FILCRA Denounces Michelle Malkin's Support of Racial Profiling and the War on Terror
October 13, 2004
Oakland, CA - As the War on Terror toils onward into its fourth official year since September 11th, 2001, there have been thousands of casualties worldwide. Domestically, September 11 has also spawned thousands of political casualties in the form of human rights violations borne by Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Americans. Families have been torn apart and individuals have "disappeared" due to federal policies such as Special Registration, the Absconder Apprehension Initiative, and secret detentions.
Like the War on Drugs and the Cold War, the War on Terror is a not a war at all. It is a high profile government campaign with no identifiable enemy, based on fear, and funded by taxpayers. And, as if billions of dollars, the USA Patriot Act, and a new Department of Homeland Security weren't enough, the War on Terror has enlisted a new ally in Michelle Malkin.
In her new book,
In Defense of Internment: The Case for "Racial Profiling" in World War II and the War on Terror, Malkin attempts to legitimize racial profiling of the Muslim, Arab, and South Asian communities. A newscaster by trade, Malkin is doing what the Bush administration cannot explicitly do, and that is to rationalize the violation of civil rights post 9/11 by re-interpreting the settled legacy of racism and zenophobia of the World War II internment of Japanese Americans.
Malkin's support of racial profiling promotes fear and casual acceptance of the violations of the rights of people of color in the U.S., just as the Roosevelt administration mistakenly suspected all persons of Japanese descent of collaboration with the enemy during World War II. She wants us to believe that Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Americans are inherently untrustworthy people. They are guilty (i.e. terrorists) until proven otherwise. This is the same way Japanese Americans were treated during World War II when Executive Order 9066 declared that all Japanese people were potential national security threats and therefore must be interned.
Fred Korematsu, the named plaintiff in a 1944 Supreme Court case challenging internment as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. constitution, recently commented on how unnerving it is to see the issue of Japanese internment reopened for debate. His law suit lost, but Korematsu reminded us of the Congressional commission that later found that no Japanese American had been involved in espionage and that there was no military necessity for internment. He also reminded us that in 1983 a federal judge ruled that the U.S. government had hidden evidence and lied to the Supreme Court. Malkin would have us ignore the lessons of history and submit to a national policy of racial fear.
In the modern context, what Malkin closes her eyes to the true collateral damage: American democracy. U.S. democracy is premised on notions of fundamental fairness and equal treatment for all. An example from the criminal justice system is the commonly held truth that a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. An example from constitutional law is that all persons are guaranteed equal treatment under the law.
Especially in times of heightened security, the democratic ideals of our country must become even stronger, not weaker. Racial profiling strikes at the very heart of these ideals and, in the end, makes none of us safer.
Malkin's polemic raises yet further questions about the legitimacy of the War on Terror. Recently, the Bush administration refused to submit the United States to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, which prosecutes war crimes and other crimes against humanity world-wide. It is now time that we, members of the most powerful democracy in the world, speak out to defend our democracy. Join the global community in protest of the human rights violations that are occurring within our borders as well as across the Middle East.
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Filipino Civil Rights Advocates seeks to promote and safeguard the interests of the Filipino community in achieving justice and equality among all people in the United States. You may contact Christopher Punongbayan at 510-465-9876 x304 or chrisp@filipinos4action.org for questions or responses to this piece.