111 Miles in Solidarity with 11 Million

A Jesuit educated Baptist activist friend emailed me about a 285 mile Pilgrimage for a Pathway to Citizenship. After reading his email I questioned myself if my response should be as a Muslim-at-peace or a citizen-agitated. Read the rest and tell me if my response was influenced by my faith or impacted by my agitation.

For almost two decades, I remain agitated for our nation's indifference toward the now demonized "un-documented," who were freely exploited from the valleys of California to the shores of Maine. And during these last twenty years, the poor and the un-documented became poorer and powerless while the plantation capitalists became richer and more indifferent. Some pundits even screamed from their bullhorns, that the un-documented are the "diseased aliens," not worthy of documentation, let alone any recognition. And, this makes me a citizen-agitated. 

For more than a millennium, my faith teaches me that "when you see a wrong, right it." This mandate is without an option for neutrality, let alone apathy.  The choices to right the wrong includes, “action," "speech" or "empathy," in that order. Action is considered to be an expression of the strongest of faith while empathy, though admirable is considered as the weakest expression of the faithful. And, this teaching makes me a Muslim-at-peace.

My agitation as a citizen and inspiration as a faithful now morally binds me to the more than 11 million undocumented women and men of myriad faiths and diverse tradition.

It is for these reasons I decided to join the pilgrimage for a pathway to citizenship and walk 111 miles in solidarity with and dignity for the 11 million undocumented women and men, young and old of our nation.

Along the way from August 24 to September 2, I will walk and learn their stories and share mine with them. Together, we will walk, pray and break bread. We will also sing and may even cry. But for the 10 days as a pilgrim for a pathway to citizenship, come what may - rain or shine, we will be one ... walking for respect and dignity and demanding honor and equality. And this, I believe could be a duty of every citizen, agitated or not and an obligation of each faithful, a Baptist or a Muslim!

I invite you to walk with me virtually by visiting this blog. Also, hold us in your thoughts and prayers. And if you cannot do either, I ask that you consider the following:

1. Write to Rep. Kevin McCarthy  or your legislator and ask them to support comprehensive immigration reform that includes pathway to citizenship without hurdles and obstavcles.

2. Help those who are helping others. Your contributions, however large or small, helps LA Voice to push  in making the Pathway to Citizenship, a Highway to Citizenship.

"Rumsfeld Lied People Died" - I screamed & thrown out ...

Rumsfeld Lied, People Died

When I heard that the war criminal known as Donald Rumsfeld would be appearing in the area, I could not wait to confront him.  Along with handful of enlightened citizens and friends, we showed up at his event at the resting place of his fellow liar, Richard Nixon.

Along with two good friends at a cost of $50 each, we decided to enter the event as attendees and force ourselves to listen to more lies and also receive even bigger lies packed into his new book, “Rumsfeld’s [dumb] Rules.” 

The venue was lit up and nearly full with empty heads in suits and satins. Then came the lying king to live music and he starts off with a complaint that the emcee’s introduction was “moderately good.” I do not know if he wanted us to know the length of his lying life or simply state his age but it went something like, “I am just about one third of our nation’s age and that it makes me old and our nation very young.” No kidding, I thought!

We had decided to give him some space to feel comfortable before launching our vocal missiles. So his other rants included the advice to his daughter that “she should not worry about who to work for but to find and hang out with intelligent people.”  I hope that the young lady would not consider her father in that category.

Then he expressed his shock that the “realities [of our nation] lie outside the 60 square miles of Washington.” I wish he had discovered that before “shocking” the mothers and their children of Iraq and later Afghanistan.  He followed that up with another obscene admission that “as a wrestler, I always look at things from my opponent’s perspective.”  I so wished he could have applied this rule to allow himself to see the world from the perspective of his millions of victims.

We three were getting a bit testy and restless. There came the opportunity when he said that what keeps him awake is “America’s weakness because we ‘only’ spend 4% of our GDP on defense.” That was it for us …

Brian stood up and yelled:  “The ends do not justify the means.” On hand were a bunch of paid uniformed goons to quickly drag Brian out. I stood up, following Brian’s cue, looked into the eyes of the liar and yelled: “Rumsfeld lied; people died!”

