As reported on the front page of Wednesday’s Tennessean, Victoria Jackson has announced
that she is running for County Commissioner in Williamson County because she is
concerned about the soul of America and wants to set an example for
others. Since the soul of America is reflected
in the clarion call of the Declaration of Independence that all of us are
created equal and in the Pledge of Allegiance which commits us to “liberty and
justice for all,” it is profoundly troubling that Ms. Jackson then takes aim at
one of her own “backyard neighbors” in Thompson Station, Mr. Daoud Abudiab, simply
because he spoke about his concerns at a recent school board hearing.
Mr. Abudiab, who like Ms. Jackson is a U.S. citizen, has
reason to speak up since his place of worship in Columbia, TN, was fire-bombed
in 2008 by people who, like Ms. Jackson, also called themselves Christians. Those
of us who have known Mr. Abudiab for years and seen his tireless work on behalf
of people of all faiths and cultural groups are, therefore, angered at the personal
attack on him and on him as a fellow citizen simply exercising the very rights
that lie at the heart of the soul of America that Ms. Jackson says she is out
to protect.
Apparently, Ms. Jackson thinks that simply because Mr.
Abudiab is a Muslim, she is entitled to define who is welcome in Williamson
County and decide that she and those who agree with her are the only keepers of
liberty’s flame and the soul of America. Meanwhile, she can ignore the civil rights of
a fellow citizen and demean his humanity.
Followers of Ms. Jackson’s writings on her media pages offered more than
400 crude statements in support of her comments, with 30 of them offering threats
of direct violence against Mr. Abudiab and his family. Sadly, we have seen no sign that Mrs. Jackson
has spoken out against those vicious slanders.
It is tragic enough when a private citizen incites or abets
hatred and violence against another citizen.
It is heart-breaking when one neighbor does so against another. And it is utterly unconscionable for someone
who is seeking public office to begin by attacking another citizen whom she
would be sworn to serve by the vows of the office she is seeking to hold.
Of course, this is clearly about more than one
single individual. The history of
America has been that Americans see in the people who come to our land as part
of the great American family quilt, the fabric of a growing force for
democracy, human rights and freedom around the world.
We understand that Ms. Jackson is afraid, and
that as she says in her video on the Tennessean
website,” she does not understand” much of how America works. The reassuring news for her is that great
and abiding truth of liberty and equal justice for all—“of whatever state or persuasion, religious or
political,”in Thomas Jefferson’s
words—does work. And when we seek the
common good as brothers and sisters of democracy under the rule of law, and when
stand up for each other’s rights and freedoms as citizens, as neighbors
and as human beings, regardless of our faith or culture, we are in fact
embodying and nurturing the soul of America.
Robert
Montgomery, Faith and Culture Center
Rev.
Thomas Kleinert, Vine Street Christian Church
Tom
Negri, Metro Human Relations Commission
Bernard
and Betty Werthan
Avi
Poster
Rev.
Rick Britton, St. Ann’s Episcopal Church
Zak
Mohyuddin, American Muslim Advisory Council
Zulfat
Suara, American Muslim Advisory Council
Rev.
Kent and Brenda Lewis, Christ Lutheran Church
Aaron
Stauffer, Religions for Peace USA
Douglas D. Perkins, Religion, Spirituality &
Community Research Group, Peabody College of Education & Human Development,
Vanderbilt University
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