Whether real or not this letter in response to a Pakistani citizen called To Kill an American and get a prise, is circulating on the internet. The fact that it is resonating with so many people tells me that a great many Americans from so many backgrounds really identify with the universal image of who is an American.
A few years ago I was teaching in China with a group of American students and to our surprise, the Chinese did not consider the students from black, Hispanic, Indian, Chinese and Persian background as American!! The Chinese background American students got the shortest end of the stick when it came to who is an American. Funny but not really when this becomes the issue of human rights any where.
We live in a global village but many of us have been wearing blinders of our cultural past that has kept us ignorant and oblivious to the progress of humanity since 160 years ago when Baha’ullah declared “The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens”!
At the same time the very heart of the discussion is about the monumental gap that exists amongst people who live in the dark as to the universal understanding of who is human and entitled to human rights. An American is any human and therefore if you are also human, an American is your brother, the article basically says.
This article also reminded me of one of Iranian clergy who, in front of the public, made a very obscene and derogatory remark about the African heritage of President Obama!! It is clear that not only this clergy man is saying to the world that he is feeling helpless and angry but also ignorant that he is living in a world that its eyes have been opened to the shame of racism and superiority of one group over the other because of their color, class, heritage, nationality, religion, or color and texture of their hair.
We really ought to teach the universal human rights as a mandatory subject is all the schools of the world wherever human beings are supposedly receiving education. I should congratulate this Australian Dentist, if there is such a person, for opening this very vital conversation.
Who really is an American?
Keyvan
