I promised myself I wasn’t going to use this blog to vent. I’m breaking that promise.
Last week on Good Morning America, George Stephanopoulos interviewed Donald Trump about his plan to ban Muslims from coming into the country. (I’m not going to get side-tracked here by discussing some very valid issues related to the constitutionality or impracticality of the idea).
Roughly four minutes and forty-five seconds into the interview, George asks, “You’re increasingly being compared to Hitler. Does that give you pause?”
And here is Trump’s response: “No.”
That’s right. That’s what he said. Here’s the link if you don’t believe me.
He then goes on to praise President Roosevelt’s presidential proclamations following Pearl Harbor that termed those from Japan, Italy and Germany “Alien Enemies” and stripped them of many of their rights, including due process. Under these proclamations, people didn’t need to have broken a single law, or aligned themselves in any way with our enemies. By virtue of nothing more than their country of origin, good people were subjected to government-sponsored discrimination, often losing their homes and businesses.
This wasn’t exactly a high point in our nation’s history or in FDR’s presidency. Was it so very long ago that we have forgotten?
If we follow Mr. Trump’s path and allow government-promoted discrimination and isolation of a particular group, we are failing our kids twice. First we’re giving ISIL another talking point in their efforts to radicalize potential followers. That’s just bad strategy and further jeopardizes our nation’s security and our own safety.
And even worse, we’re doing the wrong thing. Discriminating against someone because they are Muslim, African-American, have blue eyes, whatever, is just wrong. And not speaking up to say it’s wrong out of fear of retribution isn’t any better. In the end, I need to be able to look my kids in the eyes and tell them, when given the opportunity, I did the right thing.
And the right thing here is to speak up and urge our leaders not to fall prey to fear — state-promoted discrimination is not the right solution to any problem.
#SpeakingUp