Being a news junkie, I scan the front pages of all the major legitimate news outlets (i.e., not Fox) almost continually. With this much exposure, I frequently get upset. There are a few things that always do the trick, e.g., stories of violence on children. I'll leave those for another time, or not, because they're just too upsetting to write about.
Political news these days mostly just disgusts me. Almost everything I have read about Park51 has been like that. When the story of Obama "wading into" the issue broke, I predicted it would have a half-life of two days as talking points go. Well, once again, when I'm wrong, I am really, really wrong.
The story that upset me today was the account of a New York cabbie who was nearly slashed to death just for being a Muslim.
The slashing victim, Ahmed Sharif, has lived in the US for more than 25 of his 43 years:
"I feel very sad," Sharif said in a statement released by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance. "I have been here more than 25 years. I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years. All my four kids were born here. I never [felt] this hopeless and insecure before."
My heart goes out to Mr. Sharif and his family. And if I could talk to this man, I would tell him I feel hopeless and insecure too. This is the sort of thing I was protesting more than 40 years ago, when it was happening to African-Americans. During those terrifying times, I recall the demagogues of the day - Faubus, Maddox, Wallace, and thousands of lesser players, railing against our government for the indignities forced upon them by desegregation. The demagogues of our time, Gingrich, Graham, Reid - yes, that Reid, along with thousands of lesser players, have brought us full circle. The wounds inflicted on Mr. Sharif are the result, and the blood is as much on their hands as Emmett Till's blood was on the hands of their predecessors.
Enough.