Letter From an American Woman
December 17, 2001
Ms. Jessalyn Pendarvis
Director
USAID's Equal Opportunity Programs
Agency for International Development
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20523Dear Ms. Pendarvis:
This letter is being written to inform you, as USAID's EOP (Equal Opportunity Programs') Director, of the fact that I hereby factually cite the following grievance against USAID at this time:
On November 3, 2001, a final EEOC (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) mandated directive/decision was spearheaded against USAID to finalize all payments owed to me regarding USAID's previous discrimination against me while employed there, as well as the issuance of my former GS-07 employee development assistant position in USAID's Training Division. To date, little if anything has been done to effectuate any of these mandated elements, as directed by the EEOC. Therefore, I cite the following:
Since the receipt of this letter will fall within the 45-day window for federal finalization of the EEOC directed tenets contained therein, which was post-marked on or about August 4, 2001 originally, it is my contention that USAID, the agency as a whole, along with its general counsel staff (GC) with attorneys Jan Peters and Arnie Haiman presiding, as well as it Office of Personnel (OP), and its Office of the Inspector General (IG) have all colluded and conspired to deprive me of my workplace rights and my US Government career, respectively, due to my marriage to a Palestinian/Arab Muslim man (that marriage being investigated during my prior employment with USAID)! Said discrimination falls under the auspices of ethnicity-based discrimination in a disparate level circumstance, as I have had deep roots tied into the Arab culture for nearly 35 years.
Further, it is no secret that the agency has continued to utilize discriminatory and retaliatory treatment towards me since 1994. As a matter of fact, I brought this ethnicity allegation forward with my original EOP counselor, Ms. Thelma Furlong in 1995, but she refused to act upon it accordingly, saying it would prove to be a very "uncomfortable working environment" for her at the time, given USAID's close affinity to Pro-Zionist and Pro-Israeli programs and policies. Thus, it is my contention that USAID is first and foremost in the capacity of discriminating against persons (such as myself), who are intrinsically affiliated with the Arab world and/or the Islamic faith--and, you well know that I can prove these facts accordingly.
Therefore, I hereby acknowledge that a follow-up reporting and investigative focus should take place as soon as possible, unless the agency would like to mediate these atrocity circumstances accordingly. USAID knows fully well that this aspect of discriminatory behavior took place against my personhood well before the NYC disaster of September 11. Therefore, I am able to prove that the agency decided to unjustifiably inaugurate an "Anti-Islamic/Arab" stance since the early 1990s--and the continued mistreatment of my personhood by the agency to this day is its signature to that "cold-blooded" fact.
I await your reply to this matter accordingly. A copy of this letter will be sent shortly to the current USAID Administrator, Mr. Andrew Natsios, as well as to the President of the United States and the EEOC. Mr. Peters of your General Counsel staff has the contact info for my attorney in the interim.
Sincerely,
Wendy Ghannam
Desert_rose72@hotmail.com
Vienna, Virginia
PREVIOUS ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE
The Journal of History - Winter 2003 Copyright © 2003 by News Source, Inc.