United States – Page 3 – Oswald Rivera

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The African-American Definition

“We are not Africans. These people are not from Africa; they don’t know a thing about Africa . . . That is totally stupid. I was born here, and so were my parents and grandparents and, very likely, my great grandparents. I don’t have any connection to Africa, no more than white Americans have to Germany, Scotland, England, Ireland, or the Netherlands. The same applies to 99 percent of all black Americans as regards to Africa. So stop, already!! With names like Shaniqua, Taliqua and Mohammed and all that crap . . . And all of them in jail.”

The above is from Dr. William Henry Cosby, Jr., Ed.D. Otherwise known as simply, Bill Cosby. I must admit to a similar qualm that I’ve had ever since the “African-American” definition began to replace the term “black” as a cognitive for Americans of color. I’ve always felt a bit unease about it. How many Americans are actually “African-Americans?.” Not only that, how many know anything about Africa or its history? My father was a man of color from the Caribbean. He had brown skin and straight jet-black hair (the Caribbean Indian influence) while my mother’s ancestry is Italian. I am of mixed heritage, a mongrel, if you will and proud of it. I have no right to classifying myself as an “African-American.”

Perhaps President Obama could classify himself as such since his father was a Kenyan. But how many out there can claim the same? It reminds me of the old Barney Miller TV series in the 70s where one of the detectives, a black man naturally, decides to trace his family tree. This was during the time of the “Roots” mini-series TV phenomenon. Well, he discovers that his lineage is Scottish! How to explain that to his wife and kids?

When I was a young boy way back when, the appellation used was either “colored” or Negro. In the sixties Negro was discarded and “black” became the preference. It was a point of pride to refer to oneself as being “black.” Yet, in terms of biology there are three definitive DNA groups: Caucasoid (white), Negroid (black) and Asiatic. There is no African-American DNA reference, or even “colored” DNA reference.

Now, I don’t care what anyone wants to call themselves; it can Northwest Pacific Islander, or North African-Equatorial Arabist, or Martian, or other. But, at least have a point of reference. Humanity began on the Serengeti Plains of East Africa. Does that mean that someone from Norway is a “African-Norwegian,” or from China a “Chinese-African,” or if from Russia, an “African-Russian?” Labels can be deceiving, folks. Want to call yourself an “African-American?” It’s you choice and your right. But I’d rather think of all of us as being just plain Americans, and nothing less.

Mosques in America: A Perspective

August 24, 2010 / Oswald Rivera / 0 Comments

The uproar over the proposed mosque/cultural center on Ground Zero makes some of us, on both sides of the argument, uncomfortable. When that paragon of of marital fidelity, Newt Gingrich, equates Islam with Nazis, then the thing has gotten out of hand. The whole episode reflects a deep, personal and passionate argument. And what’s lost in the argument is that the Islamic creed and American principles go back a long way, sometimes in tandem, and sometimes as opposites. This is not the first time the mosque issue has come up, and certainly it will not be the last. Whether one favors the building of the mosque/cultural center or not, one should understand the historical record. If nothing else, it gives us a guidepost as to understanding America’s relation to Islam. And, though most of us may not know it, it’s a long and storied history.

The earliest documented case of a Muslim coming to these shores is that of a Dutchman, Anthony Janszoon van Salee. He came to what was then New Amsterdam (later New York) in 1630; and was referred to by his compatriots as a “Turk.” The first Muslim to enter the historical record is one Estevanico of Azamor, a Berber from North Africa who explored parts of the Midwest for the Spanish Empire. As far as we know, the first American public official to acknowledge the impact of Islam was John Adams who, in his treatise Thoughts on Government, praised the prophet Muhammad as a “sober inquirer after truth” alongside Confucius, Zoroaster, Socrates and other “pagan and Christian thinkers.” Later on, in 1790, the South Carolina legislature granted special legal status to a community of Moroccans, 12 years after the Sultan of Morocco became the first foreign head of state to recognize the U.S. That’s right, a Muslim nation was the first to recognize our existence.

Relations between Muslim nations and America were not always that rosy. In Marine Corps boot camp we recruits had to learn the Marine Corps anthem. The opening line is “From the halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli.” The Tripoli part has to do with the U.S. war against the Barbary Pirates, a bunch of Muslim privateers who operated out of bases in North Africa; and, who from 1785 to 1815 demanded tribute from the U.S. in order for us to trade with the Orient, without having U.S. ships boarded and taken. Finally, the Americans had had enough and the marines were sent in to stop the extortion.

