Dear beloved supporters and readers,
It was almost like a Disney or Hollywood turbulent geographical turmoil that we were slowly but surely sucked into-like an operational tornado-when we moved our offices to our new location about three months ago. Predictably, the monthly production of The Independent Monitor lagged for three issues, July, August and September of 2008.
I would like to thank all of you who called and inquired about our temporary and expected absence. Now, The Independent Monitor is produced completely at our new physical address. In the past, we had to rely on outside firms to produce the paper for us.
We are thankful for the past assistance of Breek Publishing and other firms. We won’t be here today without their formative help.
Our undying determination to continue to publish and create a powerful Arab American media presence will never wane or falter. Our self-assuredness firmly perches on our indelible knowledge that our collective strength as a targeted community is proportionally dependent on our eventual success in creating and growing our own robust media, one that precisely speaks in our own editorial spin and is unambiguously independent-no pun intended-from outside pressure.
So, you may ask yourself, how do I, the lay reader, fit in this seemingly impossible task? Well, a strong media needs working producers and cheering supporters. If you happen to be one of those cheerleading concerned Americans who value and understand this concept and believe that we-you and us-can transform our informationally-weak media presence into a strong and ultimately a formidable one, then you can jump aboard because you fit right in.
There are many ways to support The Independent Monitor. Some people have subscribed, some sent donations but many are still sitting on the sidelines, either silent or offering us generous and mesmerizing moral support-without more. While moral support is undeniably soothing, fuzzy, civil, respectful, and relaxing, it cannot be taken all the way to the bank-especially today’s banks!
Until and unless we operationally coalesce, act in large numbers, put our money where our mouths are, and materially support our media and other institutions, we will continue to endlessly languish in the squalid swamp of powerlessness and irrelevance, whining and complaining forever while our rights continue to be robbed, and while we sadly continue to be the doormat and the laughing stock of our adoptive nation.
Our sustained and meaningful support of our own media and institutions will deservedly heighten the place of our battered community, more prominently and respectably on the efficient American radar screen. We are no different than other American Chinese, Irish, Italians, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Koreans, etc. All American minorities involuntarily endured the painful passage through the merciless gauntlet of assimilation while simultaneously being glaringly perceived by other suspecting individuals or communities as “other” outsiders.
Civilizations and peoples who were successful in memorializing in writing their affairs, hopes, dreams and grievances, generally succeeded in realizing their dreams and garnering respect at some point in time. Those who stay silent and are unable to communicate to the world their news and views, do not fare well or achieve a high position on the illusive totem pole of history. Some peoples became extinct for not mastering the primitive skill of writing.
Whether in the suppressed Arab World or here, we are passing through unusual and historically more than biblical times. Whoever thought that the occupying Zionists will effectively lobby and pressure the world and convince it to impose sanctions on Occupied Palestine, and more specifically, on the Occupied and starved Gaza Strip? Did anyone ever imagine that our economy will sink into this seemingly bottomless abyss that it is in today without certain knowledge that it will hopefully recover before millions of fellow poor souls are precipitously plunged into a ton of bricks of unemployment, bankruptcy, divorce, family breakups, etc?
Tough times like these require tough measures on our part. We can’t afford to suicidally continue to idly, lazily and complacently sit on our collective rear-end. We have to get up and be the change agents who will create the opportunities for positive change at these times of hopeful potential change.
Enough said, we would like you to view The Independent Monitor as your new-andimproved- formula alternative yet authentic American voice of Arab decent. Please feel free to share with us your news, views, suggestions, photos, cheers and tears, good times and bad times. We solemnly but conditionally promise you that we will make our best efforts to be eagerly responsive to all of your good and constructive feedback.
We would like you to help us here at The Independent Monitor to grow together, both as media and as an upcoming and potentially-influential community.
We, The Independent Monitor, cannot, quickly accomplish this vision alone. Your reflexively affirmative, quick, almost immediate support will go a long way to enable The Independent Monitor to help take our Arab American community successfully into the presently turbulent but unique and continuing American horizon.
The writer is the publisher of The Independent Monitor, the national newspaper of Arab Americans. He can be reached at Info@TIMonitor.com.
Sami Bishara Mashney
Come Together!
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