The well-lit venue with empty suits and satins were in shock at our uncivilized outbursts. “Take them out!  Throw them out!” were some of the compliments I was able to hear clearly from the empty suits and satins.

Oh yes, thrown out we were in a matter of seconds but not before those few precious seconds were captured on camera by a courageous grandmother and comrade. Click here to watch.

The lessons I learned from this adventure are that those who have destroyed the lives of others deserved to be yelled at, unashamedly. And that they are nothing more than empty suits and must be treated as such. And that this is the best expression of democracy. So I invite you now to visit your local bookstore and if you find the liar’s new book, Rumsfeld’s Rules – grab a copy or copies – and move them to the criminal section. This can be your important contribution to protect and defend our dying democracy. If, however, you’d like to join me next time another liar visits our town, you know well how and where to reach me. I cannot wait to have you by my side for our next adventure!

Postscript: After I blogged, a friend informed me about this newspiece.

Boston, Baghdad & Birmingham

Boston, Baghdad & Birmingham
Shakeel Syed – April 16, 2013

Instead of feasting their feat, innocent men and women of all ages were limping and crying. In a matter of seconds, Boston became Baghdad on the tax day. Bodies, blood and broken limbs were on the streets of Boston and on the television screens of the nation. Everyone I knew, all faiths and ages, confessed that they watched the terror and tragedy through teary eyes. Intuitively human indeed, I said to myself.

I too raised my trembling hands and prayed for the perished and the survivors. I prayed more for the survivors, because they now have to live with the trauma. The perished will be in paradise, anyway. My faith tradition suggests that the death of an innocent in this world merits the best of God’s grace in the life hereafter. And I fervently pray for the perished of the Boston bomb blasts to receive the best of heaven.

As we mourn, we must also reaffirm that senseless violence and terror that subjects life to death (anywhere and by anyone) is always abhorrent. Period. Whether bombs go off in Boston or fall in Baghdad, our respect for life must always remain unconditional. 

If questioned about the comparison of Boston to Baghdad as “untimely and unwise,” I would reply it is not only timely but also wise to question the moral and ethical disparities while being in the very midst of it. That is precisely what we learn from the writings of a modern prophet who was jailed in Birmingham in 1963.

Although Sixty years later, King’s prophetic words seem to have been written also for us and for today. Here are few of his words for our reflection.

“I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Closing his thoughtful “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” King leaves us with this … 

“Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”

I say Amen to the prayer of King and add mine to his. I pray that all people, may they be Bostonians or Baghdadis live in love-drenched communities and free from fear of the other!

Truth, Terror & Tyranny 
March 13, 2013 (10 year anniversary of US invasion on Iraq)
-----------
As the terror master is getting ready to go to the land of tyranny, I thought I should give him some reading material for the road. Instead of going to the land of tyranny, a.k.a. Israel, he should stay home and reflect on the following. 

So sit down, shut up, and listen, Mr. President:

1. On March 19, 2013, visit the families of nearly 5,000 soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq.

2. Kneel down and ask your Creator for forgiveness for killing more than 150,000 innocent Iraqis (including women and children) these last ten years. 

3. While you are on your knees, also ask Him to forgive you for killing more innocent Afghani and Pakistani men, women and children than the buffoon before you.

4. Rethink your love of monster machines that are killing people, including American citizens, all over the world. Remember the adage: “chickens always come home to roost.” This may happen before you meet your Lord.

5. Some avid readers keep Reading Lists; you are known to keep a Kill List. So what does that make you, exactly?

6. How the hell did you manage to become a professor of U.S. Constitutional law and still write National Defense Authorization Act? I am stumped on this one.

7. Your bailouts got the Big 3 in Detroit billions of dollars while the city itself is bankrupt and sewage is already on streets. Your bailouts also gave birth to 17 new billionaires this last year while increasing hungry mouths from 100 million to 100+ million Americans.

