Wading In

Friday, April 26, 2013 Here’s how to combat Muslim stereotyping By Kelvin Wade From page A11 | April 25, 2013 | 2 Comments Heather Ah San’s articles in the Daily Republic this week about the Solano County Islamic Center’s Al-Iman Islamic School and the school’s students’ reactions to the Boston Marathon bombings garnered some predictable responses on the paper’s website. One respondent questioned the need for an Islamic school in the United States, while another compared it to a wasp’s nest that, presumably, should be destroyed. While those responses may seem extreme, I’ve no doubt they probably speak for a large number of Solano County residents and Americans as a whole. After all, according to a poll last year by the Arab American Institute, Americans have a 41 percent favorable view of Muslims and a 40 percent unfavorable view. I’ve always had a positive view of Islam, having come across the religion reading Alex Haley’s “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” It helped that my cousin ...

Thursday, April 18, 2013 It’s all about the kids By Kelvin Wade From page A11 | April 18, 2013 | 2 Comments I didn’t expect last week’s column on helping the children of Parkway Gardens to be remotely controversial. It began innocently a couple of weeks ago when Fairfield City Councilman John Mraz called to check on my health. He mentioned supporting Parkway Gardens’ Movie Night and wanting to get the Police Activities League involved, as well as finding lifeguards so they could open their pool during the summer. I spoke to Minnie Noble about writing a column to help drum up some financial support. Hours after I hung up the phone, I was admitted to the hospital where I stayed for the next eight days. I was so sick that for the first time in 21 years, I missed a deadline and failed to submit a column. While still in the hospital, I put together last week’s column on my iPad because it was a time-sensitive subject and I wanted to do something to help support those young kids. Although ...

Thursday, April 11, 2013 We can all help Fairfield’s next generation By Kelvin Wade “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” — Frederick Douglass It was a little more than a year ago when two people were shot and killed at Parkway Gardens. It’s a neighborhood that is certainly no stranger to violence and hard times. I can safely say that when I was a kid, no one was shot in my neighborhood. I never saw open drug dealing. There was no security and it was rare that police visited the neighborhood. At Parkway Gardens on the last Friday on the month, the children are invited to the clubhouse for movie night. They watch an entertaining film such as “Finding Nemo,” “Hotel Transylvania” and others, and have a meal. It started off as movies and snacks, but City Councilman John Mraz noticed that many of these kids from disadvantaged homes were food insecure. They looked forward to that meal. So Mraz provided sandwiches and fruit trays. Another evening saw spaghetti b...