On December 2nd, a man born in Chicago, Illinois walked into a holiday party with his foreign-born wife and killed 14 civilians and injured 21 others at the Inland Regional Center holiday party. Two police officers were injured during the subsequent gunfight. The wife, born in Pakistan, appears to have sworn allegiance to ISIS on a Facebook page; an initial reports credit her with radicalizing her husband. They were armed with two .223-caliber semi-automatic rifles and two 9 mm caliber semi-automatic pistols.
On November 27th, a man born in South Carolina walked into a mall and then a women's health care clinic with the intent to kill. Two civilians and one police officer were shot dead, five more officers and four more civilians were injured in the subsequent standoff and shoot-out. The suspect was using a long gun. The alleged gunman, Robert Lewis Dear, Jr, was inspired to act by the Army of God, a Christian anti-abortion group that promotes violence against clinics and practitioners alike.
On October 1st, a man born in Los Angeles walked into Umpqua Community College and systematically executed the assistant professor and eight students in a classroom. 9 others were injured. Documentation the shooter gave to a survivor identifies him as a virgin and filled with animosity toward Black men.
On June 17th, a man born in Columbia, South Carolina walked into a prayer service at a predominantly Black church and killed the pastor and eight of his parishioners. He later told police he was trying to ignite a race war.
Terrorists come in all shapes, sizes and gender. Hang on to that thought for a moment.
These are but a very few highlights of US mass shootings this year. The top two were motivated by radical religion. The second two are racially motivated. With the exception of Farook's wife, all were American born and raised.
All are acts of terrorism; all are acts intended to strike fear and terror into the hearts of all Americans. All of these are acts with a very intentional, specific point.
So why is the only one labelled terrorism the one where Muslims are the shooters?
The truth is fingers are pointed at Muslims because they're not like "us." And I use the "us" with great trepidation because I'm not one of "us" either. I'm a Jew and right now, I am watching what happens with great alarm. What Clown Cavalcade is doing to Muslims is only an inch away from what they would like to do to my "us." Anti-Israel rhetoric is thriving on college campuses right now. But it's not anti-Israel; it's badly disguised antisemitic rhetoric. You have to be blind, deaf, and exceedingly dumb not to get that. And we're not that stupid.
It's time to get past the fantasy reaction, people. The enemies of this nation are not the families who come here seeking refuge and safety. Skin color, religion, national origin...these are NOT determining factors when it comes to figuring out who is or is not a terrorist.
It's time to send that fascist Trump and his unbridled hate speech back to his unreality show. And it's time to demand that the GOP put up a candidate who is actually capable of being the leader of the free world, because right now, they have nothing.
And that nothing is the most dangerous, destructive nothing imaginable.
All are acts of terrorism; all are acts intended to strike fear and terror into the hearts of all Americans. All of these are acts with a very intentional, specific point.
So why is the only one labelled terrorism the one where Muslims are the shooters?
The truth is fingers are pointed at Muslims because they're not like "us." And I use the "us" with great trepidation because I'm not one of "us" either. I'm a Jew and right now, I am watching what happens with great alarm. What Clown Cavalcade is doing to Muslims is only an inch away from what they would like to do to my "us." Anti-Israel rhetoric is thriving on college campuses right now. But it's not anti-Israel; it's badly disguised antisemitic rhetoric. You have to be blind, deaf, and exceedingly dumb not to get that. And we're not that stupid.
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See the guy with the great mustache? He's our best man. He stood beside us
under the chuppah. Ziggy was his best man. He's Muslim. Ask me if that matters.
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If we want to have a conversation about terrorism and terrorists, let's have it. But let's call terrorism terrorism and stop limiting it to interaction with the Islamic community. Let's start by recognizing that people who blow up women's clinics are terrorists. A person who walks into a church and shoot the parishioners is a terrorist. A person who firebombs black churches is a terrorist. Muslim families fleeing war-torn Syria who have gone through two years of refugee screening are highly unlikely to be terrorists.
It's time to get past the fantasy reaction, people. The enemies of this nation are not the families who come here seeking refuge and safety. Skin color, religion, national origin...these are NOT determining factors when it comes to figuring out who is or is not a terrorist.
It's time to send that fascist Trump and his unbridled hate speech back to his unreality show. And it's time to demand that the GOP put up a candidate who is actually capable of being the leader of the free world, because right now, they have nothing.
And that nothing is the most dangerous, destructive nothing imaginable.
Wifely Person's Tip 'the Week
There is no room for hate speech in these here United States.
And there is no room for terroristic threats against women, people of color,
or anyone else for that matter. It's un-American.
I don't think you're completely right here, Susan. I'm not joining this conversation. I have so many muslim friends, I don't want to harm them. But we have an issue of radicalization by some already in this country- the Boston bombers were a good example. It's not as simple and loving as you describe it.
ReplyDelete-doug-
Yes it is. Try loving someone today who is different from you, tell them hello and say you're glad they are here.
DeleteDonald Trump announced his plan to ban Muslim immigrants from the US UNTIL THE GOVERNMENT CAN ASSURE IT IS SAFE. Almost every article, website, blog, and op-ed I've read since then completely avoids mentioning the "until" clause. It just doesn't fit the narrative they want to tell.
ReplyDeleteOn Thursday the 10th Twin Cities man federal authorities have charged with planning to join the terror group ISIS in Syria was arrested. What is the matter with our immigration screening?
On Tuesday, the USHouse voted 407-19 to tighten controls on travel to the US and require visas for anyone who's been in Iraq or Syria in the previous five years. That ain't just Republicans voting.
During the Iranian hostage crisis, Jimmy Carter did something similar to Trump's plan. Carter banned Iranians from the US and deported Iranian students during the hostage crisis. Where were you?
Although I was protesting the Carter initiative (I had friends caught between two countries) the actual directive was not a ban:
Delete"....the Secretary of Treasury [State] and the Attorney General will invalidate all visas issued to Iranian citizens for future entry into the United States, effective today. We will not reissue visas, nor will we issue new visas, except for compelling and proven humanitarian reasons or where the national interest of our own country requires. This directive will be interpreted very strictly."
Tightening visas for citizens of another country is not barring all Muslims. Adding restrictions and additional validation processes is not barring all Muslims. Tightening visa control for certain countries is neither rare nor particularly dangerous when there is reason for additional vetting.
Trump would stop all Muslims regardless of country of origin, including US citizens, born here or naturalized, who are Muslim and are returning home from abroad. U.S. citizen business travelers and families returning home from a vacation abroad would also be included in the ban would be would denied automatic re-entry. That is unconstitutional.
Call it what it is: heinous.
As a college student, I cannot agree with all your points either. Stereotyping can obviously be very shameful, but do you know how easy it is for youths from Muslim countries to become radicalized? You seem to casually downplay the fact that Syed was born as a U.S. citizen here, and yet, his love for his religion outweighed that for his country.
ReplyDeleteI think you may have missed the point of my blog entry. My point was that all those mentioned above (with the
Deleteexception of Tashfeen Malik are all native born Americans.
Radicalization is easier with social media, but you don't have to be foreign born to became a domestic terrorist. My point was that it doesn't belong to one group; it's a possibility in any radical group. This is not casual at all; this is very serious stuff. I believe it cannot be limited to Islam or foreign born nationals. Plenty of Christian radicals are out there trying to bomb Planned Parenthood clinics.