Don Roach: Trump’s Muslim Ban is Scary for All of us

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

Don Roach, GoLocalProv MINDSETTER™

Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s comments on Muslims don’t scare me. The fact that he’s got the support of a plurality of Republicans does.

Just for a little bit of context, on Monday Donald Trump called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.”

So, if you’re a Muslim you will not be able to enter the country at least that’s what Trump would do if he were president. Let that marinate for a minute, if Trump was President he would bar – let’s say seek to bar – any Muslim from entering into this country.

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Why would he do this you ask? Good question. The answer lies in the fact there are terrorist groups out there claiming affiliation to Islam and killing people. Thus, according to Trump’s logic, if you’re a Muslim you might also be a terrorist.

As a black man, I find this highly offensive. It’s like saying because I’m a black man I might be a drug dealer and thus any time I enter into a seedy neighborhood the police have a right to frisk me, and some might say shoot me if I look a little funny.

So I’m a little sensitive to stereotyping leading to action.

With respect to Trump’s comments and what it implies, you have to wonder if Trump has ever casually read the Constitution or any of its subsequent Amendments. Freedom religion? Right to due process? Do these mean nothing to Trump? Seems so.

Trump is simply fear mongering and I believe it’s hypocritical. His grandfather was a German immigrant. His mother was born in Scottland. Staying on the German side, should Trump’s ancestors been barred from entering the country because they were German? You could actually make a case as millions of people supported the Nazis while I do not believe the ranks of al Qaeda or ISIS come within a fraction of representing the majority of Muslims throughout the world. Leaving that aside, Trump is a hypocrite given his heritage, in my opinion.

I’ve written about how we can operate in fear or we allow the terrorists to win, and Trump’s proposal is all about fear. I really want to know what you all think. Do you think we should limit Muslim’s ability to travel into and out of our country based solely on their religion? Should we limit people based on their name? How about their skin complexion?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not immune to doing or saying dumb things. Many of you have disagreed with positions I’ve taken over the years. But, if we’re going to trust a man (or woman) to be our next President, I don’t think we can trust someone who wants to bar a class of people simply because of their religion. That is not what we need in order to fight the war on terror.

What we need to do is attack the terrorists where they are at and continue to stick up our noses at them by living in freedom.

Don’t you agree?