'U.S. must fight racism, bigotry'

`U.S. MUST FIGHT RACISM, BIGOTRY'

The U.S. must engage in a war against racism, discrimination and bigotry if this nation is going to truly heal internally and move forward towards a truly united nation in the 21st century, Chicago Human Relations Comm. Clarence N. Wood said Monday.

In wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks which have caused some ethnic profiling of Arab Americans and other Middle Easterners, Wood said he's holding a meeting today to discuss how this "horrific" event has impacted their lives and listen to their reactions to the nation's war against terrorism.

Wood is holding a townhall meeting 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. tonight at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Behavioral Sciences Building, Room 250, 1007 W. Harrison St. (at the corner of Morgan and Harrison Streets).

"The forum is designed to explore the issues of what is an American, who is an American and by what means are we determining who is more American than the other person who happens to be a citizen and a person in our nation," Wood told the Chicago Defender.

"It is an opportunity for Hispanics, Asians, Arabs and African Americans to talk about their contributions to the building and day-to-day operations of our city and our nation and to begin to explore the horrors of scapegoating or profiling as a means of ferreting out the citizen who is considered to be non-American or un-American."

When asked what is an American, Wood said: "We are a nation of different religions, ethnicities. We are racially and culturally different but that does not make any one of us lesser American than any of us.

"This is a time when our differences cannot be used to separate us from being an American. This nation is built on a respect for those differences and understanding that this variety is what being an American is as long as we accept the principles, the values, and the standards of the American way.

"This forum is an opportunity to have people who are not white Anglo-Saxons, who are not necessarily of the Christian faith, speak to the fact that they feel as American as those who might feel them not being an American.

"It's about how do we move forward as a nation where fairness, justice and equality works and where we cannot redefine what is an American to simply accommodate the definitions of exclusion rather than inclusion," Wood said.

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