I Am Muslim

They try to spin it but the words are out there ...

Jason Miller, the communications director for the _____ transition team, says Donald _____ never advocated for a Muslim registry:

“President-elect _____ has never advocated for any registry or system that tracks individuals based on their religion, and to imply otherwise is completely false.”

But ... there is a video of Candidate _____ in Newton, Iowa, from 2015, in which he was asked by a reporter if he would implement a database of Muslims and ____ said:

“I would certainly implement that. Absolutely.”

That seems pretty clear, Jason. And when pushed further, that same day, and asked if Muslims would be legally obligated to sign in to the database, _____ responded:

“They have to be.”

His views on a Muslim registry caused a big kerfuffle back then drawing criticism from the Council on Islamic-American Relations and political opponents, including Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton. It didn’t get better when ____ was then asked what the difference was between a Muslim registry and the registration of Jews by Nazis in Germany.

“You tell me. You tell me. Why don’t you tell me.”

The answer is, there is no difference, which is why, very early on in his campaign, ____ was likened to Hitler and suddenly celebrated by the KKK, Nazi groups, and the Alt-Right; and, for the record, let’s be clear, when someone says “Alt-Right” they mean white supremacist ... don’t get it twisted.

And then, while spokesperson Jason Miller was trying to walk back the idea that _____ called for all Muslims to register with the government, Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state and an anti-immigration hardliner and advisor to _____s transition team, announced this week that the president-elect’s policy advisers were considering instating a Muslim immigrant registry.

So, again, let’s be clear: Donald _____ called for a Muslim registry as part of his campaign and now his own transition team is saying it’s an idea worth considering. And not only is this akin to what was done to the Jews during WWII, in Europe, you know, over there, but it’s quite similar to what was done in America at that same time when thousands upon thousands of Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during the war. We’ve seen what happens when this kind of hate and intolerance is enacted both in Europe and America; should we really be allowing this to happen again?

Carl Higbie, a former Navy SEAL and a spokesperson for the pro-Trump Great America PAC, even used the idea of Japanese-American internment camps as a reason for starting a Muslim registry while speaking with Megyn Kelly on Fox “News”:

Higbie: “[The registry] is legal. They say it’ll hold Constitutional muster. I know the ACLU is going to challenge it, but I think it’ll pass. And we’ve done it with Iran back — back a while ago, we did it during World War II with Japanese, which, you know, call it what you will, may be — may be wrong.”

Kelly: “You can’t be citing Japanese internment camps as precedent for anything the president-elect is going to do.”

Higbie: “The president needs to protect America first. And if that means having people that are not protected under our Constitution have some sort of registry, so we can understand, until we can identify the true threat and where it’s coming from, I support it.”

True threat. All Muslims are a threat; all others are threats. So let’s take all others who don’t look like us or sound like us or worship like us and make them sign a list and check in so we can see what they’re up to every moment of every day and if, when, that fails, well, you know we did it to Japanese-Americans so there is a precedent ...

But President-elect _____’s Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, when asked if _____ or his administration would rule out a Muslim registry said:

“Look, I’m not going to rule out anything. But, we’re not going to have a registry based on a religion. But, what I think we’re trying to do is say that there are some people that are radicalized and there are some people that have to be prevented from coming into this country. [President-elect _____] believes that no faith in and of itself should be judged as a whole but there are some people in countries abroad that need to be prevented from coming into this country.”

No faith should be judged, but, well, they’re Muslim so let’s just start taking names ...

What can we do before we goosestep our way into history? Well, one thing we have on our side is strength in numbers; one thing we have on our side is that most of us are not fear-based; one thing we have on our sides is memory.

We know what happened to the Jews during WWII; and we know how painful it was for Japanese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, to be wrenched away from their lives and sent to camps to live because they were others.

We can take the example set by Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, who has pledged to register as a Muslim on the national database if President _____ were to create one; Greenblatt made the vow at the ADL’s Never Is Now conference on anti-Semitism the day after Carl Higbie appeared on Fox “News” and cited the alleged effectiveness of Japanese internment camps:

“In the past we were not able to live, work or learn anywhere we wanted to. Anti-Semitism was acceptable in society. Those were days that were much darker in this country. At that most difficult moment the founders of the ADL said that we American Jews, a group that lacked power and had no real standing, whose future was shaky and uncertain, would use our power for good.

We need to speak out wherever we see anti-Semitism and bigotry, whether it’s a publicly traded company or high ranking official. No one has an excuse for excusing intolerance. We must stand with our fellow Americans who may be singled out for how they look, where they’re from, who they love or how they pray.

The new administration plans to force Muslims to register on some master list. As Jews we know what it means to be forced to register.

I pledge to you that because I am committed to the fight against anti-Semitism that if one day Muslim Americans are forced to register their identities, that is the day that this proud Jew will register as Muslim.”

That’s what we do ... we all register as Muslim; we register as Mexican, too, if _____ rolls out the deportation squads; we stand with women who make lose the right to choose their own healthcare options under a President ____; we stand with the LGBT community when President _____ appoints a justice to the Supreme Court who wants to overturn marriage equality. We stand for every group that is faced with oppression and intolerance and bigotry and hate. We register before it's too late to do anything at all ...

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me

—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller

If a registry occurs .... I am Muslim.

The Guardian

CBS News
Politico
HAARETZ