8. Now, you are going to the land of terrorists, tyrants, and cowards who terrorize Gazan children from the skies. The other day I heard your loud-mouthed assistant shouting obscenities during the celebrations of Terrorists Lite in Washington DC. He said that none of your predecessors can even come close to your love for these terrorists, tyrants, and cowards.

9. You call yourself a Christian, right? So if you do end up in Bethlehem, visit the birthplace of the man whom you say you worship … close your eyes and ask yourself what would he do if he were you – kill people or save people?

10. And, that is the truth, Mr. President. If it tastes bitter, suck it up … I’ve been forced to do just that for some years.

Shakeel Syed
A taxpayer from California

The lesser of two evils just became the greater …

The lesser of two evils just became the greater … During the recent presidential election cycle, many good-hearted Muslim and non-Muslim friends tried to convince me to choose the lesser of the two evils. Among other components in my response, I asked them three questions: 1. Do you agree that the lesser of the two evils would still be evil? 2. What if the lesser of the two evils keeps doing evil for a protracted period of time; would that candidate still qualify as the lesser evil? 3. Lastly, if the lesser of the two evils surprised them with a heinous act of evil, would they favor truth over hope? Instead of a yes or no answer, most of my good-hearted friends expressed their big hope in the lesser of the two evils. They also asked me to prepare myself for many “pleasant surprises” and to embrace them when they happen. I certainly was waiting for them. These surprises did come early….but I ask, “Are they pleasant?” Less than two weeks after the victory songs earlier this month, we now have two ugly surprises from the lesser of the two evils. Just in case someone failed to notice, here they are: 1. The lesser of two evils declared that “he fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself”, implying that the occupied and the embattled Palestinians are to be denied this same right. The Palestinians evidently are to thank him--the lesser of the two evils and the evil he supports--for the airborne killing machines flying overhead which are so much more merciful than the land-based killers crawling all over them. (Perhaps we are to ignore Israel’s many hints about an imminent ground invasion of Gaza.) 2. The lesser of two evils earns the distinction of being the first to visit Myanmar – a land of monks running amuck. There, the lesser of the two evils heaps praise and offers hope to those who have been killing and watching the killing of a nameless and stateless people: the Rohingyas. May I now ask my good-hearted Muslim and non-Muslim friends to join me in mourning the 10 month old Hanin Tafesh and the mass instantaneous murder of 3 generations of Dalu family. And, having received almost no call-backs from my many good-hearted Muslim and non-Muslim friends, believers in the lesser of two evils, I decided to write this open letter as a reminder that, yes, the lesser of two evils is still evil!

A Voter's Memo to President Obama

A voter’s memo to President Obama: Reply requested by Nov 5th or earlier (Shakeel S – you know where to find me!) As an independent voter, I enthusiastically voted for you in 2008. In 2012 however, I will not vote for you. Here is my very short [initial] list of top ten reasons and I will grant you an opportunity to respond and convince me otherwise. 1. Do you remember Guantanamo! During your last campaign you promised to close the dreaded Gitmo (link) but I guess you forgot. I wonder if you were thinking of them when you accepted the Nobel Peace Prize? 2. I thought no act could inflict more harm than George Bush’s Patriot Act. You proved me wrong. You not only extended the Patriot Act (link, link) but wrote your own National Defense Authorization Act (link) that makes Patriot Act look like a No-Parking sign. As a constitutional law professor, Mr. President, you have encoded sheer government abuse as law of this land (link) and you continue indefinite detentions without review (link, link). Don’t you think all this disguises the Pharaoh as an angel? 3. And, don’t you also have a kill list, assassinating (link) my fellow citizens (and citizens of other sovereign nations). And you claim that you are the judge, jury and the executioner (link) and you do not need any judicial review to kill anyone and anywhere. 4. Also, didn’t you ask for thousands of secret spying warrants (link). Who are you afraid of, Sir? Or are you simply recalling the words of your predecessor from across the aisle: “Why do they hate us?” 5. And then you have the audacity to defend your warrantless wiretapping (link) while trying to stop the Supreme Court from hearing a challenge of warrantless wiretapping (link) and also pushing for laws making it easier to wiretap (link) on innocent and law abiding citizens. 6. On your watch, my tax dollars were spent on illegal and immoral surveillance of Muslim neighborhoods and houses of worship (link). Remember that, Sir? I do. 7. And was it your administration who authorized the raids at the homes of my fellow peace activists (link)? 8. As a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, can you rationalize your peddling $60 billion worth of arms to the Saudi Arabian dictators (link) and continuing the sickening legacy of our annual $3 billion charity to apartheid Israel while my children’s teachers are losing their jobs and their spouses have already lost theirs. 9. Your “withdrawal plan” from Afghanistan leaves more troops than when you started (link) your presidency. So who are you fooling, my friend? We may be a country of fools, but most us can still count. 10. Your drones have killed more innocent people in Pakistan and Afghanistan (link) than any of your predecessors. So, Mr. President, I was not happy but appreciated George W Bush because he was honest and said, hang-in-by-the-cliff, buddy. But in your case Mr. President, you have been dishonest and deceptive; you are asking me to jump from GWB’s cliff and “hope” for a soft landing! Standing by to hear from you & to watch who drops first from the cliff! Si Si Peude…

