The Sad Story of Hamid Sayadi
The San Francisco Chronicle today features the sad story of Kurdish-American auto mechanic Hamid Sayadi. It's an example of what happens when reason gets left behind in our post-9/11 world.
A witty and eloquent Kurdish-American in his 50s, Sayadi waved the flag of his adopted country and cheered its military for three decades — all to end up stripped to his underwear one day, in the boiler room of his workplace, he says, a ragged and sobbing husk of his former self.
The workplace was New United Motor Manufacturing, called NUMMI. It's the largest auto manufacturer in Fremont, Calif, building both GM and Toyota vehicles.
He was a passionate supporter of the US military when it invaded Iraq -- but to his co-workers at the plant, he says, he was just "Ali Baba" and a potential terrorist. The harassment got worse and worse until one day he snapped.
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