"Oh no, not you again?" The U.S. Postmaster General exclaimed in his most horrified sounding voice. "I suppose your looking for another stamp for Ed Fitter?"
"No," I replied. "I am looking for a postage stamp for Eid el Fitr, an Islamic holiday. I want to do what other Americans in this country do when they send a holiday greeting card. They use a stamp that reflects their message."
"We don't have any Eid el Fitr stamps," the US Postmaster declared. "How many times do I have to tell you that?" "As often as it takes," I replied.
You see, the US Post Office offers a Christmas stamp that I can put on holiday greeting card for Christians.
It only costs 32 cents.
And, I can purchase a Hanukkah stamp that I can put on holiday greeting cards to my Jewish friends. (You see, I really do believe in the Palestinian revolution goal of creating a non-sectarian state where Jews, Christians and Muslims can live together as equals and in peace!)
And, I can even purchase a Kwanza stamp.
"Why don't you use a Kwanza stamp?" the US Postmaster General asked, scoffing at my intelligence. "They're African aren't they?"
"No," I replied. "Muslims are people who believe in Islam which is a religion, not a nationality. This year, the Islamic holiday will closely coincide to Hanukkah and Christmas and Kwanza, which is an African American holiday recognized only recently to help African Americans celebrate and publicly extol the virtues of their own culture."
I paused, and made the same point I made last year. "Muslims deserve a holiday stamp recognizing their religion, too, especially since they are among the fastest growing religious groups in the United States.
And, they may out number, for example, Jews, as an American religious group. And someday they will even out number African Americans, too!
Not all Muslims are Arab. The religion includes people from tens of other countries from around the world. Many African Americans are Muslim.
"Well, I don't see anyone beating down the door of the US Postal Service to get is to issue an Eid el Fitr stamp to celebrate the Muslim holiday?" the US Postmaster General replied.
And, I would humbly argue, is exactly my point.
If we want a stamp, ever Muslim, every Arab, every Christian who believes in equality, should be knocking on the door of their local postal service and make the same demand.
But, just in case, maybe there is a very talented lawyer out there who might wish to make a Class Action lawsuit point about this very clear form of religious and ethnic discrimination.
The wall can come down, one stamp at a time.
(Ray Hanania is a Palestinian American author and journalist and philatelists with one of the largest known collections of Palestine Stamps in the Midwest. His columns are archived on the web at http://www.hanania.com.)
