Happy 4th of July, and happy 125th birthday to Lady Liberty!

Dear Readers,

Happy 4th of July, and happy 125th birthday to Lady Liberty!

For your enjoyment, Brad Paisley's Welcome To The Future. 

When I was ten years old
I remember thinking how cool it would be
When we were going on an eight-hour drive
If I could just watch TV
And I'd have given anything
To have my own Pac-Man game at home
I used to have to get a ride down to the arcade
Now I've got it on my phone

Chorus:
Hey, glory, glory, hallelujah
Welcome to the future

My grandpa was in World War 2
He fought against the Japanese
He wrote a hundred letters to my grandma
Mailed them from his base in the Philippines
I wish they could see this now
The world they saved has changed you know
'Cause I was on a video chat this morning
With a company in Tokyo

Chorus:
Hey, everyday's a revolution
Welcome to the future

Hey, look around it's all so clear
Hey, wherever we were going, well we're here
Hey, so many things I never thought I'd see
Happening right in front of me

I had a friend in school
Running back on the football team
They burned a cross in his front yard
For asking out the homecoming queen
I thought about him today
And everybody who'd seen what he'd seen
From a woman on a bus
To a man with a dream

Chorus:
Hey, wake up Martin Luther
Welcome to the future
Hey, glory, glory, hallelujah
Welcome to the future

[Thanks to Branden & Ashley Kittle, Alexandre Silva for lyrics]

[Thanks to Mike Mc Donald, Dan Kelly, Rue for corrections]

NY Times Mixed America's Family Trees

Happy Tuesday Readers!

It's still a cold, dreary, rainy day in NYC. Hopefully it clears up soon. I miss spring.

While on my random morning research run, I was excited to discover this interactive feature on the New York Time's site titled Mixed America's Family Trees.

The description for the site reads:

The United States is in the midst of a demographic shift. Driven by immigration and intermarriage, multiracial and multiethnic Americans — usually grouped together as “mixed-race” — are one of the country’s fastest growing demographic groups. Examine the mixed-race family trees submitted by readers and listen to them describe their families, then submit your own.

I especially love the trees with the audio files attached. Take a look and listen to actor Lou Diamond Phillips Family Tree.

This is probably the extra motivation I needed to go back to tracing my ancestral line. I took up this task in college but quickly gave up as I kept running into brick wall after brick wall. Multiple natural disasters and coups in Haiti do not make for expert record keeping.

I'll keep you posted on this journey. If you end up posting your tree on the site, please let me know. I'd love to feature it. 

Yours,

E 

Source: 
NY Times 
Google

Dear Ms. Schlussel...

This is my response to a very aggravating blog post by Debbie Schlussel:

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/22052/fact-check-meet-the-real-1st-arab-american-miss-usa-christians-dont-count/.

Since I kept getting an error message when I tried to post my response on her site, I thought I'd just share it here.

Your thoughts are always appreciated.

Dear Ms. Schlussel,

Thank you for your ever factual report outing the ties between Miss USA Rima Fakih and Islamist fundamentalist groups in the US and abroad. I appreciate your fact-finding mission that clearly outlines the ties between Ms. Fakih, her family and Hezbollah.

It was great to see the dated bank deposits from Hezbollah into Ms. Fakih’s account. How eye opening to see the memo on one of the checks: “Rima, the trigger button goes on the inside of your bikini.” If that wasn’t convincing enough, the picture of the Fakih Michigan family reunion with everyone smiling brightly, raising their trigger finger and wearing their Team Hezbollah shirts obviously proves your point.

Oh wait, you did not provide anything resembling proof to support your intelligent rant.

What would you suggest that we do with the Arab-Americans in the US? Do you like the hyphenated American? I added it just for you. Are we to deny citizenship rights to the more than 80 percent of Arab Americans who are U.S. citizens? Deny the estimated three and a half million Americans who trace their heritage to the Arab world the right to:

a. Celebrate Thanksgiving
b. Spend time with family and friends at the beach during Memorial day weekend
c. Watch 4th of July fireworks
d. Stand up and be counted as part of the American landscape

Or are we to deny them those rights only if they dare to:

a. Embrace rather than denounce their heritage
b. Proclaim themselves Islamic instead of Christian
c. Have an opinion other than yours

I made the mistake of having common sense which, of course, feeds my annoying habit of asking for proof when I read statements such as this one made by you: “…her family is chock full of top Hezbollah terrorists and she supports the group (not to mention that her Miss USA bid was financed by an Palestinian terrorist and immigration fraud perpetrator)…”

I am very open to holding a conversation and welcome the chance to review your myriad of proof that you weren’t able to provide in this post.

Yours,

A Curious CHRISTian Haitian-American

*Source: http://aai.3cdn.net/9298c231f3a79e30c6_g7m6bx9hs.pdf ♦ http://www.aaiusa.org/arab-americans/22/demographics