American Diversity

Colin Powell has showed his intellectual vigor and he has the mental fortitude to understand that the world is not simplistic and plain but complex and that there are many different realities that are not limited to one human experience. He realizes the history and diversity of America. Joe-six pack or Joe the plumber are not the only type of American. John McCain and Sarah Palin represent the bridge to nowhere and Barack Obama represents the bridge to the 21st century. Will America be grand, inclusive, and sophisticated or small, petty, and narrow? This election will give one an idea of the progress and direction on this point...

"Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That's not America. Is there something wrong with a seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that he is a Muslim and might have an association with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel particularly strong about this because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay, was of a mother at Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone, and it gave his awards - Purple Heart, Bronze Star - showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the head stone, it didn't have a Christian cross. It didn't have a Star of David. It has a crescent and star of the Islamic faith.

And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life."

-Colin Powell