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Mon. May 30, 2005

Not American Enough

On Memorial Day, I think it’s appropriate for you to hear the story of a woman named Ligaya Lagman, if you haven’t already:

Her 27-year-old son, Army Staff Sgt. Anthony Lagman, was killed last year in Afghanistan when his unit came under fire during a mission to drive out remnants of Taliban and al-Qaida forces.

But the largest organization of these women, the American Gold Star Mothers Inc., has rejected Lagman, a Filipino, for membership because — though a permanent resident and a taxpayer — she is not a U.S. citizen.

“There’s nothing we can do because that’s what our organization says: You have to be an American citizen,” national President Ann Herd said Thursday. “We can’t go changing the rules every time the wind blows.”

MSNBC: “Group shuns Filipino mother of slain soldier”

This hit the news a few days ago, and since then, Ms. Lagman has dropped her bid to become a Gold Star Mother: “Bob Foster of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Eastchester tells the Journal News that Lagman is shaken up by all the attention she has gotten and she wants to stay on the sidelines. But she wants to see the rules changed so other mothers are not turned down like she was.”

I would, too. It’s shameful that her son was American enough to die for his country, but his mourning mother is rejected as not American enough, when the “Gold Star” is purely honorary and confers no special benefits.

Just compassion.

And we can’t have that, because “We can’t go changing the rules every time the wind blows.” You see, “the rules” are more important than compassion for this honorary organization.

And that ought to be enough, but it’s particularly galling if you go to this organization’s website and see the ideals they proclaim. Right up top, their logo’s tag line is “Perpetuating the noble principles for which they fought and died.”

“Noble principles” like exclusion? Has the 12 member council that made this decision even considered what Sgt. Lagman’s peers might think about the fact they apparently are fighting so that the Gold Star Mothers can exclude their dead buddy’s mom? Have they really given any thought to what they are actually “perpetuating” with this act? Some might call it tincture of xenophobia.

They further tell us they were “granted a Federal Charter by the ninety-eighth Congress. That was in 1929, and in the years since, through times of war and times of peace, this organization of American mothers has changed, grown, and always been there when needed.”

Except in the case of Mrs. Lagman. They can’t change, grow, or be there when needed when it comes to her. She’s not American enough. Therefore, she must somehow be suffering less than a genuine Gold Star Mother, and her son’s sacrifice for America is not quite worth honoring.

But this sentence is so galling it ought to be stricken from their site: “The success of our organization continues because of the bond of mutual love, sympathy, and support of the many loyal, capable, and patriotic mothers who while sharing their grief and their pride, have channeled their time, efforts and gifts to lessening the pain of others.”

In the case of Ligaya Lagman, the Gold Star Mothers have failed the expressed intentions of nearly every syllable of that sentence. In this case, their president has literally said “There’s nothing we can do.”

If that’s true, there is one thing left you can do. Disband.