To kill an American…
Peter Ferrara, Ph.D, Associate Professor of Law, George Mason School University of Law, Virginia Institute for Public Policy, sent in a letter to the Islam Review in response to an ad someone in Pakistan published, offering a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. Dr. Ferrara wrote the following words: “to let everyone know what an American is, so they would know when they found one.”
An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian, or Greek. An American nay also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani, or Afghan.
An American may also be a Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole, or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.
An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as they choose.
An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government or for God.
An American is from the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God-given right of each person the pursuit of happiness.
An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need. When Afghanistan was overrun by the Soviet army 20 years ago, America came with arms and supplies to enable the people win back their country!
As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.
An American does not have to obey the mad ravings of ignorant, ungodly, cruel, old men. American men will not be fooled into giving their lives to kill innocent people, so that foolish old men may stay in power. American women are free to show their beautiful faces to the world or not, as they choose.
An American is free to criticize his government’s officials when they are wrong. Then he is free to replace them, by majority vote.
Americans welcome people from all lands, all cultures, all religions, because they are not afraid. They are not afraid that their history, their religion, their beliefs, will be overrun or forgotten. That is because they know that in this country they will always be free to embrace their religion, their beliefs, their history, as they choose.
And just as Americans welcome all, they enjoy the best that everyone has to bring them from all over the world. Americans welcome the best, the best science, the best technology, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best athletes.
But they also welcome the least. The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed.
These, in fact, are the people who built America. Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001, earning a better life for their families. I’ve been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 other countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided an abetted the terrorists.
So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and every other bloodthirsty tyrant in the history of the world. But, in doing so, you’ll just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds that spirit, everywhere, is an American.
So look around you. You will find more Americans in your land than you thought were there. And you can expect that one day they will rise up and overthrow the old, ignorant, tired tyrants that have troubled too many lands. Then those lands too will join the community of free and prosperous nations.
And America will welcome them.
(Reprinted with permission of Peter Ferrara, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Law, George Mason School University of Law, and member of the board of Scholars of the Virginia Institute for Public Policy, Potomac Fall, Virginia)
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