[Comments and responses are welcome.]
Accepting Syrian refugees into the United States is an emotional issue. People are suffering and dying in Syria and throughout the broader Middle East. The grotesque nature of the situation is very real. Innocent Christians, Jews, women, homosexuals and children are being killed, sold as sex slaves and brutalized. Nobody in America wants that. Nor, however,
]]>Hundreds of people carrying signs of acceptance and support for refugees and immigrants filled the State House today in response to an anti-Syrian refugee rally sponsored by the Boston based and Orwellian named Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) and featuring former Michigan Congressman Pete Hoekstra. Russell Taub, a Republican candidate seeking US Representative David Cicilline‘s seat, introduced the event. State Representative Mike Chippendale, originally advertised to be part of the event, made one of the smartest moves of his political career by distancing himself as far as possible from this mess.
Things did not go well for the anti-Syrian refugee camp.
As Charles Jacobs of APT spoke, he was several times interrupted by those in attendance. He was called repeatedly on his racist and inflammatory speech. I wrote about Jacobs’ problematic and bigoted past here. Jacobs pressed on through his speech, if for no other reason than to have posted this fake news story about the event here. (Note that the story says nothing about the crowd assembled against Jacobs, that the picture used gives the impression that the crowd was there in support of his message and that the piece gives the impression that the crowd could hear and cared about his message.)
Jacobs became visibly flustered and several times argued with the crowd, turning the event into a call and response. Jacobs claims to represent the interests of American Jews, but the Jewish people who I spoke with at the event all told me that Jacobs is a bigot who does not in any way represent them.
Pete Hoekstra did no better than Jacobs. At one point in his speech, Hoekstra mentioned genocide, prompting a Brown student to ask, “What about the genocide in Palestine?” In response, a photographer with Hoekstra and Jacobs’ group asked, “What Palestine?” eliciting first a shocked silence, then a loud denunciation.
Tired of what she called Hoekstra’s lies, Sterk Zaza, a Syrian immigrant, stood and asked Hoekstra, “Are you better than me?” Hoekstra never answered.
Afterwards, Hoekstra said, in conversation with Omar Bah of the Refugee Dream Center, “I’ve been in politics for 18 years, and I have never been met with a group as hostile and uncivil as what you are. Congratulations.”
The anti-Syrian refugee speakers were continually disrupted throughout their presentations.
The counter protest and the pro-Syrian refugee event held afterwards were organized in part by the RI State Council of Churches, the Dorcas Institute, the Refugee Dream Center, members and families in the Syrian community, Quaker Friends, CAIR-MA, the Standing on the Side of Love committees of several Unitarian Universalist churches, and perhaps 200 students from various organizations at Brown University.
After the failed and frankly embarrassing anti-refugee event was over, Hoekstra and Jacobs left the State House and the pro-Syrian rally began. John Jacobs from the the Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MA) introduced the speakers. First up was State Senator Josh Miller.
Rabbi Howard Voss-Altman spoke next. Rabbi Voss-Altman said that he stood before the crowd as “a proud descendant of Jewish refugees who came here,” to America.
Omar Bah of the Refugee Dream Center came to America after being hunted, imprisoned and tortured in his home country. “What America stands for is love, is openness and its welcoming spirit…”
Businessman Youssef Bahralom is a gemologist and “very proud to be a Syriana and an American at the same time…”
RI State Representative Aaron Regunberg talked of being descended from a Jewish grandfather who escaped the Nazis. He was saddened to learn that the United States did not open its borders to Jewish refugees out of ignorance and bigotry. “It’s up to all of us here to make sure this time around,” said Regunberg, “the story has a different ending. This time, instead of succumbing to our basest instincts, Rhode Island stands up for its most fundamental values.”
Reverend Donald Anderson of the RI Council of Churches, said, “Unfortunately there are those among us who would turn their backs on our tradition of welcoming all faith traditions. But we must not let those who would prey upon fear and prejudice to snuff out the flame of religious freedom that makes our state and country so special.”
Sterk Zaza said she went to school in Syria, and contrary to the words of Charles Jacobs, “I was not taught to hate Jews. I was not taught to hate Christians. I have walked the streets of streets of Syraia and I have shaken the hands of Jews, of Christians, of Shia, of Sunni… and the man who was standing here, telling all these lies, couldn’t even answer me and tell me why he was any different than I am.”
Here’s the full anti-refugee rally:
]]>Speaking of local journalism … thank heavens for the local debates so we can hear the candidates actually discuss the issues that we should be making our decisions on. Both networks deserve credit for their investment in these commercial drains. Last night WJAR hosted all three CD1 candidates and it made for a much better conversation on the issues than the false narrative of only two viewpoints that the WPRI debates fostered. You can watch the whole thing here if you missed it or read the ProJo’s account here.
Their back and forth on energy policy, I think, is interesting to note: Doherty’s idea is to drill baby drill, a disastrous idea from an environmental perspective.Everyone short of Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney pretty much agreed on this until we started realizing how poor we are back in 2008/09.
Cicilline, on the other hand, had a much more nuanced approach that doesn’t make for as a good as sound byte. He spoke of a bill he introduced that would better regulate Wall Street trading of oil. After all, it isn’t supply, which is down, that is driving up the price of oil, it’s quite literally the stock market’s need to maximize money-making on all trad-able commodities. More drilling would serve Big Oil and Wall Street more than the consumer. More regulation would serve the consumer more than Big Oil and Wall Street.
In a nutshell, that’s the big policy difference between Doherty and Cicilline: the Doherty, whether he even understands this or not, would serve the 1 percent while Cicilline would represent the rest of us.
Speaking of the Cicilline Doherty campaign, and local media bias … the entire Democratic party came together to call out Brendan “Uncommon Integrity” Doherty for his historically negative and misleading campaign. And it hardly got covered at all. This is actually a very important component of what voters should know about Brendan Doherty, who is asking us to trust that he won’t be a shill for the GOP if we elect him to Congress … but what we know of his campaign is that he represents himself differently from how he behaves. If local political reporters truly believe it is part of their jobs to call balls and strikes, they should be doing so on this issue.
Aaron Regunberg writes an excellent piece in GoLocal today about Gordon Fox’s come-to-progressive awakening this campaign season. Here’s the comment Regunberg, one of the best local opinion writers and thinkers around, made on my Gordon Fox endorsement. By the way, read all the comments to see how disappointed some RI Future readers are with my supporting Gordon Fox over Mark Binder…
Narragansett Patch has a fun story about a recently-returned Charlie-O’s flag that was stolen from the popular bar with URI students, mysteriously enough, during my days as an undergrad and Charlie O’s patron… (Sorry Steve Greenwell – some mysteries are better left unsolved…)
Speaking of URI, the Rhody Rams mens hoops team opens its exhibition season against the Coast Guard Academy tonight in the Keaney Closet. Being the biggest publicly-financed sports team in the state, the URI Rams are, in my humble opinion, the official athletic squad of the local progressive community!
And speaking of sports … we’re suing Curt Schilling. I’m glad from an informational perspective and it’s certainly necessary from a legal liability point of view, but I’m also worried this whole thing ends with Big Schill putting some sort of Ruthian hex on the Ocean State.
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