I am quite confused after
hearing and reading the text of Donald Trump’s speech following the murders in
Orlando. There is so much to be said about the shooter as we are learning more
about his history, daily. One thing that has been know from the beginning and
cannot be changed is that the killer was born in New York 29 years ago. With
this knowledge, I cannot; therefore, reconcile this fact with the words from
Mr. Trump’s speech.
As we all know, Trump
wants to ban Muslim immigration to the U.S. Does he want to ban religious
Muslims or ethnic Muslims? In order to better understand his position, I
pulled out my notes from a class I took on the history of Genocide and re-read
the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which can be found at archives.gov. Ethnic
Jewish people (a.k.a. Semites, as are Arabs and most other people of Middle
Eastern decent) were targeted based on bloodlines. If an ethnic Jew converted
to another religion, he was still persecuted, essentially because of their DNA.
So, if the ethnic Muslims in the U.S. convert to another religion, can they
stay? Hitler and Goebbels would say no.
Next, Trump stated
emphatically that “the only reason the killer was in America in the first
place, was because we allowed his family to come here.” He continued, “We have
an incompetent administration.” This is where I get really perplexed. If the
killer was 29 and born in New York then it is safe to say that his parents have
been in this country since at least 1986 or 1987. My first question is, why is
he speaking about the current administration? He said we “have” an incompetent
administration. Two possibilities exist: 1) He is erroneously blaming the
current administration for an event that took place 3 decades ago; or 2) His
grammar usage is atrocious and he meant to say, “had.” If he is blaming the
administration that was in office when the killer’s parents came here, then he
is calling the Reagan administration incompetent. Did the killer’s parents gain
amnesty through Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986?
Further, the murderer was
born in the U.S. and lived among Western culture for 29 years. For what length
of time does he propose to ban immigration? From his speech, he claims, “It
will be lifted---this ban---when and as a nation we’re in a position to
properly and perfectly screen these people coming into our country.” First, he
must know that constructing a “perfect” process is impossible. Secondly, the
killer’s parents are immigrants and have not, to my knowledge, committed a terrorist
act against America or a hate crime against a specific community.
(Zion Square, Jerusalem)
The killer was a
natural-born American citizen. He was a child of immigrants, as all non-indigenous
Americans are, who was full of hate. His confusion regarding his identity and
feelings of disenfranchisement were exploited by extremist propaganda; much of
which was consumed by the murderer over the Internet. How does Trump propose to
stop cyber-hate? Perhaps, I don’t want to know.
**For full text of Trump’s
speech, go to:
