If you’ve been living under a rock (or aren’t American, though I suspect this is getting a lot of international attention) you might not know that America’s first Orange President has followed through on one of his more odious campaign promises by ordering a de facto partial ban on Muslim immigrants.
Partial because it applies only to certain countries. And how many of the 9-11 hijackers came for those countries? None…zero. Of course, some people noticed something curious about the Muslim countries excluded from that list, namely that they are countries in which Donald has business interests! Isn’t that special? Oh, and one more thing. People who already immigrated to the US legally are caught up in the web.
If that last tweet doesn’t give you chills, you might need to do some soul-searching. Green card holders are legal immigrants, people living in the US, probably with family here, trying to return home.
Many people seem to be perfectly happy with this though. I could cite plenty of examples but I don’t want to promote any of them, even a little. These are people saying, in essence, we should judge all Muslims based on the actions of a few. Many of these same people also say that we liberals should not be judging all police based on the actions of a few bad cops.
Let’s dig into that a little, shall we? What’s the difference?
Police
Police are uniquely empowered to police themselves. Sure, there is usually some sort of civilian oversight, but it tends to me more ceremonial than effective, especially when police are uncooperative. So that mostly leaves the police to do it, and they have largely failed at it. What happens when a cop kills an unarmed person (or armed person who was not an imminent threat to life)–usually a person of color? The “good cops” don’t cast them out. They close ranks and throw up a “blue wall”. Police unions defend them, and often launch a smear campaign against the victim. Other cops stand behind them or just remain silent. They enable this scenario to happen again and again. But we’re told we shouldn’t hold these murderous cops against police in general. #NotAllCops
Muslims
On the other hand, Muslims routinely call out acts of violence and terrorism perpetrated in the name of their religion or their God, and many actively work against it.
Immediately after the San Bernardino shootings, Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Los Angeles, said, “The Muslim community stands shoulder to shoulder with our fellow Americans in repudiating any twisted mind-set that would claim to justify such sickening acts of violence.” Tahmina Rehman, president of Buffalo’s Women’s Auxiliary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, criticized the shootings, noting that those who are truly faithful to the Quran live lives of peace and humility.
…
In 2001, thousands of Muslim leaders around the world immediately denounced Al Qaeda’s attacks on the US. On September 14, 2001, nearly fifty Islamic leaders signed and distributed this statement: “The undersigned, leaders of Islamic movements, are horrified by the events of Tuesday 11 September 2001 in the United States which resulted in massive killing, destruction and attack on innocent lives. We express our deepest sympathies and sorrow. We condemn, in the strongest terms, the incidents, which are against all human and Islamic norms. This is grounded in the Noble Laws of Islam which forbid all forms of attacks on innocents. God Almighty says in the Holy Qur’an: ‘No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another’ (Surah al-Isra 17:15).”
…
Muslims don’t just denounce radical Islam and terrorism, they are actively involved in counter-radicalization, de-radicalization, and the pursuit of peace.
All it takes a little google searching to see this. In fact, I’ll help you out. Click here. Now, there are over 1.5 billions Muslims worldwide, so even a tiny fraction being radicalized can mean a lot of damage. It also means that Muslims opposed to violence are facing a tough fight, but the point is they are fighting it.
On the other hand Attacks Against US Muslims Growing Frequency, Violence.
So you tell me: Is it more reasonable to group all Muslims together than it is all police?
Take action
Want to know what you can do? There are many good organizations out there fighting the good fight, including challenging the order in court and helping individual immigrants and refugees. Two of them are the ACLU and National Immigrant Justice Center. I’ll be heading to both sites to make a donation as soon as this is posted.
Resist
Bruiser Blog 
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