31
March 2000
National
Headquarters
Nashville, TN 37203
Dear Vice-President:
Your statement regarding the
Elian Gonzalez crisis and the current INS position gives me deep pause about
your viability as a Democratic Presidential candidate in the upcoming election.
Your hopefully misinformed political compulsion to capitalize on the 25 electoral votes in Florida by exploiting the INS crisis regarding Elian is deplorable. Your statements also publicly make you complicit and liable now as another contributor in the manifestation of spreading a chill over the love between the generations and the generative legacy Elian will have to inherit and incorporate into his lifespan. Why did you not offer your statements or position about Khalil Shanti, a 2-year old Jordanian boy who was recently quietly ordered home? I can only guess it is because the Jordanian constituency does not yet have enough influence on the electoral process.
Why is it political individuals like you who talk out both sides of your mouth about familial issues fail to comprehend or validate that fathers in the U.S., and now it seems everywhere in our global family of cultures, have to prove they are fit, subject themselves to second-class citizenship and gender bias on innumerous levels, while the motherhood mystique, while mothers for that matter, enjoy our constant support in the fabric of every layer of our cultural norms and roles, our societal institutions, and the judiciary framework of the domestic relations courts? Are you really prepared for the outcome of all of this? Are you prepared to be held accountable for all of this in your Presidential run in 2000 and ready to offer a cogent explanation to approximately 17.5 million voters, men who relate daily to what Elián’s father must endure?
Mr. Vice-President, you greatly disappoint me. You insult the clinical work I do to help disenfranchised fathers, fathers who desperately are trying to remain a central figure in the ongoing development of their children’s life. You now have openly validated at the highest level of our government that fathers have to prove that they are fit, have to subject themselves to second-class citizenship, and endure gender bias if you become elected in 2000. Thank you for such an optimistic picture.
I am sorry that I must now consider committing my vote, and also as a member of the board of directors of an organization that provides the community with fathering information, education, support, and prevention programs focused on positive parenting to vote for the Republican candidate¾regardless of their stand on any other issue(s).
Sincerely,
Mark A. Rogers, M.S., M.A.,
Psy.D.