In This Together

POLITICALLY INCORRECT,

Jawahara,

That is a great idea, your first name is great, at least is similar to that of a great indian leader. Your last name is the problem, change it to Coco Cola, it also gives you a middle name a requirement in the US. Or may be you can be a an Indonesian muslim, have only one name jawahara, drop the last name altogether, which is a more religiously sound option.

Following the terror strike people have been investigated in india, saudi, germany, england, france, belgium, behrain, US, canada, tunisia....there is only one thing common across all of them. If your name is identified with that commonality, change to Coco Cola, at least that is the real thing.

regards and best wishes to Ms J.C.Cola

jay

Excellent article as usual!!!

I agree with Ras

Keep your last name JS and continue to be proud of it since this is what makes you unique!!!

I think it`s commendable how civilized the american nation has been in general. And the media deserves a standing ovation for the remarkable role that it has played. There have been some incidents but personally i have been truly touched by the thoughtfulness of neighbors, co-workers and friends.

changing the name wouldn`t help one bit. and why should we change our identity coz a couple of morons decided to fly into a building. i am proud of being a brown muslim and like you yourself said ``they shall not own my life while I am still alive``.

As Bill Maher of `Politically incorrect` says the other day, if the next terrorist attack is made on USA, 95% chance is that they would be muslims. Coming this from a secular person, it should be reflective of how Americans feel about that. And u can not blame them for that. How all kashmiri muslims r treated in India? How Bengalis r treated in Karachi, Pakistan? Not all of them r terrorists or theives, but this is what we all ppl do as a form of defensive mechanism----Generalization. Don`t tell me u never indulge in it. We do generalization because wee can not afford to know every person personally. When it comes to personal relationships, yes, we do away with generalization, and come to know the Bengali, jew, chinese, hindu, sikh, etc in very neutral way. But this attitude is not possible at al the times.

This is one sorry refelection on the human psychology. but it is true.

If Sep 11 attack has happened in India, Pakistan or any other Arab country, I would see what would they do to the `usual suspects`. Compared with that, what is happening in USA is nothing. Atleast u have the legal recourse to sue the person/airline for racism. In the above-mentioned countries, u can not even do that.

In my city on the left coast, some folks have made it a point to patronize middle eastern businesses. The great thing about the US is the rah-rah-ness doesn`t pervade the whole culture. There are pockets where dissent is tolerated and even encouraged. There is militarism in the larger culture but, mercifully, there`s also room for anti-militarism. We know, due to our own experiences from back home, better than to be discrete and not be in-the-face aggressive about our views if they happen to be at variant with what the majority thinks.

As for your name, you must know of course that many many immigrants to the US changed their last names for a variety of reasons - from trying to hide their jewishness to making their names easy on the tongue to simply shortening it for convenience. Even now many immigrants adopt a nickname (no, not soysauce) as a way of blending in. Turning your last name into a middle name could be one option - you keep the connection that way and the name would not be normally used.

Keep your last name JS.
Time marches on and one hopes that the people responsible for this mass murder are dealt with.
Nobody can say that it is going to be easy. But it has to be done.
America gets the best minds from all over the world (I might be the exception). The ``brown``
people will continue to come here as long as American does not change. And let us just hope that it does not. At least for the sake of our children.

Ras