As for mosques in America? No less a notable than Benjamin Franklin, wrote in his autobiography (published in 1791) that he “did not disapprove” of a meeting place in Pennsylvania that was design to accommodate all religions. He stated that “even if the Mufti of Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Mohammedanism to us, he would find a pulpit for his service.” Muslims took him at his word and in 1907, immigrants from the Podliasie region of Poland founded the first Muslim organization in New York City, The American Mohammedan Society. But it wasn’t until 1915 that the first American mosque was founded by Albanian Muslims in Biddeford, Maine. The nest big mosque, the Al-Sadig Mosque, was built in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago in 1920. And in 1934, the first building specifically built to be a mosque was established in Cedar rapids, Iowa. By 1945 a mosque existed in Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest Arab-American population in the U.S. The building of mosques increased in the 1920s and 30s, but it wasn’t until the 1960s that construction really sped up. Statistics note that 87% of mosques founded in the U.S. were established within the last three decades. Today there are from 40,000 t0 50,000 mosques, and California has more mosques than any other state.

There are an estimated 2.5 million Muslims in the country. What is not know is that, historically, they tended to support the Republican Party. In the 2000 presidential election nearly 80% of Muslim-Americans supported George W. Bush over his Democratic opponent, Al Gore. Of course, within recent years, with all that’s been going on, that support has sharply declined.

In the current on-going debate, I can understand both viewpoints. Religious freedom, whether you believe in religion or not, is one of our bed-rock principles. The right to attend a place of worship in enshrined in our psyche. The Constitution guarantees that right. Still, some argue, having a mosque so close to where 3,000 of our citizens were murdered (300 of whom were Muslim) is like pouring salt on the wound of those who lost friends and family on 9/11. The proponents of the mosque/cultural center should have been aware of that fact, however well intentioned. Nevertheless, because of the controversy, we are suffering a black eye in the Muslim world. Eventually, the controversy will subside, cooler heads will prevail, but, for the time being, the healing will take a long time in coming.

The Tea Party – The Real Story

April 19, 2010 / Oswald Rivera / 0 Comments

Town hall meetings where elected officials are shouted down. Pro-gun rallies in the nation’s capital on the same day that Americans are mourning the Oklahoma City bombing. People carrying signs depicting out first black president as a pigmy with a bone in his nose. Demagogues exhorting the populace. And all attributed to this so-called tea party movement. As I understand it, these people fear the government. They want it to get out of the way. The government that governs least governs best. An enticing principle. These folks model themselves on the original tea party organizers that preceded the American Revolution. Well, let’s have a historical look at the original tea party people. As Paul Harvey use to say in his radio show: “And now, for the rest of the story.”

The famous Boston Tea Party was an outgrowth of the budding tensions between the original colonists in North American and the British Crown. Prior to the Revolution, during the French and Indian War, the British had spent a lot of money defending the thirteen colonies. By war’s end the British were 140 million pounds in the hole, an astronomical sum for those days; and they still had 10,000 troops in North America. Conversely, the colonists felt that, with the French threat neutralized, they didn’t need protection. Also they wanted to expand westward into Indian territory. The British had issued a proclamation to protect the Native Americans from further encroachment by the colonists. But what really riled the colonists was the fact that the British had decided to impose a series of taxes in order to cover the expense of the British troops stationed in America.

Among the new taxes imposed by the British was a tax levied on all rum produced or manufactured in the Colonies (the Molasses Act 1733). Note that rum was the life-line of the colonies. New England and the middle colonies depended on the rum trade for their survival. There was the Sugar Act (1764), which was a modified version of the Molasses Act, and increased enforcement of existing taxes; the Stamp Act (1765)which imposed a tax on documents; and the Townsend Act (1767) which taxed imports.

The final straw was the Tea Act of 1773, designed to save the floundering East India Company of Britain, by shipping tea directly to the colonies, and sold at bargain rate prices. Problem was, the direct sale of tea was by British agents only, undercutting the business of local merchants, who stood to lose a good deal of cash. Colonists in Philadelphia and New York turned the ships back to Britain. In Charleston the tea was left to rot in the harbor. In Boston the royal governor was a stubborn one and he held the ships in port. No one was allowed to unload the tea. Cargoes of tea filled the harbor and British crews were grounded in Boston, looking for work and finding trouble. So, a bunch of colonists, dressed as Indians, boarded the ships and dumped the tea in the harbor. The Revolution was about to begin.

