I can still remember the daily repeated chants of "USA! USA! USA! USA!" outside my office window. [View all]

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It was decades ago, in 1980, but the memory is still crystal clear.

Students and others would gather every day outside the administration building, which was right next to the math department here, wave flags and shout, "USA! USA!".

There was a restaurant here in Ames, with a sign posted, "Iranians not welcome here", first on small card, and later in huge red letters on a giant billboard next to the restaurant.

One day, a friend, who was married to an Iranian, was in an university dormitory elevator, and 5 guys got into the elevator with her.

They shouted "USA! USA!" at her.

By the time the elevator door opened, my friend's body was cut and bruised, and she had several broken ribs.

These were ugly, ugly times here in Iowa, and whenever I hear such chants, I am filled with fear.