Washington, D.C., Wednesday, December 09, 2015 – The Jewish
Voice for peace organized a Chanukah candle light for justice across the White
House tonight at 5:30 PM. They called it
Network against Islamophobia for a national Chanukah action. They will hold this event again on Sunday at
4:00 PM at the same place.
In their letter out to the public, they wrote, “While president Obama is in the
White House celebrating with Israeli President Rivlin on Wednesday, we will be
outside showing that American Jews stand for full equality and freedom for all
people living under Israeli rule. We hope that the President will ask Rivlin
what he is doing to make that a reality for ALL Palestinians.”
The letter continued, “We will be holding nine signs, which, together, are in
the shape of Chanukah menorah. Each sign contains injustice that we recommit
ourselves to challenging.” I remember the following signs, welcoming Syrian
Refugees, black lives matter, anti-Muslim profiling, Jews against Islamophobia
among other signs.
University News wire asked me on the tape who I was, and my purpose in being
here.
“I am Mike Ghouse with American Muslim Institution, an organization committed
to building a cohesive America where every American respects the otherness of
others, and accepts the God-given uniqueness of each one of us. God has created everything in balance and it
is our duty to preserve that balance.”
response to a question, “what the presidential candidates are saying about
Muslims,” I responded, “The role of the President is to keep America safe from
outside forces and internal conflicts, and to help Americans achieve in their
pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.
Mr. Trump has trampled on the very fundamental values of our immortal
declaration, “that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of
Happiness.”
She asked how difficult it was to cope with what Dr. Carson and Mr. Trump have
said. Indeed, they are making life difficult for themselves, God forbid, if
they are elected, they will have to manage a population that is afraid of each
other. They are also dumb, if you recall
the Gore v Bush, the difference was approximately 500,000 votes resulting in 5
electoral votes. If they are any smart, they will court nearly 5 -6 million
votes from Jews, Hispanics, Muslims and others and easily increase the chances
of winning. They need to know that bigotry does not pay.
We have to trust in the goodness of Americans, we have come a long way in being
just and fair. Over the last thirty years;
Americans have never
nominated an extremist as a presidential candidate who was hell bent on pitting
one American against the other, and who
has messed with the character of our nation. Never!
It was a joy to sing the Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel and a Christmas Carol.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/sWGwe4Vgnss
The damage they are doing to the social fabric of the nation is
unforgivable.
What JVC is doing tonight is demonstrating against bigotry in an effort to
restore sanity in politics and justice to the average American, hence, I am
here to support them. If we don’t stand
up for what is right, who will? We have no right to complain if we let negative
forces persist without resistance.
In response to how would you change the situation, I
said, we have problems because we don’t
know much about each other, and whatever little we know is myths about others. Instead of clarifying
those myths, we pile up more myths and create deeper and wider chasm each
passing day. The problems are ours, collectively ours, and we have to solve
them by sitting down across each other, build friendships and learn about each
other. When we find out our aspirations are similar – a life with a decent pay,
nice place to live, good marriage, wonderful kids and a healthy and peaceful
retirement – the conflicts fade and solutions emerge.
The idea is for us connect with each other,
understand each other, and when we do that, conflicts fade and solutions
emerge.
It was good to see Medea Benjamin, some of you may not like people who protest,
but remember, they are the most patriotic individuals of the nation, they don’t
want America’s moral standing go down the tube by letting bad things happen.
They should be our heroes.
Thanks to JVC for standing up for America and for Justice around the world.
My shortest message of Hanukkah was, no matter how limited your resources are (like
the oil in the lamp was enough for one day, but the oil miraculously lasted for
eight days) have hope and do the right thing, the goodness of God will be with
you.
A good article to read, it is has a particular significance to Muslims at this
time. Why Chanukah matters.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/cover_story/article/why_chanukah_matters
Dr. Mike Ghouse is a community consultant, social scientist, thinker,
writer, news maker, and a speaker on Pluralism, Interfaith, Islam, politics, human rights, India, Israel-Palestine Terrorism
and foreign policy. Over 3000 Articles have been published on the subjects. He
is committed to building cohesive societies and offers
pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. More about him in 63 links at
www.MikeGhouse.net and bulk of his writings are at TheGhousediary.com