A Slap In The Face

Did you ever just want to smack someone? We are not violent by nature and would never raise a hand to anyone – but in our mind we can just picture ourselves slapping this woman right across the face. Actually, we feel that she slapped us first.

Rumu DasGupta is not a U.S. citizen, but she is an American in her mind.

"I'm not a citizen, but in many ways I grew up in this place," DasGupta, who now lives in Freehold Township [New Jersey], says in one of the classrooms at Georgian Court University, where she chairs the sociology department. "When I came to this place, I was 20 years old."

DasGupta, now 54, still has not decided whether to formally pledge her allegiance to this country.

To abandon her heritage and become a citizen of the United States is a difficult proposition — especially for a political activist who protests what she believes is government abuse.

"I have very strong feelings about being identified with the United States, especially because I feel so strongly American foreign policy is destroying the rest of the world," she says. "It is not an easy decision."

DasGupta may be an American in her mind, but she certainly is not in ours. She is a smug college professor that has lived a privileged life in the United States, wrapped in the cocoon of academia.

Why would she want to live in a country that is “destroying the world”? She should be encouraged to move, either back to her country of origin or to one that better reflects her values. We'll even help her pack.