“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Thus reads the plaque located at the base of the Statue of Liberty, located in New York Harbor. The sonnet by Emma Lazarus has hung inside the national monument since 1903, and since then many of our ancestors have passed by on their way to Ellis Island, preparing for their new life in America. The Statue of Liberty stands as a physical symbol of our origins as a nation and the way we have derived our strength —welcoming outsiders into the American “melting pot.”
In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, many government leaders have sought to close their borders to the stream of Syrian refugees. This is ignoring the fact that Syrian refugees are no more dangerous than a country’s own citizens in terms of terrorism risk, and the instances of refugees being charged with terrorism crimes since 9/11 is extremely rare. Despite this, the U.S. has implemented an extremely long and strenuous screening process for its refugees, which can take a year or more to be completed.
ISIS’ stated goal is to end the gray scale of western society — that is, they want to end the coexistence of Muslims and Christians in western societies like ours and make the world a contrast, as black and white as their flag, us versus them. Spreading fear of Islam among westerners creates the resentment of Muslims, which makes it easier to recruit them to their caliphate and control the lives of all Muslims. A Syrian passport found near the body of a terrorist in Paris was proven to be a fake, exposing ISIS’ effort to spread distrust of the refugees who are simply trying to save their families’ lives.
It’s working. Immediately after the attacks, Poland’s government announced they would be closing their borders to Syrian refugees. At home, the Republican Presidential candidates predictably called for the ending of the American refugee program, and Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush said we should only accept Christian refugees, again forgetting that the U.S. continues to not be a theocracy. Our own governor, along with 25 others, embarrassed our state by saying Alabama would not be welcoming refugees (despite him having no power to do so under the 1980 Refugee Act). By furthering the fears of Islamophobia and propagating the hate of Muslims, these leaders are furthering the goals of ISIS.
It’s disgusting what some leaders around the country and the world are doing in response to this tragedy, including our own Robert Bentley. Perhaps Bentley, the descendant of immigrants himself, has forgotten the way people come to America to escape poor conditions and to make a better life. His actions are rash and blatantly politically motivated. They do not represent what the state of Alabama or The United States of America is about, and we the people ought to let our leaders know what we think America should stand for.
Kyle Simpson is a junior majoring in biology. His column runs biweekly.
