone with a triangle or cymbals – very minor components of the ensemble. But, nevertheless, each remains a critical piece that contributes vitally to the organically evolving performance. When the lowly triangle or the cymbals speak, even the mighty strings and the pianos listen, and no one can then deny that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Citizenship in this great society, to me, is a social contract with the nation in which each individual carries the same inherent rights and obligations as everyone else. The strength and vitality of this nation stems from the variety of immigrants and their endless stream from around the globe that constitute this society. It is their interaction that makes this country what it is – a beacon of hope and innovative energy to the world.
This is the America that becomes our ideal, even though reality may at times be at odds with it.
America is not just a place; it is an idea and an ideal that this nation has pursued for over 200 years with singular determination. My faith – Sikhism – too, holds for an egalitarian society. The two ideas come together in me to make me a Sikh-American
Sure there have been many Sarah Palins along the way, and there will surely be many more. But as Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. said, “”The greatest virtue of a functioning democracy is its capacity for self-correction.”
Note: The author, Inder Jit Singh, is a professor of anatomy at New York University.
First, you ask about "appearances"....It doesn't matter what you look like to be a "real" American... Being a "real" American comes from the heart, not the wardrobe or hair style... Anyone with any sense at all realizes this... If you are not 100% totally committed to this country Called The United States of America, then you aren't a "real" American...period...end of story.... No "part-time" Americans...
Balkanizing the nation by trying to institute special "separate but equal" courts for Islamic law (Sharia) is not the American way. It is Imperialism by Islam. They come as missionaries to establish a foothold here, not to participate in "cultural exchange". They do not permit our culture into their homelands.
I recently rewatched a documentary on Max Ernst, the artist. He was German born but moved to France. During WWI he was arrested on the grounds that German citizens posed a threat to the security of France. He was married but that did not matter. Someone spoke out on his behalf and he was released but he was eventually arrested again.
It is foolish to believe that only America ever instituted such a policy in wartime.
Now go push your "I've got it rougher than you" whining on someone who has never had to struggle a day in their life..maybe you could get some guilt leverage there for your agenda. Not here...not ever.
heh. Or a surgeon in my cheap little town.
I think he ment the Sikh, not you.
If you're calling yourself a "-American" of any sort, then you're not an American. As such, your idiotic opinion and offendedness means NOTHING to me.
Singh sure is stupid for someone with such esteemed credentials.
“I have lived, worked and paid my taxes in this country since 1960 — for almost half a century.”
Should read “I have lived, and not bathed in this country since 1960 — for almost half a century.”
There, fixed it.
I do apologize for creating a misunderstanding that caused you distress.
I thought I was replying to the initial post, but mistakenly replied to your note.
Sorry.
One pixel "out of step" does not ENRICH a tv picture...
Just because something is different does NOT make it good and not all cultures are equally beneficial.
“An immigrant from India, I am a Sikh-American, and wear the markers of my faith – long unshorn hair covered by a turban. Sarah Palin had just sundered the nation into “us and them,” and relegated people like me to the category of incomplete Americans.”
Oh, BS! Another minority choosing to be a victim, pushing identity politics....even though Sarah victimized or disparaged NO ONE!
and since mccain has done so much for native americans in Arizona. mccain/palin was the most pro native american team in history
That is not an accurate quote.
That's a far as this crap is worth reading.
Sikhs are monotheists
Sarah was talking about a socialist view of America that Obama and his supporters espouse versus the traditional view of America that Sarah supports that includes free markets, individual initiative, fiscal reponsibility, and and the defense of the principles as laid out in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. If you as a Sikh Indian favor Obama’s view of America then you do not see America as Sarah sees it-but it has nothing to do with your race or ethnicity but entirely on what goes on between your ears.
Why do I get the feeling that Professor Singh’s offense at Governor Palin’s quip is less about his ethnicity and his religion, and more about his being the sort of creature that gets tenure at NYU?
All I needed to know that this would be a load of leftist academia BS.
bingo
“Kinda stupid comment considering that Todd is part Native Alaskan. “
What’s really stupid (besides the author!) is the area she was speaking in is full of part Native Americans.
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