What should be noted today is that, compared to other industrialized countries, we are among the least taxed. There is no Sugar Act, or Stamp Act, or Townsend Act; and more, tellingly, there is no Quartering Act where we have to house and feed government troops in our homes. Yes, we do pay taxes, but as Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes declared, Taxes are the price we pay for civilization. Believe me, I hate paying taxes, but it’s nothing like America in 1773. People who make a parallel between now and the original tea partyers should look up their history.

Ministry of Fear

March 26, 2010 / Oswald Rivera / 1 Comment

Like most everyone else I spent the week catching up on the reform health care debate, and its passage. It’s now law. A majority of Americans will have health care, however imperfect. But what intrigued me was the outpouring of outright vehemence from certain groups as to its passage. By that I mean, predominantly, the tea party movement. The differences in tone stuck me. There’s President Obama at a rally in Iowa with an audience of young and old, people of every class and station and they exuded unbounded optimism. Then I would watch the other side, on the same cable programs, and what came at me were middle age white men and women spouting sheer hatred and venom. No optimistic sunniness for these guys. The contrast was startling.

I spoke to my wife about this, trying to understand the depth of animus in this group. She put it succinctly: These people are afraid that they are losing their nation. This fear is palpable because given current demographic trends, their worse imaginings will come to pass. They will no longer be majority in their own land. They conceive of it as the mongrelization of America. They are losing control to the Other: the ethnics, the blacks, the Asians, Hispanics, etc. As a white Anglo-Saxon, my wife can understand this fear. She put it to me this way: suppose I lived in Puerto Rico and discovered that in a short while Puerto Ricans would be a minority in their own land. Or a Frenchman finding out that he is a minority in France; or a German coming to the realization that he will be outnumbered in Germany. This one constant terrifies the tea partyers. Forget about health care, or government takeover, or federal intrusion in your life, or increase taxation—that’s the screen they use. The real fear is racial. And the election of black man as president exemplifies this fear as never before. This, to me, became vividly stark when I saw an old white biddy with a sign proclaiming: “Impeach the Kenyan.” It is scary, mainly because they feel the tide is going against them, these protesters. They hunger for the mythical past of the 1950s and Ozzie and Harriet and Leave it to Beaver where June Clever, the mother, would vacuum the rug in high heels and pearls, and Ward Cleaver, the father, would never take off his suit jacket, even at home.

The ironies abound. The same people who fear government intrusion into our lives will use government power to deny homosexuals and lesbians their right to wed. The same people who quote God at every turn will deny a woman her right to consul her own deity, and her own doctor, with regard to reproductive rights. The same people who claim to espouse freedom of speech would deny that same freedom to others. Now, I’m not claiming that all who belong to the tea party movement are out-and-out racists, that would be idiotic. There are those, I’m sure, who simply object to the current path solely on philosophical grounds. Genuine conservative thought and precepts have had a long and honored tradition in our nation. But, when one radical fringe group takes over one of our major parties with a platform based on hate and racial prejudice, that is worrisome. And the Republicans should take note. Such movements have a tendency of devouring their own—as witness John McCain who, a short while ago, was the darling and presidential candidate of the party, and who today is fighting for his political life because the tea partyers don’t consider him conservative enough or “pure” enough for their taste. Gives credence to the old maxim: Beware of what you wish for.

The sad fact is that this has all happened before. It occurred in the 1850s when the Know Nothing Party fulminated against the “scummy” Irish who were invading our shores and who would turn the nation into a papist outpost and undermine our true Protestant ethic. It reared its ugly head again in the 1900s nativist movement against those “greasy” Italians and “dumb-ass” poles who were polluting out national heritage. You saw in the 1920s when, at its height, the Ku Klux Klan had millions parade on Washington D.C. decrying the growing influence of “uppity” Negroes and “vile” Jews who would besmirch our nation’s honor. It happened in the 1950s when the John Birch Society railed against the Communists and suspected Communists who were organizing labor unions in order to, ostensibly, overthrow the government. Each nutty movement came and went. And we survived.