America: Connect the Dots

The recent tragic death of the US Ambassador and four staff members of the US Embassy in Libya by asphyxiation in the embassy fire ignited by the irate Libyans reminded me of a nomad’s satire. The nomad walks into a café and gives a verdict on the cosmos by saying “I love the moon and hate the sun.” Baffled patrons in the café ask the nomad about his love and hate relationship with the moon and the sun. The nomad explains. “I love the moon because it brightens the night and guides us to find our ways and then he adds, I hate the Sun because it comes out only during the day when it is bright anyway!” Most people miss the most obvious especially when thinking is fogged with emotions. While we condemn the senseless violence and mourn the loss of innocent lives in Libya, I cannot help but remind myself of an incident four years ago in September 2008. About 60 days before the Presidential elections in September 2008, millions of Americans in 14 battleground states received a DVD gift in the mail, titled: “Obsession : Radical Islam’s War Against the West.” That movie was produced by Rabbi Raphael Shore for a tax-exempt New York-based charity by the name “Clarion Fund ” with connections to a strongly pro-Israel Jewish educational organization – Aish HaTorah based out of Israel and an office in the United States. Clarion Fund did not just produce Obsession but also produced The Third Jihad and Iranium. News analysis at the time helped many Americans connect the dots about the September 2008 DVD being used to influence the November 2008 Presidential elections. Now, in September 2012, the world learns of yet another movie, The Innocence of Muslims. More dot-connecting is required. Los Angeles Times reports that the movie was filmed and produced in Southern California but in much mystery. Allegedly, the producer is a Coptic-Christian of Egyptian origins holding extreme anti-Islam views. And then there is a movie consultant and scriptwriter, Steve Klein, based out of the City of Hemet who claims to know but refuses to reveal the identities of those associated with the film in various capacities. Although much is shrouded in mystery, the movie consultant has revealed himself as did some of the production crew-members. And according to the Associated Press a person identifying himself as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula may in fact be Sam Bacille who initially was reported to be “the” man behind the movie. Much uncertainty remains but what we do know for certain is that this 14 minute movie has already contributed four American deaths. The nation is in mourning and political tensions are rising in the region. Conservative political leaders often speak of pre-emptive police action against American Muslims, particularly in Los Angeles. Muslim-American political rights are, to them, expendable. But when right-wing cranks like Steve Klein seek to inflame passions that lead directly to American deaths too many conservative pundits and politicians have preferred to blame President Obama. It is time for American conservatives to criticize the hatred in their own ranks. A more thoughtful position would be to criticize both the film and those carrying out the violence in Libya and other countries. An effort to label President Obama as a Muslim or a Muslim sympathizer – as if being a Muslim is unacceptable – is likely to again sweep the political rights. Mainstream conservatives should denounce such bigotry and Americans should be connecting the dots leading from September 11, 2012 leading to the election on November 6, 2012. ----------------------