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News :: Miscellaneous |
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C-U Reisdents to Johnson: Respond Nonviolently |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
Email: peterm (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
20 Sep 2001
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Summary of the Sep. 20 visit to US Rep Tim Johnson's office. |
Eleven Champaign-Urbana residents urged a district aide for US Congress member Tim Johnson to support a nonviolent response to the tragedy that struck the US on September 11. The group held the discussion with district aide Matt Bisbee at 8 am on Thursday at Johnson's Champaign office.
Bisbee opened the meeting by summarizing Johnson's position on a response to the attacks on the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon. He noted that Johnson held a press conference at the Champaign airport on Sunday. Military action is necessary, but the US should exercise caution since this is an unusual war without a clear enemy, he said. Johnson supports a "swift next move," and he trusts the President to take the appropriate actions, according to Bisbee.
Peter Miller then presented the statement that the group had prepared. The statement urged Rep. Johnson to support actions that do not kill any civilians, that respect international law, and that protect the civil rights of US citizens. The group asked for Johnson to issue a statement echoing President Bush's call to not attack Muslims or those of Arabic descent, and to send the statement directly to law enforcement leaders in the fifteenth Congressional district. The statement also urged the government to provide support for the victims and to capture and imprison those responsible for the attacks. (For the full text, see URL HERE.)
The group also called for Johnson to hold a town hall meeting to discuss an appropriate US response.
Bisbee replied that he would communicate the concerns to Johnson and that he would be interested in an invitation to a public forum.
"This may have been the first time that [Johnson's office] heard from anyone who didn't have the war mentality," commented Sarah Kanouse, a community member who attended the meeting. At the beginning of the meeting, Bisbee stated that the office had received numerous phone calls from people in the district who favored a violent backlash from the US.
Insight into how US institutions are reacting in the wake of the attacks came from Christine Zitrides-Hamza, who described how an airline has profiled her for having an Arabic surname. Zitrides-Hamza recently married an Arabic man, and because of the bombing, the couple decided that Zitrides-Hamza's husband would not travel to Dallas, Texas for a wedding the couple had planned to attend.
When Zitrides-Hamza called the airline to check her flight, the airline employee told her that because she has an Arabic surname, she should be expected to provide documents "explaining her relationship to the name." The employee said that the explanation might include bringing immigration papers and a copy of her marriage certificate, even though it's written in Arabic.
"It makes me feel threatened and angry that we waited a full year to get permanent residency, and now that we're here, the airline can treat us this way," Zitrides-Hamza commented.
The phone number for Tim Johnson's Champaign district office is 217-403-4690. |
See also:
http://urbana.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=2177&group=webcast
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