Speak out against racial hatred of all kinds especially now regarding the slime being directed against Muslims living peacefully in America

Harsh Desai (a former ANS Congressional Fellow of the American Nuclear Society who worked for Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-CA) had a gun pulled on him last night (12/08/15) in Schenectady, NY, for no other reason than that a wing nut, who became unhinged as a result of being goaded by television media reports about the Republican presidential primaries, decided he “looked like a terrorist.”

Apparently, without the intervention of a neighbor, things could have escalated.

I normally would not share something with a political aspect to it, but, this incident shows how much the stupidity being reported in the news media about statements by the various Republican candidates for President, can hit close to home.

Note to readers: A police report on the incident described below was filed and the case is now being investigated by the FBI as a possible “hate crime.” AP coverage of similar incidents is appearing in newspapers nationwide.

Here’s a statement from Desai from his Facebook page about the incident;

“Tonight, I was held at a gun point and called a terrorist, in front of my own apartment building. No, he was not a member of any gang or a vigilante, rather a Caucasian male who had seen me leave a local restaurant and followed me. He was convinced that I “looked like a terrorist” and that “my kind was on a path to destroy America.

Today, I survived because of my neighbor, a former US Marine, who distracted the gunman enough for me to render him unconscious.

Over the last few weeks, I have asked around “what does it take to be an American?” No one I have surveyed has pulled the race card. Yet, for the second time since 9/11, I am afraid of being an American with brown skin.

Harsh Desai at the US Senate

The answer is not hard to find. There is so much of hatred being spread around this country right now that even Americans like myself, who work hard hours to support the US Navy, have to now live in fear everyday. Freedom, life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness seems only to be afforded to a ‘class’ of citizens.

My fellow Americans, please do not let any divisive voice, that is trying to simply win votes, define who you should be and what morals you should believe in as an American.”

Yes, it may be true that my family and I immigrated to the United States of America perhaps much later than your family. But regardless, my name is Harsh Sudhirbhai Desai and I have brown skin, but it makes me no less an American than you.

One or Many?

No, it’s not just one person. It’s all of them and they’ve taken a plunge into unreasonable fear big time.

As a third generation American who’s grandparents fled oppression in Europe in the 19th century, I’m hard over about pushing back on this kind of stuff.

If you are as disturbed as I am by this incident, contact your Republican presidential candidate of choice and make your feelings know.

Even if you’re not a republican voter, all of them want to be president of the whole country and need to hear from you – now.

Nukes for an end to nonsense – djysrv

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