Have you ever took the time to sit down and think about the fact that we come together as a nation to fight against radical terrorist groups that attack our country, but can't seem to find the motivation to fight the interior terrors that our citizens face on a daily basis? It is extremely easy for us to all relate to fatal attacks against loved ones, but a large group of people struggle to relate to the pain that racism and the gap in economic power that humans that we live beside also experience. George W. Bush is able to create a strong call for patriotism and unity through the diction in his speech after the attacks on our nation after September 11th, 2001 while John Edgar Wideman helps his readers acknowledge the broad definition of terrorism and also establishes a sense of patriotism and unity to combat separate terrors that are living in the United States of America by handing his readers numerous examples of ongoing issues. After reading George W. Bush's "Address to the Nation on the Terrorist Attacks", John Edgar Wideman's WHOSE WAR: The Color of Terror piggybacks off of the speech to show examples of how our country is able to not necessarily create a phony act of patriotism, but leaves a number of domestic acts of terror unacknowledged, such as poverty, racism, and privilege.

As President Bush opens up his speech he states, "Today our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist attacks," (467). An ignition immediately sparks a fire inside of the audience to not only grab their attention, which the attack completed itself, but to form a sense of urgency for a change to combat the problem. By using the word deliberate in conjunction with citizens, way of life, and freedom, the idea of some alien to our nation intentionally attempting to destroy of living causes the desired, hostile reaction of the people towards the invading party. An accidental disaster, such as a train colliding with a bus, brings forth a reaction of grief and sorrow that is not distanced far from the reaction desired in this case. The word intentional calls for an action to battle the cause of the disaster instead of sulking and having nothing to do to prevent the issue from happening again. Bush later claims, "America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world," (468). Targeted has a similar meaning as intentional does, resulting in the same reaction since an outside force tried to damage the greatest location in the world for people to thrive and achieve their lifelong dreams. 

Another way that President Bush grabs his audience's attention is by repetitively using the words evil and terror. Both words having a negative connotation are things that people want to avoid and not have directly affect them. To reach out to citizen's personal lives, Bush talks about the victims of the terror attack being secretaries, businessmen, military and federal workers, parents, friends, and also neighbors. Every single person in the nation can relate to knowing one of these types of people and knowing that they could have easily replaced one of the victims, anger results in a desire to retaliate. Making it known that the United States was already taking action, Bush stated that any people that harbored the terrorist group would be treated just like the enemy that we were going after. Another device that Bush uses is religion when he includes Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me," (468) to show that God is on our side to assist in protecting our nation in this war.

Wideman begins his article by discussing how the people in the community he grew up in, an African-American community, would greet one another because it lifts their spirits since they all face the same burden of racism. Although being very controversial, he compares his community to a living ground zero that has been scarred and injured, but they still come together and survive. Disagreeing with the severe retaliation back at what our nation calls our enemies, Wideman states, "I can't applaud my president for doing unto foreign others what he's inflicted on me and mine  Even if he tells me all good Americans have nothing to fear but fear itself and promises he's gonna ride over there and kick fear's ass," (471). Here Wideman isn't just disagreeing with retaliation, but more so the ongoing cycle of violence that is haunting our global community with war persistently taking place. Relating back to the struggle of racism, Wideman foreshadows what is to come in the future when the Afghans do surrender and what is to come next for them, becoming an honorary American. Would those people be looked at with more respect than African-Americans? When would his people receive an award for enduring their struggles of slavery and an unfair economic status? How come African-Americans who have been citizens just like everyone else are still stuck in an economic class of poverty while new immigrants are given more opportunities? Wideman later goes on to discuss the fact that most nonblack Americans seem both shocked and surprised once they hear about his disappointment in our country and its leaders. He brings up inequality once again when he states:

Is it truly news that some people's bad times (slavery, colonial subjugation, racial oppression, despair) have underwritten other people's good times (prosperity, luxury, imperial domination, complacency). News that a systematic pattern of gross inequities still has not been corrected and that those who suffer them are desperate (angry, bitter, enraged) for change. (472) 

When the time is taken to ponder about this statement, one could possibly get past the surprised feeling that is portrayed towards the writer and come to the conclusion that this is also a real, ongoing issue that our fellow citizens, secretaries, businessmen, military and federal workers, parents, friends, and neighbors, are still affected by today. For months after the attack, a toxic smoke was emitted from the burning ruins of the crumbled towers leaving a smokescreen over the city and it was looked at as a sign of terror and the enemy. On the other hand, this smokescreen can be interchangeable and placed over African-American communities filled with poverty as a symbol for the lurking terror that takes effect on them daily. What would our nation come to if when sucker punched, treated unjustly regarding to race and economic status, all of those victims rebelled and led violent attacks against the government with the excuse of retaliation? Will air strikes and economic sanctions bring an end to the ongoing problem of terrorism or does it create a prime background for the terrorism to be fueled since there is no other way for change to come about in their eyes?

Our country's media also can be looked at as a terror because of the extreme amount of power that it possesses over the everyday citizen. The media has the option of releasing news about any topic that they would like to be discussed in the locations that the stations broadcast too and have the option of picking a side to agree with. In an attempt to exploit the media's intentions, Wideman states, "A phony war that the press  exploits daily as newsy entertainment, a self-promoting concoction of fiction, fact, propaganda and melodrama designed to keep the public tuned in, uninformed, distracted, convinced a real war is taking place," (473). By discussing a battle overseas that will not travel half way across the world to make its way here, the media contributes to ignoring the interior issues inside our own country. With the creation of propaganda resulting in a hatred of enemies across seas, people's focus and urgency is directed towards a topic that is far less harmful than the racism, poverty, and privilege that is a persisting problem every day in the United States. Explaining how material goods drive our nation's interests, Wideman says: 

The Afghan campaign reflects a global struggle but also reveals a crisis inside America   the attempt to construct on those shores a society willing to sacrifice democracy and individual autonomy for the promise of material security, the exchange of principles for goods and services. (473)

On a daily basis, a large number of our neighbors sacrifice their dignities and rights just so they can obtain some of the material goods that our country has to offer. It is unfair how certain people do not have to sacrifice the same things and are treated with more respect than others in what is supposed to be a nation based on equality and opportunity.

After the ISIS attacks on Paris and the threats to major cities across our own country there is a similar sense of patriotism and "let's go over there and get them", but the other issues of inequality in America still seem to go unnoticed. Poverty, racism, and unequal privilege tend to go unacknowledged while more Americans are directly affected by the fear and struggle of these issues than the fear of them being bombed by an alien like group of people. Wideman is not just saying to forget about the terrorist attacks on our country and handle other issues first, but that for our nation to be the best that it can be needs to unleash the same sense of urgency to the other problems affecting our very own neighbors and family members or our country will self-destruct before an outside force has the opportunity to do so.   

