LETTERS: SIMILARITIES SEEN WITH ELIZA'S PLIGHT

To the editor:

Many Americans were appalled at the predawn raid in which federal marshals battered down the front door of a Cuban-American home in Miami and snatched young Elian Gonzalez from the jaws of freedom to initiate the process of sending him back to communist oppression. The scenario is reminiscent of another incident that took place 150 years ago.

A preacher's daughter named Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote a novel, "Uncle Tom's Cabin," in which a slave mother, Eliza, overheard her master discussing selling her son, Harry, to another slave owner. Fearing for her son's freedom, she fled northward hoping to make contact with the underground railroad, which would assist in her plight to reach a free state or Canada. When she was discovered missing, the dreaded U.S. marshals were alerted. They were required to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act and return captured slaves to their owners. Eliza reached the Ohio River in early spring and crossed on ice floes with feet that were cut and bleeding. Eventually, she reached Ohio and freedom with the aid of a sympathetic northerner.

The parallels between Elian and Harry and their two mothers is remarkable. Both mothers were fleeing north to freedom for their sons. Both were willing to risk their lives in great peril in order to escape slavery and reach freedom. Both had reason to fear U.S. marshals who might return them to slavery. Both had to deal with a mentality that said the law is the law and must be upheld. In 1840 the law was espoused by the slave catchers. In 2000 it was embraced by Bill Clinton, Janet Reno and 60 percent of all Americans who agreed with the capture and return of Elian.

Perhaps a few comparisons would be helpful. If Jews had been captured fleeing Nazi Germany, should they have been returned to the Gestapo? If a mother had braved the neutral zone of the Berlin Wall and shot, should her son have been returned to the communist side of the wall? If Eliza had drowned trying to flee with Harry, should he have been returned to the slave catchers?

I believe it was a sad day for all Americans when Elian was snatched. When this incident is compared with those of 150 years ago, there aren't any real differences.

GERALD BEAM

Dexter