Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. President George W. Bush The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 cc: Vice-President Dick Cheney Attorney General John Ashcroft Dear Mr. President, At the sixth month commemoration of the September 11th tragedies, as a proud Americans, I feel deeply betrayed. I feel anger like no anger I?ve ever felt. It?s almost at the same degree of anger I have toward Osama Bin Laden, Al Queda, and the Taliban. Our faith and belief in a nation of equality, of one people, and renewed by the events of 9/11, was shockingly spat upon by the remarks of the head of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, Kenneth Feinberg, on the March 10th telecast of NBC?s ?Meet The Press?. To defer to state laws and dodge a political bullet is nothing less than cowardice. It is a disgrace to the honor of heroes like , , and the of the airplane which hit the Pentagon, all of whom happened to be gay. We?re sure there must be many more. Few states, if any, provide the same legal protection and accommodation for same-sex partners, as they do for married heterosexual citizens. By using this method of disqualification, it means that compensation will be denied to these equally deserving victims. To deny equal compensation implicitly makes the gay men and women who died, lesser kinds of heroes, lesser kinds of victims and their loved ones. When I hear of special accommodation and immunity being offered to illegal aliens by Mr. Feinberg and Attorney General Ashcroft in order to extend 9/11 Fund benefits, yet see no similar effort nor accommodation being made to the gay American legal citizens who lost a partner, I am ashamed of and angry at this country?s leaders who perpetuate such divisive standards. As a nation, have we not learned anything from our history, especially in times of crisis? We have apologized and paid a symbolic compensation for the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. (Ironically, a second generation Japanese-American, Minoru Yamasaki, was the architect for the World Trade Center.) We have since recognized racial segregation in the military during the same period, and in American society in general until the mid-1960?s. We have established laws to protect most of our citizens against such inequality. Would we even consider the same divisive practices today? Apparently we do, especially when it comes to matters of sexual orientation and determining which heroes? loved ones are worthy of compensation. Some would say that these early policies reflected the opinions and beliefs of the times. Perhaps that?s true to a degree, but moreover, they are examples of the hypocrisy we continue to see in our laws and social behavior. What if things were reversed? Can you imagine extending 9/11 Fund benefits only to the loved ones of homosexual victims and not to those of heterosexual victims? I seriously doubt that the opinions and beliefs of the American public today would support the decision to exclude any 9/11 victim?s surviving spouse, partner, child, or anyone who depended greatly upon the victim for financial support or other assistance. Does this include the guy who sold him a newspaper each day? Of course not. Does it include a life partner who shared the rent or mortgage? Someone who is caring for a child of the victim? You bet. Forget about the victim?s or loved one?s sexual orientation. Apply a fair, comparable standard. Today, my partner and I are celebrating our fourth anniversary as life partners. I can only imagine what the victims and their loved ones felt on September 11 and since that fateful day. I ask you, is the wife of a World Trade Center investment broker more worthy of benefits than the 20-year loving male partner of , the hero who died while helping to avert a second aircraft destined to hit Washington, DC? These are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary action and compassion. It is a time when unity and fairness must be the just cause to repeal, amend, or eliminate inequitable laws and policies which divide and exclude. If we are truly a nation founded on the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness and if we truly believe in justice and equality for all of our citizens, we must act accordingly. Please seize this opportunity to correct a wrong for the gay victims of 9/11, and to renew the fight to end discrimination and unequal treatment of America?s gay citizens. Sincerely, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojR000233.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-14