My friends, we will survive this two. We’ve survived worse. We did it over 200 years ago when 13 diverse colonies took on the greatest empire on earth. And against all odds, when they were counted out, they persevered and installed this Republic. Eight decades later the fledgling Republic was engulfed in a horrendous civil war, and it survived, emerging stronger and more united. It took on the threat of Fascism and Communism, and vanquished both, relegating such unnatural ideologies to the ash heap of history. So, yes, we will overcome the reactionaries within tea party movement and its ilk. The challenge now is to hang on until the glorious sunrise.

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Peasantry in America

February 15, 2010 / Oswald Rivera / 0 Comments

I’m going to put on my social conscience hat on for this tidbit. Occasionally I do that, as witnessned my last novel, The Proud and the Immortal, a tome about modern day homelessness in America. Or as some would clasify it, an atypical tale about the haves and have-nots in our society. This all came back to me when I came across the work of poet Jim Harrison. Yup, sometimes peotry says it all.

What got me on this kick? Well, it’s no secret that the U.S. is fast becoming the most econonically stratified society in the western world. This fact is particularly obvious since I live in New York City, where the middled class is being rapidly decimated by Bloomberg and his real estate cronies. But it’s not only that, it’s the recession in general which has really made it clear the inequity between the rich and poor. And it is a gap that’s widening. Let me give you some numbers. According to the Survey of Consumer Finances sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board, the wealthiest 1% of families in America own roughly 34.3% of the nation’s wealth; and the top 10% own over 71%.

Another sudy by New York University made it even more stark: in terms of financial wealth, the raw calculus just dealing with money, they own an even greater share of 42.7%. Since financial wealth is what counts, we can say that just 10% of the people in our country own the United Sates of America. For the rest of us? Either we get by or starve. Now, history has shown that such disparities in wealth is not good for the body politic. And it’s even worse when (and this according to government statistics) over 32 million citizens live below the poverty line.

I could go on spouting statistics and studies and numbers till your head hurts. But, Jim Harrison’s poem given below says it best. It’s a cry, and a warning.

EASTER MORNING

On Easter morning all over America
the peasants are frying potatoes in bacon grease.

We’re not suppose to have “peasants”
but there are tens of millions of them
frying potatoes on Easter morning,
cheap and delicious with catsup.

If Jesus were here this morning, he might
be eating fried potatoes with my friend
who has a ’51 Dodge and a ’72 Pontiac.

When his kids ask why they don’t have
a new car he says, “these care were new once
and now they are experienced.”

He can fix anything and when rich folks
call to get a toilet repaired he pauses
extra hours so they can further
learn what we’re made of.

I told him that in Mexico the poor say
that when there’s lightning the rich
think that God is taking their picture.
He laughed.

Like peasants everywhere in the history
of the world ours can’t figure out why
they’re getting poorer. Their sons join
the army to get work at being shot at.

Your ideals are invisible clouds
so try not to suffocate the poor,
the peasants, with your sympathies,
they know that you’re staring at them.

celebrate with COQUITO!

December 21, 2009 / Oswald Rivera / 0 Comments

In Puerto Rican households of old, the traditional drink for the Christmas holidays was coquito. In Puerto Rico, I’m told, it was also the beverage that flowed during Las Fiestas Patronales, or the the Feast of the Patron Saints. Seems every town or village had a patron saint, and what better way to pay homage than by making coquito. My folks called coquito Puerto Rican moonshine. It’s not too far off the mark. Some liken it to potent eggnog; and it can be made very potent or mild depending on how much rum you put in it.

In our family we still make coquito in the traditional manner. In my cookbook, Puerto Rican Cuisine in America (Perseus Books Group), the family recipe is given, and it calls for ripe coconuts which are cracked open, and using both the coconut milk and the coconut skin to make the coquito. It is a great recipe, and it makes the finest coquito on earth. But, it’s time consuming. I’ve modified the recipe using cream of coconut or coconut milk (readily available in most supermarkets) and there is no need to go buy coconuts and grate and pour and strain. If you want the traditional way of doing it, buy the book. Otherwise, just follow the steps given below. It produces a pretty good version.

An additional note: whichever way one makes coquito, my mother insists that only 151 proof dark rum should be used. Anything else is sacrilege.

