Thursday, November 19, 2015

My Two Cents: Turning Our Backs On Refugees

So … "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I think we need to take down that statue since some of us in this country, and oddly enough, the ones of us who spout their faith and Christianity at every turn, no longer believe in what Emma Lazarus wrote, and what is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty.

So … give it back. Take it down, put it on a big ship and tell France we no longer believe in those words.

The governors of some thirty-one states — and it could be more, I haven’t checked the news lately — including our own Nikki Haley who reminds us every time she opens her mouth what a good Christian woman she is, have asked that no Syrian refugees be allowed to enter their states.

Their states. And, of course, they have no plan to accomplish this since they have no legal recourse, no authority, to do any such thing; that would be up to the federal government, wingnuts. But the question of whether they can refuse entry to refugees or not is unimportant, when you think about why, why, they would want to punish refugees fleeing ISIS and war and persecution and death.

How Christian is that? I saw a meme on Facebook that said something to the effect that if only there was a seasonal story about Middle Eastern refugees being denied a play to stay. If only … Jesus, Mary and Joseph. That’s the story!

But these governors don’t remember that and want to turn their backs, our collective backs, on people feeling for their lives because maybe, maybe, one of them, maybe two, might be a terrorist even though they have no proof that this is so.

Oh, but wait. Jeb No-Last-Name will accept the refugees, if, and only if, they can prove they are Christians because real Christians don’t commit acts of terror.

Timothy McVeigh.

But again, how is this Christian? How is this what they teach in churches or the Bible? Turning away those in need, those running from certain death? How is that Christ-like at all?

And how is this American? I mean, unless you’re a direct bloodline to a Native America we are all, each and every one of us, immigrants and refugees — Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio’s families fled persecution in Cuba, so I guess they should consider themselves lucky that there weren’t politicians with their own bent mindset in place when they arrived on calmer shores.

So … if only there was a way to see if this might work before we actually do it you know, if only there was an historical precedent, an historical action, that we might compare this to, so we can see what could happen if we turn our backs on those in need.

Oh wait … back in 1939, the MS St Louis arrived in New York City carrying nearly a thousand Jews fleeing persecution in Europe. And what did we do to those huddled masses yearning to breathe free?

We told them to get out, and to go back where they came from and so the ship turned around and headed back to Europe where some other countries took some of those folks in, gave them shelter. But around 250 of those refugees, who came here, begging for help, begging for us to save their lives, were taken into Nazi concentration camps where they were murdered.

Is that what we want … again? Is that America? Is it Christian? It is right?

9 comments:

  1. Me? I'm going w the GOP hypocrisy (courtesy of the NRA) that one crazy killing gunman doesn't represent all gun owners.

    Then all Syrians / Muslims / Refugees are NOT all terrorists.

    And the screening for the refugees is WAY more stringent than that of any fucking gun owner in this country.

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  2. i think WA state - our gov - was the first one to say
    we're open in WA. we did have a fellow come in from
    canada who was going to take down the space needle
    once. they caught him thankfully. i was at that world
    fair, as a very small child, when the space needle was
    built. lines were waaaaay too long to go up. and i never
    have been up it since. always something more interesting
    to do.

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  3. hey right-wing xstain nutjob asshats: how many of YOUR relatives came to this country and WERE NOT turned away?

    yeah, I thought so.

    so STFU!

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  4. First... I LOVE YOU, BOB!

    Second... To the Dog's Mother: I guess no Canadians have been allowed in Seattle since the '60s World's Fair.

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  5. The only principle at work here is the exploitation of irrational fear for the sake of votes. If I were still Christian, I would be embarrassed by this absurdity. As it is, I hang my head in shame that this is the face America is turning to the world.

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  6. My young cousin and I were discussing this yesterday and I mentioned the abandoned military bases. Understand, it was just an idea, some brainstorming, but if these refugees are so scary, house them there-- give them shelter, give them food and clothes, keep them there for a few months (if you really believe they are that much of a threat). But please, don't leave them to die!

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  7. I just saw where the House voted to de-fund the refugee program. Not that the Prez will hesitate to veto this bullshit, but still. . .

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  8. Fear mongering at it's ugliest best. In the last few days I have read, on line, the most despicable, bigoted, hateful comments from Americans that I have ever heard. And now we have a major political party's leading candidate for president suggesting that we instigate a "tracking" system for ALL American Muslims...with star patches on their clothing, I presume. The final solution to the Syrian question to be discussed AFTER he gets in office, I also presume.

    This is not going to end well, boys and girls.

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  9. The MS St Louis is a terrible reminder of the inhumanity of governments everywhere. I frequently run into people who tell me that the refugees are just looking for better jobs, they should stay in Syria and fight Assad! What with? Who with? Russia is killing off the Syrian rebels while pretending to fight Isis; the Syrian air force is barrel bombing their own civilians. Would you stay? Of course not; if you could you'd hightail it out of Syria and flee anywhere.

    My country is led by a crowd of misogynists who will allow 20k Syrians in over a five year period and still people complain; what about our poor.....funny that they don't usually talk about the poor until there is something 'worse' on the horizon.

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