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Town Meeting at Fletcher on Sept. 11 Anniversary Sounds Plea for Tolerance
On the eve of the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States, The Fletcher School at Tufts was the site of a Town Meeting, featuring an unusually eclectic panel: two academics, one originally from Lebanon, the other of Pakistani descent; a former Suffolk County District Attorney [from Boston] of African descent; a Fletcher student from the Midwest, whose parents originally came from Kashmir, and who is also a high-profile peace activist; and an Irish-American comic who grew up on the streets of Cambridge.

But taken together, this group formed the basis of a fascinating discussion held at Fletcher on Sept. 9 Co-sponsored by the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and The Fletcher School, more than 350 people, which included students and members of Boston-area communities, jammed ASEAN Auditorium to reflect on the extraordinary event now known simply as 9/11. Indeed, a giant screen was put up in the Hall of Flags to accommodate the overflow crowd.

The United Way-Fletcher pairing was appropriate. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, the United Way created its Unity Fund in response to the ripple effects of 9/11 and whose mission is to promote racial, ethnic and religious harmony locally. The Fletcher School, whose mantra is to prepare leaders with a global perspective, is truly an international school -- 40 percent of its students are from abroad and come from virtually every corner of the world.

Moderating the Town Meeting was Christopher Lydon, a familiar radio voice and TV face in Boston from his days as the host of WBUR-FM's "Connection" and WGBH-TV's "Ten O'clock News, " and who earlier had reporting stints with The New York Times and The Boston Globe.

The event was entitled "The New American Profile: Eye on the 'Other,'" while the panel consisted of: Leila Fawaz, Director of the Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies at Tufts University, who also holds faculty appointments at The Fletcher School and at Tufts; Ralph Martin II, former Suffolk County District Attorney now in private practice; Jimmy Tingle, a political humorist and former commentator on "60 Minutes II; Qamar-ul Huda, an Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies and Comparative Theology at Boston College; and, Usmaan Ahmad, a Fletcher student and political activist working to achieve a peaceful solution in Kashmir. [Last February, in a story headlined "Kashmir's Champion Finds Pitfalls to Peace," Ahmad was profiled by Barbara Crossette of The New York Times].

With audience members occasionally chiming in, the discussion dealt with changes in our national psyche and public policy issues such as civil liberties, racial profiling, diversity, and immigrant life. Christopher Lydon set the stage by posing the question: "How are you holding up"?

But while the subjects ranged from Tom Friedman to Tip O'Neill, the evening turned out to be as personal as it was political. Leila Fawaz, a respected diplomatic historian on the Middle East, told how, as a Lebanese-American, she had become a more guarded person since 9/11.

In particular, she told of one incident in which she and her husband were waiting on line at a local movie house. "For the first time, my husband happened to talk to me in Arabic. I got so angry at him," she said, fearing a hostile reaction from other movie patrons. "Professionally, I have become more of a crusader, more of a contrarian in my classes," she said.

Ralph Martin, the former Suffolk County District Attorney and an African-American who has been mentioned as a possible mayoral candidate in Boston, spoke of feeling helpless in the face of terrorism. "My life is good; my kids think I'm a great guy; I make a very good living [in private practice]. Life is great -- until think of the things I can't control."

Martin also spoke of the disorienting effects of the attacks. "Public safety was my business and we were pretty good at it. But [with 9/11] there was nothing we could do," he said. The former prosecutor also spoke about his feelings as a member of a minority group. "As an African American, I feel now another part of the population will know what it's like to be targeted," he said candidly.

Jimmy Tingle, the local kid who made good on the comedy circuit, spoke of the "profound sadness" he felt on that fateful September day. "One of our neighbors was at the Windows on the World. We tried to get hold of her, but it became apparent she was dead," he said.

Still, Tingle was not above some gentle political humor. Calling himself "a lifelong Democrat, a peace activist who had opposed the Persian Gulf War and did benefits for the Red Cross," Tingle announced that he had previously given up on the flag and on God. "But on September 11, I found myself praying for Bush," he recalled, as the audience clapped and broke into laughter.

Usmann Ahmad, an American born of Kashmiri parents, a former Eagle Scout and a Fletcher student, spoke forcefully about the discomfort minorities felt in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. "On Sept. 12, I was in Brooklyn, New York. Every single business owned by a minority had a flag -- as a protection," he said, with a trace of anger in his voice.

Ahmad also recalled being the victim of a painful incident of racial profiling aboard an American airlines plane as he was about to return to The Fletcher School from the Thanksgiving Day weekend. Perhaps it was because of his swarthy complexion; perhaps it was because someone saw him reading The Economist; perhaps it was something about his face. Recalled Ahmad, "The pilot said, "The flight attendant isn't comfortable with you on the plane." When the student asked what that meant, the pilot told him, "Maybe you should have smiled at her."

Before long, Ahmad was kicked off the plane, for no apparent reason than his dark skin and failure to smile. "I had become 'the angry brown man,'" he mused.

Similarly, Qamar-ul Huda, the Boston College professor of Pakistani descent, recalled some personal incidents of harassment. Saying he was "more frustrated and more upset" in aftermath of 9/11, he told of one incident, en route to Bates College in Maine, where he was stopped by a white man. as he was. "Where's you boy?" the man asked derisively.

And yet, the Town Meeting ended on a hopeful note. Leila Fawaz put it well. "We've got to keep the dialogue going. One Boston Globe columnist said 'Tolerance breeds tolerance.' We've got to go back to our principles. That's the best way to win the war," she said.