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Dear ADC members and friends: Dear ADC members and friends: "Empowering Our Community" is at the core of ADC's mission. I am reminded by what our own Khalil Jubran wrote and what the late President John Kennedy made famous, "Ask not what your country can do for you, Ask what you can do for your country." My friends, I now ask not what ADC can do for you but what can you do of ADC. It is my firm conviction that what we aspire to see ADC become will depend largely on what we individually contribute to it. The sum total of collective efforts is what will define ADC. This is a defining period for our community and the many just causes we espouse. The unconstitutional infringement upon our civil rights, while not unprecedented, has had serious ramifications, which we may collectively view as insurmountable challenges or potentially rewarding opportunities for making America a better place. Add to this, the ever-volatile and deteriorating situation in the Middle East. Both domestically and externally, our community is facing serious challenges but also great opportunities. Whether to engage in the political process or remain cocooned into our communal enclaves is no longer an option. We can no longer ignore the challenges our community faces. The choices we make today will determine the future our children will inherit tomorrow. Empowering ourselves with the necessary tools to position our community at the top of the defenders of civil rights for all Americans requires deliberate, reasoned and farsighted strategies and mechanisms. Being truly Arab will no longer conflict with being fully American. If we desire to effect changes in our government's domestic or foreign polices, we must become active participants in the political, economic, social and scientific spheres that define our country. Good citizenship entails obligations and rights and they are not mutually exclusive. No longer can we continue to believe that the justice of our causes is sufficient to win the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans It is about time to recognize that morality is only a byproduct of the American political process. It is a fact that American politics is all about numbers: Numbers as in the amount of money we can raise to support or defeat candidates or issues. And numbers as in the number of registered voters our community can claim to have. Without numbers on our side, our issues will remain beyond our reach and outside of the American political discourse. We now recognize that our causes
will be heard only when we do three things; Organize..... Organize. However, being merely reactive is not sufficient considering the seriousness of our issues. The time is NOW to be pro active, taking actions and building a strategy based on concrete, tangible and for the moment seemingly unachievable goals. It was Chancellor Helmut Schmidt who observed that 'the tragedy of life doesn't lie in not reaching your goals but in having no goals to reach. It isn't calamity to die with dreams unfulfilled, but it is a calamity not to dream. It is not a disgrace to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin." It is time to make no small plans for they have no place, no power to stir our souls. The road ahead is filled with many challenges but ADC will always be there, the embodiment of our dreams and hopes and our vehicle to new highs. The leadership of this chapter will work closely with the national leadership to advance our causes. The Board of Directors and the many volunteers who make up our chapter are hereby renewing their commitments to serve with diligence, integrity and passion. Will you join us- today? Let us join hands to make America the Promised Land for all its citizens and a light onto the world. Respectfully, Aref Assaf, President |
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