U.S. Mayor who was born in Pakistan is proud to be an American

[S_O_C_O_M]

Mayor who was born in Pakistan is proud to be an American​

Posted Tuesday, Jul. 05, 2011

By Bud Kennedy

In a Texas town with a history of racial discord, the new mayor might be from the town's smallest minority of all.

But Mayor A.J. Hashmi, a cardiologist in the northeast Texas town of Paris, said he does not want to be known as a Pakistani-American mayor.

"If they call me a Pakistani-American, then that's a mistake, because I am an American," Hashmi said by phone Monday from the office where he built a following that lifted him to the City Council, then into the mayor's chair June 27 by council vote.

Hashmi, 50, was born in Pakistan but grew up in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where his Pakistani air force father had moved as a senior defense adviser.

After medical school in Karachi, Hashmi worked 20 years as a military surgeon at U.S. Central Command in Florida. His regular patients there included former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who has come to Paris twice for checkups.

"I left Pakistan when I was a kid," Hashmi said.

"I have lived in America longer than anywhere else. My home is America."

For six years, his home has been Paris, a town rocked by racial upheaval over the disparity in sentencing for white and African-American defendants and over a series of incidents and taunts.

Hashmi said Paris has "beautiful people, and we want to bring more jobs and make this a beautiful city."

Marva Joe, a co-founder of a task force on racial diversity, said she had wanted the council to promote Mayor Pro Tem Joe McCarthy, an African-American and a seven-year council member. Hashmi won, 4-3.

"I like him, but I was surprised," she said.

"This was just small-town politics."

Paris newspapers and websites portrayed the election as settling a council divide between McCarthy and outspoken Anglo Councilman Edwin Pickle.

McCarthy told eParisExtra.com, "The only reason I am not mayor is because I'm black."

But after Hashmi walked through the African-American neighborhood meeting voters last weekend, activist Brenda Cherry said: "I like him."

"I told him that when I start complaining about race issues, some people call me a terrorist," Cherry said.

"He said, 'Well, some of them called me the same thing.'"

Now they call him mayor.


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[lem34]

This Hashmi seems a right twat. I have spent most of my life in uk and came here when I was young etc. My first loyalty is always pakistan. No matter what it says in my passport my heart is pakistani. the goras will never except us no matter what qualification you have etc there is no point in trying to ingratiate wuth them, He seems ashamed about the pak assosiation. Irish americans are proud of their irish roots, italian americans are proud of their italians roots but this retard seems embarassed of his pak roots.

 

[yuhua]

proud american!!!!!!!! of course he will be

 

[unicorn]

Where ever Pakistanis go naturally they appear to be very penetrative in that society.An aspect we usually do not see with others.

 

[yuhua]

irony is they leave their roots but ppl belonging to their root land never forget them

 

[unicorn]

This Hashmi seems a right twat. I have spent most of my life in uk and came here when I was young etc. My first loyalty is always pakistan. No matter what it says in my passport my heart is pakistani. the goras will never except us no matter what qualification you have etc there is no point in trying to ingratiate wuth them, He seems ashamed about the pak assosiation. Irish americans are proud of their irish roots, italian americans are proud of their italians roots but this retard seems embarassed of his pak roots.

You mean goras typically accepts others by looking at their qualification.Any way my point is that this rule cannot be termed as universal.

 

[PteX]

This Hashmi seems a right twat. I have spent most of my life in uk and came here when I was young etc. My first loyalty is always pakistan. No matter what it says in my passport my heart is pakistani. the goras will never except us no matter what qualification you have etc there is no point in trying to ingratiate wuth them, He seems ashamed about the pak assosiation. Irish americans are proud of their irish roots, italian americans are proud of their italians roots but this retard seems embarassed of his pak roots.

That`s exactly why you`ll find yourself in a pickle one of these days buddy.
Irish Americans, Italian American, doesn`t matter. They are American first, race second. That`s how it should be and must be.
UK for some reason accepted you in the country, you should be thanking your god for it, not "having your heart Pakistani".

Good for this guy, Patriotism is always welcome, he seems to deserve the position.

 

[Nothing4U]

That`s exactly why you`ll find yourself in a pickle one of these days buddy.
Irish Americans, Italian American, doesn`t matter. They are American first, race second. That`s how it should be and must be.
UK for some reason accepted you in the country, you should be thanking your god for it, not "having your heart Pakistani".

Good for this guy, Patriotism is always welcome, he seems to deserve the position.

what about jewish americans???

 

[untitled]

That`s exactly why you`ll find yourself in a pickle one of these days buddy.
Irish Americans, Italian American, doesn`t matter. They are American first, race second. That`s how it should be and must be.
UK for some reason accepted you in the country, you should be thanking your god for it, not "having your heart Pakistani".

Good for this guy, Patriotism is always welcome, he seems to deserve the position.

Then why do you repeatedly quote the number of Jews living outside Israel.... Should they not be loyal to the cause of their respective countries than Israel ?

 

[untitled]

That`s exactly why you`ll find yourself in a pickle one of these days buddy.
UK for some reason accepted you in the country, you should be thanking your god for it, not "having your heart Pakistani".

No it was their conscious ..... after looting and plundering India during the Raj they handed out their sympathy by giving nationality to a select few.

 

[Roybot]

Then why do you repeatedly quote the number of Jews living outside Israel.... Should they not be loyal to the cause of their respective countries than Israel ?

Jewish is not a nationality.

 

[PteX]

what about jewish americans???

Jews voted for Obama and by recent polls they are still loyal to Obama, which means they don`t care that Obama isn`t a friend to Israel.
Israelis are Israelis and Americans are Americans.
@varigeo
I never quote how many Jews were living outside of Israel in a way that suggested that they are any good for Israel.
Sure some of them love Israel as well but for most Diaspora Jews, Israel is out of sight and out of mind.

 

[untitled]

Jewish is not a nationality.

Ask any Jew and he will argue with you till death that they are a race

 

[Juice]

This Hashmi seems a right twat. I have spent most of my life in uk and came here when I was young etc. My first loyalty is always pakistan. No matter what it says in my passport my heart is pakistani. the goras will never except us no matter what qualification you have etc there is no point in trying to ingratiate wuth them, He seems ashamed about the pak assosiation. Irish americans are proud of their irish roots, italian americans are proud of their italians roots but this retard seems embarassed of his pak roots.

Proud of our roots, but American first and always. Muslims seldom get this...and thus are not accepted.

---------- Post added at 06:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:44 PM ----------

Ask any Jew and he will argue with you till death that they are a race

If qualification is by birth or origin, then yes, a race.

 

[untitled]

Proud of our roots, but American first and always. Muslims seldom get this..

Neither do the Native Indians or the Japanese who were Interned in the camps during WWII

BBC News - 'A dream that never comes true'