Many Americans have a people problem. A shoot first ask questions last kind of problem. Trump’s campaign, border politics, ICE raids in sanctuary cities, and an attempt at a Muslim-centric travel ban, have created a national narrative that focuses attention on race relations in a manner that only favors white Americans. Politicians should make connections to the fact that heightened racial profiling and distrust of immigrants eventually leads to more violence.
We know a shift towards aggressive immigration and religious profiling can lead to catastrophic consequences. This is especially pertinent for a country with the largest military in the world, the highest incarceration rate, lenient gun control, and its short history as a nation consistently underwritten by slavery and intense racial violence including genocide.
In this opinion article**, Stark Trek star George Takei talks about his childhood in 1942 on a japanese internment camp in California. He writes,
“It didn't matter, back then, that most of us were US citizens and had never even been to Japan. We were presumed guilty, and held without charge for four years, simply because we happened to look like the people who had bombed Pearl Harbor. For that crime, we lost our homes, our livelihoods and our freedoms.”
This article notes that when Trump was asked how he would have responded to Pearl Harbor, if he would have used interment camps he said he wasn't sure and he would have had to have been there. Even though it was never proved that anyone from the internment camps could be linked to pearl harbor, he would still have to think about it. This should come as a huge concern coming from the man who is in favor of a national muslim-registration.
This article notes that when Trump was asked how he would have responded to Pearl Harbor, if he would have used interment camps he said he wasn't sure and he would have had to have been there. Even though it was never proved that anyone from the internment camps could be linked to pearl harbor, he would still have to think about it. This should come as a huge concern coming from the man who is in favor of a national muslim-registration.
Generation after generation of American history see’s political “othering” lead to problems. Fear and loss of control are currently producing national policy without the examination of their origin or rationality. It is imperative for our progress as a nation that politicians are proponents of racial inclusion.
** - http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/18/opinions/george-takei-japanese-american-internment-day-of-remembrance/index.html
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