I was in playing basketball last night, and as always there were a group of people who got into a fight on the court. They were pretty heated and while they didn't end up getting kicked out, I didn't think much of it when I left 3 hours later and one side of the perpetrators were still in heated debate out in the parking lot. But as I eavesdropped in on my way to the car, it turned out that they weren't talking all basketball. As it turns out, they were talking about Bin Laden and what they had to say had a profound effect on me.
It goes without saying that these 4 guys were obviously of Arabic descent, and while I frankly don't discriminate it is important to the conversation to realize their background. They were arguing about the death of Bin Laden and the impact that it had on them. One in the group was obviously very angry about the celebration around him and the attitude everyone on campus had about the killing. The others in the group were trying to get him to see how the death of Bin Laden was equally good for them as it was for anyone else on campus and this is where the critical quote comes in... "Ever since he did that, we've been haunted by his image, by what he did. I've been haunted by his image."
And I think that couldn't be more true. Bin Laden and others like him are key to the racial profiling that began heavily over the past decade and which has led to a whole new judgment of one more misunderstood minority within this country. Nobody should rejoice at the death of anyone, but I think we should all be glad that maybe we can use this time to find even more unity in this country and stop isolating those people who have been hated on by some among us for far too long.
fair point.
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