ps written in september: it's a bit painful for me to reread this and other things written at this time. there was more going on for me than the war; i was in an extremely fucked-up relationship that was self-destructing by the second. i think now that my sense of being physically in danger had as much to do with that relationship, and with ptsd and the reactions that go with being triggered, as it did with anything that anyone said to me at that time. a nasty email, no matter how threatening, is not the same as being beaten. the fact that one triggered flashbacks of the other is part of ptsd. i leave it here nonetheless because there are increased hate crimes during these wars, and because i want the term "american casualty" to include them.
okay, i simply have not read much anywhere on line that is at all intelligent on iraq, so i'm going to suggest that you all look at this transcript of a symposium sponsored by the adc on iraq. it's the only vaguely-intelligent thing that i've found online at the moment.
i have gotten a lot of hate mail and a lot of threats just for expressing my fear during the main bombings. you know what? arab americans get beat up during anti-arab wars. arab americans get killed during anti-arab wars.
when we're killed by our fellow citizens of the us, do we count as american casualties of war?
during the chicago riots after the rodney king trial the bulk of small business that were destroyed were owned by arab americans. i find a great deal of irony in the fact that those who rioted in rage at us racism, still focused on destroying the businesses of those who the republican president declared to be the enemy, the people to hate.
that would be... yes, that would be me.
i've been wanting to talk to some people from russia who were in the us during the cold war. i'm wondering about hate crimes against russian americans in that time, and i'm wondering about survival strategies.
it's not just as a queer person that i feel a strong need for hate crimes legislation.
if you're one of the people who asked me recently why i seem so upset all the time these days, you might want to think about some of these things before asking me again.
i also admit to a certain sense of betrayal by the self-defined postcolonial/pro-third world academics who are making such a point of not talking about the war. i guess anti-racism doesn't include arabs huh? i guess iraq isn't part of the third world? or at any rate, not as important as the struggles of poco theorists struggling to make a living in academia.
i'm re-evaluating my involvement in queer activism, since much of the hate mail and very little of the support has come from queer people. i do an awful lot of volunteer work for people who apparently do not have a problem with racist attacks on arabs in the us and in the world. i probably won't be doing much more of it.
well, anyhow. onwards and upwards, right?
