Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Thursday, March 14, 2002 1:28 PM Gays and Lesbians deserve compensation too! I received an article today which I found very disturbing. I'm sure you've heard about it, and I hope you're getting enough response to rethink the decision. I am a straight, white American citizen. I do not feel like there are prejudices against me for the most part, but I deeply sympathize with those who do have to deal with prejudice. The fact that our government, or those who represent our government are saying that it's okay for us to give money to illegal aliens, who one, have not paid taxes and contributed to our country, and two, are here against our laws, seems unfathomable to me. Let's give these undeserving immigrants compensation for the loss of loved ones, who were, in some cases, also illegal aliens themselves, but forget about the good hearted, taxpaying, law abiding citizens who's partners died trying to save our country because of their sexual orientation. That's appauling! That is a complete contradiction of what America is about. This is the melting pot. This is a country where people are supposed to be able to come to without getting judged, yet we have a man, Kenneth Feinberg, who stands up on National television, and advertizes the opposite. What is wrong with this picture? And to use the state law as a cop out! Just because some states don't recognize same sex marriages, does that mean that the love two people shared is worth less? If anything, their love was stronger because they had prejudices to overcome together. Who is Mr. Feinberg to make the call of who deserves compensation based on such factors? This world is not made up of black and white. There is a huge amount of grey area that falls between the cracks. Don't allow these people, who are human beings to fall between the cracks. There is always individual circumstances and situations to be considered, and labeling these people appears to be a way for you to control your budget. Whether it's true or not, it looks to the American public like your organization doesn't have enough money to go around, so they have chosen this group of people to be left out in order to maintain your mission. There are better ways to achieve that. Why not come up with a standard rule? If a victim can provide proof that they were living with their partner for over a year, and that they were living together at the time of the attacks, then they qualify, period. Please take this letter into consideration. Gays and lesbians deserve compensation too. These people have lost the most important person in their lives. Don't deprive them of the benefits that you are allowing others. If being gay is wrong, then let God be the one to judge them. Don't do it here on earth! Give these people the compassion they deserve. Sincerely, Individual Comment Denver, CO September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojR000766.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-14