Since Mr. Kass seems to be so jaded at “the good ol’ U.S. of A.” (“Ashamed at our finest hour,” Sept. 9 ), I would like to exercise my patriotic duty and remind him that no one is preventing him from living somewhere else. Perhaps he’d prefer “England or China or some other country.”

How dare Mr. Kass equate patriotic Americans with the perpetrators of post-Sept. 11 hate crimes. Citizens of this country who would commit such base acts on peace-loving fellow citizens are as un-American as the terrorists themselves. America was founded on freedom, be it from an oppressive government or a harassing neighbor.

And finally may I remind Mr. Kass that before Sept. 11, 2001, the 19 hijackers were average, peace-loving Americans, or so they seemed to their coworkers and neighbors. Racial profiling may be an ugly reality, but not near so ugly as the loss of 3000 innocent lives. And before people jump all over me, may I ask which they’d prefer: That their Arab-American best friend be detained and searched in an airport or that their mother, father, and sister be killed in a terror attack on their hometown?

Amy Peet

Freshman

LAS, undeclared