COQUITO

3 cups cream of coconut or coconut milk (called coconut juice in some circles)
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 5-ounce can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 egg yolks, ligthtly beaten
3 cups 151 proof dark rum

1. In a large bowl, combine coconut cream or coconut milk, condensed milk, evaporated milk, cinnamon, egg yolks and rum. Pour in a blender or food processor and blend 10-20 seconds. If using a blender, this may be done in portions.
2. Pour into 1 liter or 1 quart containers (soda or wine bottles are fine), cap tightly and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
3. Serve in glasses with a sprinkling of nutmeg or cinnamon.
Yield: 14 servings or more, depending if you serve in a shot glass, pony glass, or wine glass.

Martial Arts – Power Forms

October 13, 2009 / Oswald Rivera / 0 Comments

Today I’m diverting from the usual wine and dining posts to focus on my beloved martial arts, specifically, Kung-Fu Wu-Su, the system which I have practiced for 35+ years. If you check out the December edition of Inside Kung Fu magazine, you will find among the articles one on a specific form we use in our system. The article features your truly and fellow Master Robert Thomas showing some of the specifics of the form. In this case, Kung Lei Chuang, or the Skill and Power Form.

I know well the controversy about the pros and cons of forms, or what are called “katas” in Karate. For the uninitiated, forms (or katas) are a fixed series of different poses or continuous body positions that include ,many techniques within a system. The beauty of forms is that they enable a practitioner to practice a series of techniques in sequence. They put together the techniques in a certain combination and they strengthen the internal and external body components. The drawbacks with forms is that they are limited to the techniques practice by the master who developed the form.

Some masters, among them Bruce Lee, did away with forms altogether and emphasized teaching techniques only. Where forms were concerned, Bruce Lee termed it as the “Classical Mess.” I do not follow this thinking. I still practice forms, and I practice them diligently. We have twelve basic forms in our system, and we think that’s enough. It’s true, if we exclusively practiced forms we would have no students left in the Chinese Kung-Fu Wu-Su Association Forms are an integral part of our system but not the end-all be-all of the system.

The Skill and Power Form, for instance, is one of our advanced forms. It’s name implies what it is: a sequence of vital movements designed for hard strikes and tough encounters. Unlike most forms or katas, it is not linear. It traverses in four directions, each preceding and following a singular movement. This form is not only good for exercise but it can be used for fighting as well. It’s got two power kicks, but its emphasis is on the hands and turning, shifting (inclusive of one jump kick). To me it is a premier form. One never gets bored practicing it and you learn something anew everytime you do it. If all forms were as interesting and applicable as the Skill and Power Form, the debate about the usefulness of forms (and katas) would have been solved years ago.

Healthcare – The Empire Strikes Back

August 6, 2009 / Oswald Rivera / 0 Comments

As was to be expected, the forces of the Evil Empire have massed a counterattack on President Obama‘s Health Care Plan. No surprise there. What’s surprising is the tactic they’re currently employing—right out of the Nationalist Socialist playbook: drown out the opposition with goon squads at public forums, megaphone in hand. Apparently this is the conservatives’ counterpart to the old brown shirt bully boys stifling opposition whenever possible. Even though a majority (70%) of all Americans welcome a change in our current health care system, and two-thirds of all doctors would prefer a national health care plan, these yahoos, by shouting down and intimidating their local representatives want to make it seem like there is a groundswell movement opposing revamping health care.

Their argument is thus: we like our current health care plan. We don’t want socialized government run health care with, heaven forbid, rationing of supplies. Hey, kiddies, we already have a nationally run health care plan, two, in fact. One is the VA (Veterans Administration); an entity of hospitals and doctors. Let me tell you, as a Vietnam era veteran, I’ve never had any complaints with the service I’ve gotten from them, and most vets would agree. The other is Medicare/Medicaid. Seniors love this plan, so much so that President Obama himself commented on one lady who, in a letter, railed against the prospect of socialized medicine, but warned him not to touch her Medicare. Wow. Talk about misguided assumptions.

It’s not rocket science. It very simple. On one side you have the American public, who are being drowned in a health care system with ever increasing premiums for less and, yes, rationed service. On the other side, the forces of evil: the private health insurers (whose livelihood depends on obliterating a national, competitive health plan), the pharmaceuticals, their lobbyists in Congress, and dubious politicians beholden to them. Be aware that the insurance industry, alone, is spending $1.4 million a day to defeat the health care plan. They want to maintain what they’ve always had—to enroll healthy people in their plans and not pay for treatment.

