Since the Paris attacks, Republican leaders and presidential candidates have been inciting a hatred of Muslims in general and, more specifically, inspiring an intense fear of Syrian refugees fleeing terror. They’re coming to kill us, they say. We must protect Americans, they say.
However, after white supremacists opened fire on Black Lives Matter activists late Monday night in Minneapolis, injuring at least five citizens, a known truth has become even starker: it’s white terrorists and gun-packing Americans who are the true threat.
This is the thought I had upon waking this morning:
GOP candidates tell us to fear Syrian refugees fleeing terrorism. Turns out, it's a portion of their base―white racists―who are, and always have been, among the most dangerous.
Those who think there is no connection between the hate being inspired towards Muslims and the open racism and violence being perpetrated against blacks are sadly mistaken.
It’s no coincidence that a Black Lives Matter protester was beaten at a Donald Trump rally on Saturday, and that today we’ve awaken to learn that black citizens have been shot by heavily armed white racists.
These things are connected. For the hate which inspired masked, armed racists to protest outside a mosque near Dallas on Saturday and the hate which inspires white Americans to attack people of color spring from the same source.
It’s a source GOP leaders and presidential candidates are tapping into for political expediency, and it’s not just anti-American, it’s dangerous.
If GOP leaders truly cared about safeguarding Americans, they would try restricting gun access to white terrorists and curtailing police brutality instead of blocking Syrian refugees fleeing terror and inspiring hate within the most dangerous — and armed — among us.
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David Harris-Gershon is author of the memoir What Do You Buy the Children of the Terrorist Who Tried to Kill Your Wife?, recently published by Oneworld Publications.
Follow on Twitter @David_ehg