Going Green on St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all y'all out there who are Irish or just wish you were! In honor of my own Irish heritage, I'll be rocking a very cute green jacket and some beads I acquired during last year's trip to New Orleans. I'll also be celebrating by taking my sons to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Downtown LA. I've never been to a St. P's Day parade but hopefully it'll be fun.

I will admit that I feel a little bad for going to the parade since this is Holy Week. I know lots of cities had their St. P's celebrations this past Friday or Saturday because, if I understand it correctly, you're historically supposed to abstain from drinking and revelry during Holy Week. I'm not sure how many people still observe in that fashion.

Plus, even though I'm not Catholic, I'm quite aware of the tension between what seems to be the increasing secularization of St. P's Day and those who want to maintain it's roots as the observance of a Catholic feast day. The kids came home from school talking about the 21st century trinity: little people, pots of gold and leprechauns. I had to spend a bit of time teaching my sons about how St. Patrick brought Catholicism to Ireland and chased all the snakes away.

I also know I could barely get into my local grocery store last night without tripping over the ginormous displays of liquor at the entrance. Guinness wants to make St. P's Day a national holiday here -- and of course they won't mind one bit if more people drink and make them wealthier. Yours truly doesn't drink. I don't need a pint of Guinness in order to relax and act crazy. I do that very well all by myself, thank you very much.

I also wish more people in the world didn't drink. Ask any police officer what's the number one factor in domestic violence calls and you'll hear them say, "Alcohol." No alcohol would also mean no more drunk drivers. Wouldn't it be nice to have a world where we didn't need an organization like Mother's Against Drunk Driving? I'll definitely be taking the subway to the parade today, mostly because I don't want to risk being hit by a drunk driver.

Yeah, most of the folks wearing green today have no idea about real Irish history in this country. They may have heard about the potato famine but they probably don't know that there would probably never have been a labor movement in this country without the Irish immigrant. Folks don't even know how the Irish weren't even considered white when they came here and were called white negroes or white ni**ers. Click here to see some of the stereotypical and downright racist newspaper cartoon portrayals of the Irish.

Of course, over time, the Irish successfully become white (read "How the Irish Became White" for more on this) primarily by agreeing to get in on the oppression of black folks in this country. Even though all that is conveniently forgotten, many media portrayals of the Irish still revolve around a bunch of stereotypes. My dad isn't a Guinness-drinking, lazy, fighting type of guy who can't hold a job. He doesn't roll around with a shillelagh, he doesn't have red hair and he's not a police officer or a firefighter.

But, I will admit he does like potatoes and he does have a tam that he wears sometimes...

As for luck, I'm convinced the folks over at Bear Stearns must be 100% Irish. They've gotten the mother of all bailouts from our government. On Friday, the Federal Reserve saved them from going under. I find it interesting that as hard as I looked online I couldn't find a definitive number of how much the Federal Reserve gave them. I know it has to have been millions and millions of dollars. Gosh, who said welfare doesn't exist? Isn't this corporate welfare? Whatever happened to the idea that throwing money at the problem isn't the solution? Then over the weekend, JP Morgan snapped them up for the price of $236 million or a mere $2 a share. It's just shady and you KNOW it's all eventually going to get passed on to taxpayers (also known as you and me). It sounds like we need someone to drive the snakes out of Wall Street.

Yeah, I'm definitely not Irish enough for hookups like that. If I'm broke or having "cash flow problems" the government is not going to step in within 24 hours to save my behind. I suppose I'll just keep on making my own luck. In the meantime, give some good luck kisses to all the beautiful Irish women you know. And for those of you at work, keep it to an air kiss unless you're married to or dating the woman. I really don't want you to get popped in the lip or sued for sexual harassment for attempting something you shouldn't have.

So, however lucky or unlucky you may be, have a fab St. Patrick's Day. Éire go brách!

