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. Saturday, March 16, 2002 8:11 PM (no subject) Dear Sir: The recent controversy over whether partners of gay people killed in the 9/11 tragedy are eligible for compensation funds has me very concerned. I believe that this tragedy had, and has, the opportunity to unite Americans in a unique way. The fact that so many Americans of different beliefs and backgrounds and races could be united by this tragedy underlines the hope that we can all be equal under the laws of this nation, and that we all can benefit from the charity and kindness of the communities in which we live, at the very least, in equal proportion to which we contribute to our communities. The galling truth is that in this nation there are people who are decidedly unequal under the law, and even under the values and perceptions of the community as a whole. All the people who died in 9/11 and their relatives and loved ones are entitled to at least the same proportionate support, understanding and compensation from that tragedy. Denying benefits to gay partners, those who survived this tragedy without their loved ones, is an outrage. It is immoral on its face. It is a travesty of the values we all seek to protect, and it is yet another cruel slap in the face to those who contribute their votes, their taxes, their productive capacity, and their lives to this nation. Benefits and monetary compensation are a small and entirely inadequate way to comfort those who have lost loved ones. Leaving out an entire group from even this comfort is deplorable. It reinforces the second rate status of a certain group, gays, at a time when we are all called upon to come together and face this tragedy as a unified nation. This insult to millions of Americans who count themselves as gay or lesbian, bisexual or transgendered is nothing more than the height of hypocrisy from a from any organization that seeks to unify this nation, and convince us all of its responsibility, reliability and beneficence. I have learned that counting on the understanding of a person, much less a bureacracy, inured to understanding the plight of others can be futile. But as you consider the charitable contributions, government aid and any other aid, moral or financial, that you grant the families and survivors of people killed in 9/11, be aware that you will be denying that aid to many proud, decent, prodcutive and patriotic people who need that aid as much as any other. I remain hopeful that this nation will someday regard all its citizens as equals, but not as pariahs simply due to their sexual orientation. I remain hopeful that all decent people who contribute to this country of their talents and ambitions will be fully recognized on their merits as human beings. Also, I hope that the deficiencies in many of our laws, and the ignorance and, sometimes venality, of many of our people will someday change. Finally, I hope its not to much to believe that gay partners of those who died on 9/11 may be treated with some decency, understanding and respect under the guise of the 9/11 Fund. Respectfully, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-16 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 dojR001218.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. 2002-03-16