By
Joe
Fletcher
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| This idea worked so well in 1941 that Sen. Elaine Morgan wants to bring it back today |
EDITOR’S
NOTE: Joe Fletcher saved me the trouble of having to write about our State
Senator Elaine Morgan and her bigoted remarks that Syrian refugees should be
put in internment camps. Those remarks went viral, picked up around the world
and embarrassing Rhode Island and Morgan’s constituents – who include all those
living in the northern half of Charlestown. At best, Morgan’s remarks are
ignorant. At worst, they are racist. - W. Collette
Rhode Island State Senator Elaine Morgan has joined other
Republicans in their efforts to surrender to the Islamic State, by urging their
state governments to refuse to allow Syrian refugees into the country.
But
there is a twist in Senator Morgan’s cowardly proposals that sets her apart
from other GOPers: she suggests that if the United States is to continue taking
in Syrian refugees, we should put them into segregated camps.
“I do not want our governor bringing in any Syrian refugees. I
think our country is under attack. I think this is a major plan by these
countries to spread out their people to attack all non Muslim persons,” she
wrote in an email, according to WPRI.
“The Muslim
religion and philosophy is to murder, rape, and decapitate anyone who is a non
Muslim.” The e-mail continues, saying that if the U.S. does “take these people
in we should set up refugee camp to keep them segregated from our populous
[sic].”
Not wanting to be taken out of context, she told WPRI that she
had written the e-mail in a hurry and did not have a chance to properly edit
it. What she meant to say was that she was only referring to “the fanatical
Muslim religion and philosophy.”
I suppose that’s slightly less terrible.
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| The kind of scary refugee Morgan wants to put in a camp |
“We haven’t received any requests to help, so there’s nothing to decide at the moment. If a request is made, we will coordinate closely with the White House.”
She also pledged that Rhode Island will help the nation’s
efforts to help with the refugee crisis, while keeping the citizens safe by
means of the rigorous system of background checks put in
place by the United States Refugee Admissions
Program.
The last time that the United States decided to put people into
camps, was during World War II.
Approximately 120,000 people of Japanese
ancestry were forced to move into internment camps, where they faced unbridled
abuse. It is just one entry into the United States very long list of human
rights abuses committed by the United States government. One that I desperately
hope will never be repeated.
Author Joe Fletcher is a writer and community organizer
based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. You can follow him on Facebook and Twitter