And now, a few words from an American

Every once in awhile, some ordinary Joe steps out of the crowd and teaches us a lesson about what makes this country great.

It happened this week in Lima.

The hero of this modest tale was an everyday working guy, a small-business owner who felt he had been unfairly maligned by a public official. So he requested privilege of the floor at Monday's City Council meeting and set the record straight.

As it happened, this ordinary guy's name isn't Joe. It is Fahim - Fahim Eddir, to be exact.

Mr. Eddir took exception to remarks earlier this month by 6th Ward Councilman Derry Glenn. Expressing concern about the sale of so-called drug paraphernalia by businesses patronized by schoolchildren, Glenn added that the problem has become more acute as businesses in his ward have been taken over by "foreign people."

Eddir, a Palestinian by birth who became a naturalized American citizen nearly 40 years ago, owns or has owned convenience stores and a service station in Lima for 20 years. He told City Council he was "greatly offended" by Glenn's comments.

And, it seems to me, with justification. Immigrants - "foreign people," in Glenn's phrase - have played a big part in building this country.

The diverse ethnic groups that make up our community have arrived in overlapping waves and layers, starting before the city was founded and continuing up to the present day. Many were immigrants - from Germany, Wales, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy and elsewhere in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and more recently from Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Historically, the United States has taken pride in being a nation of immigrants. Still, as the ongoing debate over immigration reform shows, it's surprising how quick we can be to reject our own heritage.

When times get hard, it's human nature to look for someone to blame. Too often, fingers are reflexively pointed at whoever is different, and those most vulnerable are often those who are viewed as outsiders or newcomers.

For those who come here from other countries, the stigma of being an outsider can linger even after decades spent trying to integrate themselves into the community. As an Arab-American whose wife and children are also American citizens, Eddir spoke of enduring "disdainful looks ... in these difficult times."

Even so, he described himself as a proud citizen of "this great country." He expressed respect for the work of City Council, and thanked its members for hearing him.

At the heart of Eddir's remarks, in a nice turn of phrase, was a plea for an end to "clueless xenophobia."

"It serves no purpose to legitimize hatred in the name of politics," he said.

The entire presentation amounted to a few minutes in the busy life of the city. Some people will think there was nothing remarkable about the encounter at all.

Yet it was a textbook demonstration of the First Amendment in action. Eddir was not only vigorously exercising his constitutional right of free speech right in the faces of the powers that be. To the extent that he was implicitly seeking an apology from an elected official, he was also taking advantage of another provision in the First Amendment: the right "to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Such a scene would be unimaginable in many countries. Even here, citizens too often allow themselves to be merely passive observers of the political process, failing to speak up or even to vote.

Sometimes, as we have often seen, it is the "foreign people" who appreciate this country most.

It was good to see Fahim Eddir step up and have his say. It was a very American thing to do.

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