Wir schweigen nicht.

We went to see Amy Goodman (host of DemocracyNow!) speak this past Friday evening. She was in town promoting her book, Static: Government Liars, Media Cheerleaders and the People who Fight Back. Overall, I'm glad that we went to see her, though it did seem that - at least in our case - she was preaching to the choir.

She started by telling us what a rigorus schedule she has been keeping (3 cities a day), mostly as an explanation as to why she was late to the show. She then launched into some several stories, many of which have made it into the mainstream media by now. This included everyone's good friend Cindy Sheehan. If found it interesting that Amy focused on her for so long, as her story is so well known already. Regardless.

There was one story that had apparently hit the mainstream media, but which I missed when it passed by. This was a T-shirt story.

Earlier this year Iraqi blogger and activist Raed Jarrar who was forced to change his T-Shirt before boarding a JetBlue Airways flight at Kennedy airport. The shirt he wore? A black shirt with the words "We will not be silent" written in English...and Arabic. You see, the Arabic language has become a language of terror - as far as the TSA is concerned, anyway.

Actually, the phrase "We will not be silent" was originally drawn by the shirt's creator from the 4th leaflet put out by The White Rose, an a small group of university students in Nazi Germany who felt they should do something to speak out against the Nazi party and Adolf Hitler. Ignorance, it seems, is killing us (and everyone else).

(incidently, if you are interested in purchasing a shirt, you can do that here).