Religious Freedom

Most of us know the 1st Amendment because it gives us the right to free speech. As a writer, I appreciate that right and honor the responsibility it conveys. Thankfully, that amendment also gives us the right to freedom of religion.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Because of this amendment, in this country we are free to practice our various faiths as we see fit. I'm especially aware of this freedom since if I lived in another part of the world, notably in Iran or Egypt, I'd face serious persecution since I'm a Baha'i. I'd be denied an education and denied the right to marry. My property and material possessions could be taken away by the government. Or if my next door neighbor decides to steal my car, as a Baha'i in those countries, I'd have no legal recourse.

Yes, if I lived in another part of the world, I might be arrested and imprisoned because of my beliefs. Tortured. Executed.

As a teenager, I was horrified by the story of Mona Mahmudnizhad, a young Persian girl executed for teaching Baha'i children's classes. She was only sixteen and was hung along with nine other Baha'i women.

Thankfully, because of our First Amendment, I don't have to worry about that. Here in this country, someone might be mean to me and tell me I'm going to hell, but compared to the possibility of being hung or shot by a firing squad, I can deal with that.

Despite the persecution of my Baha'i brothers and sisters taking place in countries that are majority Muslim, I have nothing but love and respect for those who practice Islam. I believe that all of the world's great religions come from the same source, God, and are truly only one faith, even if some of the social laws of the religion may change.

Of course, not everyone feels that all religion is the same truth. Even among Christians, there is lots of fighting and arguing about which version of Christianity is better. Some people trash Catholics. Others trash Baptists, Methodists, and so on. Atheists and agnostics get lectured, and likewise do their share of lecturing.

We clearly have not yet learned how to be unified and respectful of each other's beliefs, which is the exact opposite of what religion actually teaches.

As I listened to the news today, I found myself thinking specifically about how as a nation we have not addressed our religious prejudices against Muslims. In fact, we are guilty of a great deal of religious prejudice toward our Muslim brothers and sisters.

I thought about all this while listening to a couple of news pundits debating the use of Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein. A typical statement was, "Well what's wrong with saying his middle name?"

Nothing's wrong with Barack Obama's middle name but what is wrong is the intent behind saying it over and over. It's used to fan the flames of anti-Islamic fears and prejudice in the hope that people will erroneously believe that the man is a Muslim.

Months ago, someone forwarded me one of those, "Freak Out Because Obama's a Muslim" kind of emails and it made me feel profoundly sad. The email was full of horrible lies and needed some serious fact checking. The emails have been circulating and circulating like a toxic poison in our collective conscience.

No, Obama's not a Muslim. But if he was, so what? What's wrong with that?

I wish the talking heads on TV would say this. I wish Obama would stand up and say it.

Instead, he passes out fliers featuring images of him at church. Instead he mentions being a Christian in his rallies. He should do those things because being a Christian and going to church is an important part of his life. I hope this is why he's doing this. He should not have to do it because he has to soothe our fears and pander to our national prejudices. The sad reality is that because of our nation's prejudices, if Obama was a Muslim, he wouldn't even be on a ballot right now.

Funny we can take folks' oil but we decry and demonize their faith.

Islam is a beautiful religion in its own right. Sure, there are people who justify their wrong, immoral and evil actions by cloaking them with the mantle of Islam. But that doesn't take away the original intent of Mohammad. If some Muslims say they hate Christians, they need to pick up their copy of the Koran and re-read how Mohammad venerates and honors Jesus.

I'm also quite aware that the same twisting of purpose was also done with Christianity.

Or have we all forgotten how people chose to interpret certain passages from the Bible to justify slavery? Decided that black folks were only 3/5 human? Denied women the right to vote?

People have done terrible things in the name of religion. But we can all do our part to create greater understanding. For example, for many years my parents have been part of an interfaith organization designed to create partnerships between the diverse faiths that should co-exist in this nation of religious freedom. Surely these sort of organizations exist in lots of cities.

On a day to day level, how many of us in our personal lives check those around us when we hear them subtly making comments that imply that all Muslims are terrorists? What do we do when we hear people say Muslims are going to hell because they don't have Christ in their lives? Do we agree if someone says Muslims are weird because they pray five times a day and don't drink?

In the face of such prejudice, I hope we can all bring it back to that all important first amendment and truly honor our freedom of religion. We can't take it for granted.