One of the most visible counterattacks on TV has been ads proferred by the so-called Conservatives for Patients’ Rights organization (CPR). So, let’s have a look. CPR, whose stated goal is opposition to Obama’s health care policy goals, was founded by one Richard L. Scott. Mr. Scott founded the Columbia Hospital Corporation in 1987, but was ousted by the company’s board of directors in 1997 in the midst of the nation’s biggest health care fraud scandal which involved allegations of Medicaid and Medicare fraud. It all had to do with improper billing practices and procedures. Not only that, Mr. Scott left with a $10 million severance package, when he was forced out, and $10 million shares of stock, most of which were from his initial investment before the company went public.

Mr. Scott, who is the most visible spokesman on the CPR ads, states that he “wants to enact health care legislation based on free-market principals.” Read that: kill the public health option so that he and his fellow weasels can continue to make millions out the present broken system, and the public be damned.

This is what we are up against. A well-coordinated, well-financed campaign of smears, lies and innuendo. Admittedly, at this point, it seems like an uphill battle.

The New York Bagel

August 2, 2009 / Oswald Rivera / 0 Comments

To me, bagels are like a religious experience. And that’s saying a lot for a non-believer. For every New Yorker, bar none, bagels are a rite of passage. This delicious savory transcends race, creed, gender, ethnicity, political affiliations,whatever. If you’re a newcomer in the city, or been here all your life, bagels are part of your psyche. For most, it is the morning meal that defines your day.

Nothing compares to a New York style bagel, boiled, chewy, and crusty. Eastern European Jewish immigrants brought the bagel with them to North America at the turn of the twentieth century. And they settled all over, not only in New York. Many went to Canada so that today you have the Toronto and Montreal-style bagel. I’ve had Canadian bagels. They’re not bad. But there’s something about a New York bagel that just makes it different. Some say it’s the water and, to a certain extent that may be so. Supposedly, the water from New York reservoirs is among the best in the nation. All I know in that I’ve had bagels (or facsimiles thereof) in other parts of the nation and Europe. It ain’t the same.

However, I did discover that when the genuine thing is not available, there are passable substitutes. About fifteen years ago I took a trip to Bozeman, Montana, a beautiful part of the country. No New York bagels. But I discovered that, in a pinch, Lender’s Frozen bagels aren’t that bad—especially if you’ve got nothing else.

And of course, we all have our preferences in types and flavors. We know that bagels are often topped with seeds (the most popular being poppy and sesame), or infused with other ingredients. My wife, Holly, prefers onion bagels. I prefer pumpernickel. We both love our bagels topped with whitefish. Although, from what I’ve seen, the all-time favorite is still bagels with lox and a schmear (cream cheese). Lox is cured salmon. I prefer Nova, or Nova Scotia lox, which is cured in a milder brine solution. Some aficionados prefer gravlax (gravad lox), which is not smoked and coated with a spice mixture.

Most Midwesterners out there are saying, What’s with this bagel thing? Well, it’s like an egg-cream soda, another New York staple. If you’ve never had it, you just don’t know. When I was in Buffalo one time, I had a beef on wek. It’s a local thing that once you try it, you get hooked.

Oh, if you can find a genuine shop that makes their own bagels on premises, like Bagel Works on First Avenue, then you’ve struck gold. Bagels have become a big industry and most are now made for distribution nation wide. So, if you have to, wherever you may be, look out for the local product. Believe it or not, they are out there. We discovered local bagel joints even in the wilds of Vermont. If it’s made on site, you’re in heaven.

Lt. Brian Bradshaw – R.I.P.

August 1, 2009 / Oswald Rivera / 0 Comments

About a month ago, on the same day that Michael Jackson died, Lieutenant Brian N. Bradshaw of Steilacoom, Washington, was killed by a roadside bomb in Kheyl, Afghanistan. Lt. Bradsahw was assigned to the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.

Except for some notices in his hometown paper, in the media madness regarding Michael Jackson’s demise, Lt. Bradshaw’s sacrifice went largely by the wayside.

I find it unsettling that the public goes on this media frenzy regarding Michael Jackson while the death of a true hero like Lt. Bradsahw goes unnoticed. Yes, this says a lot about our society. And, anyway you look at it, there’s something wrong with this picture.

Oswald Rivera

Author, Warrior, and Teacher