Mary--

We only know what we read. I would say UPI is a pretty good source, wouldn't you? Fox is despicable--I think reasonable people should agree. The approach they took in mocking the "ham sandwich" incident is particularly revolting.

The fact remains that "a public forum held by the city's Sun Journal" had to be "halted because of the overt hostility on display"--sparked by this incident, with others in the background. It's also obvious that rolling a pig's head into a Somali mosque is totally unacceptable.

So why the "overt hostility"? I think it's obvious that one of the main reasons is a perception among many Americans who've been here for a while that recent immigrants are not willing to do what other immigrants have always done--assimilate. If you doubt this look at some of the rather intemperate remarks about Mexicans in the US--in Mudcat, yet.

Both the people who rail against Mexicans who "refuse to learn English" and those who resent the Somalis in Maine are dead wrong. I think we can agree on that.

I also suspect--though I have absolutely no evidence--that local Maine boys have been killed in Iraq and that the sight of Somalis makes certain people in Maine think of Iraqi insurgents--or Osama.   Look at the treatment given Sikhs right after 9-11 in the US--just for wearing a turban. So there are definitely bigots in the story.

But if you ask for special treatment, you are playing right into the hands of the bigots. If you disagree, exactly why?

And saying you are "hurt, offended" by a ham sandwich being placed on a table "where Somali students were eating" is asking for trouble.   As I said, do you think a Jewish student who keeps kosher would have reacted the same way?   Not if he's smart--and gets good counsel from parents etc. The Somali boy got wretched advice. And the school superintendent has blown this incident way out of proportion--"one student was suspended and more disciplinary action was possible". Suspended? Talk to the offending student if you like. Only if that student has a history of much worse should a suspension be considered. "Hate crime"?   The sandwich does not rise to this level. But the overreaction stokes hate. And so does Fox.

But as I said earlier, anybody who would push the student to protest the ham sandwich is doing him no favor. Now he's the center of a firestorm--and has established himself as the perfect outsider. When all he wanted to do was "fit in". This is not the way to do that.