Commentary

MUSINGS
By  Jon Melegrito

Does Anybody Here Remember Martin?

Monday, February 8 is the national observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. Most everyone, I'm sure, remember the late civil rights leader's "I Have A Dream" speech at the Lincoln memorial. It's been over 30 years. About as long as I've been in this country. Having just arrived, I didn't know then that this great man would change the way we think about such issues as multiculturalism, race relations, employment equity, affirmative action and human rights.

He had a dream. But how close are we to achieving it?

Consider some of the incidents that happened as we ushered in a new millennium:

* John Rocker, a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves, maligned gays, Asian women, immigrants and other minorities in a hate-filled xenophobic outburst. If he'd have his way, everyone who doesn't look like him - meaning, non-whites - would be kicked out of this country. What's scary is that there are probably millions who think like him. But they know better so they shut up. Not Rocker. He thinks he can get away with it because he's a big star, a valuable asset to the Braves who also have problems of their own when it comes to cultural diversity.

* White supremacist Buford Furrow hated Jews, Asians and Hispanics. Like Rocker, he wants them wiped off the face of this earth. So he goes on a shooting rampage at a Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles and later guns down Joseph Ileto, a Filipino American postal worker. He thought like John Rocker but took it one step further. Ileto was only the latest victim of hate crimes. There have been others - Korean Americans, American Jews, African Americans, gays.

* The U.S. Government's overzealous prosecution of Chinese American scientist Wen Ho Lee has raised serious concerns among Asian Americans about the way they continue to be perceived as perpetual foreigners and second class citizens. They have reason to believe racial profiling may have occurred in this case and that Asian American laboratory employees at Los Alamos are now experiencing a discriminatory backlash against them.

* The U.S. Government has yet to recognize Filipino World War II veterans for their services in the U.S. Armed Forces. It's been 53 years since America stripped them of their benefits, their dignity and honor in one blatant act of institutional racism.

It's hard to ignore the hurts and slights: MSNBC announces Tara Lipinsky's victory over Michelle Kwan with this headline: "American Beats Kwan." Rep. Tom Delay couldnt pronounce a Thai name and concludes that the person must be an alien. Joanne Rivers makes fun of Filipinos as "dogeaters" on live TV - all for a laugh! D'Amato, then New York senator, mimics Judge Lance Ito. Congress tries to pass a law banning children of illegal parents from public schools. Congress attempts to restrict the ability of legal permanent residents of the United States from contributing to political candidates.

I'd like to believe the John Rockers of this world are simply ignorant, that there is hope for change, that we don't all have to look like Rocker in order to get along.

We still share that dream. We will keep hope alive.

Does anybody here remember Martin?

*** 

    Jon Melegrito is the Executive Director of the National Federation of Filipino American
Associations (NaFFAA). Email your comments to jonmele@naffaa.org

 

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