The Intergroup Relations Center and Hillel Jewish Center are holding a forum on Nov. 19 titled "American Voices: Toward a Deeper Understanding of September 11," focusing on the perspectives of ethnic and minority groups in the United States, with the help of a $500 grant from the Campus Environment Team.
The forum addresses issues concerning American Indians, Jewish Americans, women, Muslim Americans, African and Asian Americans, gays, lesbians, bisexuals and other groups after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Jesus Trevino, director of the IRC at ASU, listed contradictions currently plaguing American society.
According to Trevino, the idea behind the forum is that, until now, all the discussions that have been held after the Sept. 11 attacks on campus, have addressed the needs of the general American population. But this forum will focus on minority groups "We ask the American Indians to pick up the flag and be patriotic but at the same time their gaming operations are being attacked," Trevino said. "The gay and lesbian communities may be expressing their devotion to their country, but just last week five states in the United States demonstrated anti-gay propositions."
It is this present dichotomy in patriotism prevalent in the fabric of the nation that Trevino mentioned as being especially difficult for the ethnic groups to reconcile to.
"The Muslim Americans — born and raised in America — are struggling with the outrage they felt after the terrorist attacks and the fact that they have relatives and ties to the Middle East," Trevino said.
Michelle Frankford, program director at the Hillel Student Jewish Center at ASU and one of the participants in the forum, compared the Sept. 11 aftermath to the Holocaust.
"The mass killings on Sept. 11 can be compared to the huge loss of Jewish lives during the Holocaust, and the Taliban wanting to annihilate a whole group of people is what the Jews faced from Hitler," Frankford said.
Frankford said the importance of the forum is that it is the first time a dialogue focusing on minorities will be held after the attacks, it would help different communities understand and adjust to each other.
"America is a melting pot where people from different communities have come together, and the need to understand and appreciate various perspectives is what makes America what it is," Frankford said.
Reach Vedatrayee C. Banerjee at
ctitam@hotmail.com.
