Do we still accept the ‘huddled masses’?

Here’s a statement from the president shortly after the terrorist attack:

“These acts of violence against innocents violate the fundamental tenets of the Islamic faith. And it’s important for my fellow Americans to understand that.”

The president delivered this speech in a mosque. He had even taken off his shoes in the mosque, to comply with Muslim custom, something you might think would be beneath the dignity of any American president.

He continued, “The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is all about. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace. They represent evil and war.”

That president, the one standing in his stocking feet, was President George W. Bush. He gave this speech six days after terrorists murdered 2,977 innocent people right here in America.

It’s hard to imagine a President Trump ever giving such a speech, or a President Carson, Cruz, Christie, etc.

The party whose leader once appealed to the better angels of our nature now promotes fear and hatred.

Locally, Delaware Republicans have made fear-mongering a central tenet of their party’s appeal.

Party chairman Charlie Copeland excoriated Gov. Jack Markell because of his willingness to accept Syrian refugees in Delaware.

On the Republican Committee website, Copeland said Markell “took to every TV station and every radio station to tell Delaware citizens that he is still willing put you and your family at risk.”

The petition itself demands that Gov. Markell “halt his inflammatory language.”

That’s rich. Apparently, Copeland feels only Republicans should be allowed to use inflammatory language.

In his statement, Markell called on Americans to be compassionate, to remember their values.

He pointed to our refusal, on the eve of World War II, to accept Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany, an act now considered a stain on our nation’s history.

Copeland’s message also said that Obama plans to bring 250,000 Syrian refugees to the U.S., a number that, according to Politifact, has “no basis in fact.”

The Republican website includes letters more thoughtful than Copeland’s.

Rep. Steve Smyk, R-Milton, writing to the governor, cited FBI Director James Comey’s comment about the difficulty of vetting Syrian refugees.

Smyk concluded, “The risk to public safety is too great to allow the immigration of additional Syrian refugees at this time.”

Sen. Bryant Richardson, R-Laurel, sounded a similar tone, in a letter summed up by the headline, Time to Err on the Side of Caution.

Let’s look at some numbers.

We’re talking about accepting 10,000 Syrian refugees, who face an 18-to-24 month vetting process.

Compare that to the nearly 75 million tourists coming into the U.S. every year. That averages out to more than 200,000 tourists a day.

Obviously, our knowledge about all those people is limited. And yet we live with that risk every day. We don’t think much about it.

If you were terrorist, how would you try to enter the U.S.? A long, tedious vetting process or just hop on a flight?

A few years back one of the arguments against the Junction & Breakwater Trail was the lack of “security.” The trail would attract criminals who would prey on those using the trail, experts said. Homes bordering the trail would also be targets.

To my knowledge, these phantom menaces never materialized. Now being near the trail is a selling point for a house.

Security concerns will always be with us. We can’t let unfounded fears change what it means to be an American.

Correction: Last week, I mistakenly typed Providence, R.I., when I clearly meant Newport. Thank you, readers, for pointing that out.


Don Flood is a former newspaper editor living near Lewes. He can be reached at floodpolitics@gmail.com.